Writing – Write The Crap

Looking back over my last couple posts, it feels like I’m trying to convince people not to write. They seem to focus on how hard the whole process is and might serve to discourage rather than encourage aspiring writers. My first impulse is to say that I wasn’t intending any such thing. Upon further reflection, I realize that I do want to discourage some writers. Then I realize what I just wrote and think “you can’t mean that.”

I do.

And, I don’t.

I have referred elsewhere to the present time as “The Golden Age of Independent Authors.” I still believe that. Now is a time when more authors, especially those outside the mainstream, can get their stories in front of an audience. That is a truly great thing.

It’s also truly awful.

All you have to do is read some of the badly written, badly edited, badly formatted, and badly structured stories that have flooded the market. The biggest obstacle for good writers today are the ones who publish before they are ready. It is harder to get a reader to try a new writer’s work if they have suffered through several poor offerings.

So, yes, I want to discourage writers from pushing a story or book into the market before the work has been done to finish it, or before the writer has developed their art and craft enough to be ready to offer up a story.

A few years ago, I read a science fiction novella set in a very interesting and unique world. The problem was that the author never did any work establishing the world, its technology, or culture. Names and functions were just tossed out without any context and the reader had to do the best they could to figure it all out.

I had the chance to discuss that with the author and was told they didn’t like “information dumps”. That’s the writer terminology for passages that do nothing but explain how things work. As a general rule, “info dumps” are dull and not good storytelling. So, to a degree I agreed with the author. My issue is that they didn’t try to find a way to weave that background into the story. If you study great writers that’s what you will find they do. The result is a more fully realized world for the reader. And as a consequence, a more enjoyable one. Both the book and the author disappointed me. I’ve never bothered to read anything else by them.

So here is the middle ground where I find myself. I want everyone to find their creative center. Whether it is fine art or simple creativity, go for it. But never settle for less than your best. Continue to grow and learn. If you want to tell stories, then by all means do it. Read and write. Polish your words, learn the skills you need.

There are plenty of places, online and in the “real world” where people will be willing to help. Sometimes that help will be painful. It should never be vicious or ill-intended. There are plenty of those as well. Run from them. But don’t become so enamored of the sound of your own voice that it drowns out the good advice that will strengthen your story.

It’s easy to string words together on a page or screen. Making them tell a story is harder. Creating a world that draws an audience in is the sign that you are mastering your craft. Getting there requires practice and failure. You will write some absolute crap along the way.

Write the crap.

Don’t publish it.

When you create something good (don’t wait for great or perfect. Most of us never get there.) publish the hell out of it.

Encourage others whose work you like. Spread the word about the good stuff. That’s how we create a true “Golden Age.”

(The quote above is from advice given to F. Scott Fitzgerald by Ernest Hemingway)

Peace

JD