Five Things I Wish I Knew
02/05/21 09:02 Filed in: Writing | motivation
People (authors) are often asked, “What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out [dangling preposition/sic]? Or, what would you recommend to people who are fledgling writers?
Here are my 5 things (I hate listicles).
1 - Don’t listen to people who tell you to “Write only what you know.” This is my number one recommendation to which I wish I hadn’t listened. Being young and stupid, at about 10 of age, I knew little and thought I couldn’t write about things I didn’t know. After all, it’s the law. So, I waited a few years until I knew everything. I wrote crap. I didn’t know it was crap because I knew everything when I was a teen. Despite knowing, or not knowing anything, I learned by writing crap. I improved and wrote better crap.
That’s my point. Write about things you know and things you don’t know. That’s how you learn about what works and doesn’t work. You want to write things that work, not things that are real. After all, no one has fought a dragon or traveled in time, and I hope Stephen King doesn’t have a killer clown under grate–maybe he has.
Write to learn.
2 - Pay attention in school. I wasn’t the best student, I wasn’t the worst. School wasn’t the best of times, it wasn’t the worst. Despite liking science, math, and English classes, I really didn’t focus on learning. In retrospect, I know I could have retained things I’ve had to relearn, such as proper grammar and punctuation. Oh, I knew the basics, but not to the extent required to edit a manuscript. Since I started publishing what I write, I’ve had to relearn a lot of things. That’s the good bit, the bad bit is I’ve spent time relearning things. I'm still relearning.
Learn.
3 - Don’t listen to reviews from your friends and family. They don’t want to hurt your feelings–if they like you. Honestly, I rarely listen(ed) to friends and family who had read what I’d written. I always suspected they were biased without having someone tell me. The best feedback I got was in a set of classes I took on short story writing. Strangers reading, evaluating my writing, and providing balanced suggestions motivated and helped improve my writing. A pat on the back from your mom may feel fine, but does little to tell you how to become a better writer.
Listen to objective strangers.
4 - Don’t listen to people who tell you to stay in one genre. The rationale being, if you stay in one genre, you will become better at/in it. Also, if you venture outside your genre, you’ll lose your audience and won’t make as much money. You must use a different pseudonym for each genre in which you write. Yes, this is an actual recommendation. If you want to stay in one genre, fine. If not, it’s also fine to use only one name. That’s not to say you’ll be equally good, or successful, in all the genres you write. Do what makes you comfortable, but be aware of the consequences of what you do.
Write what you want.
5 - Don’t listen to people who tell you writing is easy or a quick way to make money. It’s not. Writing is easy if you just want to write. Becoming an author (published writer) is hard and time-consuming work. It’s glamorous in the emotional rollercoaster of your ride, and if you are an outside observer who only sees someone sitting, drinking coffee and “thinking hard”. It’s work; it can be a hobby, but that usually means you don’t publish what you write. Money should always be a secondary concern. Don't quit your day job.
Good writing is difficult.
Those are my 5 writing takeaways. You can take them or leave them.