Fields and Fence Lines

Lately I've been wandering about the field of my imagination and storytelling, walking its fence lines, and looking over the green fields beyond.

That, I believe is a simile. If I had said; "I have been considering my writing talent like walking in a field, enclosed by the fences of my limitations," that would have made it a metaphor. I think. Maybe. I looked up the differences a month or so ago. I things like that never quite stick. 

And yet, I've been writing for more than fifty years.

This tells you what sort of writer I am. Or maybe not.

I consider myself an organic writer. I've not been taught how to write fiction. I haven't taken courses in fiction writing. I haven't read books on how to write. I know next to nothing about the terminology of the written word. But for better or worse, none of that has kept me from writing.

This is due, in part because I developed my taste and talent long before the internet. Such information was a lot more inconvenient to acquire back then. And in part because I'm not a book learner. Instead, I came to appreciate the writings of a variety of authors I've come across over the course of my life and several thousand novels. I've "learned" from them, informally, and with practice. 

These days I will sometimes read blog posts and watch videos on "how to write,"  just because I'm curious as to how other writers do it. Not to learn, since, I know how to write. Or I believe I do. I find these how-to-write articles and videos interesting because I couldn't imagine writing they way they approach it. So often it seems almost an mechanical process that is alien to my thought process. 

Still, as I said, it is interesting, going back to that simile or metaphor, to look over the fences of my field to others beyond.

And then consider my field.

I've come to realize that the size and shape of my creative field is fenced in by my personality. While I credit all those novels I've read over the years for shaping my writing style, finding what I liked and disliked those likes and dislikes are a product of my personal taste. I wasn't taught what or how to appreciate what is good, what is great, and how to write. I just decided for myself.

The beauty of my approach is that I never have had to un-learn anything to find my own style. My voice is all mine, for better or worse. My style is my own, for better or worse. It is, as I said, organic. Homegrown.

That said, I also realize there is a price to pay for this approach. Perhaps my field of talent would be larger and richer if I had taken a more formal approach to writing. Looking over the fences, I recognize what I missed with my approach. But they are fields that I haven't, can't, or perhaps, just don't care to roam through them.

Since the limits of my talent and imagination in storytelling are largely the fences of my personal traits and preferences, I do have choices. Some of those green fields on the far side of the fences might be accessible to me, if I cared, or dared, to climb over the fence, or in the case of barbed wire fence, slip under it. You don't really want to climb over barbed wire fences. But to do explore those fields, I'd have to leave my familiar field behind.

To be honest, I have no real desire to do so, even if possible. Too old, too late. And, well, or better or worse, I am content in my talent, my field is large enough for me. Leaving it would make writing feel like an writing exercise, a writing assignment. Class work. Work. 

Work is a four letter word for me. And as I wrote in last week's blog post, I'm writing for fun.

Still, I think there is some value in walking its fence lines, thinking about what they are, why they are, and what lies beyond them. As well as the price I pay for staying on my side of those fences. I expect to have a lot to say about my limits and the fields beyond. This post is just an introduction, or a warning of things to come. I don't know how many posts that might take or when I'll be posting them, but I have a weekly post to fill, so they will be coming.