Writing – Page 14 – Patricia J. Parsons

Why we write what we write

Posted on 8 Sep 20148 Sep 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

Just like most writers out there in the twenty-first century, I follow a number of writer/author groups and blogs. I suspect, though, that I follow far fewer than many writers. I believe we need to spend more time writing than talking about writing; but that’s just me. Apart from the extreme time suck involved in participation in these online groups, one of the other primary reasons for my reluctance to get more involved is because I really don’t find that many kindred spirits in them. Perhaps that shouldn’t matter to me, but it does.

For example, just this morning, I received an email from a LinkedIn site that I follow in a general kind of way. A participant in the discussion posted the following gem as a discussion starter:

“I want to embark on fiction but I just do not have the imagination to concoct stories and plots. Can anyone share with me how successful novelists repeatedly fabricate stories?”

Now, I would expect bona fide writers on this forum to weigh in as follows: If you have no imagination and no stories to tell, you clearly shouldn’t write fiction. End of story. But, no, that’s not what they said.

One actually started his response by saying that it was a great question. A great question? Are you kidding? It is a moronic question in my view and epitomizes what’s wrong with open access to publishing. There are so many people out there today who actually do have stories to tell and can’t get them published that I shudder to think what will happen to the literary world when self-published books become nothing more than the yearnings of wannabe fiction writers who really want to have written a book – not to actually write one.

Another “writer” suggested to the poster without imagination that he simply mine his own life. That should be good. No imagination needed there, I guess.

Someone else told him to read. Another told him to take a ride on public transport – in response to the very astute comment of one responder who actually had the temerity to say, “If you lack the imagination…why start?” Bravo to that honest writer who is like me. What a surprise it was for me to find a like-minded writer in an online forum.

What I want to know is why someone wants to write fiction if he has no story to tell and admits upfront that he lacks imagination. All the creative thinking suggestions in the world will not help if there is no imagination to carry an idea through.

Arthur Schopenhauer thought a lot about writing and why we write.

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer probably had it right in The Art of Literature when he said, “There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject’s sake, and those who write for writing’s sake. […] The truth is that when an author begins to write for the sake of covering paper, he is cheating the reader; because he writes under the pretext that he has something to say.” People can write whatever they want and I encourage them to do so. Much of what we write, however, should not be published.

I think that there are people who truly want to write because they have something they want to say, and those who simply want to have written a book. The former makes a life –even if it doesn’t’ pay the bills. The latter makes for good cocktail hour conversation.

The disciplined writer: Keeping a promise to yourself

Posted on 25 Jul 201425 Jul 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

Our back deck beckons while I need to work on my new book.

It’s summer. The heat and humidity just beg us to take a cold drink outside and chill a bit. And we deserve it, don’t we? The problem is that without some self-discipline nothing will get done. And I know that my two major writing projects that are currently underway will not write themselves! So I’ve been thinking about discipline as an important tool for any writer’s tool box.

The truth is that when it comes to your writing, it is yours and yours alone. From time to time you might be given an external point of reference such as a deadline – I’ve written about the beauty of a deadline before– but even then discipline for a writer means self-discipline.

Self-control. Self-restraint. Willpower. Regardless of what you call it, the concept is clear for your writing life: you need to be in control of your writing and motivate yourself to complete projects. No one will do it for you.

One of the most serious problems with writerly self-discipline in the twenty-first century is the ever-present internet. A quick Twitter and Google search will leave you with the impression that unknown writers spend much more time on social media sites than they do in their writing. Social media is a serious time suck.

As you sit there in front of your computer screen attempting to get that writing project underway or finished, unless the ideas begin to flow immediately, there is a mighty temptation to surf over to Twitter or that writers’ group you’ve been meaning to comment in, or to Facebook to see who has posted something new on that page for aspiring authors. You can delude yourself into thinking that it’s for your work, but what it really means is that you are singularly unable to discipline yourself to actually write.

Close your internet browser. Close your email. Put your phone away so you can’t hear it if a text arrives.

Harry Truman once said, “If I want to be great I have to win victory over myself. ..self-discipline.”

This is so important to me as I make progress on those writing projects. I made a promise to myself when I started each one: the promise that I’d have a finished manuscript in due course. This is a promise I’m keeping to myself – summer or not!

Writing, Writing books

Maybe you shouldn’t be a writer

Posted on 15 Jul 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

[Excerpted from Who Will Read Your Book? The Unknown Writer’s Guide to the Realities of Writing & Publishing forthcoming from Patricia Parsons]

This is worth considering. If you want to be a writer, and are considering who you are as a writer, it might be a useful exercise to consider all the reasons you shouldn’t write a book. If you do this and at the end still believe that you should write your book and work to get it published, then you’ll be stronger as you move through the process.

Lots of people have put together lists of why you shouldn’t write. For example Susannah Breslin, writing in Forbes online, suggests the following three reasons you shouldn’t write: (1) you’re not good at it; (2) it’s too hard; and (3) it’s too hard to make money.[i] These are all valid points in my view. What’s so interesting is that in a later post, she says that her short piece on why you shouldn’t be a writer is the one that readers hated most.[ii] It seems those who want to write a book don’t want to be told the reasons why they shouldn’t pursue it. But you do need to hear this before you move forward.

Blogger Karen Yates has a few more ideas about why you shouldn’t write that book. She suggests that you back away from that computer if (1) you want to write because you think it will be fun or easy; (2) you want to write because you have a lot of Twitter followers; (3) you think the topic is one you think you can sell even if you’re not passionate about it; (4) if you can’t take criticism (she says editorial: I think you need to have a thick skin in general); and/or (5) you’re not willing to promote your book.[iii] Again, these are all good considerations.

After a couple of decades of writing books myself, I’ve determined that people should write if they want to: what they shouldn’t necessarily do is publish. If you want to write, remember that it will be a difficult process, but go ahead regardless of what anyone tells you. Then take that manuscript and put it away to read in your dotage. Don’t try to sell it to a publisher, and under no circumstances should you self-publish it. That is unless you remember the following which are my personal reasons that should give wannabe writers pause.

Do not publish your writing even one of the following statements applies to you:

You’re writing as a form of catharsis. That’s what your private, personal journals are for.
You’re writing because you’re angry about something. At least don’t publish anything until the anger subsides and you can look at the matter more objectively.
You’re writing on a topic only because you think it will sell. If you are not passionate about it, it’s not worth writing about.
You don’t believe that writers read. Any published writer worth his or her salt reads a lot and reads widely.
You aren’t willing to do the research that will be necessary regardless of genre.
You aren’t willing to work to continually improve your writing.
You think that you’ll simply sit down in front of the computer and the words will flow.
You can’t stand revising.
You don’t have a thick skin.
You spend more time talking to others in person and online about your writing than you do writing.

Once you have looked inward and can honestly say that none of these statements applies to you, it’s time to get on with finishing your book.

[i] Susannah Breslin. Why you shouldn’t’ be a writer. Forbes online. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2012/06/12/why-you-shouldnt-be-a-writer/

[ii] Susannah Breslin. Why you should be a writer. Forbes online. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2013/03/30/why-you-should-be-a-writer-2/

[iii] Karen Yates. 5 reasons you shouldn’t write that book. http://goo.gl/S8L05l