People have strange ideas about writing. Some of those
people are writers.
You can understand non-writers being baffled by the whole
writing thing: the alchemy of transforming words into a world that transports
the reader. From the outside it seems like magic. You open a book and begin to
read: the ordinary world fades and into your mind springs another, complete
with characters who seem so real you half expect to run into them in Tesco
buying cornflakes or bratwurst or the latest copy of Cosmo.
This magical thinking can infect writers too, especially
when they first start out. Writers can suffer from impossibly high
expectations, or perhaps delusional fantasies, of what writing is really about.
With that in mind I’ve gathered some writing myths and sorted them into five
types:
- Time
- Talent
- Work
- Money
- Publishing
Time Myths
This myth sounds something like: I would write if I had more time. The fantasy is that if it weren’t
for the job and the kids and the teetering pile of DVD box sets and whatever
else you manage to cram into your day, you would definitely get that book
written, the book you’ve been fantasising about writing for decades. I
sympathise, I do, but really this is an excuse. Yes, we have stupidly busy
lives but so much of this activity doesn’t need to be done.
The proof? P.D. James: writer of The Children of Men, Death
Comes to Pemberley and many more. James worked as a civil servant, raised
her children and took care of her mentally ill husband, all while writing her
books. She didn’t quit her day job when her books became successful and stayed
put until she retired.
The next Time Myth goes like this: once I get a book deal I’ll be able to concentrate on my writing.
The fantasy is that a publisher will pay you to sit at home and write your
masterpiece. Putting aside the whole question of book advances, this scenario
is unlikely. In the happy event of you having a book published, you will be
expected to get out and sell, sell, sell. There’ll be book tours, writers’
festivals, interviews, online Q&A sessions… Time is always going to be a
problem whether you’re successful or not. Something else will always be
intruding into your precious writing time.
Get
organised. Be brutal. Decide what you can live without and stop doing it. Make
time. Write.
Talent Myths
These myths are all variations on one whopper: writing is easy. How hard can it be?
Everybody writes stuff: emails, blogs, tweets, shopping lists. Surely writing a
book is simply a matter of sticking down one word after another until you’ve
accrued around 90,000 of the little blighters. If only that were true.
The idea that writing just kind of happens springs from
another myth: good writers are born with
talent. Poetic and artful sentences flow onto the page and glimmer as if
written in gold. Perhaps there are writers out there who are born with an
instinct for dramatic irony but I suspect they learnt it, along with spelling,
grammar and where to put an apostrophe.
Which brings us to our next myth: spelling and grammar don’t matter if you’re a genius. This is for
the egomaniacs wielding pens as offensive weapons. The idea and the vision
supersede all else and the writer thinks they can vomit whatever is in their
head onto the page and people will bow down before their evident brilliance.
Ha!
The conceit of the previous Talent Myth probably derives
from the next one: you must be inspired
to write. Since writing is so easy, all you need to do is wait for the muse
to whisper in your ear and write down what he/she/it says. Admittedly,
sometimes writing is exactly like that. Those are the good days, or minutes.
But if you hang about waiting for inspiration you won’t be writing much and
your output will be sporadic and unreliable. Certainly no way to earn a living.
The old adage of 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration applies here.
There’s one final myth in this section which embraces all
the Talent Myths: a book is written once.
In other words, the first draft is the final draft. I’ve often encountered this
myth in non-writers. Sometimes people believe a writer simply starts on page
one and keeps going until they type THE END. In reality books are written many
times over. Writing, as they say, is rewriting.
Never
assume you know what you’re doing. You’re probably not as good as you think you
are. Get over yourself and get writing. And rewriting.
Work Myths
I’m going to contradict myself now. The first Work Myth is: writing is hard. We know how much work
and rewriting goes into writing a book, or anything longer than 40 characters,
so how can this be a myth? This is the dreaded Writer’s Block. You stare at the blank page or screen desperately
casting about for the right word, any words, something, anything, but it won’t
come. I have a suspicion that writer’s block doesn’t exist. It’s another excuse
writers concoct to explain their lack of productivity. When I’m stuck it can be
for any number of reasons, rarely because I don’t know what to write. It could
be fear or confusion about what I want to say, but it’s more likely to be
laziness. Harsh? Perhaps.
Related to writer’s block is: it’s hard to find good ideas. This one baffles me. I’ve had people
who call themselves writers tell me they want to write a novel but don’t know
what to write about. This is backwards. Surely the idea comes first: you’re
intrigued or surprised by something and want to explore. Look around you – the
world is filled with ideas waiting to be turned into stories. If you don’t know
what to write about, open your eyes.
The final Work Myth is: writing
gets easier the more you do it. If only. Some things get easier with
practice, writing isn’t one of them. You may develop a routine and learn how to
get the words down faster, but it will never get comfortable. As in Zen, you
should cultivate beginner’s mind. The day you believe you know what you’re
doing is the day you are no longer writing anything worth reading.
If you
think it’s too hard perhaps you’re trying too hard. Relax. They’re just words.
They won’t bite, unless you want them to.
Money Myths
Brace yourself for the first Money Myth: writers are rich. Some writers are rich. We all know who they are, and
most aspiring writers have a secret fantasy that one day they will be rich too,
just as soon as the world recognises how utterly spellbinding their latest
novel is. To make the kind of money enjoyed by J.K. Rowling or Stephen King,
you have to work incredibly hard and
be incredibly lucky. The work part of that equation you can control. Luck? Good
luck with that.
The next Money Myth is related: you can earn a decent living as a novelist. While it is possible to
earn enough purely from writing, you’ll probably be writing more than just
novels. The truth is most writers can’t quit their day jobs, even if they want
to. They simply don’t earn enough from writing to have the luxury of swanning
around in their pyjamas all day. Book advances ain’t what they used to be.
Don’t quit
the day job. If you want to work as a novelist, expect to work as lots of other
things too. Learn to juggle.
Publishing Myths
So you’ve overcome all the hurdles, your genius has been
lauded and your novel is to be published. Great! Our first myth: a writer’s debut novel is their first.
In other words, your first novel will be the first novel you publish. Perhaps
if you do it yourself. But in the world of Ye Olde Publishing most debut novels
will be the second or even third book written by the author. That’s a lot of
work before you see any cash.
Our next Publishing Myth has two parts: being published means no more rejection. Simply having a book in
print will not stop people criticising your work. Now the whole world can form
an opinion, not just the elect circle you shared with before you were
published. Related to this is another myth: once you’ve had one book published, the rest is easy. Not so. Every
book you write will go through the same process of ritual humiliation before
final acceptance or rejection. It never ends.
The final myth goes like this: books that sell the most are the best. Putting aside the
subjectivity of the reader, some books are clearly better than others. But what
sells rarely has anything to do with quality or talent. Books that sell are
books that are easier to sell. Think about that for a second.
Books that sell are books that are easier to sell.
Advertising, coverage in the media, reviews, shop displays,
and so on, are all bought by the publishers to ensure maximum profit. They will
only invest in books that guarantee a return. Everybody else can whistle.
Study the
market. Find where your interests and inspiration overlap with what people will
pay for.
Do you agree? What myths would you include?
First posted here: https://jessicadavidson.co.uk/2013/10/28/myths-about-writing/
