Composition

Composition. Substance. What draws you into a story or new writing project? Like composition in photography, writing often needs that frame, the structure to your story, and as the creator, the writer, you move the lens around to find the right frame.

Do you start at the beginning and just go with the flow? Do you start at the end and work your way backwards? Or my personal favorite, write out a scene in the middle, and work in both directions as the motivation and outline come to you. I rarely use an outline to write my narratives, which usually makes my editing revisions that much more difficult (I'm still learning). But often an outline can help organize your thoughts, keep you in flow, and guide you to the next step so you never have that blank page, blinking cursor blocked moment.

I love the rush of ideas as characters, scenes, names, and actions just pop into my head and I have no other choice but to stop what I'm doing and find a piece of paper. If I don't, those ideas start leaking out my ears, and I can't ever capture the pure genius that I envision they had after the fact. Do you ever find yourself focusing in one area, and it seems to be working, until something shifts slightly, and bam, that's the real point. All of the elements come together; the perfect shot.