Building a ship

Fiction and non-fiction
Coming out of my novel into the real world is sometimes a discombobulating experience. What’s happening on the planet Rhenium is often more real to me than what’s happening in Europe and America. Rhenium makes more sense to me. I can control it after all. Perhaps that’s why some writers are drawn to create new worlds – because current affairs in the real world are too disheartening.

Out-of-body experiences
As an English teacher I encouraged students to write freely, unself-consciously, without thinking too much – get words down and then edit into shape. I know I believed it when I taught it but now, as a writer myself, I’m discovering the supernatural truth of it. So much has happened to my characters that I didn’t expect – some characters have become more important than others, some have changed genders, some have changed jobs, and some have been amalgamated. These things just happen in the creative splurge. Coming up for air, out of the writing into the real world, is a vital step. Looking back now at the whole thing – trying to see the wood rather than the individual trees – there are some obvious things that I couldn’t see before. How could I have been so clumsy? stupid? stubborn? inept? crass? And the questions that First Reader Emily asked me (and ask me and will continue to ask me) suddenly hit home…. and the insights provided by my medical consultants, my sailing consultants, my energy consultants…. these are of course friends and family, not paid consultants!.... and their comments trigger other thoughts and paths to explore. So 15 chapters have become 21 chapters, my main character Raydan has now gained a step-brother and step-sister as well as a batch of cousins that live in his House. His hair remains red, he still plays the mandolin, he still wants a girlfriend. I’m finding it comforting that he has stayed constant among all the changes.

Yearning for the endless sea
French writer of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a short book I love very much wrote the following and it somehow reflects the creative process to me:

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”