Pretending

No matter what kind of stories you like to tell, whether they’re based on a memory of growing up in Providence, RI, or tales of heroes in dark caves, each will have its own logic and reality to which all the characters must adhere. The hero in the dark cave knows he could meet a fire-breathing serpent he might have to slay with his sword, and the boy in Providence knows he can write stories about heroes in caves but will not kill any actual serpents himself. As a writer, I establish a story’s reality at the outset as a kind of agreement with my reader, letting them know: this is what’s in store for you. If you’re interested, read on.

Of course, stories and blank pages being what they are, I, the author, could change things up on a whim. From one sentence to the next I could have my hero in the dark cave begin humming Let It Be and wondering if the Red Sox will make it to the World Series next year, and the boy in Providence could look out his window one morning and see a dragon soaring over Blackstone Boulevard. Sudden changes in reality like these can work, but it’s a lot to ask of the reader. We read to discover how a story will play out, where it’s headed, and where it would naturally leave us – hopefully with a surprising but inevitable conclusion.

As a reader, I have on many occasions put books down for good, sensing that the story was headed somewhere I was not interested in going. I have never found this often-abrupt decision difficult to make. I might have been a little disappointed, but I knew there was no point pretending I would find the story satisfying in the end. There are plenty of other books I could read, after all. My time would be better spent finding one that pleases me.

It is not so easy to make the same choices in my life. There, I am like both author and reader, riding the momentum of whatever story I’m telling myself. How often I have pretended I’ll find satisfaction simply because I knew to admit otherwise would mean accepting I couldn’t find what I wanted where I was headed. What if this means I couldn’t find it at all? Better to just keep telling this story, obeying its rules and logic, even as a small friendly voice whispered, “What if there are dragons over Blackstone Boulevard?”

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com