Writing is hard. I know you don’t need me to tell you that, but any discussion on writing should begin with that statement. Writing is hard and studying it needs to be treated with the same seriousness as any other “hard” question. After all, not everyone has a book in them and those who do have to make the book themselves; it’s not pre-baked inside their genes.
The best statement on the difficulty of “studying” writing that I have encountered (everyone has at least one) was by Flannery O’Connor. Paraphrased: “Studying writing by discussing point of view or sentence structure or character development is like trying to describe a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are.” Everyone writes and learns to write differently. Some people, like E.H. White or C.S. Lewis, thrive on the academic, the grammar, the scholarly themes and canon and dissection. Others, like Jack Kerouac and James Joyce, thrive off raw passion and blatant disregard for distraction.
Your comparison between Orwell and undergrad essays is a good one. An undergrad essay has set parameters that dictate what will be in it and how it will be decided whether it has succeeded in its task or not. Orwell’s books have no set parameters. No book is so lucky to have set parameters. Their success depends entirely on the society that accepts them.
For my part (and I am only one person in a massive field), the greatest tool for a learning writer is to write. And not write privately but write things for the consumption of others. I have tried writing privately to “perfect” the projects I work on. Doesn’t work. I just write for myself and make nothing. I’m not saying do like Stephen King and Dean Koontz and abandon quality for output. No, not at all! That’s the anathema of improving your writing ability. After all, I don’t think it’s a lack of talent that keeps Donna Tartt from publishing more than one book a decade. But do not sequester your writing away until it is “ready” or “skilled” or “perfect.” Get it in front of someone, because by coming in contact with other minds your writing will do what its suppose to: act as a tool to convey ideas and emotions. By hitting against other people, you can tell where your tool needs sharpening.
If you would like a critic, I would not mind working as a reader and giving you what I can. I really do enjoy editing quite a bit and currently have a bit of a bet going with some fellow writers so that we can each improve the other’s output. I would not mind doing the same here. Just message me. But, beyond doing the thing, I don’t know of any secret gate to pass through. There is no royal road to writing, so to speak.
Well, there is, but the toll is enormous. Worse than the Florida Sunpass.
Stephen King argues that writer’s block is a myth. Is writing still hard if you’re willing to just set pen to paper without trying to filter for good ideas? I find this kind of free writing to be almost repulsive to me, but I think it is just a weird bias that I have and a lot of people have but don’t ever move past. I know that many of my favorite writers endorse reckless first drafts and brainstorming sessions.
Maybe writing’s difficulty is overestimated by the general public, but underestimated by amateur writers? That seems compatible with both our positions.
A related anecdote: Stephen King had writer’s block while writing “The Stand.” He overcame it by detonating a bomb and killing half the main cast.
I find the bemoaning of so many writers regarding writer’s block to be a far less serious issue than they intend me to think it. I won’t say I don’t believe in writer’s block. I’ll say my evidence is inconclusive. My personal experience has been that “writer’s block” tends to stem from other, less “artsy” problems. Laziness, ennui, angst. Typically, for me, writer’s block is overcome by shutting up and writing or by admitting “this project isn’t going to work. Restore, restart, or quit.”
Writing is hard. I know you don’t need me to tell you that, but any discussion on writing should begin with that statement. Writing is hard and studying it needs to be treated with the same seriousness as any other “hard” question. After all, not everyone has a book in them and those who do have to make the book themselves; it’s not pre-baked inside their genes.
The best statement on the difficulty of “studying” writing that I have encountered (everyone has at least one) was by Flannery O’Connor. Paraphrased: “Studying writing by discussing point of view or sentence structure or character development is like trying to describe a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are.” Everyone writes and learns to write differently. Some people, like E.H. White or C.S. Lewis, thrive on the academic, the grammar, the scholarly themes and canon and dissection. Others, like Jack Kerouac and James Joyce, thrive off raw passion and blatant disregard for distraction.
Your comparison between Orwell and undergrad essays is a good one. An undergrad essay has set parameters that dictate what will be in it and how it will be decided whether it has succeeded in its task or not. Orwell’s books have no set parameters. No book is so lucky to have set parameters. Their success depends entirely on the society that accepts them.
For my part (and I am only one person in a massive field), the greatest tool for a learning writer is to write. And not write privately but write things for the consumption of others. I have tried writing privately to “perfect” the projects I work on. Doesn’t work. I just write for myself and make nothing. I’m not saying do like Stephen King and Dean Koontz and abandon quality for output. No, not at all! That’s the anathema of improving your writing ability. After all, I don’t think it’s a lack of talent that keeps Donna Tartt from publishing more than one book a decade. But do not sequester your writing away until it is “ready” or “skilled” or “perfect.” Get it in front of someone, because by coming in contact with other minds your writing will do what its suppose to: act as a tool to convey ideas and emotions. By hitting against other people, you can tell where your tool needs sharpening.
If you would like a critic, I would not mind working as a reader and giving you what I can. I really do enjoy editing quite a bit and currently have a bit of a bet going with some fellow writers so that we can each improve the other’s output. I would not mind doing the same here. Just message me. But, beyond doing the thing, I don’t know of any secret gate to pass through. There is no royal road to writing, so to speak.
Well, there is, but the toll is enormous. Worse than the Florida Sunpass.
Stephen King argues that writer’s block is a myth. Is writing still hard if you’re willing to just set pen to paper without trying to filter for good ideas? I find this kind of free writing to be almost repulsive to me, but I think it is just a weird bias that I have and a lot of people have but don’t ever move past. I know that many of my favorite writers endorse reckless first drafts and brainstorming sessions.
Maybe writing’s difficulty is overestimated by the general public, but underestimated by amateur writers? That seems compatible with both our positions.
A related anecdote: Stephen King had writer’s block while writing “The Stand.” He overcame it by detonating a bomb and killing half the main cast.
I find the bemoaning of so many writers regarding writer’s block to be a far less serious issue than they intend me to think it. I won’t say I don’t believe in writer’s block. I’ll say my evidence is inconclusive. My personal experience has been that “writer’s block” tends to stem from other, less “artsy” problems. Laziness, ennui, angst. Typically, for me, writer’s block is overcome by shutting up and writing or by admitting “this project isn’t going to work. Restore, restart, or quit.”