Saving Grace: On To Act Two

The last time I mentioned this story, I’d just finished Act One at Steps Eight and Nine of the snowflake design method and was pondering whether to begin Step Ten (writing) or proceed to Act Two at Steps Eight and Nine.

As you may recall, the odds were even in each direction, tipped slightly, perhaps, by a very strong desire on my part to get down to the business of writing!

My decision was finally made in, of all places, the studio.

In addition to being a writer, I am a painter. I paint portraits of people’s horses for fun and for profit and have been doing so for over thirty years (you can see some of my work at Carrie-Lewis.com).

I currently have three portraits in progress. The technique I use is a seven step process adapted from the techniques of the Old Masters, namely the Flemish painters. It is time consuming because each step must be completely finished and thoroughly dry before I can move on to the next step. That can be as long as seven or eight weeks depending on the colors used, whether or not I used medium at that stage and the weather.

I get impatient, sometimes, and want to skimp on a step or jump over it altogether and go right to the Good Stuff, the color.

Of the three portraits, two have posed some problems and one is sailing along just as nice as you please. It is looking like the best one I’ve ever painted (if I can manage to finish it without messing it up!).

Care to guess which one is sailing along? Correct. The one that I have taken no shortcuts with and for which I have completely finished each step in turn.

On one of the others, I skipped a step two weeks ago, but fortunately decided to go back and correct that error this week and it’s back on track. The third one…. Well, let’s just say that it’s coming along and will be finished, but it will be a stellar example of how not to paint a portrait.

And it’s my own fault for getting lazy, skimping, taking shortcuts and trying to do things the easy way or the fast way instead of the right way.

Some of you have already guessed where I’m going with this. Good for you!

For the rest of us, let me just say that there are a lot of similarities between the Flemish painting technique and the snowflake method of story design.

One has seven steps; one has nine steps.

In each method, each step builds upon the step before.

In each method, the created thing comes to life in stages, growing more complex, more complete and more beautiful with each step until it’s finished.

I’m not sure about this because I have yet to finish a novel using the snowflake method, but I’m guessing that it’s true here because it’s true in the Flemish Technique: I may be able to skip a step or skimp on a step and pull it off. I may be able to skip a step or skimp on a step and people can’t tell from the finished work, but they will know something’s different. As the artist from whom I’ve learned the Flemish technique says, most people can’t tell if you’ve taken every step of the process with a painting, but they will know if you leave one out.

What’s more, I know. And God knows when I take shortcuts, skimp and skip.

Let’s say that I’ve learned that lesson the hard way with painting. Why repeat the agony with writing?

I didn’t go through those conscious thoughts on Monday when I decided to go to work on Act Two, but I think it was there, in the subconscious.

Saving Grace is like that portrait that’s sailing through the process. I’m almost finished with the process and nearly ready to write. Why mess it up at this stage by jumping ahead and doing some writing?

As it’s turned out, that was a wise decision because I’ve already found some things to do to flesh out Act One. Chances are at least even that I wouldn’t have found them until after the writing was into Act Two had I jumped into writing. Then there would be a lot of going back and fixing things. Just like that second portrait, the one that went astray two weeks ago and is now back on track.

I don’t even want to think about letting the story fall into the same sorry state of the third portrait!

Besides, God didn’t skimp, skip steps or take shortcuts in creating the world. If He is my guide and example, then skimping, skipping steps and shortcuts should be out of the question for me, too.

So it’s on to Act Two with Steps Eight and Nine, then through to the end.

Then, when everything’s in place and ready to go, I can get to the good stuff: Writing!