Bob's Write from the Start: Narrative Drive

Bob's Write from the Start

Bob’s Write from the Start, a blog sharing the roller coaster ride of this renewing writer’s feelings and actual experiences, began March 2017. That January, I began with a two-sentence contribution to a local Writing Group. I am now a Guest Columnist for a local paper and have contributed to small and online magazines. My comments for new and renewing writers? Start by starting. Join a writing group. You are unique but not alone. Once you start work, you will not be in Kansas anymore.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Narrative Drive

So, a valued mentor let me know that the work he has seen from me lacks "narrative flow". As I have mentioned (!) before, I had to look that phrase up. Me being me, INTJ, I needed to understand what this odd phrase might mean. After severe and prolonged introspection, I discovered that diversions, reflections, and non-sequiturs are my natural place to come from. And I do believe that the best writing, from all of us, emanates from our natural place. At the same time, I am also acutely aware that our weaknesses are often, not always but often, our strengths overdone. So, I decided to look at this newest phase of my apprenticeship as a writer by addressing this. So, I looked around (yes, some more) and decided that if any form of fiction required 'narrative flow' it was a crime novel. So -- you can see the punishing logic driving me here -- I decided to write a 'mystery' while at the same time maintaining as best I could my own 'voice.' A short novel, no less.

Here's my observation so far. I have committed to progressing from swimming a few laps in the pool, -- passably, mostly, some of the time, if you don't look too close -- to swimming the English Channel.

I have actually begun this Quixotic journey with the usual mix of terror and enthusiasm.

I like it and I am just so uncomfortable. Sound familiar?

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About Me

Name: Bob's Write From The Start

Location: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

Born, raised and living in Sarnia, Ontario, Bob Boulton began writing poetry, short stories and humorous articles for his high school newspaper in the period just after dinosaurs roamed the earth. His article on the mysteries of the Chess Club was particularly well-received. Bob’s excruciatingly naive teenage sonnet was published with positive mention in the high school yearbook. In University he wrote pretty much indecipherable essays on Existentialism and Phenomenology. Then, early in his working career, Bob also wrote short feature articles in the now-defunct (not his fault) Weston York Times. For this, he was paid $5.00 per article, which didn’t quite cover his transportation and parking costs. Then after a short break of thirty-five or forty years as an executive and leadership coach, Bob reactivated his passion for writing. The alternatives he considered were learning to yodel or trying to play the bagpipes. Bob’s loving and supportive family voted enthusiastically, and quickly, for writing.