Full of Life
It’s important as a writer to have no fear of the blank page, to go to it eagerly to discover new ideas. It’s possible, however, to get addicted to starting stories without learning how to end them. Settling into the fertile potential of a new story, before its necessary specifics have been nailed into place, is a bit like holding an infant in your arms. How nice to remember life unburdened by choices and preferences, and how energizing to set out on the new journey that is a story, feeling all the discovery that awaits you.
But children must grow up, must find their partners and careers, and stories must find their middles and ends. You don’t really know what a story wants to be until you’ve finished at least a draft of it. That’s when it shows you why it was begun and where it was headed all along. When you stand back and look at it, the story will probably be simpler than you first imagined: someone thought they couldn’t, but it turned out they could; someone who closed their heart learned to open it. You might think, “Is that it? Is that all it wanted to say?”
It can seem a little disappointing. The story had felt so big and now it looks rather small. Then again, someone’s life seen from a distance can seem simple and small: grew up, went to school, got a job, got married, had a couple kids. Yet the fullness of life is known in the living, not in these snapshot plot points. Every single moment we’ve lived has asked for our full attention.
Likewise, the fullness of our stories is found in the telling. If you’ve written a story about finding your strength or your voice or your open heart, it’s because every moment requires strength, a true voice, and an open heart. Bring your whole self to the stories you tell, and you may remind your readers of all that they are, and the story will go on living in them, reminding everyone that nothing really ends, it just becomes something else.
If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.
Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence.
You can find William at: williamkenower.com