I promise, I promise, this won’t turn into a “how do you write” blog. Having said that…
I suck at writing.
This is not to say that my writing sucks. I will leave that to my audience to decide, such as they are.
No, it’s the act of writing I suck at.
Everybody Says This is How You Write
The received wisdom when it comes to writing comes down to a few things:
- Write regularly.
- Finish what you start.
- Write a series.
Write Regularly
The first thing essentially means, “build a habit.”
Write something every day or a few days a week. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount, but get into the habit of putting words on the page as often as you poop.
I have a few problems with that (not the least of which is that I don’t poop that often).
As a writer with a chronic physical illness and a few mental illnesses rattling around in the brain pan, it’s a challenge for me to get into any habit which requires mental and physical energy.
There are many days when I barely have the wherewithal to complete the job for which I am actually paid, not to mention the energy it takes to attend to any familial duties. That’s right, I am married and have three (mostly grown) children.
As a result, writing regularly feels like a luxury to me. Instead, I write when I can and how much I can. I give myself the grace to do so, and that’s been a boon to my mental health, at least.
Finish What You Start
As a writer, I have dozens (in the high dozens) of ideas started. They are at various stages in the writing process, to use the word process lightly.
One of the aforementioned mental struggles I have is ADD. It is therefore easier for me to start a new idea than it is to finish one already started.
A friend of mine coined the word “biblioterminophobia,” which is the fear of finishing a book (reading it or writing it). I don’t know if I have that or not, but I can tell you that one area in which I suck at writing is writing an ending. In some cases, I don’t want to let these characters go. I want to stay in their company for just a few moments longer.
Sometimes, I get utterly and completely lost. Even if I plan where I’m going, by the time I get where I am the map has become fuzzy or unsatisfying. It’s far easier, at that point, to start something new.
Write a Series
This is linked in some part to “finishing what you start”.
I have started two series. They are quite a bit different in tone and genre. Common wisdom would tell me to work on the next book in one of those series, whether to finish it or to simply carry it one step closer to being “finished.” Readers want to read series, whether they be trilogies or something more open-ended.
Instead, I’m working on something radically different and completely unrelated.
Part of the reason for that is to push myself: I want to know what I can do creatively.
Then there’s the matter of the fact that, at present, no one is banging down the door to get the next book in either of those existing series. I’ve yet to have anything really “break out” in terms of success.
It’s certainly possible and even plausible that if I continued working on one of my series that it would come from one of them. But in many ways, I identify with writers like Stephen King who, for the most part early in their career, didn’t do series. It wasn’t until they really had a great deal of success that series began to come out.
I Suck at Following the Common Wisdom
I suppose, having said all of this, that I don’t really suck at writing after all.
I’m just not very good at following what seems to be the most popular advice floating around out there on writing blogs.
That doesn’t make the advice bad. Like most advice, you should take what works for you and apply it.
The rest isn’t anything you should lose any sleep over.
Leave a Reply