So I try to remove theory as much as possible. If some theory remains, it’s because I think it’s necessary.
These days—as in, ever since I started this new pen name—it seems that the trend is that I start with some theory on the page, then cut out more than half of it during cycling. The initial theory is there for me to keep things straight, but usually, at some point, I conclude that it isn’t necessary for the protagonist.
This reflects my order of priorities when telling a story.
1. I tell the story for myself.
2. I tell it for the protagonist.
3. I tell it for the readers.
Primarily, this is because I have no delusions that any readers *need* my stories. Not even my characters *need* my stories. However, *I* need my stories. And I want them too.
So, I start and finish a story mainly for myself. Conveniently, *the* main way to do this is to take care of the protagonist. Everything unfolds for her. (Sometimes also for him or for it.) It really feels *very* bad not to take care of the protagonist. Much of the time, I have no control over what happens. Once I decide how the story starts, that’s who she is, and I can’t change her, not without making something happen within the story.
(This is also probably why I can’t tell a story out of order. Some storytellers can do this; I can’t. I can find my ending in the beginning, but I can’t ever write the ending first and then write the beginning.)
At any rate, once everything is done, either readers like the story or not. But at least I will not have attempted to teach them a lesson by writing a fable/parable/allegory instead of a novel.
Because 🍣 Log Me Tender 🍣 is closely related to fairy tales and storytelling in general, I think about these things these days—why I tell the stories I tell.