The Fifth Dragons of Creativity- The Dragon of Putrefaction, Part Two of Seven

Buddha Exposed as Story Killer

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“I’ll be right back.”

Ignoring his little brother's protest, Brian was through the door and moving across the back porch. The wooden stairs squeaked and protested as he walked down them, and he turned and said over his shoulder, “It’s just the steps, Kevin, don’t worry. Just the steps.”

A little way past the rose bushes, he hesitantly turned and looked back at the porch light, which shone bright as a beacon. Savior of the porch, guardian of scared boys, and beacon for lost lightening bugs.

In the center of the yard was the maple tree, whose strong, friendly branches had supported the first tree house that Brian had ever built. The bright sphere of light given off by the porch light made it look solid and reliable, an old friend patiently standing guard.

I wonder what the other side of the tree looks like, Brian wondered suddenly. The side where the porch light doesn’t shine.

excerpted from "Beyond the Porch Light," by Ferrel D. Moore

*****

As a writer, I live in terror of Gautama Buddha, and so should you. His teachings are bad for us. The Buddha, who expressed disdain for Clive Cussler novels even before they were written, had no use for the maxim "Babes and Bullets Forever." Desire, the Buddha taught, is the source of all human conflict. Writers would be out of business without conflict. Sex and violence sell, don't they? There are other elements, of course, and we could very well illustrate character growth by tortured individuals overcoming their desires through spiritual growth, but still... what kind of an action adventure story could be written by the Buddha? Tell me an answer to that question. Or can you imagine him writing a spy novel, or, worse yet, a horror novel?

Although the same could be said for the founders of all enduring world religions, the Buddha ranks as the all time worst for writers. Other founders at least talked about conflict and spiritual warfare and even things like Judgment Day (a phrase nicely turned by the creators of "The Terminator"). They unfolded stories of sin and transgression and war and lustful desire and redemption and blasphemy and repentance- things that would have made the Buddha cringe, or perhaps cause him to chant a mantra composed to quiet the unquiet mind. No, the Buddha would not do as a Writing Muse.


And yet, he taught the subjugation of the ego, the death of the self to one's higher self by achieving enlightenment. Surely to God their must be a few stories along the way of sordid struggles, gratuitous violence, theft and maybe even some Bond girls? Probably not.



Could the Buddha have scripted the TV show "The Closer?" Or "Burn Notice?" I think not. It's a good guess that, even if the B-Man were alive today, he wouldn't care if Bruce Campbell worked or not. He might have allowed that it was a nice gesture for the director of the Spiderman movies to allow Mr. Campbell to have a bit part in each, but beyond that, he would no doubt encourage Bruce to spend more time on meditation than acting.
He might also advise him against writing any more books.

And that's the problem, isn't it? Why would we as writers want to concentrate on our inner journey with Alchemical Dragons as guides if the result were that we advanced as people but declined as writers as we grew more "enlightened?"


Are there any "enlightened" authors on the Best Seller list for novels? Is it possible that better people write worse books? It's much easier to discuss theme, economy, POV, character arc and the like than to deal with the real writer's issues.


Stories come from writers. To improve the quality of a writer's work it is necessary to focus in on the writer. This is not to deny the mechanics of writing. There will never be a shortage of people to lecture us on such things. In fact, the number of words written on the topic of economy alone is too large to be contained within the borders of France.



What are we left with, then? We can learn much about our creative selves by journeying inward using the Dragon symbology, but will us lead us to being more peaceful human beings, freed from conflict, open to the universe and will we be in the end too beneficent to write a decent sex scene?


No.



The land where Alchemical Dragons roam is far more dangerous than that. It is a landscape peopled by heroes and heroines, love and betrayal, quests and monsters, treasures and romance. It is a land of rebellion and shining armor, a world of glorious mountains and dark whispers within hidden caves. Temptation pulls at the sleeve and triumph explodes through all obstacles in the world of Dragons, and mystery swirls about women like capes billowed by the wind.


I tell you this because to confront the Dragon of Putrefaction, is to step again into the darkness of our consciousness with only the Dragon symbology and Alchemical procedures to guide us. A confrontation with the Dragon of Putrefaction is nothing less than coming face to face with the fact that we are all merely a fraction of the writers that we should be. In the eyes of the Dragon of Putrefaction we will see the knowledge that we have given too little to our writing and risked even less.


We have no defense before this Dragon. Our egos have grown strong again and we wish to talk about method instead of changing our substance. Point-of-View instead of writing something so much from our very heart and soul that if our writing is poorly received we fear it will crush us so that we never write again.


Safety is the refuge of the timid writer. The timid writer should avoid the next posting of The Secret Dragons of Creative Writing- The Dragon of Putrefaction, Part Three of Five.


But if you're not afraid of a little action, grab your survival gear and come along.

Photo credit to: wayangtopia.com