WHAT IT MEANS
TO BE A WRITER
by Best-Selling Author Dylan Stark Le Maire
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WRITING, LIKE LIFE...
IS ALWAYS A WORK
IN PROGRESS.
Just when you think you are done, another fact/thought/situation comes along and ... oops...
To me the question first and foremost is...do you have the talent and ability to be a writer. What are the qualifications that are required to become successful in the field of writing/journalism. Are you really sure that is what you want to do? What kind of writing interests you (because if it doesn't interest you, you will never be able to engage anyone else.
IS ALWAYS A WORK
IN PROGRESS.
Just when you think you are done, another fact/thought/situation comes along and ... oops...
To me the question first and foremost is...do you have the talent and ability to be a writer. What are the qualifications that are required to become successful in the field of writing/journalism. Are you really sure that is what you want to do? What kind of writing interests you (because if it doesn't interest you, you will never be able to engage anyone else.
What is required?
Good instincts for one thing. Good instincts and an insatiable curiousity help too. For me writing is in a way an adventure, often into the unknown which acts as an educational tool for not only my readers but for me too.
That is as it should be.
That is as it should be.
You need to be a bit of a sleuthy at heart in order to delve into the abyss and amass the necessary subject matter necessary to capture the interest of any potential reader. Having good instincts as well as being blessed with a proverbial cats' sense of curiousity are at the heart of what any truly good writers tool box should include.
Determination, perserverance, grit.
Anyone who thinks that serious writing is easy obviously isn't paying attention. Like most things in life anything worth doing involves a lot of hard work and perserverance which do pay off in both the long and short runs and a perceptive readership can sense that.
Anyone who thinks that serious writing is easy obviously isn't paying attention. Like most things in life anything worth doing involves a lot of hard work and perserverance which do pay off in both the long and short runs and a perceptive readership can sense that.
It takes a lot of stick-to-itiveness to hang in there long enough to finish writing projects whether they are a full-fledged novel or a poem or a newspaper column. There are few if any acceptable shortcuts when it comes to fleshing out a topic. You have to be able to cut through the occasional writers block or the difficult research project or any of the myriad demands on time these days that would curtail the necessary demands, time, and steps/efforts to ensure a successful outcome of whatever project you are working on.
For some types of writing a lot of research is necessary...for others
not so much. To put it another way, some projects require at least some external research and others a fair amount of internal. A poem for instance may require an in-depth exploration of your emotions while a strictly journalistic endeavor may require a lot of library time and necessary research into the subject you are preparing to write about and some require both. I find that when I am writing a novel both aspects are employed.
But I must at this juncture point out that perhaps more than any other single aspect of the effort needed and involved in ANY writing project...
you must LOVE the process
of writing. You need to feel a tingle any time you fire up a pen or pencil or keyboard/pad/touchscreen. When you are not writing there will be a solemn wish that you were. Sometimes you will have to force yourself to stop. THAT is the hallmark of a true writer engaged in a love of his craft.
There is no shortcut to passion for the person wanting a career in creative writing of any sort.
You must adore every single part of writing. Love what it takes to become engaged in writing whether as a career or as a hobby. Each step of the way as you move toward that career or hobby is an exercise in doing something that for you is genuine passion. For fun or profit. For nothing you will ever do will require quite as much of you or require your total engagement as writing surely will.
you must LOVE the process
of writing. You need to feel a tingle any time you fire up a pen or pencil or keyboard/pad/touchscreen. When you are not writing there will be a solemn wish that you were. Sometimes you will have to force yourself to stop. THAT is the hallmark of a true writer engaged in a love of his craft.
There is no shortcut to passion for the person wanting a career in creative writing of any sort.
You must adore every single part of writing. Love what it takes to become engaged in writing whether as a career or as a hobby. Each step of the way as you move toward that career or hobby is an exercise in doing something that for you is genuine passion. For fun or profit. For nothing you will ever do will require quite as much of you or require your total engagement as writing surely will.
Talent, yes of course...certainly, but having a deep love of the craft. Essential. Absolutely essential.
Beyond instinct and the rest a writer has to be both intimately acquainted in the subject of whatever it is they write about or be willing to do what it takes to become so. But one must also possess the ability to put words and thoughts together in a way that will captivate the reader AND hold their interest throughout the piece. It matters not how good you think you are for if you cannot hold the interest of your readership you will fail every time.
It is important to be sure of your facts and of your subject matter when writing journalistically...and even when writing a work of fiction you are bound to find yourself inserting factual information into the piece and even in fiction accuracy is essential. You won't earn any points from your audience if you fudge on facts. The awareness that you weren't willing to 'do your homework' will turn off those whom you seek to inspire or to inform.
Every writer has his/her own style and far too many teachers of journalism/writing make the mistake of forgetting that and trying to over-formulize the creative process of developing and crafting what is truly an art form rather than a technical process. There is no more 'only one way' to write as there is to paint or sculpt or compose or perform as in dance or musical artistry. They call it musical artistry for a reason...it is just that, as indeed is writing.
Like painting, true craftmanship comes from within...is only partially teachable, and without the raw talent required cannot be fully taught unlike other subjects like math and science and enginering for example. You either have a 'feel' for writing or you do not and it is that innateness that makes the difference between a successful (not necessarily profitable) writer and a hack.
Journalism in addition requires a slightly different set of skills as opposed to fictional writing/storytelling. The newspaper person (reporter/columnist) per se works from a different quadrant of the creative brain than a novelist. A humorist also draws from a slightly different brain cell. A poet yet again. There is just simply no one way to do the writing process and no better way to illustrate that than to enumerate the different types of writing we see all over in our daily lives. A romantic bent will erupt in beautiful poetry while a technical bent will develop engineering and science and mathematical writing and a highly developed imagination can and does produce great novels, mystery and thrillers most especially. Science Fiction/Fantasy is a classic example.
Anyone with half a brain would think it silly for a person to want to be an opera singer who didn't have a voice. The open mouth doesn't accomplish much if no sound comes out and that is equally true of the writer. You can have the finest writing paraphenalia at your fingertips but if you haven't found your creative voice none of that will matter as your pen won't write cogent thoughts nor interesting/informative literate words. Rather pointless, methinks.
To find your voice requires more than just opening your mouth or taking up a pen.
It requires looking inside yourself, searching within until you find it OR NOT. There is no substitute for that voice...you can't fake it for the fakery will be patently obvious. Classes in writing/journalism can and do help but they too are no substitute for talent. If you truly have no aptitude or talent for writing (or anything else) all the classes in the world will only at best make you slightly less lousy but will never eradicate the obvious fact that you simply aren't gifted or talented.
Believe me IT SHOWS.
While it isn't necessary to be imbued with the genius that Thomas Edison demonstrated he possessed about electricity, the true genius of any artist is that they are determined to look within themselves until they find the key to unlocking that curiousity (that voice) that will propel them to the urge to develop what they find, hone it, and keep on keeping on until they find their niche aka 'groove'. Some sadly never will but for those who do the ultimate satisfaction is in knowing they found it and other rewards are just frosting on the proverbial cake.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Every writer has his/her own style and far too many teachers of journalism/writing make the mistake of forgetting that and trying to over-formulize the creative process of developing and crafting what is truly an art form rather than a technical process. There is no more 'only one way' to write as there is to paint or sculpt or compose or perform as in dance or musical artistry. They call it musical artistry for a reason...it is just that, as indeed is writing.
Like painting, true craftmanship comes from within...is only partially teachable, and without the raw talent required cannot be fully taught unlike other subjects like math and science and enginering for example. You either have a 'feel' for writing or you do not and it is that innateness that makes the difference between a successful (not necessarily profitable) writer and a hack.
Journalism in addition requires a slightly different set of skills as opposed to fictional writing/storytelling. The newspaper person (reporter/columnist) per se works from a different quadrant of the creative brain than a novelist. A humorist also draws from a slightly different brain cell. A poet yet again. There is just simply no one way to do the writing process and no better way to illustrate that than to enumerate the different types of writing we see all over in our daily lives. A romantic bent will erupt in beautiful poetry while a technical bent will develop engineering and science and mathematical writing and a highly developed imagination can and does produce great novels, mystery and thrillers most especially. Science Fiction/Fantasy is a classic example.
Anyone with half a brain would think it silly for a person to want to be an opera singer who didn't have a voice. The open mouth doesn't accomplish much if no sound comes out and that is equally true of the writer. You can have the finest writing paraphenalia at your fingertips but if you haven't found your creative voice none of that will matter as your pen won't write cogent thoughts nor interesting/informative literate words. Rather pointless, methinks.
To find your voice requires more than just opening your mouth or taking up a pen.
It requires looking inside yourself, searching within until you find it OR NOT. There is no substitute for that voice...you can't fake it for the fakery will be patently obvious. Classes in writing/journalism can and do help but they too are no substitute for talent. If you truly have no aptitude or talent for writing (or anything else) all the classes in the world will only at best make you slightly less lousy but will never eradicate the obvious fact that you simply aren't gifted or talented.
Believe me IT SHOWS.
While it isn't necessary to be imbued with the genius that Thomas Edison demonstrated he possessed about electricity, the true genius of any artist is that they are determined to look within themselves until they find the key to unlocking that curiousity (that voice) that will propel them to the urge to develop what they find, hone it, and keep on keeping on until they find their niche aka 'groove'. Some sadly never will but for those who do the ultimate satisfaction is in knowing they found it and other rewards are just frosting on the proverbial cake.
TO BE CONTINUED:
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