Writing fiction has been described as making magic. In a way, I suppose that’s true. I mean, we close our eyes, pluck characters and events and settings from the vast cosmic void that makes up our imaginations. Then we use words to describe those settings and people and make things happen. Easy peasy, right? Wrong. Writing is hard. Creating a cast, a plot, and the places where it all occurs takes time. Characters don’t arrive whole cloth. They aren’t two dimensional. They have to read real. As in, they could be the couple at the next table or the slightly scary dude standing behind you in line at the store. They must have motivation. Goals. Conflict, Stuff needs to happen in a clear, logical sequence. It takes practice and work and lots of do overs. But it is magic. In a way.

Through you, through you, through you, Silver…

The magic works through you. Not beside you. Not around you. Not for you. Not despite you. But through you.

You have to go there. You have to choose your stage. You have to do your dance. Putting yourself in place, to any degree that you can, even if it scares you, even when it’s “hard,” even if it’s just your big toe. Stretch yourself, scoff at the odds, get the ball rolling so that the magic can then come alive and sweep you off your feet with its infinite grace and glory.

You wouldn’t just carry around the seeds for the garden of your dreams in your pocket, all the while asking where your flowers were? Nope, you’d have to brave the elements, you’d have to choose the location, and then you’d have to go there.

Your life is your wand (or hoe),
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Oh, Silver, it is one heck of a party to those so initiated, but every single one of them (long dramatic pause) had to invite themselves, and use their own motor skills to arrive. And the dip is out of this world.

Like a magician has to practice, so does the writer. Like the magician has to dream up tricks, so does a writer. And when the magic happens, the audience is left awed, amazed, and amused, each in turn. The Universe is right. We have to capture the magic, channel it, use it. We have to stretch, write in ways that scare us, get better. Even when we don’t want to. Even when the well seems dry. We sit down. We plant seeds. And the words grow. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t quit. Keep planting and stretching and scaring yourself. It’s worth it. Turning caffeine into words is my magic superpower. What’s yours?