YA Highway

I've been thinking about stories lately - mostly because I'm writing one. I've been thinking about all the little tricks we writers use to get those words on paper. Know your characters. Build your world. Find your theme. Write chronologically. Don't write chronologically. Edit as you go. Don't edit as you go...

But the problem with those tricks is that they're endless. You can listen to wonderful advice until your ears fall off, but the book is not being written.

I would never presume that I know the Ultimate Trick To Writing A Book, but in all my recent thinking and recent writing, I believe I've stumbled on a secret.

Are you ready?

Tell the truth.

"But wait," you say. "We're writing fiction. Fiction isn't truth. Fiction is the opposite of truth."

Okay. Let me explain.

Truth is one of those things that nobody seems to understand. One person will claim to know he Truth, while the other person will claim that Truth is something entirely different. Some people believe in Absolute Truth, and some people believe in Relative Truth, and some people believe that Truth should always be capitalized when one is writing a blog post about it. (Like me, apparently.)

But this post isn't about Universal Truth or Relative Truth or Absolute Truth. This is about Story Truth.

Even fictional things can be truthful. I'd argue that they must be truthful. Because you, the writer, have a particular Truth inside of you that no one else has noticed. You, writer, have seen things the way others have not. You smell the dairy farm down the street in a different way than your neighbor. Your scar looks rougher and pinker than your friend's even though you fell off your bikes on the same day, at the same time. You know all about the man who sleeps outside the coffee shop every day, because once you felt guilty and sat down to talk with him. No one else did that.

You have a Truth. A particular Truth. One that burns inside of you. And you must write it.

You know you want to. You're scared, sure - Truth is scary - but you are DYING to weave it into your story. You feel like your lungs might explode if you don't. The world may not keep spinning if you do not write about the man who sleeps by the coffee shop, the texture of scars, the scent of summertime cows.

Don't be afraid that it's insignificant. The simplest things can be the most profound. "Loneliness hurts." Yes. Simple, but profound. Write it. "Family is not about blood." Sure, maybe it's a little cliche - but it still moves me. Write it.

Tell the Truth. Wrap it up in story, because sometimes the fiction makes the true thing even more obvious.

"Curses can be broken." That is my personal Story Truth. What's yours?

A Long and Kinda Poetic Ramble about Story Truth