This year my newly minted teen has decided that she doesn’t want to go trick-or-treating. Instead, she wants to dress up and hand out candy right here on our front porch. And, between customers, she plans to carve her very first Jack-o-lantern (as a teen). It sounds like a wonderful way to spend Halloween to me and it reminds me of one of my favorite fall posts from 2014. Enjoy!
The way I see it, the stories we write are like pumpkins. The good ones are well-rounded with firm plots. They also possess a certain quirkiness, or one-of-a-kind feel, just like those jack-o-lanterns we enjoy at this time of year.
But here’s the thing. Even if you think your current pumpkin-in-progress is the best pumpkin you’ve ever written, most likely it could still use a good scooping out. Sure, extracting the extraneous goopy bits from your story will be messy, perhaps even disheartening. You may say to yourself, I’m taking out all the best parts. You may may even worry that there’s nothing left!
But, getting rid of the goop will help you hone the structural essence of your story. All those gloppy first-draft ramblings will have been scooped away. Then, to make your story glow, you will need to carve your pumpkin’s soul (i.e. face) with purpose and heart. Add jagged teeth (conflict) and a penetrating gaze (character). Maybe even carve in some goofy eyebrows (humor). Don’t rush. Savor the process. And when you are ready, light a candle and see if your story, er pumpin, glows! If it does, rejoice! If not, double check to make sure you haven’t overlooked any hidden goop. Then keep carving as necessary.
But don’t toss that goop out too quickly! For tangled in those slimy strings, you will find something precious – seeds. For various reasons, these discarded seeds didn’t fit your current pumpkin’s plot. But if saved and explored later, a special few of them may germinate into new and completely different, but wonderfully creative pieces.
Happy Pumpkin Carving all! And don’t forget to save the seeds.
Laura Sassi Tales 
So fun! YES! Absolutely keep those seeds. So soooo many new “pumpkins” of the future there… Love it!
Yes, I love those seeds! Happy writing, Genevieve!
Awesome analogy, Laura!
Thanks. =) And will your kids be carving pumpkins this year?
So true.
I used to feel that what I wrote was in near finished form even though I knew a first draft is, well, only the first. Now, as I am coming ’round the bend to the finish line of yet another first draft, I am keenly aware there will be much scooping to come ;(
Yep, and I’m still doing a lot of scooping on what must be a fifth or sixth draft. But I am discovering quite a few seeds along the way.