Storytelling Is Not IKEA Furniture
I have this creative block. Annoying as hell.
Okay, I partially understand why: I am writing about topics that, we can say, are not easy.
I mean, I am writing about the art of letting go: childhood trauma, death, miscarriage, etc. Not the easiest topics.
But still, I am blocked in a way that I see something right in front of my eyes, aaaaaand... I cannot reach it.
It drives me crazy.
And do you know how you can drive me even more crazy?
If you ask me why I overthink instead of just following my heart.
This is the moment when I get Google eyes, my face goes red, and I want to kill someone with a spoon.
I mean...
Man...
Have you ever built something more complex than IKEA furniture? Seriously.
Even a short story requires some kind of planning, especially if you want to create a cohesive volume.
Yeah, I could sit down and just write whatever is on my mind, so I can end up with a complete and total mess.
Then I'd have to work double or triple to make it make sense not only to me but also to my unfortunate reader.
"Follow your heart..."
Good joke.
This is not a love story. It's storytelling.
With composition.
With a beginning, an ending, and a lot of things in between.
A meaning.
Hidden meanings.
It helps if I know what I want to say. How I want to say it. What feeling I want to evoke in my audience.
That volume is not like this trash-bin blog where I come to vent, and it doesn't matter if it makes sense to anyone.
Because this is my rubber duck.
I clear my mind here so I can do decent work in my actual creative journey.
But planning a volume of short stories around a specific theme is way more complex than it seems at first.
I don't even want to talk about my novel...
Oh, God.
Sooo, what I wanted to say is that I am unsure, at the moment, what my exact goal is with this volume.
I know it will be about loss, letting go, healing, and leaving behind what no longer serves us.
I will use my own life story, but I don't want it to become too personal.
Because it is absolutely not about me.
That's why I and my feelings shouldn't be the focus. The reader's feelings and their impressions should.
How can I tell something so personal while making it impersonal?
How can I convey and evoke feelings without overwriting or projecting my own experiences and emotions?
Because writing should never be about my feelings (unless it is a biography or memoir), but about the audience and their own experience.
How can I lead them through a traumatic and difficult time without telling them how they should feel or how they should heal?
Because these are all personal journeys, and there is no universal recipe.
What works for me won't necessarily work for others.
How can I share feelings without becoming melodramatic?
How can I show instead of tell without becoming too cold?
And what is my overall goal?
Because that is important as well.
Honestly, I mainly want it to be a mirror.
So I can make people feel they are not alone.
And give them hope that there is always a chance to move on.
But I don't want to say it directly.
I don't think it works.
Probably, in the twenty-first century, everyone already knows, consciously, that healing is possible.
I don't want to preach some grand truth.
That's not my job.
I am a creator, not a therapist.
And how can I detach myself during the creative process?
I mean, my miscarriage is not something I enjoy remembering.
So creative block is a real issue, and not something that can be solved with "follow your heart."
Whatever.