“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” – E. L. Doctorow
Writing a novel is like this. Writing a poem is more like feeling your way through your house in the dark before your eyes have adjusted. Like you kind of know where everything is, but your distance may be off. That’s why you reach out your hands and feel your way through. Writing for me is making decisions and then feeling my way forward. If something feels like a dead end, I stop right there, delete, and retrace my steps toward the goal.
Either way, I’m using my gut and my experience. Generally, there are obvious signs to me as I write when the story begins to head in the wrong direction. A new writer might not understand those signs or trust their gut yet. And the same goes for me; there are obvious signs to a more advanced writer that I can’t yet see.
What I’m saying is that at this point in my writing life, I can feel things out and use my gut, but a good portion of it is applying my experience. Part of that experience is that I learned if I waste a lot of time forcing things to work, I overwrite; that means I’m going to have to delete a lot more of my work in the end. If I trust my gut from the start, I have a lot less to delete.
So keep writing. Don’t be afraid to scratch what’s not working to refine the story. Delete whatever you want, save whatever you want for later. You are an idea machine! Deleting a scene or a few paragraphs that feel off won’t destroy your progress.
But always know, rewriting is a huge part of the process. It’s better to get the initial story out than to waste too much time trying to avoid it.
To summarize, feel your way through, trust your gut, apply your experience, and don’t be afraid to rewrite. Most important point on the page: you are an idea machine!
Jayne.press 