Sign Up Ahead: We Are Nearing The Top Of Mount Everest

Samuel Johnson, brilliant poet and essayist said, "Words are but the signs of ideas."

I have recently moved. I changed cities, states, homes and my path to work. My new path to work is quite pretty and rural, albeit a bit scary when it is pitch black outside, foggy, and curvy with the potential to hit a deer.  That being said, the other morning it was so difficult to see the road that I had to be very aware of the signs pointing me in the right direction. My normal landmarks were there but covered by darkness. My sense of direction felt out of sync. So to keep on the right path I had to not focus on the road and seeing my way ahead of me, but rather trusting in the signs pointing me in the direction I should be going to get me where I wanted.

Reading and even writing often becomes a path you can not see.  As the reader or the writer it is about being led by signposts or words that have been put into place for a reason. Some may call this foreshadowing. Some may simply call this description. As Samuel Johnson pointed out the words are signs put in place by ideas.  It was the idea of the story that the writer had. The words that the writer chose and the sequence that the writer followed. Those words become signs for the reader to follow the same path of the story that the writer had. The writer may be able to see down the road of the story to where the destination lies but the reader is relegated to following the words and signs that the writer put into place to reach their destination.

As I am half way through finishing chapter twenty five and, realizing my book will have about five more chapters than originally thought, I try to plan out the remainder of those chapters.  I create outlines of each chapter as if they were a roadmap guiding me. When I started writing chapter twenty five, with my road map in hand, I realized that I was at the point of the novel where many of the climactic scenes are occurring and that as the writer I also was forced to remember and follow the signs in order to continue and keep sequence with my story. Only the signs I am following are also ones that I put into place.

I have spoken how the bigger the scene the harder it becomes to write at times because we have turned it into Mount Everest. I still hold true to that but the bigger the scene the more important it becomes that even the writer follows the signs to the top of the mountain. Having the outline of the chapter or a roadmap as I called it, does assist but it is important to recall all the allusions, motivations and details that were placed into the story prior to the major events. These are the signs that need to be followed so that your trek up the mountain of your story is smooth and easy and you can see where you are going like a map.  If a writer doesn't follow the signs that he or she put into place then the story becomes choppy and difficult to maneuver. The reader and even the writer may become lost and have to go back to recall what was done before. 

Writers can get off path themselves within their own stories or creativity. Sometimes it takes the form of actual writers block which I experienced for a bit. Sometimes it is just a matter that the story stopped to flow as smoothly and became a bit rocky. Having a scene to remember from what has already been written may help. Stepping away from the story and returning after a time may help. For me, what has helped was having an outline, a map so to speak, that has guided me as to where I want my story to go.

Even the bravest of hikers who have climbed up Mount Everest have a map and a compass. The writer has been creating the map of the story all along but now we are in the scenes that are more emotional, more symbolic, more intense. We are nearing the top of our mountain and that is always where things get a bit more wild. Don't worry though. The sign ahead says we are nearing the top. Only nine more chapters away for the summit.