In plot consultations with writers, I often see how the writing of a protagonist’s transformative journey in a novel, screenplay or memoir mirrors the writer’s own personal transformative writing journey.
A few weeks back, I wrote about a client struggling to bring her protagonist to the Climax of her book. My impressions were that perhaps the writer’s problem came from not having truly reached the end of her own transformative journey enough to grasp her own personal power in life and thus is having difficulty showing her protagonist in her true power at the end.
This week, I am pleased to report about another writer who after twelve years and lots of incarnations of his story has reached the true authentic ending to his book.
In those twelve years of struggle to find the right balance, the writer often despaired. He would write all the way to the end, send out query letters and sample chapters only to be rejected. Though he always received encouraging words about his writing, he always reacted to the rejection the same. He would beat himself up and, believing himself not worthy of success, quit. Each time, after he pulled himself out of the garbage bin he inevitably threw himself into, he would write another draft and send out more queries. This process repeated itself for years. The toll it took on his spirit and his body was devastating.
Finally, he undertook his own personal transformative journey. In so doing, he became clear enough to find the true story. In so doing, he found a new depth to his beliefs and his story.
Now, in retrospect, it is clear to see that if his earlier passionate dream to be published had come true, the book he holds today would have been a fraction of what it shows itself to be.
Perhaps the lesson to take away from this is the belief that until the manifestation of the thread of a dream is right and the story what it is meant to be, do not take things personally. See it as a process. Be patient. Continue to show up and write. And, at the same time, continue to challenge yourself as a person and to grow into who know you are meant to be. Find where you are on the universal story and push yourself deeper. Find your true strength and trust that when you are ready, the ending will appear.
Honor the process.
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