December 28, 1998
On Writing
In his youthful youth, Clifford always idolized the famous author Myron P. Gaites. He dreamed of being a writer and tapped away at notebooks and typewriters trying out his own hand at stories and such. Some of his works were quite good and earned him publication in a few student journals. Humble as he was, Clifford never admitted anything was good.
He would never accept praise unless it came from Gaites. Roughly every year he would send a letter to Gaites, and usually a form reply would come back. Then, in order to forward the plot, Gaites personally responded and invited Clifford for lunch. The ecstatic Clifford readily agreed.
When gaites and Clifford ate, there was the usual exchange of pleasantries, both men complimenting each others' work. Clifford was proud, so he began to tell of his next story. He described the openig scenes in which a man related the worst day of his life, the day he lost his job, his woman left him, and more. Then, Clifford described a perfect ending he had planned in which the main character runs into a new love. He evn had a perfect closing line.
"So, what do you think?" asked Clifford, already beaming on the polite praise he had received earlier.
"You are the worst writer I have ever met," Gaites emphatically answered, "You have the beginnings of a great story and the rarity of a fine ending, but you do not have a middle. Yes, your character has a happy ending, but he doesn't have any memories of what it took to get there. He's never felt the chill of possible failure at the last second. He cannot appraise the fortunate of his ending."
"If you want to be a good writer, leave now and go write the middle. It doesn't matter how you write it. Even if it is the poorest dribble that not even an infinite set of monkeys given infinite time and typewriters would willingly write, you've at least dignified the story. Writing is not about perfection, but telling stories from beginning to end, including the middle."
Clifford went home.