Isn't this a topic every aspiring or published writer can talk about until the cows come home? I cannot count, on my fingers and toes, the number of times I have been offered advice on writing. Writing tips are to writers as mommy blogs are to moms. They fit together like two peas in a pod, but not everyone likes peas. I remember trying to follow advice and tips to a T in the beginning. It was a priority of mine in the early days. Here, I thought, are individuals who have experience with writing and obviously know more than I do. So why not trust their judgment and accept their advice as the honest truth? What isn't mentioned by any of those writers or professors is that not all tips fit every writer.
Maybe it is something all writers develop - a desire to impart knowledge to the next generation. From that perspective, I can certainly stand behind gaining some insight to the world of writing. Yet, I often wonder, now, why I chose to follow some advice and tips instead of taking the steps toward finding my own voice. It is a precarious cliff. Follow the advice of published authors, or take a leap of faith, jump off the cliff, and find your own path with your own voice.
As an author in my 30's, I know the only advice I could really get behind was experience life first. You cannot write without experiencing life. Well, you can write without experiencing life, but it won't be realistic. You need to feel. You need to see. You need to smell. You should taste and touch. Those things make scenes and stories come to life. Writing without that experience is shown so well in 50 Shades of Grey. The author shows she has no knowledge of the actual life that she is writing about. Her words, when describing the books, are "All my fantasies in there, and that's it." I found this quote here. Fantasies is the operative word in that description. The roles she writes about would never play out in that manner. It's a woman's fantasy gone awry with poor grammar and unrealistic situations.
I am not saying you have to live a particular life to write about it. I am saying that research is a necessary part of your writing experience, but your own experience is paramount to that research. Those authors who do not research and who do not experience create a mass hysteria over nothing important. They turn into passing fads that are tossed aside for the next "sexy" thing presented to the world. I do not want to be that type of author.
I want my experiences to shape my writing. I want the essence of who I am to be ever present in each of my writings - poetry, fiction, or otherwise. I want to leave something important to the literary world that captures our society and presents a better way to cope. My experiences lend to my goals as a writer. So no matter what your experience level or how many tips you receive, figuring out what you ultimately want as a writer will shape the type of advice you should follow, what experiences you should seek, and what to avoid when writing.
Maybe it is something all writers develop - a desire to impart knowledge to the next generation. From that perspective, I can certainly stand behind gaining some insight to the world of writing. Yet, I often wonder, now, why I chose to follow some advice and tips instead of taking the steps toward finding my own voice. It is a precarious cliff. Follow the advice of published authors, or take a leap of faith, jump off the cliff, and find your own path with your own voice.
As an author in my 30's, I know the only advice I could really get behind was experience life first. You cannot write without experiencing life. Well, you can write without experiencing life, but it won't be realistic. You need to feel. You need to see. You need to smell. You should taste and touch. Those things make scenes and stories come to life. Writing without that experience is shown so well in 50 Shades of Grey. The author shows she has no knowledge of the actual life that she is writing about. Her words, when describing the books, are "All my fantasies in there, and that's it." I found this quote here. Fantasies is the operative word in that description. The roles she writes about would never play out in that manner. It's a woman's fantasy gone awry with poor grammar and unrealistic situations.
I am not saying you have to live a particular life to write about it. I am saying that research is a necessary part of your writing experience, but your own experience is paramount to that research. Those authors who do not research and who do not experience create a mass hysteria over nothing important. They turn into passing fads that are tossed aside for the next "sexy" thing presented to the world. I do not want to be that type of author.
I want my experiences to shape my writing. I want the essence of who I am to be ever present in each of my writings - poetry, fiction, or otherwise. I want to leave something important to the literary world that captures our society and presents a better way to cope. My experiences lend to my goals as a writer. So no matter what your experience level or how many tips you receive, figuring out what you ultimately want as a writer will shape the type of advice you should follow, what experiences you should seek, and what to avoid when writing.
Let your experiences guide your writing hand.
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