Kill the Monster: The Paradox of Completion
Kill the monster:The paradox of completion
Okay, but kill the monster?
A strange phrase to use when completing a long project- one that has taken a year to finish…like a book.
Or is it? I’m a writer but the paradox is not limited to writing; instead, it applies to all big, long-term projects. Graduating from college, achieving a long sought after goal, like a promotion, raise, or public recognition of your specific talent; that strange paradox exists in each and every one.
I return to Winston Churchhill’s words each time one of the books is done. His phrasing, so appropriately and splendidly describes these paradoxical feelings:
Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
We forget. At least I do, that the joy is in the adventure. Always. Never in the finish. Always the paradox. One which I need to revisit each time, one would think we’d remember but we don’t. Which, of course begs the question, why is that exactly?
The answer lies in Churchill’s first sentence and last phase, “….an adventure…just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling it to the public.”
A new book -or new anything- is an adventure. All that the word entails is contained: Excitement, terror, anticipation, unknown and more. Speaking the goal out loud alters, ever so slightly, the world around us: Something new is being created.
Along the journey to completion, unexpected obstacles appear. Sometimes they appear immense. Doubt creeps in…those voices, “Why did I ever start this?” “I should have known I could never get it done!” We think it’s our imagination but it has a name.
Resistance .
Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling.. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul’s seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star’s beacon and Polaris.
What causes it? In my world, it’s fear. One of the many reasons that I write fiction is to explore the interplay of good and evil. In the world and in my characters. The antagonist in Malthus Revisited: The Cup of Wrath, is evil. How does someone become possessed by such hatred that he desires the annihilation of humanity?
And then…Suddenly it’s over. You did it…created something brand new.
Now What?
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