Reading a successfully written, published novel wakes the monster in my head, the one with green eyes and green warts. I cannot help being jealous of the writer who has reached this goal that I still struggle toward.
This monster has teeth, too. They eat at my confidence, make comparisons with other author's work as I read, always to my detriment. I try over and again to slay the jealous monster, but somehow it survives each attack.
I don't want this poisonous comparison to spoil my reading, nor to defeat my determination to write. But more and more, I have scars from the green monster's bites. Perhaps I can use Charli Mill's Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge prompt this week to pull the monster's teeth:
March 9, 2016 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a monster story. You can pick any perspective, even that of the monster. It can be literal or symbolic; it can be heroic or realistic. Think about the shifting roles of what is a monster and who is a monster-slayer. Consider how easily we give the label to others or to fears we can’t name.
My monster deserves no consideration. It must die!
_________________________________________
Green Monster
The monster has teeth that tear at me in the dark. "You're obviously missing something the successful writer needs, or you'd have a dozen books on Amazon now, instead of three partly-finished novels and a co-written memoir, half outline and half disorganized notes in a file-cabinet drawer."Plugging my ears doesn't help. I close my Kindle, and it hisses again. "That last book was a good one, wasn't it? We especially liked that last phrase you highlighted. Genius, really. Not at all like your stuff."
Only one way to slay this monster: finish the fiction, polish the memoir, PUBLISH!
No comments:
Post a Comment