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Ideal vs. Reality
Jan. 22nd, 2011 09:38 amCrossposted from elsewhere on the internet. Alternatively titled, "In Which I Rant About Something I Didn't Agree With."
As I was surfing the internet, I found one of those Yahoo! Ask topics that featured a question about how to sustain the motivation to finish a novel. One of the answers was, "If you find the writing process tedious, then you're not cut out to be a writer."
Well...yes and no. That statement is what the ideal of a writer should be. In practice, it's not always the case.
It's true that there are people who want to be a writer but just can't sit down and write a novel. However, that doesn't mean sustaining motivation is NOT a problem for writers, particularly for novice writers.
Let's face it: writing is hard. It requires lots of time and effort--a lot of unpaid time and effort, I should add, for those who haven't yet published--tremendous dedication, and a lot of uncertainty. By nature, people lean away from hard work and uncertainty. That's why procrastination is such a major issue, particularly among students.
Let's take academics as an example. Say there's a student who complains dreadfully about her assignments and never starts writing essays early. Yet, this is an A student, according to her transcript. Can you say this person isn't cut out to be an academically successful student?
The difference between school and writing a novel is that school imposes deadlines, which forces people to (eventually, at least) tackle their assignments and finish them. When writing on your own, however, there's no person or threat of bad grades looming over your shoulder, forcing you to finish. That's why it's so easy to burn out during the writing process, all passion fizzling out.
The writing process is fun in the same sense that learning is fun--it involves a lot of setbacks, a lot of frustration, and a lot of mistakes. In the same way as a dedicated student can make the learning process fun, a dedicated writer will find writing fun...but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of doubt and head-banging involved in the process. Some days, I have so much fun that it's hard for me to stop writing. Other days, I look at my rough draft and think, "Man, this is so messy and horrible, how is it ever going to turn into a coherent, compelling story?" (That's the point at which I know I should get out of my room and go outside.) I can spend excruciating hours pondering what happens next, how to get from point A to point B, how to write the next bit of dialogue, or what the character really even wants. It's fun...in a way both thrilling and tedious. That's why you see, over and over again, advice for writers to just sit down and start writing. Otherwise, how many people eagerly put themselves through that much strain for the sake of something so nebulous and intangible as a story?
In the end, I don't think anyone can tell another person whether they're cut out to be a writer or not. Time will eventually tell, but in my opinion, all serious writers have a few things in common: stubborn persistence, and a constant desire to improve. My own motivation can be boiled down to one word: hunger. As author James Scott Bell once said, you have to want to be a writer badly enough. If you want it that badly, then no one else can tell you what you can or cannot be.
Personally, it took me until eighth grade before I wrote anything longer than a few pages; it took me until twelfth grade before I actually finished something (a novella); and right now, as a college student, I'm still working on trying to finish something good. I would say that I floundered a lot, never really getting anywhere, until I read Bell's Plot and Structure and Robert McKee's Story last summer. I'm a strong believer in anyone being able to accomplish anything, as long as they believe they can and they put everything they can into making it happen.
As I was surfing the internet, I found one of those Yahoo! Ask topics that featured a question about how to sustain the motivation to finish a novel. One of the answers was, "If you find the writing process tedious, then you're not cut out to be a writer."
Well...yes and no. That statement is what the ideal of a writer should be. In practice, it's not always the case.
It's true that there are people who want to be a writer but just can't sit down and write a novel. However, that doesn't mean sustaining motivation is NOT a problem for writers, particularly for novice writers.
Let's face it: writing is hard. It requires lots of time and effort--a lot of unpaid time and effort, I should add, for those who haven't yet published--tremendous dedication, and a lot of uncertainty. By nature, people lean away from hard work and uncertainty. That's why procrastination is such a major issue, particularly among students.
Let's take academics as an example. Say there's a student who complains dreadfully about her assignments and never starts writing essays early. Yet, this is an A student, according to her transcript. Can you say this person isn't cut out to be an academically successful student?
The difference between school and writing a novel is that school imposes deadlines, which forces people to (eventually, at least) tackle their assignments and finish them. When writing on your own, however, there's no person or threat of bad grades looming over your shoulder, forcing you to finish. That's why it's so easy to burn out during the writing process, all passion fizzling out.
The writing process is fun in the same sense that learning is fun--it involves a lot of setbacks, a lot of frustration, and a lot of mistakes. In the same way as a dedicated student can make the learning process fun, a dedicated writer will find writing fun...but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of doubt and head-banging involved in the process. Some days, I have so much fun that it's hard for me to stop writing. Other days, I look at my rough draft and think, "Man, this is so messy and horrible, how is it ever going to turn into a coherent, compelling story?" (That's the point at which I know I should get out of my room and go outside.) I can spend excruciating hours pondering what happens next, how to get from point A to point B, how to write the next bit of dialogue, or what the character really even wants. It's fun...in a way both thrilling and tedious. That's why you see, over and over again, advice for writers to just sit down and start writing. Otherwise, how many people eagerly put themselves through that much strain for the sake of something so nebulous and intangible as a story?
In the end, I don't think anyone can tell another person whether they're cut out to be a writer or not. Time will eventually tell, but in my opinion, all serious writers have a few things in common: stubborn persistence, and a constant desire to improve. My own motivation can be boiled down to one word: hunger. As author James Scott Bell once said, you have to want to be a writer badly enough. If you want it that badly, then no one else can tell you what you can or cannot be.
Personally, it took me until eighth grade before I wrote anything longer than a few pages; it took me until twelfth grade before I actually finished something (a novella); and right now, as a college student, I'm still working on trying to finish something good. I would say that I floundered a lot, never really getting anywhere, until I read Bell's Plot and Structure and Robert McKee's Story last summer. I'm a strong believer in anyone being able to accomplish anything, as long as they believe they can and they put everything they can into making it happen.
