Of Dilemmas, Alice in Wonderland, and Shifts in Consciousness…

There comes a time in every story or novel when the main character stands in the midst of her, or his dilemma like Alice does when facing Wonderland.

The protagonist ponders, How do present circumstances differ from my immediate past?

This place, like that of Alice in her wondrous, and yet frightening Wonderland, sits between the immediate past of the main character, a time of order and safety shaken by chaos, and the present moment of having begun the journey towards adapting to the change required by upheaval.

Writers often experience this time of reclaiming one’s grounding when writing the rough drafts of our stories. We return to this place when settling down to revise them, and thereafter each time we begin subsequent revisions.

This moment of trial and testing signals our approach to drafting or revising the central or middle part of our novel where the wings of change set into motion another round of birds harboring chaos that spread their wings beyond the story’s opening, and take us to the heart of a novel.

The heart of a novel coincides with the crisis, or arc, the height of dramatic action in the narrative.

Even when this is not the case, and the crisis occurs not at the center of the story, but follows a more delayed track, the action and tension of the narrative line certainly tightens in the up hill climb towards ultimate crisis followed by climax.

The continuity of action holding the plot strains toward the apex of conflict simultaneous to the protagonist’s striving to meet the demands set upon her, or him in an effort to survive.

It is at this time that we the writers exert our minds and imaginations in our efforts to touch upon the souls of our characters.  We work to bring their deepest fears and yearnings to the page in a way that stirs the same elixir of emotions in our readers.

What are the emotions you feel when reaching the arc of your story?

Do you find the crisis of your stories and/or novels, the scenes of greatest intensity and action, happening at the center of your stories, or occurring in more delayed fashion right before the climax, the moment of decision wherein actions and decisions evidence the transformation precipitated by mounting crises, and are followed by a quick denouement, or resolution?

Whatever the structure of our story the ebb and flow of emotions that result from chaos and change and irrevocable actions taken in response to these changes leave us the writers with much to experience and emote.

The waters of the river rise with each successive step made towards the central beat of action emitting rhythms and ripples throughout our novel.

The stories we craft offer much in the way of catalyzing shifts within our consciousness and thinking as writers and individuals searching for meaning in our choice of livelihood and the structure of our lives.

Our skills at transmuting the energies we receive from the stories coming through us, our abilities to transpose the shifts we experience in writing them back into our narrative, incorporate them within the scene upon the page, makes for a rich journey through the wonderland of our writing.

What are the most challenging emotions that emerge when you write?

What feelings inspire and fuel your writing?

How do you work with or utilize the energies that arise within your writing experience?