Stay in your story

The other day at my day job – the I’ve-got-bills-to-pay job – I was talking to a co-worker who wants to write for television. She hasn’t made the plunge into pursuing that dream yet, but she is trying the water. This co-worker told me about an excerpt of Walter Mosley's This Year You Write Your Novel in the August 2007 O Magazine.

According to my co-worker, Mr. Mosley says writers should commit to writing three hours every day. Since I was surprised to hear this - and since I intend to read Mr. Mosley's book - I went to the store that evening to purchase the O Magazine issue. I read the excerpt and found my co-worker had misunderstood Mr. Mosley's point.

He writes at least three hours every morning. But the point he was trying to convey is the importance of staying in your story so you can connect your unconscious mind with your characters, your setting and your plot.

I agree wholeheartedly with his position. To get to the place where your characters are telling you their story - and stay there - it's important to write something each and every day. You may not be able to manage three hours every day, but can you manage one hour? And even if you're not adding pages of new words every day, can you add a paragraph?

I believe the first step is making that connection with your characters and your story. Once that connection is there, the words will come. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Mr. Mosley's book.

Patricia