Getting To The Good Stuff, or Wax Candy-Coated Writing

My algorithm keeps rolling me into the taste-testing side of YouTube Shorts. It was the candy salad trend last year. A few months ago, it was the Clinkers challenge, which had participants guessing the colored filling of a chocolate-covered candy and then having to do whatever dare they'd given themselves upon a correct guess (which loosely inspired this video where I used an assortment of gummy bears to randomize the length of my writing sprints). I also get a lot of behind-the-scenes videos from small confectionery businesses, ranging from how they make their customized hard candy or gourmet marshmallows or packing orders to fit within a specific theme (e.g., only pink candy or "here's the candy assortment we'd pack for Alysa Liu").

A subgenre of these videos that have been especially prevalent in my feed as of late are clips of people making or eating wax candy, testing which edible wax has the most satisfying crack, will this substance work as a wax candy filling, or one creator allegedly rage-baiting their viewers with what they charge for their homemade wax candy, so on and so forth.

Among all this, I came to a startling, groundbreaking conclusion: you're not supposed to eat the wax part.

Okay, not a groundbreaking conclusion, but finding that out did make me do a double-take.

Wax candy was in no way a go-to for me as a kid. I think the only variety I would have tried would have been the classic bottle-shaped ones but I was definitely not a fan of them.

Probably because I was eating them wrong, minor detail there...

As I found out much later than I ought to have, the correct way to eat them was to rip the top off, poke a hole in the corner for airflow, and then suck out the filling—and then discard the wax. Go figure.

That realization explained a lot about why I wasn't the biggest fan of wax candy growing up, and it actually mirrors something that I've been working on in my writing.

Sometimes, you may inadvertently keep yourself—and by extension, your readers—from the good stuff in your story.

Let me explain...

In the earliest drafts, I'm primarily getting a feel for things. Telling myself the story, as Terry Pratchett would put it. Figuring out who my characters are and where I want to take them. That's kind of always been the case, but it's even more so now that I am drifting away from heavy plotting rituals and learning to accept myself as a Pantser.

Recently, however, I've grown aware that the first iterations of a story are usually lacking some key details. I've long struggled with things like interiority and cluing my readers—and, by extension, myself—into my characters' deepest desires and motivations.

In other words, tapping into the heart of the story.

Like the wax part of wax candy, there's often a bit of unnecessary fodder gumming up the works. Some of it gives the story shape, but a whole lot of it gets in the way of the good stuff.

That's why one of my biggest goals for the writing PIP I've placed myself on is learning how to get to the core of my stories sooner, because that's where the flavor is.

As a teen, I was big on adding layers upon layers to my WIP (which is part of the reason that damn manuscript was 180,000 words at its longest). I envisioned it as being the kind of story readers had to read twice to truly get because of all of the hidden details I crammed in there. I wanted the theory videos and dissections and the "10 GtK Things You Probably Missed On Your First Read" listicles.

What I perceived as depth and literary prowess, however, was really just a convoluted mess. A ball of wax readers would have to gnaw their way through if they had any hope of getting to the actual flavor. Dare I say, waxing poetic...

Nobody wants that.

Layers like that can bolster your writing, just as the wax shell of the wax candy acts as a vessel for the syrup or juice inside. Too many layers can create a less-than-satisfying experience for your audience.

As a writer, you may harbor a fear of someone poking holes in your story, especially when it results in that reader sucking the life out of it. But as the writer, it's important to cut through the proverbial wax and get to the core of your story so that your readers can get to the flavorful bits that they're actually meant to consume.

What's your take on wax candy? Love it, hate it? How does it stack up against candy corn?

Have a safe and spoopy Halloween if you're taking part in the festivities, and come back next week for another post about writing, life, and whatever else comes to mind!