Dispatch from The Quest: Jordan Earls
Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the fourth week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Jordan about story and “killing your darlings”:
Writers take pride in their work. One-liners and minor characters who provide a bit of comic relief at the most opportune moment become favored over our real life children. Of course, the closest I’ve ever come to having children was babysitting a pair of two-year old twins. But I distinctly remember their favorite hobby was painting the walls with the contents of their diapers… So, I’m taking the liberty to assume. When those favorite pieces no longer service the story (and, often times, disservice it) our babies become a whole new monster.
No, I’m not talking about rampaging, hormonal teenagers. They become a manifestation of the writer’s ego. We’ve all seen that vain chick who, walking down the street, checks herself out in every window she passes. For us writers, our babies become the windows and we become the eye-roll-inducing “vain chick.”
I won’t lie, I’ve been that person before. Hell, I was that person this last week of The Quest. I had just finished my outline and I thought it was pretty solid. In fact, I even came up with all these sides of dialogue that I was quite proud of. Then, I got some feedback that I wasn’t instantaneously psyched about. Why? Because the feedback pointed out a rather massive flaw that my ego had blinded me to.
At first, I didn’t want it to change. Changing it would mean all those sides and one-liners I was so proud of would be gone. Getting through this process of writing and re-writing an outline is creatively tiring, especially when all you want to do is type FADE IN. When you find something as simple as a one-liner that reignites your excitement, it can be difficult to let go of. But sometimes it has to be let go of.
Writing isn’t about the writer. Writing is about the story. In the end, I knew what I had to do — set my ego aside. So, for the sake of the story, I paid some homage to Toni Morrison and sacrificed my beloved. Now, the story’s functioning better and I learned a lesson all writers will learn at some point: Kill your darlings.
“Writing is about the story.” Reminds me of this Writing Mantra: “The story rules”.
Tomorrow: Another Dispatch from The Quest.
About Jordan: Portland based writer. Connoisseur of film with an affinity for Nolan, Boyle and Jackson. Twitter: @jordanpaige00.