The Devil Is In The Details

A French philosopher once said, “Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien” (“The best is the mortal enemy of the good”). Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu.

In retrospect, I seemed to have lived by that code. Not because of my gifts, but because of my limitations.

This chronic affliction has carried over into my latest incarnation as a writer.

Due to my Celtic contrarian nature, I tend to rebel against rules.

Many literary giants have been generous enough to offer their rules to successful writing to those up-and-coming scribes who believe that if they follow their favorite author’s rules, they too will become the next Stephen King.

I’m a huge fan of the writing of Ernest Hemingway and would love to be mentioned in the same breath, but I know I never will. I’ve broken all of his rules.

Ernest Hemingway’s Writing Wisdom in 13 Rules | No Film School

I’ve had friends send me many versions of those rules, especially over these past few years. They mean well. They want my writing to be perfect. Their recommendations are always spot on. They are absolutely right in their critique. And I do appreciate their generous interest in my success.

For example, I’ve been told that I like to use “filler” words in my writing. But one writer’s filler is another openly imperfect writer’s detail. I tend to include tiny details that someone who may have walked the path I’m describing may not have noticed but when they read my version of that scene the word triggers a déjà vu moment of uncertain familiarity that keeps them following the filler breadcrumbs to where I want them to be. So, I may include an adjective or adverb that another more perfect writer may cut, because that particular word triggers the scene of the movie playing in my mind. Something to invoke the buttery smell of the salty popcorn in the movie theatre.

My favorite summation of my writing comes from one of my inner circle of readers, Anna Hillman:

“What you might miss in an occasional misspelling, or grammar errors you more than make up for in storytelling and the ability to make a normal three-word sentence into a fifteen-word sentence that lets your readers see exactly what you are seeing. You never cease to amaze me with your elaborate descriptions.”

Towards that end, if you have read The Claire Saga, you will know that the three large mountains that I call The Three Witches play a large role in the WitSec world of Jimmy Moran. These very real mountains have been fodder for earlier blogs. Is it me, or does it look like The Three Witches are vaping in the opening photo?

The Three Witches – The Wise Novelist

Three Cute Witches – The Wise Novelist

Warning, I Stop For Visuals – The Wise Novelist

At some point, every day, without fail, something draws my eyes toward the western horizon, to make sure they are still out there, watching over me. They were the first thing I noticed when I was completing my cross-country drive to my new NoCo home in 2017. Indeed, at the time my single digit model iPhone was absolutely shit when it came to providing a badly needed guidance system. However, I knew that if the google maps app could get me in the general vicinity of Berthoud before the battery crapped out, The Three Witches would guide me the rest of the way home.

For three large summits that never move, they still manage to change up their appearance at will.

You see, they are always right there at the end of Beverly Drive, keeping a watch over Casa Claire,

So, when Claire was dictating her masterpiece, she made sure to work The Three Witches into her Saga. And there were often filler words that were added to try to capture the anthropomorphic nature of The Three Witches – telepathic translation is not an exact science.

The greatest descriptive detail about The Three Witches appears in Chapter Forty-One of An Alien Appeal, which is titled “(Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.)”

Now I have never climbed that mountain, but Claire made sure I mentioned details one would see during an ascent, like the “Goblins Forest” sign, the bridge over the “Alpine Brook,” the wind-shearing “Keyhole,” and the CSU marker at the top of the tallest mountain where Jimmy meets Michelle and embraces his future as a hybrid. I may have added a few adjectives and adverbs as part of the translation.

During those descriptions, I work in adjectives and adverbs as little seed pods that catch on your clothing as you pass and remind you, as you arrive at certain climactic moments, and are forced to remove each one by hand, how you got there.

What Are Those Spiky, Round Seeds That Stick To You?

Now, I know I’m probably doing it wrong most of the time, but if I sat around worrying about how to do it right, I would still be working on The Wise Ass. That fear of appearing less than perfect may explain why it takes so many of the best writers so long to complete a novel.

The beauty of getting old is that you stop sweating the small stuff. But you do worry about not finishing what you started. So, you write good stories, imperfectly, because, as one of my most inspiring Guru’s – Wayne Dyer – once said, you don’t want to die with your music still in you.

https://youtu.be/c3GBafhDdqo

I have never been in love with my writing. But I do love my stories. And I want to share them.

So, I’m going to continue writing good stories, imperfectly. As many as I can before that final curtain. Maybe that’s my genius.

Now, the rest of you fine, five readers finish that Monday morning second cuppa, pull up your socks and get out there on your hamster wheels as a productive cog in society’s machine.

I too, have shit to do.

And no matter what we each may get up to, let us make today a great one.