On Writing: Live. Write. Rinse. Repeat.

[lagilman]

Over in debg's LJ we're discussing one-liner advice to writers. Mine was "Be true."

I'm going to go further on that subject at a later date, I think -- possibly on Storytellers. But I'm at a point in the book where the words are resonating, and not in a good way.

See, I have to write a scene. A very emotional, highly charged scene. And in order for me to get the emotion down into the page, I have to drag it up out of me.

To be true.


But that's going to take me to a place I don't want to be, using memories that are painful. Things that hurt. Being true to the emotion -- not shortchanging the reader of the full impact of the scene, as best as I can provide it -- has a cost.

And I'm not sure I want to pay it. Again.


What it comes down to is the question of which is more important: my short-term emotional comfort, or the book.


There's not really any argument. Just a lot of reluctance, until I'm actually there.


And then all I can do is hope that the final scene is worth it.