Off-Key Reading

When I read the writing of others, I do not forgive mistakes. I do not forgive them because if the author tickles my imagination and doesn’t have too many grammatical errors, I don’t even NOTICE them. I devour the writing with gleeful abandon, mind filled with the vivid imagery drawn from the words on the page.

Even when I critique others work, this is a truth. I may point out errors or make suggestions or point out weak areas, but as long as the story has me egaged (and I am notoriously finicky about my stories) I still enjoy it. Still love it, even after multiple re-reads.

This is in sharp contrast to how I feel when I read my own writing. Like rays of rainbow light spilling from the page, I constuct the mental “movie” of what I am reading, but the light is constantly cast at odd angles by th e differences between THIS story and the one that was in my head while I was writing it. The off-key shriek of the two images clashing in my mind sours the tongue and dries up most of the enjoyment.

It isn’t my writing that causes this.

No one else who reads this writing will have that same jarred, disjointed experience because nobody else has that expectation.

The people who read my stories build their own images based on my words and these images are uncluttered by the shadows of the better story from which my writing was drawn.

This is true also of YOUR writing and your art and your craft. Even if you can’t banish that original shadow, realize that it is a companion of your own making and it never interferes with others.

Is a painting enjoyed somehow diminished because the viewers don’t realize the artist originally intended something slightly different?

No. I can love art drawn by artists who apologize while they post it, and I can love writing whose authors describe it as “flabby” and wrinkle their noses at it.

I know why they think it is flawed, and I don’t disagree that it may not be perfect.

But if it sends my soul on an adventure and I close the last page begging for more, that is the only thing that matters.

Related posts:

On Forgiveness
How To Review A Book on Goodreads or Amazon
Deadline Dames Writing Prompt