What am I doing? What is going on? Typing out a blog post shouldn’t be this difficult, yet here I am, mulling over my introduction while those questions swirl around in my head. And as for the title, it’s more directed at me than anyone else. Although, now that I think about it, it’s a great phrase to get accustomed to saying. Whether you think the words being written are worth the ink in your pen or the bytes on your computer is irrelevant. What matters is that if you want to write, then you should write.
It’s a bit of a riff of the saying, “Just do it!” The problem with using that specific phrasing though, is that so few things in life can be done so easily. If someone points out that my shoelaces are untied, I can “just do it” and have them tied again. If I want to have a glass of chocolate milk, I can grab a glass, some milk, and some Nestle Nesquik and “just do it.” But, if I wanted to publish a book (a feat I’m currently working on), I cannot “just do it.” That is a whole process that requires large amounts of time, energy, and persistence. It’s a case of “easier said than done.”
The point is not to discourage, but rather to encourage. That’s why I feel that “just write” is a more actionable statement. We all can “just write.” Whether it’s my niece learning to write her name, or me, trudging through my pages of notes to write out a scene, we can all put pen to paper and scribble something down. And that’s where everything starts.
I’m currently in the midst of completing my first draft for a novel that has been swimming around in my head for years. What’s taken so long? Admittedly, some of it has been laziness. It’s far too easy to come home after work and just twiddle away the hours until bedtime. But eventually, the whispering in my head dialed up to a scream of “just write!” So I pulled out my keyboard, opened up my word processor, and started on my journey. There’s still a long way to go for sure, and plenty of opportunity for me to mess things up. But as long as I keep writing, I will move ever closer to my goal of publishing my first novel.
Learn From The Best
If you’re not sure where to start writing, there’s a couple avenues for you to explore. The first avenue is one I’m sure you’re familiar with. Reading. If you want to get good at a skill, one time proven tradition is to “learn from the best.” Since the odds of getting a personal tutor session from the likes of Amy Cross or Jayne Faith (two authors I’m currently exploring) is a certifiable zilch, the next best thing is to read their work(and by all means, study the authors that speak most to you).
Read to see: how they structure a narrative, where characters get their motivation, and how conflict progresses from chapter to chapter. Absorb yourself in the story and determine what makes their writing so compelling. What is it that draws you to their books? Is it the mix of fantasy with an urban setting like in Jayne’s Stone Blood series? Or is it the chills that keep you awake from reading Amy’s The Bride of Ashbyrn House?
Fan-Fiction Anyone?
Another avenue to explore, and this may be surprising, is fan-fiction. I spent over ten years of my life wandering in and out of writing fan-fiction. From anime characters to giant monsters and yes, even a few pony based tales, I would drown myself in the world of various shows and movies and take the characters on my own cocktail of adventures.
While there is a lot of negative stereotypes surrounding fan-fiction authors (such as “shipping” characters into contrived romance stories), starting out your writing career with fan-fiction may be just the open door you need. When it comes to writing a good story, there are three basic building blocks: setting, characters, and plot. Theme is also important, but my focus here is more-so on the basics.
With fan-fiction, you have two of those three building blocks already in place. You have the characters, and you have the setting. Now the setting can be malleable, and altered as the story requires it. The characters though, they already have their own unique voices and personalities. For me I found it easy to write for characters where I could easily hear their voices in my head, speaking the dialogue for a given scene. Over time, I could also predict their motivations and actions based on a situation I placed them in.
While not appropriate for all writers, I think fan-fiction is a great place to get your feet wet with writing. You get to explore characters and plots you’re already interested in, without having to build everything up from scratch. With an existing foundation, you can tell all kinds of stories, not to mention read countless others to see how the same characters are portrayed. Of course, fan-fiction has a wide range in its quality, which is something to be mindful of. But when used as a stepping stone, I think it provides a wealth of benefits to aspiring writers.
To Infinity, And Beyond!
The final avenue I’ll mention is “exploration.” While I’m sure there are many different routes that I have not even thought of, I think this is probably the best route for a writer. What do I mean by “exploration?” Try writing in different genres, or in different points of view. Try using different formats and seeing what kinds of stories you can tell with them. For example, in my fan-fiction days, I wrote horror, romance, attempted some comedy, and then one exhausting fantasy epic that took a good two years to complete. I’d write in third person for some, and first person for others. And in one particular short story, I used a series of letters from one character to tell the story of a dying farm and an old grandma checking in on her granddaughter who’d moved away. It’s a story that while few read, was more about the experience for me as a writer.
For you, this may mean taking a swing at some poetry, or even writing out a screenplay. You might challenge yourself to a 100 word limit piece, or write in that one genre you know absolutely nothing about (just to see what would happen). With writing, there truly is no limit as to the stories that can emerge. All it takes is a voice in the back of your head to whisper, “just write” and you’ll be off on an unforgettable adventure where the price of admission is nothing more than a pen and a piece of paper.
Brian The Wanderer 