Mitchell Brant and the Creative Process . . .

At one point in The Eye-Dancers, with so many questions and so few answers to what’s been happening to them, Mitchell Brant tells Marc Kuslanski, “Haven’t you ever just felt something to be true?”  He’s talking to the wrong person, of course, since Marc is all about logic and precision and quantifiable facts.  But Mitchell understands, and Marc will need to learn–there are facts, and there is truth.

It reminds me of writing, the creative process in general.  Anyone who writes creatively knows the struggles and frustrations of plotting, pacing, editing, second drafts, making sure point A matches up with point B, and on and on.  With The Eye-Dancers, I had a good idea where I wanted to go before I even keyed in the first word of chapter one.  I had a good grasp of the main characters, their motivations, personalities, quirks, and hang-ups.  (They’re far from perfect, as I’m sure anyone who’s read the first three chapters on here can see!)  I had most of the plotlines figured out well in advance, and hoped to minimize unexpected twists and turns as I forged ahead.

Or so I thought.

What I’d failed to take into account is that this is impossible when doing something creative.  Creative writing, creative art of any kind is a mysterious thing.  Sometimes, for instance, I thought I knew how a chapter would end, yet it ended in a way I hadn’t foreseen.  Many times characters spoke lines I never would have considered ahead of time.  And yes, even major plotlines were altered as the runaway freight train of creativity grabbed the story by the hand and didn’t let go.

When it’s all said and done, this is one of the “highs” of writing.  When a twist of the plot flashes in your head and passes the “yes” test, it’s a revelation.  When a character says something, or does something, you didn’t envision, it’s almost an out-of-body experience.  There’s nothing quite like the often chaotic, unpredictable, yet exhilarating process of creating.

Mitchell had it right.  Sometimes we just feel things to be true.  There’s no hard proof.  There’s no way to calculate.  We just know.  And hopefully the many twists and turns The Eye-Dancers took during the writing process will do Mitchell proud.

–Mike