For me, the most exciting, and most terrifying, part of writing fiction is stepping into another world. The world I create becomes so desirable to inhabit that I never really want to leave it. Hours will go by, an entire day. When I "come up for air" the real world around me is so very foreign, if even for a moment.
So... exciting, yes, because as a creator we can make these other worlds our own. Terrifying, yes, because I might one day actually never truly return to "the real world". The world we currently live in is such a weak substitute for what we can imagine, what we remember the world once was like, why should I bother to return?
But for me it is both exciting and terrifying for another reason: I'm just along for the ride much of the time. As my characters become more fully formed, and as they are aspects of myself that are not fully formed, they often take the reigns and the story goes down paths of which I cannot see the end.
That is not news for any of you who have been writing for a while, but it bears mentioning. And for those of you who have not been writing for very long, if you're thinking of submitting a story to us, know this: we value content and imagination far more than punctuation and structure. Tell a good story and the rules no longer apply.
Cheers!
photo: wikimedia / Sarah White
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