As the year draws to a close, I reflect on those things I'm thankful for--the many kindnesses of Chris, the fascinating body fascinations of Morgen, the wisecracks and cracked wisdom of Leslie, the way Todd so blatantly wishes he was more like me (seriously, it's getting a little SWF already). I'm also reflecting on writing lessons learned this year.
1) The juiciest conflict is not the battle between good and evil or sin and virtue, but rather the fight between competing virtues--when Character A, whom we care about, wants something for good reason that is diametrically opposed to what Character B, whom we also care about, wants for equally good reason. I realize this is probably old news to everybody, but I'm excited to structure more stories around such tensions. Of course, I'm not sure if competing virtues will appeal to the commercial public, which brings me to lesson 2.
2) I'm personally not well suited to writing for the commercial public. I tried this year to compose a book that would sell and I made it a hundred pages in before the pressures of writing to a very demanding phantom audience got to be too much. I have to follow my passion in writing, and if I never make a dime doing it, I'll still be happier writing that which fulfills me.
3) (with grudging thanks to Todd) I don't need unlimited time to write, I need only to write what I love.
There's more, plenty more, but right now I'm resisting the urge to apologize for coming up with that blasted nickname thing.
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