By Kristy McCaffrey
How do writers find their stories?
The great mythologist Joseph Campbell stated in The Hero With A Thousand Faces:
“Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, the
myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of
whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and
mind.”
Stories live within us, whether we acknowledge them or not. A
writer’s job is to excavate this terrain and bring it forth into the world. The
act of experiencing a well-told tale, via a novel or a film or a bedtime story,
will activate this internal landscape, sparking a recognition deep in the
psyche.
A writer uses any number of tools at his or her
disposal—intuition, dreams, research, imagination. Shaman and dream
archaeologist Robert Moss says that stories are hunting for the right person to
tell them. If a story is pressing on you to be told, and you ignore the call,
the narrative will find another outlet for expression. This has often been
called an artist’s muse, and many a writer has lamented when their source of
inspiration has left them.
How to invite the stargazer, the fantasizer, the daydreamer
to remain close? In Women Who Run With
The Wolves, Jungian psychologist Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes says that (for
women) the Wild Woman is necessary for all that is needed and known. Wild Woman
is a vehicle to our instinctual nature, bringing us close to the wild terrain
of our most primitive self.
“It means to establish territory, to find one’s pack, to be
in one’s body with certainty and pride regardless of the body’s gifts and
limitations, to speak and act in one’s behalf, to be aware, alert, to draw on
the innate feminine powers of intuition and sensing, to come into one’s cycles,
to find what one belongs to, to rise with dignity, to retain as much
consciousness as we can.”
One way to excavate is through story collecting, an
excellent device to fill the creative coffers. The more story bones acquired,
the more tools that are at hand in creating the ‘whole’ story.
Natalie Goldberg, in Writing
Down The Bones, offers other ideas: carry a notebook with you at all times,
practice timed writing with no editing (first thoughts aren’t controlled by the
ego), write consistently to strengthen the storytelling muscle.
“That’s very nice if they want to publish you, but don’t pay
too much attention to it. It will toss you away. Just continue to write.” ~
Katagiri Roshi
Kristy McCaffrey has been writing since she was very young, but it wasn’t until she was a stay-at-home mom that she considered becoming published. She’s the author of several historical western romances, all set in the American southwest. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two chocolate labs, and whichever of their four teenage children happen to be in residence.
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4 comments:
Great thoughts and sources :) I think we keep the muse by following it and not necessarily the dollar. Every writer wants to make money, of course, but I don't think the muse cares about it. So if we are fortunate with our muse, and what we are getting fits the current zeitgeist, it's a win win. It doesn't always work that way and turning off the muse is a way I stop hearing until I open back up to creative juices mattering most with the sales secondary (not not unimportant, of course).
Very true, Rain. For a career writer, it's always a balance of creativity and marketability. I believe through trial and error we can find our sweet spot. That and a lot of hard work LOL. Thanks for stopping by!
This was a marvelous blog, Kristy. Sometimes writers do have to dig deep to find a story and other times, the story just walks right into our consciousness. I particularly like the second. Digging deep can be emotionally painful, but the story must be told just the same. We bleed a little getting some stories out on the page. They aren't just stories to us, they are a part of us and our truth.
On the other hand, I've written some stories I wish I could go back and bury.
Loved reading this blog, Kristy. I wish you all the best of everything.
Thank you Sarah! I'm glad it struck a chord with you. Stories come at us in many different ways. :-)
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