Tiffani Angus
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Spec Fic guide
  • Threading...
  • Conventions
  • Blog

Charmed

18/7/2014

0 Comments

 
After you've been writing for a while, you start to know--as much as anyone can KNOW anything--when a story is good. It feels charmed. That's the only way I can describe it. "If Wishes Were Horses", my first sale, felt charmed when I wrote it. Scenes in my first novel did, too. And there is one whole section of the PhD novel that makes me happy and calm and sparkly every time I open the file (here's to hoping that the other parts start to take on that particular sheen when I work on revisions). 

The story that comes out next week, "Fairchild's Folly", had that same buzz when I wrote it. I'm not sure what it's from: Knowing that I'm on the right track early on? Understanding what a story is *about* (the story that lives beneath the plot mechanics--the story underneath the story) when I'm writing the first draft? That feeling of standing back and watching it all unspool itself (aka, getting out of my own way)? 

I. Don't. Know.


But I have accepted that I don't have to know why. That I will likely never know why. And the more I write, the more I catch that mojo. Perhaps it comes from practice--a certain maturity or ability to let go of the fear and let the story happen rather than overthinking it (again, getting out of your own way). 

What I DO know, though, is that charmed stories take on a life of their own out in the world. And, if you're lucky enough to have amazing people who believe in you and your work, those little charmed stories become bigger than the page. This is slowly happening to "Fairchild's Folly", which isn't even out in public yet, HERE and HERE!  (I'll come clean when I can.)



0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Tiffani Angus

    Mostly thoughts on writing and the creative life.

    Archives

    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    June 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    July 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    April 2013
    March 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly