Sunday, September 5, 2010

Are You Having Fun Yet?

Do you ever take yourself too seriously? You know what I mean. Things like trying for all those wonderfully long, purple-prose filled, adverb trails in your sentences. Only writing a story if it has a "meaning" or a popular theme. Deciding that your story is too good to grace the pages of a non-paying zine, after all, your words are golden, they're worth a great deal of money.

I find myself doing that occasionally and it takes a good swift kick in the butt to remind myself that I'm not one of those golden writers. I'm merely a storyteller and storytellers are supposed to have fun. They're supposed to get their stories out there for people to read.

The core of every story should have that spark of fun in it. Sure, you're writing noir or serious sci-fi or doing that "High Noon" showdown, but if you're not having fun writing that story, it shows. When you're excited about a story and you're Snoopy dancing around the room when a sentence or paragraph comes together perfectly - you're having fun and your readers will, too.

Give yourself a break. Enjoy the work, have a little fun with your words, give your imagination free-range to go wherever it wants. You might surprise yourself, but even better, you'll surprise your readers.

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I have a tendency to do this on occassion. usually the world slaps me down to give me a little reminder.

Chris Rhatigan said...

Good advice. I think literary writers (or at least the ones I know) tend more toward taking things to seriously. The core of a good story is usually fun, and then there are other ways to get your kicks--adventure, weirdness, humor, puzzle solving, etc.

sandra seamans said...

Yes, it takes that slap sometimes to get me back on track, too, Charles!

Yes, the writing should be fun, the editing serious and myself, not so much of either. Perhaps that the hardest part, separating our egos from the writing?