[Writer Post] Do I Suck as a Writer?
No. Seriously. I must suck as a writer. I see all these other writers spending loads of time – and sometimes money – writing and teaching about all the things new writers need to avoid and/or pay attention to – like theme, POV, backstory, structure, and all the “common” mistakes. Now, I’m not saying writers shouldn’t learn those things, or that they’re not important…They are. Without any structure, all you have are disjointed words on a page. Who wants to read that… Not me.
But when I see the sheer NUMBER of things a writer should do or how many common mistakes a writer can/does make…I have to wonder. Do I suck? Really?
One email group I’m one (and in which I lurk) talked about THEME a couple of weeks ago. The latest from the group owner was that she’d just taken a class: Every story should have a theme. Okay. I’m good with that. Theme is one of those literary devices that seems important. Okay . Though there was some debate between THEME and PREMISE – still not sure where that ended… But what kicked me in the teeth was the corollary that EVERY SCENE should also have a Theme. What? Really? EVERY SCENE?
I’ve been to classes and read the posts about plot structure (vital to any story), Worldbuilding, and backstory for characters. Some of the plot structures talk about having a certain number of “trial arcs” and how many times the hero should “fail” before the climactic victory. Many writers espouse knowing every detail of your world and characters before ever writing a single bit of story. Now, having done a small amount of acting, I’m seeing more value in backstory, and worldbuilding – if you’re working in SF is important. There are even those writers who fully believe they need to have all six senses in every single paragraph and scene to make sure the reader gets the full experience. But to have everything down to the last mole on your walk-on character’s left butt cheek down before you even start the journey? Really?
The question I have to ask myself – besides “do I suck” – is at what point do you say “Enough”. If you follow every single step everyone tells you, and make sure you have every element, every theme, every sense… at what point does that take away from the story? And with SO MUCH to worry about fitting in, the writer runs the risks of making some Newbie Mistake 11C – overwriting . Overwriting takes everything out of the reader’s imagination and keeps the story from flowing.
And if you as the writer – whether new or established – are so worried about making it “right” according to all the “rules”, when do you get past that to actually WRITE? My fear is losing the story in all the “Shoulds”. Of never feeling “okay to write crap”. Of never actually DOING the writing because you’ve spent all your time “getting ready to write” the book or whatever.
DO NOT take this to mean you (me, or any other writer) doesn’t have something to learn. We do. All of us. We all need to be learning and growing as writers. We need to branch out into other genres to learn what those forms have to teach us. We need to push our personal envelopes (even if it means changing our names) to see what we can learn to expand on what we do well. BUT NEVER TO THE POINT OF NOT WRITING.
A writer isn’t a writer when doing the research, creating the world, developing backstory. A Writer is only a writer when committing words to a document. At some point you HAVE to say, “I may not have taken every class possible, but that’s okay. I’m going to apply behind to chair and write something.” It may be crap now, but it won’t always be. And there are good things to learn in those classes. One of my favorite bits of advice when it comes to these things, “Take what rings true to you and discard the rest.”
And if you’re a serial class taker, stop a moment. Think about what you’re doing. Are you taking the classes to learn, or is it a procrastination tool? I’ll get started once I finish “X”? Look at the motives. Look at the time and money involved. Then ask yourself the hard question. “Do I really need this to make my story better?” Or do you just need to write the story and let the theme of the third scene work itself out? And sometimes you just have to ask, “Do I suck because I’d rather be writing?”
1 Comment
Sure, we can all learn something. Every day, in fact. But ask a lot of published writers for a show of hands from all those who consciously put a theme in every story (or scene) or who do any of those other things consciously. I’ll bet you won’t see many hands.