To Be Taken Internally: The Importance of Internalizing the Craft of Writing

Who needs a battle between a fish who can balance on the edge of his bowl to get a word in "edgewise" and a striped-top hat wearing cat tall enough to nearly graze the door jamb when you sitting down to write?

Certainly not me. How about you?

Okay, okay, so I'll admit that I'm a bit unusual in my approach to writing and my interpretation of the children's classic--The Cat in the Hat. But I do see a role for the Cat in the Hat in the Freudian play called "The Conscience" He's in the lead, playing "The Id" and that fish is playing straight man in the role of "The Super-Ego" and who brings up the rear until Thing 1 and Thing 2 "kite" his sister? The unnamed narrator playing the role of "Ego." And how does this apply to the craft of writing?

Well, the writing process is a bit like a production of this play. Or better yet, a re-enactment of THE CAT IN THE HAT with that upstart ID (aka The Cat) stealing the show. The fish boring everyone as the "Super Ego" internal critic and the author as the main character who goes along for the ride rather than driving the bus.

If this doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, then I recommend you "loose control" of your writing.

No, I'm not saying you should let your id run wild, just imagine what your literary house would look like when the cat left the building--remember that bathtub in the book?

Let's do a little recasting.

1. Let the Cat take on the role of the subconscious. All you know if you delve deeper into your knowledge base.

2. Rehome that fish. Writers don't need to have their inner critic cutting them down as they write

3. Become your own hero in the writing process; give yourself more agency. Let your imagination have a little more freedom.

What about all those rules of good writing you learned?

Show don't tell.

Every detail should be concrete, unique, and double duty.

Dialogue should be organic, character specific, and slanted.

I recommend you internalize them to the point that they enter the fabric of your writing without being intrusive, kind of like the pattern in the wallpaper of your subconscious. We visually perceive wallpaper when we walk through a house, but we rarely analyze the pattern. The craft of writing should become that "close to the wall" in your writing. Learn the elements of craft to the point that you're not thinking of them as you're writing.

Let yourself become immersed in your fictional world to the point that you're playing the role of your characters, switching roles, touring the set, taking action based on your emotional connection with backstory, character motivation, and stake. Mentally live in the world you create as you write.

When it's time to revise, then it's time to bring that fish home so it can remind you of all the rules of revision.

You may be wondering how to go about internalizing the craft of writing. It's not like someone has figured out how to bottle craft and you can just stop by the old fiction shoppe on the corner and order a bottle of plot, a six pack of character development, and a pint of setting. Instead, you still have to do it the old fashioned way, studying the craft of writing:

A: In books: Have you seen Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction What a tour-de-force of the imagination that looks at the craft of writing visually, graphically, and textually--understanding that multiple perspectives are essential part of learning craft and internalizing information.

B: The work of other writers. Study the masters at the things you want to learn how to do. Read widely and deeply. Francine Prose delves into this subject in Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them She's a little too traditional and bound by Literature with a capital L for me, but then again I'm a non-traditionalist in everything but ....hmmm. Maybe there is no but. Seriously though. Read often. Read widely. Read deeply.

C: Teach. One of the best ways to internalize information is to learn it well enough to each it someone else. If you're in a writing group, divvy up elements of craft to each person, study that element of craft in the writing of folks who are really good at it--no one does impressionistic character development like Maclachlan (Patricia MacLachlan or beautifies villainy like Morrison (Beloved), then teach what you learn about each element of craft to each other.

Either I've thoroughly confused you or I've offered you a few useful insights on how to internalize craft. Both is also possible.

Most importantly, remember to bench your inner critique and let your characters have run of the field as you write, then run back the film of the game and critique it, so that in the next game (revision) you can take it straight down the middle and score a goal.

I believe I've just expended my limited sports knowledge in that one paragraph and I may have mixed my metaphors and my languages by putting a soccer/futbol ending on a football reference.

Thus signals the end of my post for today. Any questions? Go see the fish. Or you can post them here, email me from my webpage alafaye.com
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