The Art and Mystery of Writing Stories that Grow Legs and Run Away from Us - by SC Skillman
We may say that the ultimate value of a novel lies in the responses of those who read it.
JK Rowling acknowledged that the whole “fairy tale” of what had happened to her was only because of the people who had read her story and loved it.
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| Stories …. photo credit 'nothingintherulebook.com' |
Years ago, during one of my creative writing classes at Lancaster University years ago, our tutor said to us: Once written and completed, your work is A Thing on the Table. The world can make what it likes of it. It doesn’t belong to you any more.”
Susan Hill, speaking at a local author event, mentioned her first great literary success, The Woman in Black. She said, I have never known a story grow legs and run away from me like that one did.
What a lovely image for the independent life a novel takes on, once completed and out in the world.
I am often fascinated by how differently people can respond to the same book, or film, or event. It's important to bear this in mind when we read reviews. I often read the one-star book reviews first on Amazon, simply because I am intrigued to know 'what is the worse that can be said about this book?'. And often, it's the one-star reviews that make me want to read it. The same goes for films. Recently, the negative reviews for 'Cats' convinced me that I must see this film, and form my own opinion.
But back to the subject of how a story grows legs and runs away from us. I saw the film 'Little Women' the day before writing this piece, and was reminded again of how I loved the story of Jo and her struggles against the limited expectations of women in her time. The scenes between Jo and her publisher were particularly striking, (few debut authors today would be able to strike a bargain as Jo did) but it was delightful to see how her personal life experience informed the story she wrote. That story of struggle and tragedy and different life choices and the path to fulfilment is meaningful to many today. Although I understand she wrote the story at the request of her publisher, I feel sure Louisa May Alcott could never have predicted how her story would grow legs and run away from her.
We may all long to write such a story. I have named this piece The Art and Mystery of... And yet I don't think there is any art for us to apply in achieving this outcome, other than authenticity. It is all a mystery, and is beyond our control. All we can do is try to be as true as possible to our own voice and our own inspiration, when we write our books.
SC Skillman
psychological, paranormal, mystery fiction and inspirational non-fiction.
psychological, paranormal, mystery fiction and inspirational non-fiction.
My new book 'Paranormal Warwickshire' will be published by Amberley Publishing on 15th June 2020 and is available now for pre-order from Amazon
This has to be the title of the year! I was immediately intrigued to know what you were writing about. What a fascinating blog. I love that imagery. I read Little Women so many times as a child and loved it, and I remember re-reading it when I was in the middle of my degree at Birkbeck (aged about 29). I was doing The Victorian Novel and Dickens as two of my course units and it suddenly struck me that actually the two novels (I'm including Good Wives) fitted into the canon as novels of progression, marriage and how women negotiated their lives in the 19th century. Being American, however, the struggles portrayed were very different from those of the heroines of Trollope, Thackeray, Gaskell etc. I found myself looking at the very American girls who married into the aristocracy but on their own terms (although Amy refuses Fred in the end). I am such a Victorian novel geek, but it gave me a whole new perspective. And that fits in perfectly with your analogy of the novel growing legs and running away. I love it!
ReplyDeleteIt's so much scarier for us these days, I think, because people can voice their opinions on a book in so many different ways and on so many different platforms. More frighteningly, they can do so anonymously, therefore not having to own what they say. Arrggh!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ruth - I too love Victorian novels. I love the gothic element in Dickens and the Brontes and Wilkie Collins. I think the stories that 'grow legs and run away' are the ones that captivate new generations at an emotional and psychological level. Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' captivated readers at once but with every new generation it still speaks deeply to us.
ReplyDeleteYes Fran I agree with you. I suppose the first sign of whether a story succeeds or not on the level I'm talking about is sales of books and film and TV rights etc. And the real sign is when people take the characters to their hearts to the extent that they inhabit the readers' own lives.
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