Crash Course For Aspiring Writers

My Apology

As I said at the end of the previous chapter, something has dawned on me. And that is I have made a mistake in making this book.

I became aware of this following a video I watched going over what can 'kill' writers.

In that video, the person who made it said that along the line of writing, they'd focused on making the 'best' story possible: constantly thinking about payoffs, character arcs, and doubting their own concepts. And, by the time they realised this, they'd taken all joy out of writing for themselves because they were too focused on writing 'good' stories.

And I realised I've been sort of doing that in this book. I've been saying 'do this, not this' with little to no consideration of the most important thing in writing: the author's feelings. I've been so focused on giving tips for how to make it a better experience for the readers I didn't stop to even think about the very sources of the art.

I myself have found that I've had issues with this very subject a few times in the past 2 years, most notably during quarantine where I couldn't find happiness in writing. It feels so bad to want to write, to express your creativity, but just not being happy doing it.

The most important part of writing isn't what I've made it out to be: It's not writing grammatically correct paragraphs, nor is it fleshed-out stories. It's your own happiness. Why does it matter if you've written the most complex storyline to have ever existed, when you can't be happy with what you've done?

I've been, and incredibly luckily so, gifted with friends who compliment my writing and concept work every time I show them my work. However, I am aware that not everyone has friends like that.

As you all know, or have hopefully at least noticed, the chapters in this book are few, with a large amount of time between each. This is because these chapters are a sort of personal journey of its own. The reason these chapters take so long to make is because a large portion of them are me thinking. About how I myself write, because who knew figuring out your own writing traits is so hard, about stuff I feel I would like to see, and about how I try to improve.

This chapter is one of the more thoughtful ones in this book. The train of thought two paragraphs up is one that I started two weeks ago. In between these two weeks, I've thought long and hard about this chapter. Should I publish this? Because, honestly, I am stuck between two things: One, this book feels slightly wrong to me now that I've thought about it, and two, I feel like it's just a book of suggestions, leaving its readers free of whether or not they wish to follow my advice.

I'm incredibly sorry for the two opposing views that are shown in this chapter. But, hopefully my point is clear: this book is in no case, or at least the intentions behind it, that anything is more important than being happy with your own book.

If you find yourself accidentally leaning into the apathetic side of writing, the one that most people cite as a requirement of becoming a writer, aka spending hours alone, and becoming an introvert, remember to take breaks. Spend time with others outside of writing, pick up another hobby. If you spend too much time writing, you'll find no more happiness, no more of that sweet, fulfilling feeling you felt when you started.

With that, I'd like to wrap up the pure, unfiltered mess that this chapter is. Hopefully it's a mess that you, dear reader, can understand, and not just an oddly philosophical ramble from a teenager, because as much as I enjoy rambling about various philosophical subjects, I understand those get annoying.