History has it that the word “pigeonhole” derives from when pigeons were kept for meat (rather than racing) and people would build small holes into a wall to house them. The word then progressed to refer to small holes in a desk or cabinet where documents or paperwork were kept in order to keep a sense of order. ( Expressions & Sayings (P) )
To me, that original meaning evokes a small, cramped space that’s covered in piss and shit, where “the pigeon” waits to be killed, grilled, and digested, only to reappear in yet another form (probably a waste product, to be honest).
Yep, sounds like being a writer.
Just because I wrote a play (or a short story, or a YA novel, or whatever) doesn’t mean that my writing is limited to that one genre. Part of the thrill of writing is trying to discover the best form for the characters and the story. Case in point: I wrote a short story dealing with allegiance, duty and fatherhood (published in Slippery Elm literary journal, check it out … last note from self-tooted horn).
At one point, I thought it might make a good ten-minute or one-act play … but try as I could to transfer over the characters and plot, the genre of drama just didn’t work for it. Do I force it into that small hole covered in piss and shit? No, I accept that the story (in all its living and breathing glory) can only be told in the fiction genre.
Let us let writers find the form that works for them; let us not diminish their talent by saying that a success in one field means that’s the only field they can write in. All writing is creative, anyways; from the resume so I can have food and a roof over my head (and which gives me time to write) to the next great American novel that is lurking somewhere behind the back of their Muse.
Don’t ask a playwright, “So … when’s your next play?” Don’t ask a poet, “So, what kind of poems do you like?” Instead, ask them “So, what are you working on now?” Let them fly free on their own power or handle their own writing handicaps (like procrastination) rather than giving them more.
And if you are kind and wise enough to ask me that question right now? Well, I just spent 5 minutes making the cool (to me) sound file attached for all writers who just want to simply … write.
