What makes a writer?
December 12th 2008 06:31
I've gone over this before, but I was reading a thread on Forward Motion earlier and it's been a while, so I felt like writing about this topic.
What makes a writer in my mind is someone who loves to write. Someone who can't help themselves; they just need to do it like most people need to breath. Writing is a passion, writing is a love; when the going gets tough we still keep going. Writers love to do what they do, and are willing to work at it.
The first post in the thread that I was reading talked about plateaus, peaks. Milestones. The first plateau is where you want to write, but can't seem to finish a story; the first finished draft is a milestone. Editing, critiquing, taking critiques, all those things are milestones.
A writer is still a writer no matter where they are in this list of milestones, no matter what their current plateau is. 'Writers' are the ones who are willing to work to hone their craft, who are willing to learn new skills-not only willing to, but want to-and to experiment. (Says the girl who's never written outside her genre... um...)
Writers try to be the best that they can be and every major improvement is a milestone. With every finished story a writer improves; they learn more about the art of writing, learn more about themselves, their characters, their worlds. Writers learn more about themselves and their perceptions of the world around them through writing than most people ever really see.
I'm proud to be a writer-and I'm proud to try new things, to experiment. The workshop I'm working on preparing is a huge experiment right now, as I've never done anything of the sort; I'm working hard on the exercises (lies, I'm procrastinating... but it is hard work, when I'm working) and hoping that people will find them useful. Most of these haven't been tested, as I usually don't do extensive planning. The first time anyone will so much as look at these exercises other than me will be when the thing launches.
I'm still looking for writers of other genres to help with some non-genre-specific exercises; and I'm looking for people to do pep talks for the six week writing part. If you want to volunteer, please email me at diannalgunn@gmail.com.
And something else new that I'm trying is the 2YN, two year novel course over at Forward Motion. Check out the site here:
http://fmwriters.com/
I'm Litharukia on there (which is also my alias on WriYe and Nano and other such writing sites.) If you sign up, send me a message!
Thanks for reading.
What makes a writer in my mind is someone who loves to write. Someone who can't help themselves; they just need to do it like most people need to breath. Writing is a passion, writing is a love; when the going gets tough we still keep going. Writers love to do what they do, and are willing to work at it.
The first post in the thread that I was reading talked about plateaus, peaks. Milestones. The first plateau is where you want to write, but can't seem to finish a story; the first finished draft is a milestone. Editing, critiquing, taking critiques, all those things are milestones.
A writer is still a writer no matter where they are in this list of milestones, no matter what their current plateau is. 'Writers' are the ones who are willing to work to hone their craft, who are willing to learn new skills-not only willing to, but want to-and to experiment. (Says the girl who's never written outside her genre... um...)
Writers try to be the best that they can be and every major improvement is a milestone. With every finished story a writer improves; they learn more about the art of writing, learn more about themselves, their characters, their worlds. Writers learn more about themselves and their perceptions of the world around them through writing than most people ever really see.
I'm proud to be a writer-and I'm proud to try new things, to experiment. The workshop I'm working on preparing is a huge experiment right now, as I've never done anything of the sort; I'm working hard on the exercises (lies, I'm procrastinating... but it is hard work, when I'm working) and hoping that people will find them useful. Most of these haven't been tested, as I usually don't do extensive planning. The first time anyone will so much as look at these exercises other than me will be when the thing launches.
I'm still looking for writers of other genres to help with some non-genre-specific exercises; and I'm looking for people to do pep talks for the six week writing part. If you want to volunteer, please email me at diannalgunn@gmail.com.
And something else new that I'm trying is the 2YN, two year novel course over at Forward Motion. Check out the site here:
http://fmwriters.com/
I'm Litharukia on there (which is also my alias on WriYe and Nano and other such writing sites.) If you sign up, send me a message!
Thanks for reading.
| 75 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Comments (11)
Add Comments
Read More
