Of Romance, Truth, and Purging the Hidden Pools of Consciousness…

Many things can happen during the approach towards the heart of a story, or novel, both for the protagonist, and the writer.

The blossoming flower of romance provides a mainstay in many stories that tug and keep open the hearts and minds of readers, wherein new possibilities enter for them to ponder both in the narrative line of the story, or novel, that perhaps offers a mirror into their own lives.

We come to books, and read not only to know that we are not alone, but also to solidify, validate and unconsciously prepare ourselves for the one constant in all of human living–change.

In the course of a story, the protagonist when entering this borderland region, gathers much needed information that she or he will use towards achieving their goals of survival, both on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level.

Hence the possibility and actual manifestation of romance in so many novels and movies evidences the old adage, that, “Man shall not live by bread only.”

And yet it is while battling upon the physical plane of one’s existence, claiming and embracing the truth of what our bodies hint at, and tell us when facing formidable antagonists, and obstacles, that we humans co-opt with life’s circumstances over which we most often have little, if any control.

These times of challenge, during which our backs stand flush against the wall, remove the scales from our eyes and thereby reveal the monsters and demons that dwell within. Those ghostly and ghastly figures that work in tandem with others who seek to destroy our physical existence.

The area preceding the ultimate crisis or breaking point of a story asks much of a protagonist. Likewise, the writer must gather her or his courage and awareness, holding more internal roots.

Through remaining grounded in the physical attributes of our story, setting, physical threat, goal and symbols, objects that the central character can lift and touch, we raise a map, if not disperse a trail of crumbs by which to enter not only the third eye of our narrative, but that also of our character.

Then dense forest of problems plaguing our protagonist’s life, her or his circumstances, and affecting her or him a dilemma that requires action and solutions, if not answers and resolution, work in tandem towards the one goal of not simply revealing character and personality, but that of also urging the central character towards growth and change.

Crafting, and writing a story that holds and delivers all these elements in an engaging and entertaining fashion demands that we the writer flex the muscles of our hands and fingers and stretch the tendons of our hearts and minds.

Stepping onto the terrain of our own existence, both physical and psychic, purging the pools of consciousness hidden within the oceans of our thoughts and dreams, and wishes and desires, yields much to ponder, regarding both the banal and ordinary, but no less important, and essential aspects of human survival and thriving. It also segues into those areas that appropriate meaning, and value to life and living beyond what one owns, and possesses.

The beauty of writing is that the words we pen, or type upon the screen speak to, and reflect the two, though sometimes disparate, dimensions of existence and living, that which we can feel, see, hear, touch, taste and smell, and those places where all the rules of physical existence disappear.

Exploration of the latter requires knowledge and reverence of the first.

To write we keep one foot on land, another in the waters of change, forever ebbing and flowing, transmuting and transforming who we are, what we are working to become.

What is the hardest thing about writing the heart of your novel or story?

How do you meet this challenge, remain committed, and persevere?

What causes you to fail?

Where have you attained success in this area of writing?

How did you accomplish it?