Showing posts with label troubled protragonist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label troubled protragonist. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2010

My Troubled Protagonist

Writing's hard.
Blogging isn't, but writing is hard. There have only been a few times in my life where a great story has just flown out of me, nearly perfect on the first try. And when it's all over, I ask myself "How in god's name did I manage to do that?"
I suppose this phenomenon can be likened to being "In The Zone"...but whatever it is, I really wish I was there for the story that I'm working on currently. Because I've been working on it for six and a half years.
SIX AND A HALF YEARS.
If I actually finish it, it would be my fifth completed draft. If I don't complete it, it will join the ranks of what are hundreds of false starts.
Most people would say to just let the project die and to move on. But I can't. This is the story I want to tell. I don't know why I want to tell it, I don't know what I can't let it go, perhaps because I love it so much. It's almost like the perfect woman I can't have.
Either there's something inherently wrong with the concept, or I, for six and a half years, have not truly allowed myself to become the protagonist. You see, writing is a bit like acting. You have to create your characters, and they all come from a part of you. I have to create a life for my protagonist, goals, conflicts, friends, enemies.
The only reason I can fathom as to why it's been so difficult for me to jump into my protagonist's shoes this time around is because...it's a woman.
I'm almost positive that if I made this story about a male, I could relate to it better, but I don't want to. This story is about a woman, I want it to be about a woman, and it needs to be about a woman. And not just any woman, but the most powerful, beautiful, feminine entity to ever exist.
No wonder I can't relate. But I'll be damned if I let this project die. It's just too good.
-Spontaneous K