There are times for every writer when they have their heads so crammed full of ideas, or their time outside of writing so committed to other projects, that writing gets shoved on the back burner. For the new writer, finding the time to write is probably the most difficult aspect of the craft to master first.
I had to create time by forcing myself to paint 15 minutes a day and week by week bump the time up in 15 minute increments until I reached the point that I couldn’t wait to get to canvas and easel each day. I had to force myself to stop each night. Once I’d learned to create time for my painting, it didn’t take much to substitute writing for painting yet the habit remained. I simply switched one creative medium for the other.
Because there is more to writing than simply sitting one’s self down before a keyboard, recorder, desk, pad and pen, and begin forming words. There is the nutmeat of an idea, a plot, main characters that emerge and require more development. To learn who they are, what they want, how it pertains to the tale that is wishing to be told. Sometimes there is simply sitting and thinking, a lot of people mistake this for “doing nothing” but it’s one of the vital tasks of writing.
Often times, a story will seem to ‘write itself’ and the task is more like taking shorthand for one’s muse. At other times, it is a grinding duty, when it comes to the mechanics of the craft, the editing, the marketing, aka The Stuff that I Don’t Like To Do. To engage beyond the tale for me, to reach out to people who ‘might’ like my books, is a new concept – it’s also rather intimidating for an agoraphobic, introvert like myself.
Long ago, when I was learning the art of creative writing. It was a craft yet I treated it as a hobby. I bought all the proper tools. The requisite typewriter, later upgraded to a word processor, bought the latest copy of The Writer’s Digest each year, and kept myself on the cutting edge of my art – back in the day.
That was then, this is now. Writing seems to have lost some of the finer edges of it’s glamour. Gone are many of the grammar rules, the need for indentations, proper dialogue scripting, using the many perfectly good words that exist rather than relying on vulgarities or profanities to carry the weight of the prose. New technology now allows novice writers to digitally publish what they write without benefit of editing or truly much crafting.
It’s a shame. I miss the art of style in writing. I hope my readers don’t mind wading through my writing. Since they may have to don rubber waders for some of it, I’ll keep this one short and shallow. I miss some of the old Strunk & White “Elements of Style” which served as the ‘bible’ for writers during my period of learning. There was form as well as format to a story, I think it’s still just as important to keep that “traditional” style and form so we don’t lose our language or ability to tell a good story.
Although rumor has it that Penguin Random House will soon own Simon & Schuster which will leave only four major publishers in the book marketing industry. Like many industries before them, this was once a booming business, where a small press or publishing house could discover an unknown author who could launch them into the big world of major houses.
The Justice Department has called Stephen King as a witness to the limitations and ramifications to the entire literary world should this “megamerger” be allowed to happen. That would mean about four or five CEOs would have final say on what is being printed and published to the mass market, the best seller’s lists, and the lion’s share of marketing. This could be quite dangerous, I can almost feel Ray Bradbury turning in his grave at the idea. I’ll post more on this later as the case progresses.
I hope every writer out there will follow this case, it does impact them, even if marginally (pun intended)–I hope all new writers will take time to edit, to seek, to reclaim style and form as a part of their craft. To create good literature, not just quantity that sells cheap and fast, but quality tales that last.
Until next time, write on!
TTFN
Faintly~
I had to create time by forcing myself to paint 15 minutes a day and week by week bump the time up in 15 minute increments until I reached the point that I couldn’t wait to get to canvas and easel each day. I had to force myself to stop each night. Once I’d learned to create time for my painting, it didn’t take much to substitute writing for painting yet the habit remained. I simply switched one creative medium for the other.
Because there is more to writing than simply sitting one’s self down before a keyboard, recorder, desk, pad and pen, and begin forming words. There is the nutmeat of an idea, a plot, main characters that emerge and require more development. To learn who they are, what they want, how it pertains to the tale that is wishing to be told. Sometimes there is simply sitting and thinking, a lot of people mistake this for “doing nothing” but it’s one of the vital tasks of writing.
Often times, a story will seem to ‘write itself’ and the task is more like taking shorthand for one’s muse. At other times, it is a grinding duty, when it comes to the mechanics of the craft, the editing, the marketing, aka The Stuff that I Don’t Like To Do. To engage beyond the tale for me, to reach out to people who ‘might’ like my books, is a new concept – it’s also rather intimidating for an agoraphobic, introvert like myself.
Long ago, when I was learning the art of creative writing. It was a craft yet I treated it as a hobby. I bought all the proper tools. The requisite typewriter, later upgraded to a word processor, bought the latest copy of The Writer’s Digest each year, and kept myself on the cutting edge of my art – back in the day.
That was then, this is now. Writing seems to have lost some of the finer edges of it’s glamour. Gone are many of the grammar rules, the need for indentations, proper dialogue scripting, using the many perfectly good words that exist rather than relying on vulgarities or profanities to carry the weight of the prose. New technology now allows novice writers to digitally publish what they write without benefit of editing or truly much crafting.
It’s a shame. I miss the art of style in writing. I hope my readers don’t mind wading through my writing. Since they may have to don rubber waders for some of it, I’ll keep this one short and shallow. I miss some of the old Strunk & White “Elements of Style” which served as the ‘bible’ for writers during my period of learning. There was form as well as format to a story, I think it’s still just as important to keep that “traditional” style and form so we don’t lose our language or ability to tell a good story.
Although rumor has it that Penguin Random House will soon own Simon & Schuster which will leave only four major publishers in the book marketing industry. Like many industries before them, this was once a booming business, where a small press or publishing house could discover an unknown author who could launch them into the big world of major houses.
The Justice Department has called Stephen King as a witness to the limitations and ramifications to the entire literary world should this “megamerger” be allowed to happen. That would mean about four or five CEOs would have final say on what is being printed and published to the mass market, the best seller’s lists, and the lion’s share of marketing. This could be quite dangerous, I can almost feel Ray Bradbury turning in his grave at the idea. I’ll post more on this later as the case progresses.
I hope every writer out there will follow this case, it does impact them, even if marginally (pun intended)–I hope all new writers will take time to edit, to seek, to reclaim style and form as a part of their craft. To create good literature, not just quantity that sells cheap and fast, but quality tales that last.
Until next time, write on!
TTFN
Faintly~
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