Well, I’d love to, but part of the issue is that I don’t really know what I’m looking for or trying to explore–that’s the central problem. But I can point to some of the aspects of the genre I find more tiring than others–i.e. where the face to brick wall hurts the most.
* The biggest problem I’ve been facing is one of character–I’m getting tired of the rather limited motivations which the tropes of the genre rely on. You can only write so many “revenge”, “second-chance-at-life”, “self-betterment” stories before they all blur together into one thick morass. I’ve been trying to assuage this by shifting the focus away from the change itself–making it more incidental rather than necessary. That second sketch I did, with the biker and the guy towing the trailer, is an example of that. The change is there, but it’s unexplained and the motivation isn’t explicit. It lent the character’s a depth that I really liked, but haven’t really been able to reproduce consciously.
* My writing style is pretty fucking bland. Don’t get me wrong, it gets the job done, but I don’t really put nearly as much effort into craft as I can and should be doing. One quick edit for the most glaring typos doesn’t make a story read well, but I also can’t put as much effort into craft and put out as many stories as I was. I simply don’t have the time. These recent stories aren’t any better, mind you, but it’s something that’s been wearing on me all the same.
* A lot of this current ennui/dissatisfaction actually stems all the way back from when I was working on the third book of “City of Bears” in November 2012. I found myself in the midst of the story line of Matt and Terry, and I found these two character leading me in directions that I had not anticipated but they were developing into actual people, rather than characters who I just kind of manipulate on the page to get people’s rocks off. It scared me, at the time, but again, it was a sensation I haven’t really been able to reproduce, and that’s been wearing on me as well, trying to figure out what went right there, or what I’ve been getting wrong all this time.
* I’ve spent most of my time these last two years writing commissions, and one of the things that happens when you write down other people’s fantasies is that you lose sight of your own interests. It can make writing your own thing again really difficult, I’ve found (or at least for me, it has). As I’ve ramped down the commissions over the last year, I haven’t really found much inspiration to replace them. Writing these little shorts have been a way to try and jumpstart that creativity, but nothing’s really been working.
Those are just the few that come to mind right now. There are more of course, but I think those are the big things I’ve been trying to do lately.
Bracken's Corner 