Mary Shelley and the Monster in the Draft

The Burden of Creation

It is impossible to enter October without thinking of Mary Shelley. While Frankenstein is often discussed as horror, I have always read it as the ultimate metaphor for the creative process. We assemble our stories from disparate parts—a memory here, a stolen line of dialogue there—and then we pray for the spark of life.

There is a specific terror in looking at an unfinished draft and realizing it is a “monster”—clunky, unsightly, and demanding. But Shelley’s lesson is one of responsibility. We cannot abandon the work just because it is initially hideous. We must stay with it until we find its soul.

The Monroe Minute
Open your most “difficult” draft. Find one “hideous” paragraph and work on it until it feels human.

Until the next page,
Sloane S. Monroe

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Sloane Shay Monroe

I don’t write to idealize love, but to explore it honestly, with emotional precision and depth.