Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Kismet

The following is a response to a question from Rama, one of this blog's followers.

Rama asks:

Hi Mohamed,
I don't know how relevant is my way of writing a short story is with the topic in discussion.
Anyway I thought I should share with you. Before I start writing, I always have an idea of the story in my mind, but I have seen as the story moves on, my idea changes, my characters change and my situations change, in fact everything keeps on changing as I keep writing , and finally I find that my story has no resemblance to what I had in my mind. But somehow I like it. I don't know why I can never stick to my original idea. Should I consider it as an advantage or a disadvantage, please let me know what you feel.
Rama.


Mohamed answers:

Dear Rama,

Please don't feel alone; my characters and stories also evolve through the course of conception. I'm sure that they do for other writers as well. My vote is to allow for that serendipity, especially in first drafts. You'll have plenty of opportunities to enhance consistencies in storyline and character once you're done the initial draft and into editing and revision.

The notion of serendipitous writing came up during an author interview that I did last year. Quoting an excerpt from that interview:

Ed: What’s your writing process?

Mohamed: Serendipity, really. (stop and thinks). It’s difficult to operationalize creativity. If we could, we’d produce Picasso’s paintings or Michelangelo’s David on a conveyor belt. That said, there are specific techniques available to artists of every medium. In my writing, I like to get a set of ideas down and then explore and expand them through prose. Sometimes the prose works, other times it’s crap. Start stringing words together – in the end, that’s the process. That’s about as simple or as complex as it gets. As R.A. Salvatore once wrote to me in an e-mail: “Writers write.”

Ed: Where did you get your ideas for Resolution 786?

Mohamed: The story started out as a concept for a play, a loosely assembled set of literary images that floated around on my desk on scraps of paper and little yellow stickies. This went on for about a year. The play carried a tentative title of “War Crimes” and was a courtroom drama with God on trial. In the midst of this never-finished draft, the Iraq War came about and the events of those days began to stand out in my consciousness. Eventually, those headlines wrapped themselves around “War Crimes,” turning the embryonic play into a cubist novel. See? Serendipity.


You say that your characters and situations change. Well, in this case, not only did that happen in my writing, but the structural medium of the piece changed from a play to a novel. Change happens. Let it.

Later in the same interview, Ed asks if I've had any specific experiences of serendipitous writing. I refer to phenomenon as "kismet" in my response. Quoting that question and its answer:


Ed: Tell us about your forthcoming non-fiction title?

Mohamed: While doing research for my second novel, I realized that I’d developed a set of techniques for creating fiction that may be useful to other writers. I decided to catalogue and describe these techniques in Creating Fiction: A Hands-on, Practitioner’s Guide. So far the draft has chapters on the essentials of reading, developing ideas, constructing narrative, style and voice, and the utility of colleagues in what is otherwise a solitary undertaking. I also have a chapter titled “Kismet,” where I explain how characters can be born from the womb of the story.

Ed: Have you experienced that?

Mohamed: Yes. The custodian in Resolution 786 didn’t come from out of my head and onto the page. He was born from within the story itself.



No only do characters change, Rama. Sometimes new characters are actually born from the story. As you might guess by now, I value serendipity and kismet in my writing. Should you consider it an advantage or disadvantage? It's neither and it's both (I realize that's a strange answer, but I AM an absurdist:)). The larger point I'm making is that the passion and magic of creation is beyond mechanistic description, somewhere outside of dichotomous right or wrong. That said:

Don't fear serendipity.

Don't fear kismet.

Let it flow.

Keep what works.

Ditch what doesn't.

In your question you make the point that although your stories evolve mid-stream, when you're done, you "somehow like it." If there ever was a benchmark for evaluating your own creativity, that has to be it. If you like it, embrace it.

Keep writing, Rama. I am and I will continue to be one of your readers :)

Mohamed

27 comments:

  1. Great answer. My idea's continuously change, too. But sometimes they don't, sometimes they come as they are conjured up.

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  2. Thank you, Victoria. By the way, I'm impressed with the richness of description in your writing, the depth and clarity you give to your characters' outer AND inner worlds, richness both tactile and emotive.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Mohamed :)

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  3. Hi Mohamed..this happens to me too. My ideas are constantly changing and deviating from my original thought pattern, but, I don't mind. I find that it happens for the better.

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  4. good post mohamed! :)
    this is the reason i had a very loose outline (ok, i didn't outline at all). but it allows your novel much more freedom to grow and twist and find it's way. i sort of see the WIP as a child. i'm not the sort of parent that's going to dictate every last detail of my kids' lives. it's important to let the be themselves.
    especially as i've been working on edits and rewrites, i had difficulty at first allowing the neccessary changes happen, but now that i've let loose, i feel the work is getting much better! kismet/serendipity! i never knew the word for it!

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  5. Good answer to a difficult question. It's in a writer's nature to question their work. Sometimes stories have a life of their own :)

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  6. I'm with you, Rachna! Writing is a freeflowing dance of creation, not a structured and practiced gymnastics routine.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!

    Mohamed

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  7. Very excellent post! i think through the course of the writing and revision process, we'll find that our ideas will not, of course, stay the same but instead evolve. It's not a bad thing, at all. I'm pretty sure it happens to everyone who writes fiction (and nonfiction, perhaps).

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  8. Thanks you, aspiring_x! Those are just two words for it; I'm sure there are more.

    Glad to hear that your writing's coming along :)

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  9. I agree, Lynda. I bet even Tolstoy and Steinbeck and Poe and Vonnegut thought back on their greatest works and sometimes felt: "Gosh, I should have done _______ just a bit different!"

    Hey, I really loved your blog post today, the one titled "8 Tips Actors Can Give Writers." I think it'll make for a great "Friday Friends" feature in the near future :)

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  10. Abby,

    You've legitimately extrapolated our discussions into non-fiction. Having written many non-fiction articles, I have to say yes, you're right: kismet and serendipity play a role in that mode of writing as well!

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!

    Mohamed

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  11. Hi Mohamed,
    Thanks for your encouraging words and thanks for posting my question. It is interesting to know how everybody feels. Now I know the exact meaning of the word "Serendipity", maybe I will use it as a title for my next short story.
    BTW, I loved the movie of the same name, I must have watched it at least 10 times, and still not bored with it.
    Rama.

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  12. You're welcome, Rama. It was a great question and, as you can see above, it generated quite a few thoughts and comments on the part of your fellow writers. I haven't seen that movie; I'll have to check it out.

    Enjoy the day!

    Mohamed

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  13. I love that serendipity. It's a great feeling when an idea or urge pushes the story in a different way. The more, the better!

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  14. The idea that I start writing with usually has turned into something very different before I hit 20,000 words. It continues to change until I realize that there's very little of the original idea. I think it's a good thing.

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  15. Lydia - I agree; the best writing is a reflection of life and life certainly comes with huge dollops of serendipitous outcomes.

    Mohamed

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  16. I can relate with your experiences, Jolene!

    If I remember properly, I think Stephen King had a heck of a time coming up with the ending of "The Stand." Then, unexpectedly and uncoerced, the ending came to him in a flash. Sometimes serendipity and kismet aren't just natural, good-natured evolutions in our WIPs; sometimes they're essential, life-saving flashes of brilliance.

    Keep writing!

    Mohamed

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  17. Hi Mohamed,
    nicely timed visit to my blog - I'm about to make some big changes to my novel in progress - I'm all for seeing what happens.

    Neat blog :)

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  18. Thanks, Rachel! You certainly looked like you were doing some deep thinking in your most recent blog photo. Big changes to your novel-in-progress? That'll certainly get you thinking! :) Glad to hear that you've embraced serendipity and kismet. Can't wait to see where you go next with your storyline!

    Mohamed

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  19. Fabulous answer to a fabulous question. For me writing, like parenting, is very humbling. If I try to force the characters/children to be what I think they should be or force the plot, it won't work. Enjoying the natural flow with some gentle guidance seems to work best.

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  20. Munk,

    Heavy?

    Hey, aren't you a chemical engineer (the same professional affliction that I suffer from)? This CAN'T be heavier than mass transfer, heat transfer, fluid mechanics or reactor design...or can it? :)

    Thanks for stopping by; great to hear from you!

    Mohamed

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  21. I'm an outliner, but I can say that I take months to form an outline--while I'm working on other things--and the outline is ever-evolving before I decide it's something I can work with.

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  22. Okay... in terms of total mass the Chem E class load tips the scale on Kismet, but the specific gravity of this discussion is punishing.

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  23. I can totally understand, Medeia. Compared to me, "months" is quick; I've been working on my 2nd novel 2 years now :)

    Happy weekend!

    Mohamed

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  24. Munk - you've got a lot of fugacity making that statement :) [fugacity - the pressure exerted by a real gas vs. Van der Waal's ideal gas). OK, no more strolls down the Chem Engr memory lane, I promise. Best wishes on your continuing writing!

    Mohamed

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  25. Amanda,

    I'm intrigued by your writing/parenting analogy. In so many ways, when writing, you truly are "birthing" and "creating" something that's a reflection of you, something new that you've brought into the world.

    Thanks for contributing and expanding our discussions!

    Mohamed

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