The Story Opening
One story creates an opening for another.— Michael Pollan
How do you create an opening for story?
Tell yourself a story.
It doesn’t have to be your best; in fact, it doesn’t have to be any good, but it does have to be your story, the story that you only you can tell from where and when you are.
Every day I tell myself the story of writing a story.
There is coffee, there is the novel in progress, there are the pages of the first draft. Nubs of ideas sprawled on scraps of paper are there also.
There is also the all-knowing, ultimate authority of planner journal with the day’s goals waiting for checkmarks and slashes, accomplishments and near misses.
File open to the next place in the work, I adjust headphones, hit play for the soundtrack for this story. The music is loud, emphatic and insistent so that my Inner Editor is otherwise occupied and I can get some work done.
I tell the story of working on the story the best way that I know how. Some days are better than others in how well and how quickly the words flow. That is the way of story. No day or couple of days is a trend or declaration about how things are going or are going to go.
There is only the showing up ready to go and doing the work as best that I can do it. There is only the learning and the commitment, the consistent showing up and using the very best of what I have learned and accepting that there are times when I will glance back over previous work and smell the desperation, trip over the awkward and groan at the stupid.
My story is that I show up for Story.
This is the opening that I create for Story.
Story responds by showing up for me.
My story is simple, individual for me. Every writer has his or her own way to invite Story.
Here is what I do for Story every day:
- Morning pages and a 1,000 word essay on anything I want to write about — be it the book that I just finished reading, the long walk with my old dog, how much I want to be done writing the essay so I can do something more urgent.
- I work on my novel in progress. Now revising a workable first draft, I tighten, expand, untangle messes. During the first draft, I aimed for word count targets and time spent working on the story. Now, I work on scenes. On good days, I gallop through the day’s goals and keep on going until I hit a natural breaking point. On not so good ones, I aim for the target and do my best, running over earlier scenes and adjusting them to set up what’s coming next if I’m really hard up for words.
- I read. I read posts on Medium — and share my response with writers. I love this part of the writing day, romping in stories and ideas, poetry and pictures and the wonderful chaos we create together every day.
- I write a blog post. This is a daily pleasure and daunting challenge. I’ve done this every day for more than a year. I don’t know that I’ll always do this, but for now it works and so I do it.
- I work on writing craft. It may be study, on-line or in person or in a book. I subscribe to newsletters and periodicals about writing and creativity and read them in the margins of the day.
- I support other writers. I attend workshops, conferences, readings, and book launches. I buy books and I talk with writers and I thank them for sharing their stories with the world. We’re united in story — and it is a genuine joy to meet with other differently wired, observant, eavesdropping, wondering types.
- I work out. I do a challenging studio class three days a week, walk several miles on the off-days, with and without my old dog. Walking is meditation, chance for characters to let me know how things should go, and clears my mind. The sweat and challenges are the physical counterbalance to writing story and thinking big thoughts really hard.
- I read books. I read mainly fiction now, either in my genre of women’s fiction or further afield into mystery, historical fiction, short stories, experimental and speculative works. Sometimes I am disappointed. Most of the time, however, it is great good fun seeing how someone wrote their own story.
- I talk about Story. I talk about writing, about reading, about words. I ask lots of questions, probe, connect, and talk with lots and lots of people about lots and lots of topics, about their experiences and ideas, dreams, wishes, and desire. Again, it is great good fun because I like people and am curious. It also sparks ideas and connects unrelated thoughts that I bring to Story.
I know there is more to my relationship with Story. However, I have just spent the day working on my novel, blogging and responding, and it is now time to rejoin the real world where there is dinner to be made, a barking dog to attend to, and a loved one with whom to talk about Story and the days we’ve lived.
