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01/27/2006: "Scary Good"
I've mentioned before that I'm a new knitter. Before your eyes glaze over, this is not a post about knitting per se. It's about learning.
Since I've been writing for a gazillion years, I'm really familiar with that world. I know the jargon, know who the players are, and I'm very comfy in blogland and at conferences. It's my home world. But now that I'm knitting, I'm in a whole different universe, made possible by the internet, kept interesting by the fact that I know squat about it.
I've joined several online knitting groups, complete with pictures, patterns, and helpful folks who seem amazingly patient with the new kids. Just like I did when I first got into romance writing, I'm trying to absorb the knitters mentality, and find a way to learn as much as possible in as short a time as possible, always increasing my skill level.
First, I did scarves. A whole hell of a lot of scarves. It got me familiar with working with the needles and the yarn. I wanted the knitting and purling to feel as natural as if I'd been doing it my whole life. Now, I've gotten a little better, and I'm expanding into wrist warmers and socks. I'm not very good at them yet, but I know if I keep practicing, it'll happen.
What I like about the process is that I'm doing things I don't think I can do. Which was a huge part of my writing life. When I was first writing, I didn't know what I could do. When some new challenge came along, I had butterflies in my stomach and a keen determination to dive in that was just slightly more prominent than the fear. Socks versus more scarves.
This state of being, scared yet eager, is where, if I'm honest with myself, I should strive to be with each and every project. It's healthy for me. It keeps me interested, and doesn't let me slip into familiar (worn) patterns. I have to stretch, and I have to tap into the most creative part of me.
Knitting reminded me that it's up to me to find the scary thing in every book. It's easier to do what I've done before. But that's not where I belong.
So what's the scary part of what you're writing? For me, in the book I'm working on now, is to find the core of emotion in the characters when they're involved in a desperate fight for their lives. Not just their fear, but what fear makes them face about themselves. And how living on the edge brings clarity and definition. It would be easy to let the momentum of the action carry the book, but that's not what I want. I want a deeply moving character story set in an action thriller. Scared? You betcha.
