McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Too Much Reading About Writing
mightyutuvan:
So after taking a break from writing, I am back. I call it taking a break but really life's interferences combined with my own temper tantrum and viola, I quit writing anything not work related for five months. Writer's get to be temperamental, right? ::)
So my question to you is... do you find reading too much about writing counterproductive? On second thought, I guess it is really reading about the publishing process. I will be cranking along, writing everyday (never the word count I should though). Inevitably, I will end up reading something or listening to a writing podcast and the topic of getting published comes up. Listening to published authors speak about the difficulties of getting published just depresses me.
Don't get me wrong, I have no thoughts of getting rich or becoming best selling author but it would seem the logical conclusion to writing a story would be to get it published. So does this happen to you?
meg_evonne:
I've said it before, but I will again. Write because you must, because you can't stop, because something inside you won't let you stop. Writing is its own reward. I went over 35 years and let no one read my material. I never thought to ask to be honest. I never queried until three years ago. Might also want to brush up on your 'to', 'too', and 'two' as well. That was a friendly jab. Hugs and write on mighty!
mightyutuvan:
Thanks for the jab, corrected :).
Friendly question for you. Having lurked here for about a year, I have seen your comment about writing being some sort of built-in impulse (I am paraphrasing). I have spent 35 years not writing. I have been doing other things. Now I want to write. I just want to tell some stories. Hopefully some fun, entertaining stories with some "Big, damn hero" moments in them. I am not sure I meet your definition of this "writing for it's own sake" writer. I guess my question is this, what is the point of writing a story, poem, song etc.. if you don't share it with people? Seems to me getting published is the natural lifecycle for a story to pursue.
(Note: I used the word "publish", however I should mention that sharing a story with anyone would meet this need. The more people shared with, the more the story's existence would be validated, metaphysically speaking)
daranthered:
I once had a teacher ask my what writing resources I used. I showed her my "Writing Tools" bookmark folder. She did something I had never done; she counted them all. There were over two hundred sites. Not counting things like "Elements of style," Stephen King's, "On Writing," etc. A lot of the advice contradicted one another.
She helped me narrow it down to five general, and five genre specific resources. I am much happier with that little world. I am a much happier and more productive writer.
It's pretty easy to overload yourself. My primary motivation as a writer is to convey the stories in my head to people who want to read them. And to do that with a measure of craftsmanship. To that end, I try to pick a set of tools that help me bring out my natural talents.
That doesn't mean I don't still read about how other people write. I am, after all in this area of the forums. I'm just not very quick to adopt a whole new outlook based on something new I've read.
Kali:
--- Quote from: mightyutuvan on July 05, 2010, 02:43:13 AM --- I guess my question is this, what is the point of writing a story, poem, song etc.. if you don't share it with people? Seems to me getting published is the natural lifecycle for a story to pursue.
(Note: I used the word "publish", however I should mention that sharing a story with anyone would meet this need. The more people shared with, the more the story's existence would be validated, metaphysically speaking)
--- End quote ---
If you don't mind someone else chiming in, I'm much of the same mindset as meg. I *have* put a few things out there to be read, and sent off, I think, 4 stories in 10 years to be published (they weren't, but I sent them). But I write a LOT. Most of it stays on my hard drive. I just don't get that publishing thing. I have to write, I can't not write. If I'm not writing, I'm not happy. But publishing is optional, and, as I have rediscovered quite recently, worrying about all the crap that goes along with publishing will murder any desire I have to write. I'm talkin' cold-blooded, in-its-sleep, my-god-look-at-all-the-blood murder.
I do strive to write the best stories I can. I try to write three-dimensional characters with real problems to go along with all the surreal ones, all that good stuff. But good writing isn't all it takes to get published. There are practical, real world issues that intrude and when I take those into account, I suddenly couldn't give a damn about what I'm writing. I was 65,000 words into a novel when I suddenly realized that the reason I was having so many problems with it was that it wasn't fun anymore. I've been writing Urban Fantasy for years, since the 1980s, and yet when I finally decided I should try to get my own novel published, I couldn't force myself to finish it.
So the short answer to your question is, the point is that I love doing it. I love actually sitting down and typing and making up worlds for these people in my head. I love putting them through their paces, finding out how they're gonna get out of the situations I put them in. I guess, to put it another way, I love to write for the same reasons I love to read, except I don't have to wait for a year between stories.
Now, if I could somehow do that and not think about publishing, maybe I'd be published. ;D But the wordcount thing always trips me up...
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