Friday Frights
Where you, the reader, get to express yourself
Welcome to another edition of “Friday Frights,” where I write just a little to set up a topic for discussion, but the real action takes place in the comments from you.
One of my frustrations as a writer is that I’ve enjoyed some nice successes in the creative non-fiction realm but haven’t realized my lifelong dream of writing a novel. Non-fiction combines creativity and analysis, which is my comfort zone, whereas fiction leans more heavily towards imagination. I’m in awe of writers who can envision places and people who exist only in their minds…until they write them into being.
But I still noodle around with writing fiction because, even if I never write that novel, the very exercise of writing from my imagination stretches my writing muscles and makes me a better writer, overall.
Do you have a similar experience? I’d love to hear it. In the comments below, please fill in the blanks in this sentence:
“I feel comfortable writing ______, but I wish I could also write ______. What keeps me from doing so is ________________.”
Also, feel free to reply to other readers’ comments. I really appreciate your willingness to be open with the rest of us!
I'm comfortable writing character sketches and interesting openings, but I wish I could write novel-length stories. What holds me back is I have difficulty with the plotting process and get bogged down with the endless possibilities that that length offers. Thanks for offering this place to express our fears. :)
I’m comfortable writing screenplays but I wish I could write novels. And poetry. What keeps me from doing it is the fear that I’ve never studied these forms and I don’t know the rules. I’m afraid I’ll do it wrong.