Writer's Fallout Shelter

Who doesn't struggle with this?

I have one story here that was featured recently (and not for the first time) in the Romance Newsletter.

The first draft had one character, a customs officer, on the wrong side of the border. Only one Canadian reader even noticed, and kindly pointed out the error. I have a character walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls - at a point where no one who has ever walked a tightrope over the falls would have tried it, for a variety of reasons (too wide, too wet, and probably too much updraft). That bit of fantasy, I chose to write deliberately - it's not an error, it's for dramatic effect. The trick is to either make it credible or distract the reader with other details. No one has even questioned these little details that kind of bug me on some level. So far, I'm the only reader who thinks it's absolutely ludicrous. As are half the action-adventure movie plots out there, so what the hell. It's fiction, right? I made it up.

Read enough fiction - particularly fantasy - and you'll realize that whatever nonsense your brain can cook up, a lot of people out there can cook up even stranger, less logical, less reasonable stuff. A lot of people will love it. You don't have to please everyone. Some readers won't like what you write - ever. Big deal. That's why we have so many different genres to choose from. For everything that can be written, there are writers and there are readers who love them.

Do try not to bore the reader with a terribly ordinary story. I mean, you can write about the most mundane things - just make them seem entertaining. The reader is probably looking for some escape from his own mundane things.

Just for grins, the next time your inner editor/critic starts to shut you down, try writing something like this:

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or this:

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Neither of these stories are finished. I'm not likely to finish either of them. But writing them was fun and cathartic. It was good practice. And a good exercise in writing something completely off-the-wall. (I've had numerous requests from readers to finish them, so as silly as they are, there are other people out there - people not related to me, people who've never met me, and people who wouldn't hesitate to say "What a load of crap!" that actually LIKED these stories.)

Stop worrying. Stress less, write more. Don't let your evil inner critic cripple you.