OK, enough with the lit’ry stuff.
Was it only a few weeks ago that I swore off commercialism
and “ascended to the realm of the creative writer”? My novel was obscurely but
finally (self-) published, I had enlisted in a short-story-writing group, and I
had entered half-a-dozen contests.
Now, as the contest results come back, I am informed, in
case I didn’t know it, that fiction is not my strong suit. The fact is that the
writing habits developed over decades of
business/commercial/technical writing do not lend themselves well to fiction.
The novel was an exception -- something I felt strongly about -- and had the
leisure to complete -- 47 years from first draft to publication.
Most of the time, however, I was working to shorter
deadlines and in shorter forms. What develops out of that, for me, anyway, is a
style that is short to the point of being terse, and an eye for removing excess
words (in my own writing, or others’ if I’m entrusted with editing it). This
blog is an exception to some of that, but the material I dealt with in a
business capacity was factual.
This does not go down well in fiction. The winning entries
behind which I have been finishing (far
behind) are tales spun out at lengths I would once have considered novellas.
More importantly, they seem always to appeal to the emotions.
I’m not opposed to emotion in writing, and Lord knows there are
subjects to write about today that will arouse them. But that’s real emotion.
The emotion in fictional work is by definition contrived, and I find it difficult to generate. However, there’s a lot of instruction available at the
writers’ group I joined, and I will continue to study the techniques revealed
there.
For now, though, I’m retreating to my comfort zone. For the
next while I will be writing articles for trade publications and, with two
friends of the graphic persuasion, offering proposal building services. Our
niche will be mid-level contractors who would like to win government business
or subcontracts from larger corporations but don’t have the resources to build
the necessary proposals. We will help them get into the game.
