What I hear most from published authors is (drumroll please)
LEARN THE CRAFT
I used to think what the hell whenever I heard it. I got so tired of hearing it, I started saying it to others. But what I didn't know was that learning the craft had everything to do with writing, and simultaneously, had nothing to do with writing.
While I'm 'learning the craft' and attempting to weave it into my writing, I'm finding out what I've learned and what my imagination conjures up, can't coexist...initially. Ahh, there was my problem. I'm typing (or writing) trying to pay attention to structure, flow, tense, pov, grammar, etc., etc., when, in essence, none of that shit matters. (Sorry mommy but I'm upset with myself right now) The only thing that matters when I'm putting pen to pad or fingertips to keys is my IMAGINATION. To hell with all the mechanics. Forget the comma I'm not to sure is placed correctly and, at this point, I'm loving my dangling modifiers.
Learn the craft of writing is a misleading statement. It led me to believe that the craft had all to do with writing right. But that isn't it. And I finally get it. Or at least I get a portion of it. The next time someone tells me this, I'm going to ask them what they mean. As of today, this is my process:
While I'm 'learning the craft' and attempting to weave it into my writing, I'm finding out what I've learned and what my imagination conjures up, can't coexist...initially. Ahh, there was my problem. I'm typing (or writing) trying to pay attention to structure, flow, tense, pov, grammar, etc., etc., when, in essence, none of that shit matters. (Sorry mommy but I'm upset with myself right now) The only thing that matters when I'm putting pen to pad or fingertips to keys is my IMAGINATION. To hell with all the mechanics. Forget the comma I'm not to sure is placed correctly and, at this point, I'm loving my dangling modifiers.
Learn the craft of writing is a misleading statement. It led me to believe that the craft had all to do with writing right. But that isn't it. And I finally get it. Or at least I get a portion of it. The next time someone tells me this, I'm going to ask them what they mean. As of today, this is my process:
Write the damn story for me (imagination)
Rewrite the damn story for them (layer in the mechanics)
Send the hot mess to an editor (who can magically merge my imagination and the mechanics)
Decide if the merger coincides with my vision and make corrections
Leave a comment, I'd love to discuss...
Rewrite the damn story for them (layer in the mechanics)
Send the hot mess to an editor (who can magically merge my imagination and the mechanics)
Decide if the merger coincides with my vision and make corrections
Hmm....looks like NaNoWriMo is on to something...
Leave a comment, I'd love to discuss...
7 comments:
I've been told to learn the craft and what I got from that was to learn or figure out what my writing voice is.
Hey JC
I'm sure that's part of it. But I'm finding out it may take a lifetime to learn the craft. We can only get better as we go along but learning the craft...I'm not sure who has mastered that and lived to tell about it. Glad you brought up voices. That's actually going to be one of my topics.
TTYL
Sometimes as authors we confuse ourselves with our characters. So we need to step outside the box to hear their voices. And they talk loud so we really need to listen.
Now writing is a lot like life. You can never say you have learned or know everything abut life or writing.
Sounds like a plan...
i was a slap in the face when i learned "the craft."
before all that the process had been to just write the story. don't worry about the step, cliffhangers and knock downs.
what was so strange was that it happened when i was writing a genre i wasn't familiar or confident about and that was erotic. I was in the process of writing Mistaken Identity.
warning though: Once you learn the craft, don't stop learning. keep practicing and keep learning.
Hey Sylvia
Yes. It's definitely a never ending learning process. But when it slapped you, didn't it hurt? I was like 'Geez' why hadn't I seen this already...lol
Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Yas,
I'ma make it do what it do...lol
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