Of all the “W”s of
a story, (Who/Where/What/When/Why) there’s another WHY that may be the most
important. Another blogger, Jennie Nash, addressed it succinctly here.
It’s the why you must tell this story.
I see this more
and more with critique exchanges, of which I have done too many to count, and
maybe most of all for picture book manuscripts. I’ve read nicely constructed
stories based on tried and true formulas that are spelled out in writing craft
books and repeated in writerly conventions or blogs. “This is how you should do
it,” is their essential message, which the writer then followed to a T.
Many use so-called
mentor texts. Every bit of how-to advice is incorporated.
What’s missing,
sorely utterly absent, is the passion for the story.
These painted by
the numbers creations remind me of birds without wings. Nice colors, pleasant
faces, point-on beaks.
But they don’t
fly.
It’s far easier to
comb the feathers of inspired stories that, even in an un-polished state,
already soar.
I’ve seen feedback
that try to blow air beneath these flightless stories by suggesting a stronger
action, more tension, tighter phrasing, etc. What the person giving feedback is
not saying (because we try to be polite and kind) is that the passion is
missing.
If you ask: “Why
did you write this story?” A likely answer is a version of “I read
publishers/agents are looking for such.” Or, “my kids liked that other story so
I used it as a mentor text.”
Better: “Why were
you burning to write this story?”
Putting it this
way, I find that with wingless stories there’s rarely an answer.
For myself, I start with that WHY. Why must I write it?
Then it’s a GO.
