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May 22, 2008
Just Ducky
It turns out the pool of water I kept noticing at the corner of our house was NOT due to typical Seattle monsoons. To make a very long, painful and expensive story short, we had a water leak. (Warning: if you have blue plumbing pipe, installed in approximately 1984, start saving for a new water line).
So, where I saw dollars and mud and mess, an intrepid duck couple saw a potential home. For the past two weeks, this adorable pair has been casing the joint here, and has decided that, even though Larson Lake has pretty much dried up, this is not such a bad piece of real estate.
I couldn't help but think, as I watched Mama slurp up a few slugs this morning, that these wacky water fowl hold a writing lesson. Sometimes we write away, following the "rules" of a particular story and then, splash, a ducky duo flaps in for a landing. We didn't plan on ducks in the story, we don't know anything about ducks and we certainly don't know how in the heck they will fit in.
But against all odds, land they do, waddling around, picking up what they need from your soggy manuscript to make themselves at home.
I say -- you go, ducks. And I say, if ducks -- or something equally surprising shows up on your page, go with it. The lovely and eloquent Susan Patron shared that Franny Billingsley told her to give her characters something to hold. To her surprise, Lincoln held a piece of string, and Lucky held tight to a survival backpack. These were not elements she planned out. They crash landed in her story, just as my ducks crash landed in my yard.
I hereby give you permission to punt. So you didn't plan on your main character learning sign language, or that her best friend would be a boy not a girl or that the lady next door had triplets. Maybe, maybe, maybe these twists and turns don't belong to your story but if you don't let them wander around a bit, you'll never know.
I'm not saying you need to set out duck food, but if a pair of adorable webbed creatures show up, don't shoo them away.
At the very least, they'll make you smile.
Posted by kirby at May 22, 2008 07:01 PM