When I’m writing fiction, and I don’t know where to start, half the time I start with my character punching someone and let it flow from there.
(We don’t have to psychoanalyze why I write such violent characters. It’s cathartic, okay?.)
There’s something about being thrown into the action where scenes unfold without me thinking about it. Why did they punch someone? Do they get hit back? Are they good at punching? How does the fight end? What are the consequences? How do they feel about violence?
So today, for my writing group with a few coworkers, an unplanned scene that started with my main character, Jack, (violently) saving a little girl who was getting hurt by someone and ended with Jack getting fired from his job (oops, don’t beat up the boss’s son) . . . but also lowkey having a sweet moment while his secret boyfriend iced his face in the Sherrif’s office as they daydreamed running away with the car they fixed up together.
This is why I suck at planning and outlining stories ahead of time. It’s hard for me to think unless I’m actually writing, at least for early drafts.
Does anyone else feel like they’re writing fanfiction for their own story sometimes? I feel like I could play around in Jack’s world forever — all these different versions of him that still feel like him. In one world he plays baseball and collects National Geographic magazines. In another, he fixes up cars and works at a gas station. In one world he’s never thought about kissing someone. In another, he learns what an icing expert is. In my head, he is all of this. A boy who fears violence but it comes to him as easy as breathing. A boy who’s convinced himself he doesn’t want anything because what he does want feels unreachable, dangerous. A boy who does what it takes to survive and then has to survive his choices. And he has a cat.
I love writing fiction. I should do it more often.
With Love,
Natalie