The Write of Way [Work in Progress, Member Driven]

Growth Spurts in Writing--Phase 2

Well, here we are again, intrepid writers.

Phase 2 is where a writer is past the beginning stages. Now you want to hone the craft.

And you go on a Great And Noble Quest of Learning How To Write.

Next thing you know, there you are--boogieing around finding out NOT to use too many adverbs, that LY endings of words are darkest evil. You've learned what a Hero's Journey is and whether you agree or not with the premise. You have a basic knowledge of grammar, maybe even some advanced knowledge of it. You may have spent some time on TV tropes--days or weeks perhaps, wandering around the site, mouth gaping, thinking, "I will NEVER get all this."

You start to vaguely wonder if you could sell your writing.  You might check out some options such as self-publishing and the Big Five publishers. You root around a few small publishers in your preferred genre.

And then it strikes.

"My writing sucks. It really sucks. I will *never* absorb all this knowledge."

Your head is bursting with what you've learned. And some writing advice contradicts others.

You look back over your old work and all you can see are mistakes.

Yet the advice is contradictory.

Writing is a skill. You discover that it is a machine made up of interlocking parts and gears that need grease. Yours is smashed to pieces in front of your eyes from ripping it apart to find how the machine works. The Wizard of Oz has gone up in a puff of smoke. You see many of the levers you once thought so magical.

Then come the contradictions:

Use adverbs. After all, Victorian writers used tons of them.
Don't use adverbs.

Use a Hero's Journey plot to your best advantage.
Don't be cliché. [more on this another day]

World build in detail and describe it. [common advice from fantasy writers]
Don't bore your reader describing everything.

Describe your main character in detail. Do a psychological analysis.
Don't bore your reader with too much character detail. Let the character's actions show what they are like.

Your head is exploding. You want to write better but everyone seems to have something different to say and you have not yet gained enough knowledge to make the judgment call for yourself.

You go out and ask for critiques to help.

And you get them. Buckets of them. Weighty tons of them. And few of them are in agreement.

Now you are well and truly screwed.

BRAIN BURST! Now you can't write any more.

Your head is so full of contradictory advice that you sit down to write and NOTHING COMES OUT because all that is going on upstairs is a swirling maelstrom.

For some writers, this can go on for months or years.

Yet fear not! For this is not the end of your journey! It is the beginning of a butterfly, emerging from a chrysalis.

This is your brain *absorbing*. It is analyzing all that data along with your inherent imagination and storytelling ability, brewing--trying to make sense of it all.

At this juncture one of several results can happen after a time of brewing.

You will move into Phase 3 at some point  or change what you write or you will stop writing altogether because your need to write isn't predicated in a basic drive to communicate through words but on some other external stimulus.

Fear not even then, there are journalists for whom this is clearly true and they're making a good living because their true loves are politics or social justice or money or all too often in my estimation--marketing or popularity. There is, in writing,  a place for every kind of drive. Otherwise I think we ALL know of some books that are horrid but yet--clearly on the Bestseller's lists.

Some writers, such as Hemingway and Dickens, will be comprised of several internal, conflicting worlds.

As Stephen King said, "Writing is an obsession."

Obsessive souls move into Phase 3.







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...and I *really* want to hear your questions and comments and suggestions for future articles on The Write Of Way. This is a member-driven series. Topics that come up a few times in comments tend to be what I cover, first ☺☺☺