#AmWriting – What Should I Write?

What Should I Write?

This is another of the questions I see often on writing forums is some version of “What Should I Write?” This one puzzles me. If you have no inspiration for some writing project, why are you a writer? Most writers I know have more ideas than they write. As I’ve written before, ideas are everywhere. Literally, everywhere.

So, I don’t think this is a lack of ideas. What is it then?

Part of it seems to be the ongoing search by new writers for the “magic pill”. That’s what I call the search for the “right” way to do something. If they can find the “right” software, and the “right” genre, and the “right” place to write, and the “right” topic, then writing will be easy.

I don’t believe in a “magic pill” (or bullet or anything else).

The real problem may be that new writers don’t know where to start. That’s fine, it can be intimidating. Nobody wants to fail. Our culture emphasizes success, too often without acknowledging the volume of “failure” required to get there. I put failure in quotations because I believe in the power of failure. I have never met anyone who tried something new and were perfect from the start with no background in the activity. Years after they became professionals, athletes continue to practice. Musicians, artists, the list goes on and on of people who begin by failing. Ever listen to a student the first time they play an instrument? It’s painful. But it’s part of getting better. Embrace the process. Forget about “failure”.

Try. Fail. Figure out what you did wrong. Try again. Fail again. Repeat. It’s the process that helps you grow. It hones the edge of your skills.

So what should you write?

Anything and everything. One of the great things about the age of the internet is that there are thousands of resources from writing prompts. That may be one term unfamiliar to new writers. A prompt is an idea. A thing, a place, a situation. The idea is to give you a starting point for your writing. Play with the idea. Try different approaches. Think about how to tell a story from that prompt in 100 words, then 500 words. Then try it in 50 words. There is only one thing I don’t want you to think about at all.

Failure.

There is no such thing. At all. In any way, shape or form. You can not fail. No matter how bad you think the writing is, it’s not a failure. When you reach the end (the story’s end, or the idea dies out), go back and look at what you did. What worked? Was there a sentence, a phrase, that you kind of like? Hang onto those. Now what didn’t work? Sentences that are awkward, ideas that didn’t get fully developed. Cool. Try re-working a couple of them. They may work better, they may not. You might find something that you can continue working with, or maybe it’s not happening. Excellent.

But remember, you didn’t fail.

Do that for a while. Soon, you won’t need a prompt. An idea will occur to you. One that sounds like it could be a story. It could start…here, and then…this could happen. Jump right in. Follow the story, don’t worry about the flaws. Write what occurs to you. Then go back and look at what works. And what doesn’t. Keep the good stuff. See what the other stuff needs to be better. Write, and write, and write some more. Write whatever.

And you can not fail.

Peace.