Why Difficulty Makes a Good Writer

We writers manifest through our characters. We are captivated by the idea of a world where the magical can become real whenever we decide to summon it. It doesn’t mean reality isn’t magical. It just means sometimes we are in the not so fun part of the plot.

Living this side of the story has its purpose. It inspires us to write stories where heroes overcome hardship to achieve a goal. Where we set the rules. As soon as we start resonating with our characters our true intentions are revealed.

   Ever get that feeling, “My mind feels like a disaster zone but if you were to ask me to name a specific reason there are multiple or neither, I don’t know how to explain or escape it.” That is when you should write. The reason no person showed up in this scene to change your day is because you're supposed to feel this way. This part of the script is crucial to the story.  So soak it in with an acceptance that says there’s nothing wrong with me “feeling off” today, whatever that means to you.

    I wish I could envelop you with a big hug because I know the feeling all too well. But I will say if your reality is abysmal, dream of a reality that sounds straight off the silver screen, even if in your life it may only be fiction now. It’s ironic that when you write fiction there are no rules forbidding characters with perfect lives, yet rarely do writers choose to make perfect characters. 

   Because maybe the point of creating anything is to manifest something beautiful that we struggle to find within the confines of reality, yet still remains attainable. We love stories(plays, movies, books,etc.) because the story of the peasant becoming a king or the troublemaker becoming a role model is possible for all of us, if we just push past the difficulties when we feel we sit on a throne of sorrows.

Do you feel buried alive as a creative? That somehow your spark is fizzling and you believe it to be dead when truly it's grasping to claw its way out of the mucky grave that is this “feeling off.”

Rise out of that grave and even if you can’t find the sunshine then write about the rain. All emotions are valid so stop treating the negative emotions as if they’re not supposed to happen. Know you are not wasting your time.

Everytime I blog, pen a poem, or dabble with a screenplay it's only when the stars seem so unaligned in my life that I desire to put the stars together in my characters’ lives, or hopefully show you my dear reader a little spark of light in your own story. Stories have power, but can you find the courage within to tell your story, unabashedly in your own way?

   You have more potential than you think, despite the very real demons loitering in your mind, if only you typed out the life you wanted reality to be. Some say that’s hopeless optimism. But that is writing. 

And the ability to manifest your story in your way is a freeing pursuit. Don’t deny yourself that, no matter how sloppy or stuck you feel.