Using All the Colors

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It's the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.            — Rhys Alexander

I was going to write this post and talk about "rules." I've been reading a few articles or discussions lately that talk all about the sorts of rules that writers should or shouldn't follow. There are even rules about what kind of books you can or can't write (spurred by this post over at io9: http://io9.com/5879434/10-writing-rules-we-wish-more-science-fiction-and-fantasy-authors-would-break).

Everywhere I'm looking lately I see rules. I managed to break six of the rules from io9′s article in one book, so either I'm absolutely insane or some kind of trendsetter (or, more likely, I just wrote the story that needed to be written completely ignorant of any rules).

But that's my point for this post: sometimes you have to write the story as it comes to you, and not care a whit about whether or not it conforms to someone's guidelines or ideas of what's acceptable or what isn't. I wrote my story as I knew it had to be, wrote it with the best of intentions and stayed honest to the original inspiration and source that it came from. Having to change some or any of it just because I was worried about what someone might think about it would have completely ruined the story as a whole.

As writers — and fantasy writers, at least when it comes to people like me — we can't always dictate what the story will be about or what it involves. When it hits you, it hits you: sometimes slowly or a little bit at a time, or other times it'll pile on top of you like a snowdrift until you can barely breathe or function — the story is ALL THERE IS, and you have to get it written down somewhere before it can escape from you. What's important isn't worrying about whether you can "sell" it right away, or maybe sell it at all.

It is interesting for me to note that io9′s list contains the rule "No Portal Fantasy," a la no Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe style stories — accessing one world from another via a portal is apparently unacceptable. THAT IS THE ENTIRE REASON NEVEREND EXISTS! It wouldn't even BE a story if not for the use of a portal. Lewis' fiction was a huge inspiration for me as a child growing up, and some of that came back in my own writing, just as every author draws from their literary inspirations and favorite stories from growing up. It might explain why one agent after another kept giving it the boot, even those who said they personally liked the story. Just goes to show you that the people who win the Agent Lottery are even luckier than I even originally expected — the best writing in the world doesn't mean Jack if it isn't a story that an agent will allow to be told.

So where does that leave us? It means that you and I need to write the stories we're meant to write even if it might not automatically lead to fame and fortune. It means writing the stories that are in us even if nobody will pay attention to it right away. It means being the writer you want to be and telling the stories you want to tell even if you get one rejection after another — dozens of them, hundreds even. Don't worry about if you can get an agent. Don't worry if you can sell a million copies in one year, or ten years, or in your lifetime.

Write the stories that are in you. Use all of the colors you've been given, and don't let anyone tell you to do any different. Write because YOU MUST WRITE – let success or failure take care of itself.