The Story And the Writer
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” G. K. Chesterton
The last few days the weather fills my heart with
delight. It's cool, and the humidity is low. The older I get the less heat I can stand. At the point that I become miserable can't breathe, the only thing is to turn on the air conditioning, but at that point I must close the windows.
All winter, I long for the days when I can open the windows and let sunshine and fresh air, birdsong and whatnot waft through the house.
I remember back in the late '50s we were living in El Paso, Texas in a cozy trailer park. Our trailer home had an air conditioner, which wasn't something everyone had. You had to be somebody to have one, and since we weren't somebody, someone we knew must have been somebody and we ended up with an a/c.
My step-father was in the Air Force, and when he transferred to Puerto Rico (I think), we took our trailer all the way back to Iowa. We pulled the trailer behind our Buick automobile. Traveling that year was a bit tricky, as the new 'interstate highway' was being built, and most of it we had to detour around. That must have been around January.
I being five at the time, started school when we got back to Iowa. Kindergarten was only half a day, but I remember naps, milk breaks, and making my mother a pin cushion. At the end of the year (in May) we must have attended a movie at the local movie theater. The movie was about a dog (reminded me of Lassie), and I remember riding the school bus home.
Memories—that is where most writers draw from for their characters and stories. There are several types of writers. Some are called the 'plotters'. These are writers who outline and have a real plot as well as where and when deadline/timeline happen. Then there are 'seat of the pants' writers. They begin and allow the characters to tell the story, most always (the characters) lead the way and everyone goes along for the ride.
I watched a t.v. special many years ago on a popular writer from that era. He was the author of questionable/risque novels, but the interview was good. He said he started writing after reading some work of fiction, and he thought to himself, 'I could do better than that old thing'.
So he sat down and started writing (seat of the pantster). In one story there was an automobile that was an important part of his story. He said, "I was typing away, looked down at the text and the ? thing had just blown up!" (He used a 'word' there.) He said, "I had no idea that was going to happen, but I just kept on typing."
That's a seat of the pants writer. Some people say one type is better than the other. I think it depends on the writers' temperament. Or as my grandma used to say, "different strokes, for different folks". We're not all made to operate the same.
Even seat of the pants writers don't just write and it's done. After the rough draft is done a writer goes back to work. They check grammar, spelling, punctuation, look at (almost) every word in case there is a better word they could have used. They insert or remove scenes, send it through critique groups, have it edited. It is fussed over, washed, powdered and polished enough it could be like a newborn baby.
