The finding of things
Writing is an expedition of our internal world
THE INSPIRATION: Discovery
"I write to discover what I know."
—Flannery O’Connor
Whenever I think about discovery in writing, I always get that feeling I get when I’m in a car that’s taking a hill a bit too fast. It’s not quite the intensity of the roller coaster feeling, it’s just a little sense of things being just a bit out of my control.
The most oddly consistent thing that I learn from what I write is the stuff I didn’t know I knew. Whenever I go back to stories I’ve written, I see all the things that I was woefully unaware of while writing, all the evidence of the things I thought I didn’t know, but some part of me clearly knew it all.
Discovery is, for me, the best part of writing, but it means letting go of any illusions of control and being open to what you don’t know you know.
It’s scary sometimes, but it’s worth it.
THE FAT ORANGE CAT: Found things
Have your character discover an object that’s been hiding in plain sight. Where did it come from? Who put it there? What does it mean? And most of all… where will it lead?
THE TROPE: The discovered story
The discovered story comes to us in forms like the found footage film (Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project) and the epistolary novel (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Color Purple) or even the mockumentary (The Office, This is Spinal Tap). One of the most famous forms of discovered story was when Orson Welles decided to do H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds as a live radio broadcast which detailed an invasion from Mars, and caused a national panic. I’ve always wanted to write a story where a bunch of people who ran for the hills when they thought Martians had invaded stayed there for generations, and then one great-granddaughter leaves the hills to discover it never actually happened.
Someday. Someday.
These stories appear as something created to appear as though it’s been found. The wonderful effect of found footage and epistolary novels is that the experience for the reader is much like they discovered a story completely formed, and they can actually feel like they exist in the world with this thing. The barrier to narrative transport (the feeling that the fiction you’re engaging with is real) becomes much lower, but the limitations in the storytelling become much greater, as you have to create everything as though it’s an artifact of the real world.
What’s your favorite discovered story?
THE QUESTION: Okay, I’ll ask you.
No questions came in this week (see the link below if you have something you’d like to ask me) so I thought I’d turn it around and ask you a question.
“What’s the thing you’ve written that you’re proudest of?”
—Lani
Answer in the comments. :)
THE PRACTICAL: Discovery
There are three phases of writing; discovery, drafting and revision. Discovery is when everything is new and you’re just playing in the world, finding its edges, developing the characters. Drafting is the day-to-day writing. And revision is… well… revision.
Discovery is my absolute favorite part. For years I’ve developed little access paths to discovery. Writing scenes not intended for the final book. Making collages and soundtracks. Reading stories of a similar nature to figure out where I want to land in terms of tone and content. Collecting items belonging to my characters; cooking their recipes; visiting the places where the story takes place and walking the terrain.
It’s so much fun, and I think I finally figured out why I love it so much: You can’t do it wrong.
I’m a rule-follower. Give me a list of limitations and guidelines and I will, almost always, live within those guidelines. It makes me feel safe somehow, maybe in a similar way to the way a baby quiets down when they’re swaddled.
But discovery… discovery is wild and free and I can’t do it wrong. It’s impossible to do it wrong. Knowing I can’t screw it up—indeed, I believe it’s the only thing I’ve ever felt I couldn’t screw up—gives me a sense of true freedom that I haven’t had in any other area of my life.
I also enjoy drafting and revision, for different reasons, but discovery is where my heart and mind can roam free, without even my judgment and criticism to contend with.
Huh. I never realized that until just this moment.
What a fun discovery.
I liked Possession by AS Byatt, but it has been a while since I read it- - thinking about this has made me want to find my copy and read it again :). The "found diary" novel that impacted me the most when I was young, though, was Go Ask Alice. It was both fascinating and terrifying, especially becasue it was "real." Obvs, now I know that it's fiction, but at the time the "A real diary" tag had me totally fooled.