First, I want to repeat the obvious: as soon as you think of fiction as a commodity, that's when the writing and innovation will slow down. That's when you will get scared.
Thinking of this as I read and re-read the 20 fictions given to me by Joseph Young and Kathy Fish for the vsf blog. These are two writers who have no fear that they will run out of stories, so it's no big deal to donate content to my teaching experiment. A writer who loves writing won't run out of stories. Or how about this? Maybe we've only got one story, and we just keep telling it over and over. Either way, there's nothing to protect. That said, as I prepare agent queries for my novels, I feel that fear. Big time. I would love to be brave enough to look into alternative models, but I'm not ready yet.
Not sure how this is related, but last week as I counted the sixth dead fox on the way back from our cabin in WV to our house in VA, I remembered last Autumn when we got caught in a long line of traffic outside Middleburg. Leaf peepers moving like molasses through horse country, and even though no one was going more than 15 mph, some jackass managed to hit a deer right in front of a farm mansion or winery. A man in LL Bean "work" clothes and a tweed cap was standing over it, disgusted. Just as we drove by, he pulled out a handgun and shot the deer in the head. Everybody was a phony that day, and then for one second we weren't.
2 comments:
There are days I am sure I've nothing left to say, but once I show up to write it comes, sometimes easier than others, sometimes better than others, but still ... amazing ...
The very best of luck with the agent queries! I look forward to the good news :-)
Last month I was driving around NJ (I live in NY) in an uninspected truck. We were worried that we had a problem with the transmission and that it would cost us a whole lot of money... and we needed the truck to work with on a project over there.
So on one evening, right after the turn of the month, we came up to a corner near a park -- driving in NJ for a NYer is stressful enough as it is -- and there were cop cars with lights flashing and I got a bit nervous that it may be an inspection stop. I have been through those where the cop steps up and suddenly points at your vehicle to pull over.
This time the cop stepped forward holding a rifle and I was like, "WTF is that about?" Turned out as we passed we saw there was a deer hit by a car laying on the shoulder. He had stepped to the road to empty the chamber.
So, yes, stories come from all over. And the truck got fixed cheap and is legal inspected now.
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