Crossing the chasm

I'm working right now on a very cool bit of Overthrowing Heaven. I can see it all very clearly in my mind, and it's a part I quite love. My challenge, of course, is to translate my images, my dream into words that let readers experience something akin to, if not identical to, those images, that dream. I have to do this while not letting the plot drag, because I always want the story to chug unstoppably along.

Sometimes, like now, I find this challenge extremely daunting. As much as I want to get it right, by my own definition of what that means--letting you see what's in my head--I am doomed from the start. None of us can ever show another exactly what is in our head.

Until a few years ago, this is exactly the sort of thing that would have frozen me in my tracks for days, weeks, months, or even a few years, as the story idea faded away and my navel-gazing fear prevented me from writing. That doesn't happen any more. For better or worse, I write through this and every other obstacle, do the best I can, try to improve the book in the subsequent passes, and then move on to the next novel. After Overthrowing Heaven is out and you've read it, tell me your favorite parts, and I should know if I've succeeded.

Meanwhile, I'll keep writing.