Dame Lili
When I say “new writer” I don’t necessarily mean teenager/young person. I mean someone new to writing every day, someone just starting out. John Scalzi did his 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know, which I by and large agree with. (And I won’t lie, I always get a slight sense of gratification reading where he says one should write every day.) But the “new” writer is not necessarily, well, young.
I am not sure whether it’s better to come to writing while you’re young and you think you know everything, or when you’re older and you’ve had the sh!t kicked out of you a few times and you think you know How Life Works, which is just about the same mental reflex. (Though vastly more useful.) There’s something to be said for pure exuberant youth, and there’s something to be said for the calluses of experience on the bum of maturity. (Or something.) But whether you’re young or old, there’s things I think every new writer could benefit from.
* Accept that your stuff is going to suck. Everyone’s stuff sucks when they first start out no matter how old they are. Just because you’re verbally fast or fluent doesn’t mean you’ll be fast and fluent on the page; you will not be automatically fresh and iconoclastic when you’re young any more than you will be automatically experienced as an old hack when you’re older. Every writer starts out sucking. It’s our gods-given gift.
With young folk starting out writing, I see a lot of, “I’m new and SPECIAL and you just don’t understand!” With older writers, I see a lot of “How hard can this be? I’ve been a success at other things!” Both are…well, not true. New does not equal better, I understand because I was new and speshul once too. And there is a special circle of professional hell reserved for people who think this job is so easy you can just sit down and squeeze out a novel like squeezing a pimple. It is not simple. This is a complex task, and like any complex task, IT TAKES TIME TO MASTER.
When you’re just starting out learning any complex skill set, you’re going to suck. Relax and take the suck for what it is–a gift. That’s right, it’s a bloody gift. Once you accept that your work will suck at first, you have automatically created the necessary precondition for it getting better. If you refuse to accept that new writing, zero drafts, etc., are going to be an unholy mess, there is no reason for you to think about ways to make anything better and the work will remain in stasis…as an unholy mess. That’s not good if you want to make a living at writing, or even if you want to get published consistently.
* Common sense and business sense are your best friends. They are also surprisingly similar. Yog’s Law and basic common and business sense will help you have a career instead of a boondoggle. With a plethora of author’s weblogs, publisher’s weblogs, and several other sites available to the public online, as well as the Writer’s Market and places like Preditors & Editors, basic business/common sense about writing has never been so accessible. You can learn from other people’s mistakes all over the Internet–and not just about writing either. I can tell you several fandom and internet wanks have made me very wary, providing amusement as well as the lesson of “Jesus Christ, I don’t ever want to be in that position…”
Treat writing like a job with professional consequences and perks, and you will be in demand among editors. Given a choice between a prima donna with incandescent prose and an easy-to-work-with professional with a solid product that is not so incandescent, editors will largely choose the professional even if the story is less of a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Editors are people too, and they like dealing with reasonable people instead of flakes and fruits. Be reasonable, professional, and consistent, and thou shalt reap the rewards tenfold.
I have to note here that the proportion of new writers on the young and old sides of the spectrum who violate this rule is roughly the same. X amount of new young writers implode/never get published because it’s not about the writing, for them–it’s about some kind of weird, twisted emotional jolt or need in another area of their life. X amount of new old writers do the same thing. You learn to spot them a mile away at conventions or critique group meetings.
Don’t be them.
* Read, read, read. I am amazed by new writers who confide in me that they “don’t read” but they expect to produce a readable work. Omnivorous reading provides grist for your artistic mill and a thousand little tiny lessons you just can’t get any other way. Lessons about pacing, voice, word choice, structure, what works and what doesn’t on the page. Reading gives you a range of fine gradations to your basic tools of grammar and structure.
Reading a lot will initially set you on fire with trying to write in someone else’s voice. Books that affect you strongly will have an effect on your own writing. This is a phase every new writer goes through, and there is only one cure: writing and reading more. Get it out of your system before you start submitting. Your editors will thank you, and when they do, that is a good sign.
Don’t worry about your work always sounding like someone else’s. Sooner (if you keep writing on a consistent schedule) or later (if you lay about and don’t write as much) you will discover your own voice naturally, and things you read will no longer affect it as much. The period of imitation is necessary and natural for developing your own creative style. Don’t try to avoid it, and don’t get stuck in it. Just recognize it as a normal phase and enjoy it while it lasts. And when it goes, enjoy finding your own voice.
I could go on and on, but I’ve got actual work to do today. No rest for the weary and wicked, eh? Still, I love this job. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.
Peace out.
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I didn’t have The Fear before, but something in this post has really freaked me out. I don’t know if it’s the reality check (having to face the fact that what I’m writing right now is crap) or what, but I have been found by The Fear. Time to try to use it as a motivational force instead of one that stops me in my tracks.
HA! I found out FAST how much my stuff sucked. But, by joining critique groups and entering contests, I got a lot of advice that made it salable quickly. Great post, Dame Lilith.
Dame Lili, you rock! Every beginning writer in the world needs to staple this post to their foreheads. (And some of us who’ve been around awhile needed the kick in the arse as a reminder!)
Write on!
Thanks for the tips; I look back at my two most recent novels and know that they both suck at this point. However, I do not regret them being ‘sucky’ since I learned from the experiences. Plus, it gives me more to look forward to in the editing/rewriting phases. =)
Another words “treat writing like a job..?” It’s work … work.. and more work… but, I do enjoy reading (ALOT)… Lately, (shall I confess the past 4 years) I’ve been writing (blogging) alot about things I observe, see, feel, or think.. but, I’ve not tried to write a book, or a novel, etc., because I’m not ready to start. But, I willl.. and when I do … I will take your tips to heart.
Thank you!
I wish I had found this article 6 years ago. When I was in my I want to be a writer but everything I write stinks, *throws notebook across the room* phase.
I wish I had found it when I was in my Wow, so many people who tell me they are good writers really aren’t very good, so maybe that means I really suck and I’m too stupid to know it phase.
Or perhaps my but I want to write something as profound as Chuck P. as silly as Tom Robbins, and as immersive as Rowling (but I can’t because I suck so bad) phase.
Thankfully I stuck with it simply because I enjoy writing, and decided it didn’t really matter if it sucked, it just makes me happy. Now it also pays *some* of the bills!
New writers, read this, memorize it, hang it over your workspace. Stick it out, read everything you can get your hands on, and just keep writing.
PS as for the writers must read commandment, I also discovered it helped to read outside of my comfort zone. Put up the same three authors and branch out a little, there are a lot of wonderful surprises on the bookshelves. Tom Robbins, Chuck P., Kurt Vonnegut. It turns out I thought I was a horror fan, but absurdist fiction is so much more fun!
Great post! I’m an inspiring writer. I love to read. I read tons of books. And when I’m worried about the style sneaking into my own writing, sometimes I take a couple days so the high of a great book can calm down and I can write my own story, still with the inspiration of the great books I read, but I’m not stuck with that great authors writing style in my head too much were I’m using theirs and not mine.
I haven’t got to the submitting stage, nothing is that tight and polished yet. So the people who read my stuff are those I know. It’s funny because I’m the one who thinks my stuff is going to suck! I’ll be like, “I know this sucks, but read it anyways.”
Thanks for the great post. I’m definitely going to work on this. So when I do try to get my stuff out there I’ll be more prepared for the, “This sucks,” line.
Thanks! Good advice.
Great post! And applicable to more than just writing
It occured to me last night that I am both pantser and plotter. Again let me say how nice it is to visit a blog where I actually learn something and get all sorts of invaluable advice.
There’s nothing more helpful to a writer than getting that first terrible critique of the first chapter. I think I learned more about writing in my initial six months once I took the plunge to get my stuff out there than during any other time combined. There’s always more to learn, it’s just the learning curve is paced differently.
And I agree about that reading thing. I try to read, read and then sit down and read some more. The writing and reading are sometimes in competition, but I suck it up. Poor me, so much suffering when I love both ends of the equation.
Thanks for the great advice, Dame Lilith!
I am under no illusions that what I’m writing now is utter tripe. What I’ll write for the second novel will be better, but still tripe. By the third novel (and yes, I have plans for one of those too, but must write the first one… ermm, first) I may actually have a handle on things enough for it to be looked at by someone else. By the fourth novel (if I can make it that far), I may end up with something worth reading and even publishing, with re-writes.
So, by my reckoning, between other work commitments (I have to have another job to pay for myself while I teach myself to become a writer), reading other great works by great novelists, and everyday living, I should be about 55 by the time I’m even ready to submit. Four novels in 20 years is too long I know, but you ‘always start from the beginning’ and it if takes me 20 years to finally get what I’m aiming for then it will be 20 years well spent.
Anything worthwhile is always hardwork. No one is a genius their first time off.
I must say reading all your blogs really help and encourage me with my writing.You really help me focus with your truth of your words. Two points that I liked in he blog were..
“* Accept that your stuff is going to suck. ”
I notice the more short stories I work on the better and closer they get to being finished. (I am notorious for not finishing stories)
“Books that affect you strongly will have an effect on your own writing. This is a phase every new writer goes through, and there is only one cure: writing and reading more.” I know that my favorite writers use to really influence my writing style,but the more I read and write the more I come into my on style.
You know. I am in my last year of being a teen writer and thanks to the Internet a person with determination can find the same advices. So many authors out there actually want to help us not suffer as much, which we still manage to do so efectively, but I can just say what you say does not go unappreciated.
Also thankfully God gave me the shortest memory span ever, so I am simply tabula rasa everytime I sit down and write. *grin*
I never understand authors who insist they don’t like to read. Really. I don’t get it. At the very least, I think authors **must** read to stay on top of what’s happening in the publishing industry. And besides that, reading is fun.
And cool. All the cool authors are doing it.
Thanks!! Great advice I know I need to follow. I have learn to give myself a break. Enjoy the process.
[...] as I go along so the first chapters don’t make a lot of sense anymore, but I’m trying to follow Very Good Advice and plow on— Go back and change it later. It’s better that I finish the manuscript, even if the [...]
Honestly these negative blogs are getting on my nerves. Not to sugar coat things but you could be a little more sensitive.
[...] http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=378 Lilith Saintcrow on “The 3 things I wish new writers knew” [...]
I know my writing sucks and I accept that. I also know that with practice it will get better. What I don’t accept is that I should carry a dictionary with me whenever I read a newspaper or magazine. Some writers forget who they are writing to or who their market is. I’m not talking about articles or papers for academics. I’m talking about stuff for mass consumption. No wonder newspapers are losing subscribers. Why should I buy a newspaper when their columnists use $50 words to show off how smart they are? They forget who their audience is.
I refuse to accept his advice. Not only is he abusing the good ol’ “teenagers suck” sentiment that all perpetuate but none prove (No, his own writing is not statistically adequate), but he also says using a big vocabulary is one of the key reasons adults are better writers.
As Ryan said, writers their readership. Newspapers were once written with an average middle school student’s vocabulary for a reason. The only thing usage of five-dollar words provides is an easy way to come off sounding like, for lack of a better term, an ass.
Additionally, if his writing is so great now, then why does he use a cop-out “Most” before writing a “You?” I’m pretty sure both of these things are officially banned from professional writing. A freshman-year high school English teacher taught me that. Perhaps he missed the memo.
That said, I think your own advice is very valuable and I thank you. You have solid skill and linking to his misguided editorial is hardly necessary.