Dreaming of becoming a writer
Dreaming of becoming a writer fills quiet moments of people from all walks of society. The visions of what it means for each individual to become a writer are as varied as the stories in all the books held in all the libraries throughout the world. Billions of books. Billions of ideas. How success as a writer is internally gauged is almost as bewildering.
In the beginning, innocent and fleeting thoughts of writing a novel presents complex visions, mostly of failure and inadequacy. Not often do people stall at the outset because of the sheer number of words that require placing in the correct order on many pages. Most new writers mention the quality the yet-to-be-found audience sees in the yet-to-be-written work as the thing holding them back. There is a genuine fear of not meeting the expectation of some yet-to-be-encountered rejection monster. Do not be put off. Wanting to know everything there is to know in the business of writing a successful novel in order to be a successful novel writer is just wasting writing time.
Writers must read extensively. That may not seem to be good advice, surely writers write, not read. Yes and no. Do not bunker down to read 'how to' books. You know what follows 'how to' as well as anyone. 'How to':
plot — points of view from 54 famous authors,
develop characters or scenes or evil or dramatic endings,
draft to your heart's content or until your biro runs out,
use more commas than you ever thought possible,
create dialog to draw an unbeliever into your clever web,
revitalise your semi-colon and
On it goes.
There are hundreds, thousands, of books and articles about what you should, what you must, do if you want success as a writer. There are zillions of rules and skills to learn from pages and screens such as those mentioned above, all (?) of which you must necessarily take on board before you can dream of being acknowledged as a competent novelist. Or maybe not. The 'experts' who wrote these 'must haves', 'must dos' do not all agree, nor do they come close to a consensus on how to approach writing a knockout story. The sheer volume out there, to rummage through and pick out the gems, can be overwhelming.
Who is right? Is there a 'right'? The 'right' is what is best for you and for your story. In case anyone asks, what the correct genre for your novel is, I just typed 'how many book genres' into a browser. The first page I opened had 'Mystery' with twenty-two sub genres. Baffling. Why worry when you have not even written your 'Once upon a time …'?
Don't try to align yourself with all these experts. It is an impossible ask. Get started with your writing and discover for yourself where you fit in. Absolutely, use some of the above for reference, but after you start. The learning is in doing and seeking, not seeking then doing. I am not advocating that you should ignore people who have learned from hard graft. What I am suggesting is that you learn in chewable chunks.
Be patient with learning the art of writing. Know, to be a writer you need to write, not read or listen to podcasts about writing, hoping to absorb it into your soul and experience a miracle transformation. Sportspeople treat their field as an art. At the start of many years of growth:
Swimmers get wet,
For games involving a ball, players immediately kick, hit, throw the ball.
Athletes straight away run, jump, throw.
Imagine any of these, as young people wanting to join in, but are given months of reading to do and are tested by the coach until they learn all the necessary rules and skills before actually hitting the pool, field, track. Sport would have far fewer participants. Same applies to you as a writer.
Learn with the joy and open mind of a child
The truth of the matter is, if you have decided you want to pour your story onto blank pages, you probably know enough to start production. You have an good idea of:
what a sentence is, a paragraph is,
how to manipulate your vocabulary to say what you want,
basic grammar,
the flow of stories you have read and enjoyed,
what makes you stay involved and immersed in the pages of authors you enjoy a connection with,
what it is in the descriptions of people, landscape, weather, emotions that holds you,
and so on.
Use traditional pen and notebook, word processor or both
Start writing and you will learn where you need to grow your skills and knowledge. Then you must find one or two good resources and read what they have to say. But first, write, write past the point where you first feel stuck. Get down what you may feel is roughly a quarter of the final work.
What you may worry about is disgorging all you can currently think of relating to your potential workpiece, unclutter your mind, get a feel for what the beast called 'writing' is and sweep out words that have sat gathering dust in dingy creative corners. Like a spring clean in your creative zone. As the story grows, it will find its own strength and drag you in directions you had not considered when you set out on the venture.
Start writing in a genre you currently read. If you read across many genres, as most do, pick one that feels right. Do not start reading 'how to write a best-selling [insert genre] novel'. Open your notebook or word processor and start writing.
In our next article, find out why writers spend (almost) as much time reading as writing.
Have fun with your writing
Damon
