Credible Fiction

My dad shared a quote by Mark Twain today on Facebook. "The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction must be credible."

Ha. It's the truth! Reality is full of awkward pauses, unbelievable happenings, and unsolvable dilemmas. But fiction must always make sense, must always resolve, must always have a point.

I'm okay with that. I feel very frustrated by reality when it doesn't make sense. This is probably why I am a fiction writer. I prefer my world to be neat, orderly, and flowing with beautiful symmetry and meaning.

And so I have been writing, which is my lovely excuse for refusing to blog lately. I have been lost in the world of fiction.

I am trying at present to gain some self discipline in my writing. I love the first time, rough draft writing part. I love to shape the story and piece it together and add the dialogue. I don't even mind the second pass, fixing typos and awkward grammar.

After that, I get unreliable. Writing the proposal, doing intensive repair, sending queries to agents and publishers... I do it once or twice and then give up and start writing a new story. But this won't do. If I'm going to spend so much time writing, it can't be for me alone. I have to learn how to write in a way that others will learn and grow from, as well as be entertained by. I think I'm getting closer. But I must to learn to polish.

I'm presently trying to fix a novel from three years ago and get it ready to submit to a pretty big contest in September. This is not going well. I really, really just want to write my new novel. I've grown as a writer in three years, and it's tedious to try to bring my previous level up to my present level. Part of me just wants to give up on the old story and try to finish the new one in time. But I feel like the old story is one that needs to be told. I feel like if I could get it right, it would have a place.

So far my discipline is not impressive. So I'm putting myself on notice, and if you know me, remind me. Just say "edit before create."

And thank you to those of you that reminded me that I do have readers for my blog. I'm sorry this place has been so deserted. Thank you for sticking with me!