Thoughts on Uncovering the Fossil

This is something I struggle with a lot when starting a new story. When I was writing Hydrangeas on Fire, I had general ideas for what should happen in each chapter, so uncovering the fossil came naturally then. But, with short stories, it takes me a while to decide where I should start digging. It is always hard to start working on anything, whether it be exercising, studying, or doing the dishes. Writing is the same way.

If you haven’t heard of the phrase before, then you might be confused. Let me explain. Stephen King likens writing a story to uncovering a fossil. In his how to/memoir, On Writing, he explains how all stories sort of preexist, even before the author writes them. I don’t have the exact quote (and I don’t want to flip through the entire book to find it), but the gist is that authors do not create stories but discover the ones already buried in their minds. Their job then is to carefully excavate the story without breaking any of the bones. If the writer is lucky, he’ll stumble upon a full, complete fossil that will then translate into a wonderful story.

The more I try to write, the more I believe this to be true. Once I get past the “what should I write about?” part, I find that the rest of the story writes itself. Symbols, foreshadowing, dialogues, all form naturally. A quote I do have saved is, “Good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere.” I’ll start writing a story about something I want to write about, but find it not working. Then I’ll write about something completely different, something I didn’t think would make a good story, but it turns out better than expected.

I don’t remember if King talks much about how to master the fossiling, or whether it can be mastered, but I believe as with any skill, it can. Imagine an inexperienced writer stumbling upon a broken fossil with missing parts. He’ll ultimately produce a shitty piece of work. If he were to stumble upon an intact fossil, he has the material to write a really great story, but lacks tools and skill to properly unearth the specimen, like a novice painter positioned in front of a beautiful model. During the process, he will most likely break several of the perfect bones, resulting in another shitty story. Now imagine an experienced, successful writer in the same situations. First off, he may not “stumble” upon the fossil at all, but be able to locate them. With a broken relic—if he sees any merit in it—he can still produce a compelling story by filling in the gaps with what he thinks used to belong, thanks to his extensive experience. With an intact fossil, it’s almost guaranteed that the writer will construct one of his best works. Of course, it will still take effort.

The chance of uncovering a high-end artifact is one in ten. Why ten? Because it’s a round number. But really, it’s based on my experience. (High-end doesn’t necessarily mean the best, however, because the best is subjective.) So, although I don’t have much control over the find rate, I can prepare myself for when I do stumble upon one in the future.