The Writer and the World

For a writer, all the world is one's inspiration -- and for the writer of science fiction and fantasy, there is also the privelege of creating a world of one's own, and hopefully making it so real to one's readers that they feel as though they are actually there.

Yet it is often a difficult process, fraught with frustration and setbacks at every turn. But when one succeeds, the reward makes all the pain worth it.

Unfortunately, non-writers often fail to understand the process. For those to whom "writing" means dutifully cranking out a thank-you note, the process of writing fiction can often be bewildering, or even look like no process at all. How do you explain that you really are working on your story or novel when you're just sitting motionless, struggling with a recalciterant plot element or a character who refuses to clarify in your mind? To them, you should be able to sit down and start at the beginning and write through to the end, and if you're just sitting there, you're obviously loafing and therefore you can come help them with this, that or the other chore.

And even when you finally get your story or novel written, there's the problem of getting it published. The endless rounds of submissions and rejections, the constant nagging doubt as to whether you really have what it takes, whether you're just a fool with delusions of ability when you have nothing to show for your work but a pile of rejection slips and receipts for postage. Is it any wonder if those around you smile that patronizing little smile and say, "Isn't it time to come back down to earth and do some REAL work?"

But the stories never go away. Even when you try to put them into that nice little box and "give up childish dreams," the characters come back like old friends to whisper in your ears, and soon you're jotting down "just a little" that soon becomes a full-fledged story, a novel, even a series of novels.

It's in our blood. We can't give it up.