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Scary?
Doing something new and unfamiliar is always a little scary…
New Territory
All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary. ~Sally Ride
I’ve been working my way through the materials that have been provided to me for the establishment of my new LLC.
It’s all pretty dizzying.
That’s fine, though. I’ve never been particularly apprehensive when it comes to new experiences.
It helps to acknowledge ahead of time that you don’t know what you don’t know and do your best to proceed with cautious optimism.
Facing fear is the best way to defeat it.
Dance
Lee Ann Womack – I Hope You Dance (Official Music Video)
This song always makes me smile. I really love to dance. Whether it’s actually dancing or applying a dance-like rhythm to whatever I happen to be working on, there’s something reassuring about the way that dancing makes me feel.
If you have a challenge ahead of you, I hope you dance. It really does make things go more smoothly.
Argument
Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience. ~Rebecca West
Not sure I agree with that.
Maybe not so much an argument as a game of twenty questions followed by a provocation. That could lead to an argument or it could just make the readers engage with the story. Hopefully the latter.
One of the great things about writing in a particular genre is that there are established tropes and expectations. You can always delight people with a surprise twist but you don’t want to do something so jarring as to be annoying.
If you’re writing a cozy mystery, it would be best not to have dinosaurs wandering around without a very good reason as to why they’re there.
There are conventions that help to simplify your decisions, but they also set a point of departure so that you can “think outside the box“. Doing so could certainly start a kind of argument.
People who are used to formulaic, cookie-cutter approaches might be delighted by the departure from convention or they might be annoyed. Either way, getting a reaction that draws them in can’t be a bad thing.
As long as you’re drawing them in and not repelling them entirely, you can work on achieving buy-in.
I started reading a book that I got from a library book sale. I really wanted to like it. The premise was a huge draw. A police procedural in a world inhabited by monsters. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, all that. I love cop shows. I love the classic B&W monster movies. How can you go wrong? It was even set in Scranton, PA. I used to work in Scranton, PA. How can you go wrong?
Well, he did.
I tried to willingly suspend disbelief. I had buy-in from the blurb but he repulsed me right back out. Poor writing, dopey characters, weirdly forced attempts at establishing slang, I just couldn’t. I just can’t. I don’t think I’ll ever pick it up again. It was just so bad.
I don’t want to be that guy. I hope you aren’t going to be him either.
Well, it’s not so much scary as it is unfamiliar and a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out sooner or later.