IWSG August 2: Conflicted over Writing?

This month's Challenge Question from the Insecure Writer's Support Group had me thinking about where my stories come from. August 2 question: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?

This month, I'm co-presenting at our local author's group on how cultural diversity (our own and that of others) may influence our writing. At times, this issue can be controversial, so I'm digging pretty deep into what cultural diversity is and what issues it raises for writers. I was surprised to learn that what I write about comes directly from very early childhood experiences. Probably not a surprise to some of you writers out there!

I grew up in a pretty gritty blue-collar family. My mother was a Hollywood starlet and an alcoholic. One of my stepfathers was a steelworker. We moved so often I don't know how many high schools I attended, but my dream was to go to college, and one day I did.

The very first book I wrote is still in a drawer. Mothers Don't Die is about a serial murderer who terrorizes young women.

I didn't like the subject, but I loved to write, so shifted to historical fiction, inspired by that great economic disruption known as the Industrial Revolution, where rich landowners ousted sharecropper farmers from their land and replaced them with sheep. Standing Stones began a family saga set in 1840s Scotland and led me to write four books. Much of my fiction is about that struggle to create something good, despsite formidable odds. Fun to write. Happy endings. Mostly.

Fascinated by art and culture, I began a new series about art crime, starting with The Seventh Tapestry. I was about 50% into a second art crime story set in Egypt, when a dream about a dog and a runaway woman led me to a new series, organized around the working subtitle: A Doggone Mystery. Maybe I could write a cozy mystery, I thought. Here are my two working covers.

Which one do you think pulled me right in?

What I learned pretty darn quickly, despite excellent advice from Paul Tomlinson's Mystery: How to Write Traditional & Cozy Whodunits, is that the cozy mystery genre is a shoe that doesn't fit. Right now, I don't care. The words are coming. I love my story, and have not quite resolved if my heroine will achieve that happy ending.

So, my answer to IWSG's question: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it? Maybe I left that first story in the drawer (and maybe one day, it will come out), but now I know those themes that I have struggled with and have felt conflicted about stay with me. They influence what I write today.

James Baldwin said, "“Every writer has only one story to tell, and he has to find a way of telling it until the meaning becomes clearer and clearer, until the story becomes at once more narrow and larger, more and more precise, more and more reverberating.”

Thank you, IWSG, for a question that challenges us to rethink the issue of conflicts -- both at the story and the personal level, perhaps leading us to understand anew what and why we write.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others have written this month, and you can too. As Rick Bylina says, "Write on!" And, check out the links below.

About the Insecure Writer's Support Group: Our goal is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Each month, an optional question is posted. You can post your response on your own blog OR talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the August 2 posting of the IWSG are

Kate Larkindale, Diane Burton, Janet Alcorn, and Shannon Lawrence!

Why not visit them to see what they've posted?