How to be a Better Writer: Face the Lion

A work in progress quickly becomes feral…It is a lion you cage in your study. As the work grows, it gets harder to control; it is a lion growing in strength. You just visit it every day and reassert your mastery over it. —Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

Starting a new draft has fears associated with it. Continuing with the one you’ve begun is a different matter. It has its own fears.

What if the draft peters into nothingness? What if it becomes so gargantuan that you can’t contain it? What if the characters go flat? What if one takes over the novel?

A lot of “what if’s,” some that could come true. The draft could fail, leaving you with a few bones, some feathers, ash. It could become something so large that you have to step away from it for a period of time. You aren’t yet ready to master it. One day you will be, but today isn’t that day.

It’s all right. Be a master of what you have in your hands. Work with it. Mold it. Force it to behave, to be a courteous lion. Not a timid one; you aren’t after a cowardly lion. This is a lion full of strength but controlled. You teach it as it teaches you. It prepares you for the next lion, the next draft.

The next one won’t be like this lion; it will require a difference approach. Nevertheless, it remains a lion caged in your study. As it grows, you must learn what it takes to maintain control over it. You must become a lion tamer of an ever-expanding cage. Let different lions come and let them go. Don’t get stuck with one lion. Let them be caged visitors. Eventually the giant one, the one that once defeated you, will take its place in the center of the room. You’ll approach it, not tentatively, but as a master tamer. This lion is yours, and you’ll master it.