A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-Two-Hundred-And-Forty

In becoming more comfortable with crafting fiction, I have been thinking a great deal about the question of what it is that allows me to write poems with ease, and I recognize, as I said yesterday, that a large part of this is that I can see how any idea might be seen as metaphorical, as a symbol.  If the poem is used to craft a certain set of contextual meanings around an image or idea, that idea can shift in meaning to become something very different.  That is to say, I can recognize that even a simple image or idea has an element to it that might be turned into a symbol, and thus be transformed into a representation of more. Because I understand this, I recognize that no matter what I throw into the poem, no matter where I begin, I always have the ability to draw out the poetic.  That is, I can see how the idea can be used as an element around which to craft a larger poetic idea.  The central understanding is about the reality that the superficial content of a poem is often more significant as a conveyor of other meanings, even when that other meaning is not entirely specific.  One does not need to know what is intended to be significant, can have a vague and general sense of those specifics, that is, the symbol can point towards something more universal and still be valid.  Often that is more powerful, allowing the reader to bring a meaning to the work.  The reader can see what is their within a certain context and place the meaning in that framework.  Anyhow, the larger point I am attempting to get at here is that I have been considering what it is that let's me put things into poetry this way, and a part of it is becoming clear to me.  The next question, then, has to be about applying a similar understanding to my perspective on fiction.  I already tend to think of story as a form of organization, and the question is what is being organized.  The elements, of course, tend to be characters and actions they take, and these tend to be organized in place and time, and in so doing one creates meaning out of the events.  A story is not just the events laid out, it has to connect them in a way that allows the reader to understand them as linked, not just as things that happened, but as a series of causes and effects.  The events are organized in order to create a specific meaning for the reader.  I have to think on this more and consider it in other ways.  The real truth is probably that I just need to be more comfortable with writing stories in a general sense, and I need to allow myself the room to fail at writing stories more.  I need to let go and do it, I know, but I think that considering the issues around writing stories in the way I have been has allowed me to move closer to that, while also allowing me to actually think through what might be important to me in creating fiction, and what I think is significant for making those efforts rewarding for readers.