Romancing the Stone, er, uh, Story

By Andrea Dorn.

I used that title because the movie “Romancing the Stone” wrangled a reclusive romance writer into an adventure with a treasure hunter to find a precious stone. The title, to me, means discovering the stone.

Recently in the CWA Zoom Chat, our discussion surrounded the topic of “Romance,” mainly because it was Valentine’s Day. But it got me thinking about the movie. The whole story about searching for an emerald is like our work to discover the true story in our writing. This applies regardless of the genre.

It is also similar to what I do as I rescue feral cats. Whether I spend time with them outside in their colonies or in my house, I’m romancing them to bring out their true personalities. Sometimes they mesh with my family, and sometimes I realize they’d do better with a different family. Or many times they belong with their colony.

In my cat memoir, my first draft was just about getting the facts down on paper. It was hard, emotional work, going through the lives of cats whom I loved more than anything, living through some hard times of my own and facing difficult decisions. But was that the real story I wanted to put out there?

One year, I won a contest that included a short telephone visit with an editor and story evaluator. After I gave her my elevator pitch, we spoke at length about the multiple potential focus areas in my book. I was amazed at the end product we came up with after such a short time. It appeared that the story was about a little girl who grew up with Death as her talisman. As I did my first revision, I kept that discussion in the back of my mind and tried to veer the story in that direction. But in the end, it didn’t happen. That wasn’t the right story. Maybe someday I’ll write about that too, but for this book, it didn’t belong.

When COVID hit, webinars grew in popularity, and I got hooked on learning. To be honest, I’m a lifelong learner. I’ve been back to college three times- I have two associate degrees and finally a bachelor’s. I became a Master Gardener, which entailed constant continuing education. And as a veterinary technician, I also continue taking courses to keep up my license. 

Then there’s OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at Iowa State University, which focuses on a variety of classes in three sessions a year. I started taking all the free webinars on writing I could find. Some were great, some were not so great, but I always kept my memoir in mind as I listened to the speakers.

 While watching one session, it hit me – my story was about the cats, not me. But it was also about what I learned from those cats. I needed to find the story about learning from the cats and how we can best appreciate and care for them.

Some of our members remember that I like to quote Ray Bradbury from his book Zen in the Art of Writing, so I’ve found a passage that pertains to this idea. He compares ideas to cats!

“If you try to approach a cat and pick it up, hell, it won’t let you do it.” Instead, as he says, you need to walk away and the cat will follow you. With ideas, the same can be true. If you are having trouble with an idea, walk away. “When they’re off-guard and ready to be born, I’ll turn around and grab them.”

Mr. Bradbury suggests we “Work. Don’t Think. Relax,” if we wish to bring out our true story. Think about it (or don’t think about it) – don’t most great ideas come to you when you are doing something other than writing? I have my best ideas in the car. Not just ideas, but also revelations about my writing. I used to keep a recorder in my car, but now I just pull over and write it in a notebook. 

Maybe you have ideas while in the shower, or outside gardening, or in many other activities. I also find a quiet walk in nature helps clear the nonsense from my mind and stories (or essays) start appearing. Use those times to romance your true story.

Sometimes you just have to tease the true story out of your writing. Whether it be by trying out different ideas, or by letting go and just writing what comes, eventually that story is going to reveal itself. 

But keep working. Like in any other endeavor, practice, practice, practice, and you will improve – your story will improve. The true story will appear.

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Andrea Dorn writes mostly non-fiction and poetry. She lives in Nevada, IA with her two cats, Gooseberry and Tourmalina. Her book “It All Started With a Blue Cat” is in revisions and almost ready to send out, and her second (untitled) book is just beginning. She is the Vice President and 2024 Conference Chair for the Cat Writers’ Association.