Why?
I'm asked this question about 60 gazillion times a day by my 4 year old daughter. This does not include the 100 times I ask myself this question about other things that go on in my head.
The answer to her repeated question is usually --because that's the way it is. This usually will give me about 10-15 minutes before she asks why again.
My daughter is curious--why do cat's wash themselves? why is the tree trunk brown? why can't I have a toy? why do I have to drink milk? why do I take a vitamin? You get the picture. I could answer these with the actual truth but I know once I start to explain another why question is brewing.
So I got to thinking--why am I so obsessed with writing? Easy answer--because I love it and well it makes me happy. You already knew that.
I started to use the why question for other areas of my writing adventure--one I already posted about this week. Why suffer (put myself through the anguish of questioning my writing ability) through critiques? Another easy answer because they will only make my WiP better and I should get used to people giving me their opinion because this is only the beginning.
Then I applied it to a chapter of my WiP. Why is this chapter necessary? and it developed into more questions. Does it make sense? Does it flow? How does it fit with the plot? Why is that character chewing gum? Is that necessary?
O.k. maybe I started to go overboard but it made me realize why my daughter asks so many questions. She wants to know and understand. Just like someone who might read my precious story. They too would want to know every detail and why a certain character or chapter or anything is relevant to the rest of the story.
I'm not trying to stress you out even more so please don't take it that way. I sometimes get overwhelmed by thought of certain pieces of my WiP. Mainly because I have a long way to go and there are parts to my WiP that need major reworking. When I question-- why-- it sometimes helps. The --why--question is also helping me cut the fat so to speak. Things that may have slowed the pace down are now being cut. It was great to write these pieces because it helped me understand the story but they need to go.
Here are questions for you:
Do you ask the --why--question?
Does this help you in your revisions?
Does it seem you have to trim or cut a lot more than you thought?
*****Breaking News****Get over to First Novels Club or Frankie Writes. Frankie has an agent!!! Go congratulate her!!! So excited for her!!!
Go check out a new blog by Chimera Critiques Erica Spickard-- http://www.ericaspickard.blogspot.com/ She is also having a contest.Ends May 27th.
I also wanted to tell everyone that I do appreciate all of your comments. I hope you don't get annoyed that I don't respond to them. I want to, I really do but lately I have had time constraints and I'm teaching my son how to sleep on his own again (after his surgery it has been murder.) I'm usually working on 3-4 hours of sleep a night so please forgive me. I do read all your comments and take all of them to heart. So keep commenting. I'm trying my best to return your kindness.
Have a great weekend!
