A Writer's Journey

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Maya Angelou

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

E is for Epiphany

The writing process is generally a long, sometimes tedious one where the writer usually sits there and tries to hammer out the makings of a first draft in the fastest way possible so as to keep the flow of ideas and general plot of the story. *takes a deep breath* In my case, it's really just a lot of sitting there tapping my fingers lightly on the keyboard without actually producing any kind of written result. *insert shamed headdesk here*

Until...



This might be more dramatic if I could cue the heavenly music in there, maybe some Josh Groban singing a pivotal note or something.



The epiphany tackles me to the ground, screaming the obvious in profane and ridiculously excited ways hits me. What is an epiphany, you ask? Well, the basic definition is a startling insight or revelation, usually meant to be symbolic, that is brought on by something of simple or commonplace occurrence. *slides my Webster's dictionary out of sight*

Suddenly I knew why the protag was doing what she was doing and why a seemingly minor character was doing what he was doing and how these actions could possibly weave the story into much better shape than it had originally started out. *takes another deep breath* My MC is literally screaming in my head because she already had her epiphany...she was just waiting for me to catch up and write it out for her.

Another way I define an epiphany is getting out of my "duh" moment. LOL

Have you ever had an epiphany while writing and how did that pan out for you?

7 comments:

  1. haha, great post. And yes, I have had these epiphanies and they're awesome. I'm still waiting for one on another wip lol

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  2. I had one last night...right before my face almost fell on my keyboard. LOL! I was really set on finishing chap 7, but the oxygen was cut off from my brains. Uh huh. *nods*

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  3. Fantastic post. I love these sorts of epiphanies. Most of the time mine come during rewrites and editing where my characters finally fall into line and I realise that everything actually makes more sense than I thought it did when I wrote it.

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  4. I have them at the most inopportune moments...usually when there's no pen or paper in sight. LOL My husband actually bought me a voice recorder b/c of this.

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  5. I had one yesterday and it sidetracked everything else I was doing...like calling an electrician...oh ya...I still need to go do that! Great post!

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  6. I have a lot of epiphanies in the bathtub of all places! Yeah, I have a soggy little notebook next to it now.

    Ahhh, Josh Groban. That's all.

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  7. *awesome* I got some (not all) of my duh out quite recently and it is like the sky opened and the Josh Groban angels swooped in singing a chorus of greatness. LOL!!!

    Happy E day!!

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