Anthony Scott Glenn answered Victoria Limbert's question, 'The Passage of Time' with this, 'Sometimes it is the journey that is the most important part'. (I've taken it out of context)
Is the Journey the most important part of your writing endeavours or is the Arriving? The Arriving will be different things to different people. It might be getting published for some. It might be the satisfaction of hearing people make positive comments about your work. For others still it might the act of creation that is the important part. I would like to know what you find the most important part of writing.
I am happy that I was able to inspire a question!
Now to answer it.
To sit on the fence as it were, I'd say a bit of both. But I can justify both. And so I shall.
The task I set myself of bringing characters to life in their own world and have them follow a path that I had set out was an exciting one and the twists in the story to get my main character to the conclusion of the first part was a challenge I thoroughly enjoyed. Once I had 'completed' that journey and had arrived at the point of having a manuscript was an amazing feeling. I'd done it. Told a story with a beginning middle and end.
So for me each part the journey and te arrival was important, but in different ways.
Now of course, the manuscript is being read over by my wife who is making notes for me to correct/expand as necessary. In the mean time though I've began planning part 2 of te series as well as starting to create the arc for my adult novel. My series is for young adult. Which means I'll get to do it all over again.
I will of course have to make another journey with my first book, the 2nd draft and quite likely a third before submitting to agents. So I guess I've only just begun :)
You're right Frank - I did take AS Glenn's sentence out of context, just a tiny weeny bit. OK I took it wildly out of context. I'm such an ambling preambler. I just wanted AS Genn to know that it was his sentence that inspired my question. I should have just started my question - no preamble. I'll try harder next time. :-p
Regarding 'The de Vinci Code' - I don't apologise if this makes me sound like a philistine, but I really enjoyed the book - and Angels and Demons. My father gave them to me because he'd enjoyed them so much and I did too.
Michelle, I think your answer is so descriptive - I loved it. I woke up recently in the middle of the night three quarters of the way through the 'story' (you describe it as a race), and grabbed my notebook and pen that I keep on my bedside table for emergency thoughts during the night. Every time another thought or question came up, I switched on the lamp and scribbled away. I did this for the better part of the night and in the end I had to sleep with my notebook on my stomach, the pen attached to it and a small torch in my hand! The following day I read through pages and pages of notes and found that I knew the beginning, the middle and the end and I felt that excitement exactly as you described it. I didn't get a lot of sleep for two or three nights, but my mouth is watering and my heart is pulsating in my chest and my feet are on the blocks. For me, it is definitely about the journey.
I always thought Romeo and Juliet was a happy ending personally. They both died. Which means they reached their destinations together and now nothing can ever destroy them... so The Ultimate Happy Ending, is to die with your loved one......just saying :)