Writing is like a Rollercoaster

Yes, you have mustered all of your courage and are going for it. You have made the decision to become a writer.
“Before your ride begins please fasten your seatbelt and pull down your overhead harness to secure you in place.  Remember to keep your hands busy and your mind on the right track at all times.”  Crank, hiss, clank, the gears are in motion.  Off you go on one of the most thrilling ride of your life.javascript:updateLine

Chugs, chug, chug it’s the climb to the top. Your creative juices start to flow and ideas start to come faster and faster.  You look ahead to the sky because at this height you don’t want to look down.  A few of your ideas even start to take on hazy forms like the clouds you can almost touch.  Chug, chug, you know what’s coming.  You can feel the excitement build.  You’re almost there.

“Yay!” you tell yourself at the summit.  There is a moment at the peak, just before the descent, where you can see everything clearly.  The ideas that have been forming have sprung that one truly viable story.  You run to your computer or grab pen and paper and sit down to write the next great American novel.  The opening paragraph is all you’ve come up so far.  You sit poised ready to write for hours, days, and on the worst down turns Weeeeeks.  Where are the words, where are the words? Yikes!j

You throw your hands up and scream on your way down.  You think “I’ll never finish this story; I’m not a good writer, what made think I can write, blah, blah, blah.”  But in spite of the fear you still hold on.  That first descent is never straight.  Oh no, for you, it’s concave.  You reach the bottom and before you know it you are moving upwards again.

Up you go.  You want to be a good writer so you learn your new craft by reading anything and everything that relates to art of writing.  “I’ll take a class or two,” you tell yourself.  You desire to write a great story so you learn about description and setting, showing vs. telling, charter arch developments, story plots, dialogue, the list goes on and on.  The next three and a half pages of your story rush out on to the page. “I’m getting there.”  You think.

Yes you are moving forward and fast.  You want to look back to see where you started from, but you can’t.  The wind is so strong as it hits you in the face and you have no choice but to close your eyes.  At first you giggle from the excitement as your eyes start to moisten.  Your giggles quickly turn into howls of anguish and the tears start to flow as you realize there is another huge climb right in front of you.

You have reached the mountain of good story telling.  Who is my protagonist? What is the tone of this piece?  Who’s voice am I going to use?  What tense am I going to tell this story in? What is this story about?  All of these questions take you on a wild ride that just seems to go here and there, upside down and right side up.  Just when you reach another peak you pause.  There it is, you can almost reach out and touch it.  That clear vision of your complete story line. Oh No, whoosh! You drop again and lose your bearings once again. 

You emerge from the last unexpected drop and start to gain your momentum, writing page after page.  Aha, what now? But, oh no, here comes a Loop-de-loop.  If you are an outliner you ask yourself, how did my story get so off track?  If you do not use an outline, you ask yourself, am I happy with the way my story is turning out?

Just when you think the ride is almost over, here it comes, the last little gravity-defying whoop-de-do.  Editing. As your stomach fills with butterflies, you wonder, could your turns have been sharper, tighter, could your straight-a-ways been more concise? Will the readers understand what I’m trying to say?  Will this ride ever end?

You pull into the station. “Please remain seated while we come to a complete stop”. Aw! Your overhead harness lifts and you unfasten your seat belt to exit the train. Wow! That was some experience you think. As you leave the ride platform with your finished story, adrenalin still pumping, it hits you.  Another idea for a new tale emerges “What am I waiting for!” you say.  And so, with all of its ups and down, twists and turns, loop-de-loops and whoop-de-dos, you run back around to the front and stand in line to do it all over again.