One of my ghostwriting projects at the moment is a fantasy novel for an Australian client. As well as the outline I have a copy of the first book he wrote so that I can get a feel for his style and extensive notes on the world he has spent twenty years creating. Other than that, I have a free hand to expand his ideas to book length.
I have been astounded at how the words are flowing on this one. I am definietly 'in the zone' when I write for him and new characters keep appearing out of the ether and taking on their own lives in the text. I haven't had this happen to the same extent before and it's really very exciting. It reminds me of that famous Michelangelo quotation where he says: "I saw an angel in the block of marble and carved until I set him free."
I'm not comparing myself to Michelangelo (I wish!) but the concept that the art, sculpture or story is hidden there and we as artists are carefully extracting it is a captivating and motivating one. Stephen King returns to this idea in his excellent book On Writing. He says: " Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible."
Back to the excavating…