In the several years since I started this blog, and now a YouTube channel (go check it out if you haven't already!), I've been asked a couple of times about why I don't really talk about my own writing – the process, the ideas, etc.
At first, I didn't really have an answer, at least not one that would concisely answer the question. But as I've continued to expand my catalogue beyond just writing novels, I finally realized why I don't discuss my own work.
I think it's a boring topic.
The act of writing – the day to day process of sitting down in front of a computer to get a daily word count in (which is essential to the process, especially as a newer writer), is, more often than not, a slog that doesn’t require much explanation.
The nuts and bolts of writing, the grammar, the punctuation, the vocabulary, etc. is something that you learn (or should, at any rate) as a kid in school, and is equally as boring until you reach the higher tiers of the process – where a comma, a semicolon, or an m-dash can completely change the meaning behind a sentence.
The act of outlining and brainstorming, which admittedly is the most interesting part to me, varies wildly from person to person, so my experience with it is going to be completely different to yours, and may very well be unrecognizable to your own process. To describe it in detail, to my mind, is essentially useless to another person who has their own way of doing things.
Talking about influences is all well and good, but every writer, from the biggest bestsellers to a kid writing their first short story, is going to have a stacking series of influences that will be constantly roughed out and shaped for the entirety of their career. It’s a vaguely amorphous sculpture that is constantly changing, and no end product (though there should never be an end product, per se) is ever going to be quite the same. If I gave you my list (although you can probably guess a few of them), it might alter the writer you eventually want to be.
One thing I will say, is this: Never stop consuming media. Books, short stories, blogs, videos, movies, TV shows – all of it. Never stop consuming. You’d be surprised where inspiration strikes, and you’d be equally surprised about what can and will influence you.
If you look at me, for example (and I have, in depth), you’ll find that it’s not really the written word that influences me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read, and do at every opportunity, but it’s the visual medium that most strongly pulls me in any given direction.
Lighting, scene-framing, dialogue and facial expressions, plot (for better or worse), pacing – all of it coalesces into something tangible that I can then take back into my world of letters and punctuation. And it does so in a way that doesn’t compromise my particular style.
That’s the kicker – don’t let your influences compromise your style. Even today, if I read too much Gaiman, or Asimov, or Heinlein, in any given sitting, I’ll find that my writing style adapts slightly to fit their voices, rather than my own.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s all well and good to emulate your favorite author when you’re first starting out. It’s a very handy exercise that will help you build a solid foundation as you progress. This type of working inside the box allows you to craft the tools you’ll need later down the line. But you can’t be dogmatic about it.
Eventually, you have to let yourself grow and expand beyond the parameters your influences keep you in. That’s how you develop your own particular style.
For example, I started out with Lovecraft and King as my primary influences, and worked to emulate them in the stories I was creating. Eventually, I realized that emulating Lovecraft meant I was creating good “horror,” but I was far too verbose to keep a plot moving swiftly. Emulating King meant that I was creating well “lived-in” characters, but again, I kept having to slow down the plot to fit everything in.
So I kept what I could from both influences and ditched the rest, realizing that plot, pacing, and structure were most important for me as a writer.
See how that works? It’s all a process.
It’s also important for me to consume a wide range of content. Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Drama, Horror, Comedy, it all hones your style, oftentimes without you even realizing it. You’ll be writing a scene, and realize that the images in your head fit perfectly with some movie or tv show you watched a decade ago.
As far as the actual writing goes – I don’t know what to tell you. It’s boring. For me, at any rate.
By the time I actually sit down to put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking, these days), I’ve already got the whole scene planned out, the whole plot planned out, the characters and setting are as real in my head as any memory I’ve got, and now I’m basically just transcribing events as if they were being dictated to me.
Sure, I’ll put down some snappy line, or cool detail that I hadn’t thought of in the outlining process, but by and large, the book’s already been written. I just have to get it down on paper.
One thing I’ll tell you is that, for me, creative writing classes and online courses have been a complete waste of time. What good does it do to be told about something from a teacher that may or may not have any experience creating something, when you can learn at the feet of the masters for a fraction of the cost?
Don’t take a course about Poe, go buy his collected works. Don’t suffer through a 12-hour unit about Shelly, go buy Frankenstein and read it on your own. A novel is the perfect one-on-one tutoring session. They’ll tell you more about their processes than any teacher ever could.
Think about how their work makes you feel, and then try to recapture that feeling in your own work – whatever your style may be.
The downside of this process is that, eventually, you’ll find that you cannot consume new content without a critical eye. You’ll constantly be dissecting each new piece of media to figure out how it works, and whether or not there’s something you can incorporate into your own writing. At least, that’s how it’s been for me.
I don’t know… At the end of the day, the only real piece of advice I’ve got is: Do what works for you, and damn the rest. Don’t let anybody tell you what your process should be, and damn sure don’t let them tell you how to do it.
As always, however, the universal truth is this: Park your ass in that chair and write. No one is going to do it for you, and while it may feel like a grind more often than it doesn’t, the finished product is always something you can be proud of. It wouldn’t exist if not for you, and if you’re lucky, someone will read it and enjoy it and think about it every now and then.
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