Learning
January 17th 2009 03:52
Writing is in large part a learning process. A writer needs to be open to new things; this is why we have classes and workshops and books about writing. Not all things will work for you, this is true. We're all different. You probably won't find a class that's absolutely perfect for you. A method won't always work.
But if you don't try new things, how can you possibly know? Everything changes; our writing should too. Let's take the example of a well known author, JK Rowling of the Harry Potter series.
People change and grow as readers as well as writers. Though as a child they delighted me, I can't read the first four books of this series anymore; I've grown to a point where they seem dull to me. The writing isn't bad, necessarily, but it isn't as compelling as later books.
JK's writing grows. While her ideas are great, her writing was only mediocre at the beginning; I can understand to an extent why she collected over thirty rejections before finding a publisher for her books.
The seventh book is dark, it's intense; you just can't put it down. You can tell she's grown as a writer by the way she tells the story. It doesn't feel like it's designed for children anymore, or even young adults. With the sixth and seventh book she truly crosses age groups, and this is what all books hopefully will do.
If you're thinking about taking a class, do it; you never know what you might pick up. If you're thinking about trying a new genre, try it. Only with practice, feedback, and experimenting do we grow better as writers.
Of course, this goes into the outside world as well. Our writing is enriched by the experiences we've had, by the things we go through each day. We become better at writing not only with practice and feedback, and experiments in the writing world, but by changing ourselves and trying new things in our own world. By seeing more in life, we can draw on more when building our worlds and when writing in the one we live in.
Try something new; maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't. But that experience may very well provide you with an idea for a great story. The experience of seeing your first real taste of a new culture may give you a little detail to add more depth to your world. It's not guaranteed-but it's more likely that you'll get an idea by doing something than by sitting around on your butt.
Learn something new today. Read about someone else's writing process. Sign up for a writing class. Try a new sport. Read about a new culture. Plan a trip if you can, somewhere not too far but where life is different. You'd be surprised how much changes with only a few hours' drive.
Learning helps you with both your writing and your normal life. Writing is a learning process-and as much as we may hate school (I do), writing is more fun to learn about, and you'll never make it any further than where you are already if you don't.
They say we all learn something new every day; maybe we don't really learn something new every day, but we can at least learn something new every month or two. So go Google something you don't know much about, and see where the internet leads you.
But if you don't try new things, how can you possibly know? Everything changes; our writing should too. Let's take the example of a well known author, JK Rowling of the Harry Potter series.
People change and grow as readers as well as writers. Though as a child they delighted me, I can't read the first four books of this series anymore; I've grown to a point where they seem dull to me. The writing isn't bad, necessarily, but it isn't as compelling as later books.
JK's writing grows. While her ideas are great, her writing was only mediocre at the beginning; I can understand to an extent why she collected over thirty rejections before finding a publisher for her books.
The seventh book is dark, it's intense; you just can't put it down. You can tell she's grown as a writer by the way she tells the story. It doesn't feel like it's designed for children anymore, or even young adults. With the sixth and seventh book she truly crosses age groups, and this is what all books hopefully will do.
If you're thinking about taking a class, do it; you never know what you might pick up. If you're thinking about trying a new genre, try it. Only with practice, feedback, and experimenting do we grow better as writers.
Of course, this goes into the outside world as well. Our writing is enriched by the experiences we've had, by the things we go through each day. We become better at writing not only with practice and feedback, and experiments in the writing world, but by changing ourselves and trying new things in our own world. By seeing more in life, we can draw on more when building our worlds and when writing in the one we live in.
Try something new; maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't. But that experience may very well provide you with an idea for a great story. The experience of seeing your first real taste of a new culture may give you a little detail to add more depth to your world. It's not guaranteed-but it's more likely that you'll get an idea by doing something than by sitting around on your butt.
Learn something new today. Read about someone else's writing process. Sign up for a writing class. Try a new sport. Read about a new culture. Plan a trip if you can, somewhere not too far but where life is different. You'd be surprised how much changes with only a few hours' drive.
Learning helps you with both your writing and your normal life. Writing is a learning process-and as much as we may hate school (I do), writing is more fun to learn about, and you'll never make it any further than where you are already if you don't.
They say we all learn something new every day; maybe we don't really learn something new every day, but we can at least learn something new every month or two. So go Google something you don't know much about, and see where the internet leads you.
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