I Found the Dam at Otter Creek
So you guys wanted to know about my metaphor, so I guess that to be brief I basically discovered through a glorious epiphany that struck in physics...what the dam at Otter Creek is. That is to say, I know why there is a dam at Otter Creek. So I'm happy about that--it actually gave me insight into a problem I'm having with Harry right now. Incidentally, this insight has not changed my behavior towards him. I guess I'm stubborn, eh?
You know, in that interview (which I'll probably reference often, so for future clarification I'm gonna call it "that interview" or maybe at a future date it'll be the Bible, or the Wisdom of Peas), Pullman, Paolini and Pierce (see the P's?) say how writers are often in the middle of their story before they realize the themes and symbols and metaphpors in the story. Then they can go to the beginning and start saturizing the story with it. I believe it's Pierce who defines it as digging and digging for really nothind and something at the same time and then you find a T-Rex.
But me, I don't work like that. Some people can write the whole story and then find the T-Rex, but I can't do even that. I've gotta start out with the theme and the meaning behind everything, or else I don't feel any motivation to tell the story because I've got no clue what it's trying to say. And if I don't know what it's trying to say, it feels like what I have to say is worthless. Can anyone relate?
P.S. Dunno about "Wicker Poet", but the "Confessions" are up and running again.
posted by Alexander at 3:06 PM
3 Comments:
spaM ATTACK!
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 3:51:00 PM
You really need to get the filter thing...
Well, maybe you aren't letting the stories teach you. That's how you find the t-rexes. I don't know...
Or maybe you just write in a different way than other people. I generally don't find them at all, but I can often feel them throughout the whole writing process.
Thursday, September 15, 2005 2:31:00 PM
I haven't often found profound and huge metaphors underlying in the work as a whole, but sometimes I find them in scenes. One of my more recent stories is the exception. Son of Sferesh has certain metaphors seeped through it, and I think there's another one hiding. But no, I don't need a metaphor for me to write the story. The story itself, the plot line in general, is often enough to drive me. But then, we must take into account that I have never actually finished a story. Written rough-drafts that are often vague for nearly every point in the story: once. Finished a story: never.
I think that you would really like to read The Plot Thickens. 'Tis quite useful and it addresses this sort of thing. Why you're writing and all that.
Sunday, September 18, 2005 7:41:00 PM
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