It’s been awhile since I did any of this blogging
lark, mainly due to a new job and other commitments rather than just
being lazy – I won’t substantiate this with details, you’ll just have to
take my word. However, I have been writing a
lot more! Two pieces written, a third and fourth begun and my addiction
to the hobby/craft has been reignited. Joyous news, no?
What has stirred these sadly-stilled sentiments? A
fair question, and one that the answer to may assist those authors who
are struggling to find time, inspiration or motivation to write with all
three of those troubles. I have a surprisingly
large number of talented and aspiring writers in my friendship group
and, having broached the idea tentatively, we have begun meeting every
week to workshop, present and discuss our projects.
I wouldn’t call it a terrifying experience, per se,
but the first week was certainly nerve wracking for me. We have decided
that each attendee must present five hundred words in the form of a
–preferably dramatic – reading and then the
other members give feedback. I can’t remember the last time I told a
story out loud but it was definitely an intimidating experience to do it
the first couple of weeks.
I will admit to my apprehension; I rushed my words,
stammered through my own grammar and stumbled at some of my mistakes
which were highlighted by reading it aloud rather than to myself. But we
are all friends as well as writers, so the
feedback has been overwhelmingly helpful and supportive – no, obviously
my work is not perfect and refusing to edit or redraft my work before
bringing it along has meant I have some small reputation for eclectic
and frenetic use of commas amongst other punctuation,
but every comment I have received has either been in the form of
constructive criticism or constructive praise. Both are very welcome
and, I hope, gracefully received.
Yes, some people are better, more practiced,
possessing greater talent for writing than others but our group is far
from elitist. If anything, the more experienced writers are more
encouraging of newer members or new writers – perhaps this
is only an increased expression of vocal support, as they realise
writing is viewed as a difficult task by a good percentage of people,
but it is inspiring to see and hear nonetheless. We do not tell people
their writing is bad; we tell people how it could
be improved. What works, what doesn’t, what we like and what we don’t
about someone’s work. Grammar is only highlighted in an editing manner –
while it is an important element of writing, to be sure, it is not what
makes great writing. You must catch and skin
your prey before you even begin to cook it, let alone eat it.
So what gems of wisdom and nuggets of writing
advice have we given so far? Firstly, when faced with an empty page and
having an idea in your head one should definitely write it down. It
might be clumsy, the words might not be close to perfect
and you may use anywhere between a million punctuation marks to none,
but write it down. Once the idea is there you can play with it,
hone and perfect it. This is catching your meal, your food, your prey. A
less violent metaphor would be that this is
the stage that you put paint on your pallet. It may be just blobs of
colour that form a loosely patterned mess at this stage, but later it
will be what you create your masterpiece with.
After that, keep writing. Don’t stop; you can come
back to it at the end of your short story, your chapter, whatever part
of your story you’re currently writing. It does not have to be perfect,
and it’s highly doubtful that it ever will
be when you first scratch it out. Then don’t be afraid to show it to
people and get their opinions – you never know, you might find that you
have budding writers among your own friends who are simply too nervous
or unsure of themselves to risk committing their
ideas to physical form lest they be judged wanting.
There are many mediocre books that have been
published, and a number of terrible ones. I won’t name any of them but I
fear we have entered the twilight of an age as far as literature is
concerned, so there are plenty of shades of grey as
far is quality is concerned in published material and storytelling in
what has become known as the modern novel. No, I’m not published or
successful as an author (yet) but that does detract from my ability for
form a critical analysis of something. And if
some of the collections of words being advertised as books are being
bought by the public, then there is a good chance that as long as you
finish something it will be bought as well.
So our biggest piece of advice to writers is write.
Refine it later, just write it first. This echoes my previous message –
don’t worry about the quality, simply having a story on paper or typed
up is more than most people do with
their time. And remember; you’re a writer as long as you’re actually
writing.