The truth is, I am reaching the end of a bulky writing project and I felt happier putting everything else aside to try to get it over the brow of the hill.
I may be wrong but I think I’m over it now. There may be another hill halfway down this final descent, we’ll see.
It struck me, while doing this work, that writing can be hard. This may seem obvious but I don’t think it always is.
I reckon there are people who have tried their hand at writing and given up because it didn’t come easily to them. I also reckon there are people who it comes really easily to, and they believe they’re great, but really they’re just not working hard enough at it.
It is my experience that great writers often grind and sweat and push really hard to get their writing out. Granted, sometimes it just rolls along like a Summer breeze but they don’t get to stop just because it stops being easy. They just have to crank it out.
So my point, I guess, is this. If you’re writing and it’s not coming easily, don’t take that as a sign that you can’t do it. And, if you’re churning it out without a care in the world well… ask yourself, is it any good?
I’ve always found there is a point in writing something where I know I've largely cracked it and that, regardless of whether it will be good or bad, I will get it to the finish line. For me, that moment occurs when the characters in the narrative start doing and saying things for themselves rather than what I tell them to do.
I realise this may sound like a load of pretentious rubbish nonetheless I’ve always found it to be quite true.
You set up a story and characters and motives and emotions and such and then you write. And, for such a long time, the characters lay there and do what you tell them to do – go here, do that – no problem. Then, when you’ve done enough work, and if you’ve done it well enough, a character will just get up and walk in the opposite direction to where you think they should be going.
“I wouldn’t do that,” they will say, over their shoulder as they go, “I would do this. Don’t you know me at all?”
It’s quite a glorious moment and a bit scary too because the story may now go somewhere you never quite envisaged it would go.
I reckon you’ve got to run with it, when it starts. What’s the worst that can happen?
At worst you might write yourself up a dead end and have to go back. Who cares? The writer who puts it upon themselves to chart a linear course through their writing is seriously damaging their chances of creating anything good, in my opinion. It’s only ink and paper, you have to be prepared to write some stuff you will not use. You also have to be prepared to learn almost subliminally from that stuff you leave behind and bring it along with you into that stuff you keep.
Ack. I’ve been away too long, I’m rambling now.
Still if it gets me back in the blogging habit again, that’ll be okay.
I missed it, this last few weeks.
I may be wrong but I think I’m over it now. There may be another hill halfway down this final descent, we’ll see.
It struck me, while doing this work, that writing can be hard. This may seem obvious but I don’t think it always is.
I reckon there are people who have tried their hand at writing and given up because it didn’t come easily to them. I also reckon there are people who it comes really easily to, and they believe they’re great, but really they’re just not working hard enough at it.
It is my experience that great writers often grind and sweat and push really hard to get their writing out. Granted, sometimes it just rolls along like a Summer breeze but they don’t get to stop just because it stops being easy. They just have to crank it out.
So my point, I guess, is this. If you’re writing and it’s not coming easily, don’t take that as a sign that you can’t do it. And, if you’re churning it out without a care in the world well… ask yourself, is it any good?
I’ve always found there is a point in writing something where I know I've largely cracked it and that, regardless of whether it will be good or bad, I will get it to the finish line. For me, that moment occurs when the characters in the narrative start doing and saying things for themselves rather than what I tell them to do.
I realise this may sound like a load of pretentious rubbish nonetheless I’ve always found it to be quite true.
You set up a story and characters and motives and emotions and such and then you write. And, for such a long time, the characters lay there and do what you tell them to do – go here, do that – no problem. Then, when you’ve done enough work, and if you’ve done it well enough, a character will just get up and walk in the opposite direction to where you think they should be going.
“I wouldn’t do that,” they will say, over their shoulder as they go, “I would do this. Don’t you know me at all?”
It’s quite a glorious moment and a bit scary too because the story may now go somewhere you never quite envisaged it would go.
I reckon you’ve got to run with it, when it starts. What’s the worst that can happen?
At worst you might write yourself up a dead end and have to go back. Who cares? The writer who puts it upon themselves to chart a linear course through their writing is seriously damaging their chances of creating anything good, in my opinion. It’s only ink and paper, you have to be prepared to write some stuff you will not use. You also have to be prepared to learn almost subliminally from that stuff you leave behind and bring it along with you into that stuff you keep.
Ack. I’ve been away too long, I’m rambling now.
Still if it gets me back in the blogging habit again, that’ll be okay.
I missed it, this last few weeks.
