Ethical Transference

Every writer, whether actively battling through the stations of an unfolding manuscript or swimming in the formative waters of initial contemplation, this creative mind is governed by a code of ethics. The imagination, that mysterious loom is set loose within what we consider to be all that is light or dark. Working within the solitude of our own studies, that imagination is coaxed, it is encouraged to generate fresh direction for the narrative we strive to capture.

Eventually, we come to a stage in development along the writing process where we must begin to scramble. Editors need to be approached, proof readers tolerated & then finally a publisher established to convert a manuscript into something which can find a group of readers.

As the circle expands & different minds contribute to what has previously been an intimate & private arrangement, ethics which have assisted in shaping the story are brought within the range of certain challenges. It is at this juncture when we discover how ardently we have challenged ourselves whilst working inside the watery womb of creation. Have we somehow become arrested in this solitude? Has privacy allowed us to become complacent or presumptuous in the narratives crafted?

The page is the ultimate teacher & the harder we bear down, in our own unique & lonely apprenticeships, determines the degree of success achieved once the manuscript begins to face the challenges of scrutiny.

This invented world we have cobbled together has its own particular morality. We may have attempted to refract back the daily plane as perceived or experienced. Perhaps we have raised the mundane up to contain the potential we believe possible to achieve? Standards of humanity are determined & trust between our invented characters allows the reader access to the moral tone we have cultivated.

The conflicts endemic to any taut story will correspond to the perimeters of envy or compassion the characters face. These challenges transfer to the reader—this is how we connect. Once the writer’s imagination enters, then initiates the imagination of a reader, we are powerless to pull back that combustion. The role of creator is fulfilled & we might only hope the foundations of ethical tradition we raised the narrative upon will contain all desired subtleties. It is this shading which resonates within the perimeters of the world we have established.

It is for a reader to determine the success of this endeavour.

{Paintings by Max Ernst }