A Writer’s Wants vs. A Story’s Needs
A little while back at Mel’s we were debating the merits of Writing What You Want. With the exception of work-for-hire, it’s a little obvious that we all write what we want, don’t we? Otherwise we wouldn’t be writing? I think we’re all in violent agreement on the necessity of fun in the work.
But what a writer wants and what a story needs aren’t always or necessarily the same thing.
For example, what if I want to add another character, but my story doesn’t need another character? Then how does adding another character help me? It doesn’t. It might be fun to add another character, because that’s what I want. But if my story doesn’t need it, then I’m only hurting the work. What if I don’t like to think about plot, or don’t want plot, but plot is what my story really needs? You can easily see how writers might get themselves in trouble.
As the writer should you always do what you want, even when doing what you want hurts the work?
Is it difficult to match your wants to the story’s needs?
Why is matching the writer’s wants to the story’s needs such a difficult tradeoff? Is it ever a bad tradeoff to make? If so, why?
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July 14th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
NO!
Trust me on this. Sometimes what the writer wants is not what’s best for the story. Trust me I know. It took getting this close to getting a publisher interested in my story only to stay the beginning wasn’t strong enough…part of it cause I was too stubborn to change things.
I’ve always known I start novels off slow. I like lots of background and explanation. I’ve always put it at the beginning making things slow.
I’ve learned that there’s a compromise. I can still have that background, but I can space it out, put it in later…not all at the beginning and still make a story work.
The funny thing is…I find when I finally do what the novel needs, I really haven’t compromised too much and 95% of the time it’s actually much better than the original version.
And those times when I have to lose a character or sub-plot or even a scene I really like, I remind myself they’re not really ‘gone’. There’s always the next story where that character might find a home or that subplot might be just what the story needs.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Right, exactly. This is why I don’t feel it’s such a bad compromise. I don’t really understand the “selling out your artistic integrity” thing when you suppress your writerly wants in favor of the story’s needs. Yet, lots of writers still swear by the hedonism of their wants.
Also, the issue of fun gets convoluted. I can have fun by doing what I want. But I can also have fun by being satisfied with my story, and making it the best it can be. It’s true they are different kinds of fun for me, but I think the rewards of a satisfying story outweight the… arbitrary muse.
My mind is always churning with odd thoughts that I like or want, so the fact I don’t let all of them into the story doesn’t seem so much like the crime against art that it’s painted to be.