When I originally started write meg!, I had very random concepts of what the blog would be. I’ve always been a writer and figured if I were going to chronicle my daily adventures in some way, I’d have to include my writing life in there. At the time, I was only a year out of college and still wistfully planning on scripting a few poems and getting myself into some sort of major poetry magazine.
Until, you know, I completely lost interest in that. I remember walking out of class with my good friend Erin, both of us chatting about the prose we’d whipped up over the weekend. We had so many stories to share about . . . everything. Living. Loving. And everything came easily — those lines I’d rip out of some corner of myself and tap out on my laptop, printing out my most recent poem for critique in class the following week.
I don’t know if that’s part of my problem — I’d gotten so used to writing on a deadline that the idea of just working on a project, long term, lost its appeal. Poetry was my preferred medium — succinct, powerful. I loved cramming so much into a tiny space, challenging myself to see if I could manage to convey something real in less than 20 lines. I’d spent all of my high school years writing poetry in massive documents in Word (I never write long-hand anymore, except in my personal journals) for the sheer love of it, and I spent my college years writing poetry in massive Word documents because . . . I was getting “graded” on it.
Though I’m proud of many of my poems and have even seen them published in regional magazines, I realized with a jolt that for as much as I loved reading novels, writing novels had to be my true calling. And when I discovered National Novel Writing Month with a few of my coworkers at the newspaper where I’d become an editor, it was abundantly clear that fiction was where I needed to be. (In fact, my second post ever was about NaNo — and this same subject.)
So it was all clear — I was a writer, and I was a writer of fiction. In the span of two years, I’ve completed three novels topping a total of 900+ double-spaced pages. I’ve sent out countless query letters, many of which received unintentionally hilarious responses. Of the three books, all have featured strong, assertive but ultimately vulnerable twenty-something women trying to, you know, figure out who they are and ultimately leave behind a louse of an ex-boyfriend — and everything about him that dragged her down.
They were all told in first-person. All three took place in Washington, D.C., or its suburbs. Each heroine had dark, shoulder-length curly dark hair, dark eyes and a biting wit she had no trouble unleashing upon whoever happened to be closest. Each of them had an ex in the picture that they couldn’t quite get over, even though years had passed. Two of the three had an obsession with all things British — and one of the three even made a pilgrimmage to London.
Sounding familiar?
Yes — they were me. All of them. Completely and entirely me, me, me. Did I realize this while I was writing each of the aforementioned novels? No, I can honestly say I didn’t. In fact, at one time I would have fought with you for suggesting that my main characters were just me talking in a variety of situations.
I know that “writing what you know” is old writing advice, but I don’t think that anyone meant it quite so literally — outside of the world of memoirs, anyway. And hey, I’m great, but that doesn’t mean I want to write and read about me all the time. And since I’m not trying out new voices and narrative styles through my poetry anymore, I’m now doing something really daring, something totally different, something shocking . . .
I’m writing in third person.
My heroine is no longer me.
She’s in her twenties, sure, and maybe she has a lousy ex still hanging around the picture’s periphery (don’t we all?). She’s gone through some things and come out the other side of it, even if it doesn’t always feel that way (again, nothing new). But just the idea of writing from a totally different perspective has made me feel completely energized, as has reading Jill Mansell’s Millie’s Fling, which I’m about halfway through now! Mansell does a superb job of writing from an outside perspective but still keeping everything personable, interesting and compelling.
So here’s to trying something different . . . and quitting my literary narcissism! Let’s hope the fourth book is the best yet.
I loved this post because it’s something that I had to face recently. (Hoping that you’re interested in hearing about it, I’m going to tell you) …
I’m a soon to be junior in college and I have a passion for writing. I always saw myself writing fiction so I decided to finally take a fiction writing class last quarter. In a lot of ways it was an eye opener. It made me realize that every writer has a “comfort zone” that usually involves writing about things that are close to them (often themselves). So one thing that we did was a lot of exercises where we started a story writing about ourselves or someone close to us and then changed things (minor or major) that would create distance between ourselves and the characters so that they weren’t literally something out of our life even if they started that way. In a lot of ways, I fell in love with these characters a lot more because I could make them do new and exciting things that I would never do for whatever reason.
What I’m trying to say is that writing yourself is fun – but it’s also limiting. So I’m excited that you’re going to branch out and try writing in the third person – sometimes it can be really hard, but it also opens up new doors to what you can write.
Best of luck!
That sounds like an awesome exercise… and you’re so right — writing this way has given me the freedom to make my characters do things that “I” would never do. Thanks so much for your encouragement, Jennifer!
Good luck!
I haven’t tried fiction… I tried blog writing and essays for a while and then I tried poetry. And then I’m trying songwriting… interesting how that’s going. When I go to college this fall I’m planning to work with the newspaper. We’ll see how that goes.
Songwriting — that’s fantastic! And hey, working for newspapers is always an interesting experience
Sending you good vibes in all your endeavors!
I can only wish you luck, and keep my fingers crossed that I’ll get to read something of yours someday soon! (you know where to send your review copy… *wink wink*)
It’s good that you don’t give up and made some changes! Not only will you get better, but also it will probably renew your inspiration (as you said, you feel more energized). There’s nothing wrong with trying something new and writing is definitely work.
My long form (right now) is in first person and the female character doesn’t describe me physically but a lot of what she says and thinks and does is me. My bestie pointed it out to me, one day and I argued and argued and argued but the more I read it back and the more I write, I realize there is a lot of me in it. I think it’s really hard to write and not have a part of yourself in there, somewhere.
My second venture is in 3rd person and yes, it’s much easier to not insert my own personality into the storyline.
Sounds like you found your literary calling
Best of luck!
I have a very similar problem. The best thing you can do as a writer is switch it up, force yourself out of your comfort zone, and write about something completely different. So I applaud you for recognizing your tendency and making the effort to break out of it! I wish you the best of luck in writing your next novel! Maybe I can take some inspiration from you and get cracking on mine.
Good luck with the 4th!!! It sounds like you feel inspired, and that can make all the difference!
Megan, I don’t know why – but this is a very inspiring post. It makes me want to start writing right this minute – not tomorrow, not next week, but right now. I’ve never finished one of my projects – and the fact that you’ve finished three is so entirely … inspiring. Good Luck!
Just found your blog and I am loving it already!
Never stop writing!! Someday it will happen…Good Luck!!!
I always like to hear what other writers are up to, how they’re handling a “real” job and then their writing life. Good for you on finishing three novels. And good for you for going on to the 4th, which is likely the charm. You’ve had some good practice and will likely get down to really telling the story this time.
Keep us current! this (about writing) is the stuff blogs are made of!