Why I never became a writer

[jchrisobrien]

Writing is not easy. Beyond the action of transferring words from your brain to paper or a computer, beyond choosing which word best evokes the image you're trying to present, there's the will to write. Writing is a discipline. College students talk about writer's block all the time, as well as some writers. My professor said that writer's block was crap, for the most part. And I tend to agree with him. There are times when the right word just doesn't present itself, or the plot is shrouded in mystery, and your protagonist is at a loss. But you can't stop writing. You plug ahead on a new chapter, or work on a side project, or just start writing about you day until the energy begins to flow again. When most people say they have writer's block, they just don't feel like writing. Most of the time.
There are lots of times when I want to write about something: notes for a gaming session, a journal entry. But instead of beginning to write, I open up Solitaire. Or a chat window. Why is the urge to waste time on a really pointless game so more appealing that writing about something I like? Where is the passion and fire that consumes other writers? That's a rhetorical question, folks. Passion isn't something you can turn on or off. It's quicksilver, like inspiration. It comes and goes, explodes in your brain, leaves the seeds of idea behind, and is off to fertilize the next writer down the street. Leaving you with the messy task of cleaning up after it, organizing in neat rows of letters and spaces. Sometimes, there's even punctuation.
You have to make the story go. You have to do the hard work from there. The end result is almost always worth the effort.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to set the stage for a cabal of mages in the Big Easy...
Lights... camera.... magic.

Comments

[xenoglaux]

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to set the stage for a cabal of mages in the Big Easy...

crap... he's planning this early!!!
we're doomed.

[alonewiththemoon]

oh dear.

writer's block

[heatray.livejournal.com]

writer's block isn't crap, though i agree with you that a lot of the time what people call writer's block is simply a lack of the urge to write. writing, and writing well is an extremely pleasurable experience, but when the words just don't seem to come, it gets scary. you feel like maybe you've written all you can, and you'll never get to again.

writing a good story isn't necessarily a pleasurable experience either. it's one of those in between things. the metaphor i've always used to describe the sensation of getting a good story (or a good bit of a story) out is this:
take a piece of cooked spaghetti, or a long piece of string. hold on to one end, and swallow the other.

now pull it back out. that's what writing feels like. wierd and uncomfortable, but vaguely pleasurable at the same time. you don't want to do it, you don't think it'll be nice to do it, but once it's done you're glad.

i need to cut my fingernails.