​I once saw an interview with Rod Serling in which he said that if someone never gets published then they are not a true writer.  Now, I’ve always considered Mr. Serling to be a very skilled writer with lots of insights into the process, but I found this claim to be rather bizarre.  Is this because even though I’ve made the effort in the past to get published I’ve failed and I see it as some kind of an attack on me?  Possibly, though I like to think that it has nothing to do with my personal experiences.  I simply don’t see the connection between the quality of someone’s writing and whether or not a publisher sees fit to put that work into print. 
 
Such a claim suggests that if say Charles Dickens had written his books for his own personal satisfaction and never even attempted to get them published that he wouldn’t have been a true writer.  How can that be?  The quality of the work is based on the quality of the work, not on how many people get the opportunity to read it.  For all we know the best novel ever written is sitting unread in someone’s desk drawer, the author simply uninterested in going through the arduous process of getting it published. 
 
You see, that’s me.  Not that I have the best novel ever written sitting unread in my desk drawer.  I’ve simply come to the conclusion that focusing on getting published does absolutely nothing to make me a better writer and in fact my detract from it.  I absolutely love to write stories, but I absolutely detest the process of trying to get someone to buy my stories.  Far too often I have been in the middle of writing something truly enjoyable, only to have the flow abruptly interrupted when I start to wonder if I’ll ever be able to find a publisher interested in it.  I start to question if it’s even worth finishing.  If it will never get published, why bother? 
 
Fortunately, I’ve come to realize that getting published clearly isn’t the reason that I write.  If that were the case I would have given it up decades ago.  I write because I have an insatiable need to put the stories running around inside of my head down on paper.  Would it be nice to get published have millions of readers and get on the NYT Best Seller List?  Of course!  But it’s no longer my ultimate goal.  As wonderful as that might be, it’s not why I spend hours every week writing.  I write because I get enormous joy and satisfaction from the process of creating.  Finishing a novel feels great!  It’s a wonderful sense of accomplishment.  However, the satisfaction is short-lived.  Within a few days the joy of having written fades and I am again filled with the need to create something new.  I suspect that getting published would be similar.  The satisfaction might last weeks or even months instead of just days, but eventually I’m certain that my entire world will again be focused exclusively on what am I writing now. 
 
What are your thoughts of the subject?  I’d love to hear in the comments below.  

I understand that all writers want to create something completely original.  I have some good news and some bad news on that front.  The bad news is that it's impossible to think up a story that is completely original, so if that's your goal I'm sorry to say that you'll never achieve it.  The good news is that it's impossible to think up a story that is completely original, which means that you can finally let go of that enormous pressure you've felt to write something that's impossible to write.

The truth of the matter is that so many stories have been written over so many years that there isn't a completely original idea for anyone to come up with.  It has in fact all been said before.  At first that can be a bitter pill for a writer to swallow.  It can make you wonder what the point is and why you should even bother taking the time to put pen to paper.  But eventually that knowledge can have an enormously liberating effect.  Instead of struggling to come up with something completely original, only to time and again discover that some other writer already had the idea, you're suddenly free to blatantly steal ideas from other writers, as long as you can find a new or unique way of presenting them.  

At first glance you might think that Gene Roddenberry had a completely new and original concept when he wrote the Star Trek pilot.  But the reality is that people have been telling the story of brave individuals risking their safety on a journey to explore the frontier for ages, such as the book Big House in the Little Woods or the TV series Wagon Train.  What Gene did was to ingeniously find a new slant for this long established tale.  The story of adventurers exploring new territory is old, but this was the first time anyone thought to write about adventurers exploring new territory in outer space.  

Once you accept that there's a difference between plagiarizing another author's work and telling another author's story from a new perspective, it opens up innumerable possibilities.  Think about the story contained in your favorite novel then try and come up with a way to tell that story that's fresh or unique.  How would a story set in the 18th Century be told if it took place today?  How would a story set in the 20th Century be told if it took place two hundred years from now?  How would your favorite story be told if it was written from the antagonist's perspective instead of the protagonist's?  How would the story change if the main character was a different sex or different race? 

The same holds true for novels that you don't like.  If you've ever read a novel that had an interesting idea or two but the author simply didn't explore them very well, why not write an improved version?  If you can figure out what another writer did wrong when writing their book it gives you the opportunity to create your own and do it right.  

It can feel wrong at first to steal another writer's ideas and make them your own, but the key here is to remember that you are making enough changes to make them uniquely your own.  It also helps to remember that regardless of who the author is, all of the ideas that you're stealing from them the author stole from others.  Writing is a continual process of taking old ideas and recycling them into something slightly different and new.  

Interested in joining the Silver Falls Library Writers Group?  We're currently meeting online via Zoom.  Click Here for more information.

Welcome to the Silver Falls Library Writer's Blog.  As the title suggests the purpose of this blog is to provide a forum for those interested in the craft of writing.  My intention is to discuss various challenges that most if not all writers face at some point.  Your feedback is not only welcome, but anticipated.

                                                                                      BLOG #1
                                                                                 Writers Write
 
Painters paint, sculptors sculpt, and writers write.  It’s what they call a no-brainer.  Yet for some reason those of us who put pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – often need to be reminded of this fact.  Perhaps it’s the cerebral nature of writing that makes this so.  You spend quite a bit of time thinking about writing prior to doing any actual writing.  It’s an essential part of the process.  But it’s also the easy part.  Almost anyone can think about writing, but at some point one must start putting down one word after another into comprehensible sentences. 
 
So what are some of the reasons that would-be writers don’t actually write?  There are probably as many reasons as there are would-be writers, however there are a few that are quite common. 

1. They wait for that special inspiration to hit.  There’s nothing quite like that feeling of communing with your muse, when the words just seem to flow.  It’s probably why most writers are drawn to writing in the first place.  But a writer waiting for inspiration before writing would be like an athlete waiting to be in the zone before participating in their sport.  The reality is that the more an athlete participates in their sport the more likely they are to get into the zone.  The same holds true for writers.
2. They try to find time for writing instead of making time for writing.  Everyone one gets 24 hours in each day.  It’s not possible to ‘’find’ any additional hours.  For far too many, writing is what they do only after they’ve gotten everything else done.  If you are serious about writing then you need to make it a priority. 
3. They are not consistent about when and where they write.  Not only is it essential that you make time to write, it can also be very helpful if you can consistently write at about the same time of the day or night.  Many writers also find it helpful to designate a specific place for writing, though I admit that this can be a double edged sword.  There was a time when I could sit down with a pad of paper and a pencil and write virtually anywhere.  However, since I started doing most of my writing in my office, I find it more and more difficult to write anywhere else.  As frustrating as that can be at times, I prefer having my designated writing space.  Simply stepping into that space puts me in the correct frame of mind.
4. They strive for perfection.  Of course, that’s always the goal.  However, one should keep in mind that perfection is rarely achieved.  And if you’re just starting out, perfection will almost certainly be a long ways off. All writers need to recognize that they will inevitably do quite a bit of bad writing before they start to write anything all that good.  Practice makes perfect, so don’t be afraid to fail.

As I said, there are probably numerous other examples of why writers don't write.  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.  

2/11/2021