I wasn’t sure what to write about this week — snippets of sentences keep flitting around my mind and I can’t keep up with them. So to combat this blockage of inspiration I’m doing the best thing that a writer can do: sitting down and letting the words fall out as they come. No pressure, no need to get it right, just letting letters come into existence on the page as simply as I can breathe in and out.
I’ve read a few articles lately on what it is to be a writer and how we should act. They were definitely enlightening reads, and I will link them below if anybody would like to give them a glance. But when I read things like this it always leaves me second-guessing myself. Well, if so-and-so thinks that writers should do X then why don’t I do that? This person thinks that a writer should be focused on Y, does it make me a bad writer if I don’t want to do that?
In the words of the Blow Monkeys, “you know, it doesn’t have to be that way!”
Why is it that all writers are obsessed with telling other people how to write? Especially when there’s no one right way to do it — writing is a skill that can be acquired, but not taught. Sure, you can always take tips and tricks of the trade on board but it’s a different process for everybody.
Yes I agree with Joan Didion that we should all keep notebooks — but don’t tell me what to put in them or it defeats the point! I prefer reading Orwell’s Why I Write, as he focuses more on his own writing processes rather than trying to tell you how to do it. He proposes that there are four motives for writing: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, or political purpose. I like to think that you can lump up all the writers in the world into categories, and each person’s why is the most important focal point for understanding their work. Orwell largely falls into the last category, but I think that you can see elements from the first two in some of his work. I’m not sure if I could box myself into one option — there are millions of ‘why’s in the world, and just because Orwell said that he thinks there are four categories doesn’t mean that there are only four categories.
I guess what I’m trying to touch on is the fact that we live in a world where every day there’s always people trying to tell us what to do and how to live our lives — whether that’s social media influencers, the people closest to you are holding you back, or society itself looks down on the life choices that you wish to make. It feels like multiple times a day I hear the phrase “I wish I could…” and it makes me want to scream, because most of the time you can!
So when I see people try to dictate how you should be writing (style, genre, the rituals you partake in to generate creative energy, etc.) it just makes me mad. Who are they to tell me what to do? I know that I’m stubborn, so perhaps my reaction is a bit extreme, but still. I can appreciate people who try to understand writers, like Orwell trying to explain why it is that he did what he did, as we should be studied. I think that the reasoning behind our choices is far more interesting than the decisions we have to make.
I love sticking my nose in where it’s not really wanted. I love understanding things; all the little puzzle pieces that make up the bigger picture. I get myself in trouble because I always need to know the why. Why choose that way to phrase it? Why this topic? Why always mention that thing? Why why why why? What’s my reasoning for writing? Maybe I’ll never tell.
Back to the point: writing. A process that I see as a way of getting things out of my system, you might see as a beautiful work of art. I have my own rituals I need to do and can’t write when I’m in certain moods — others may be the same, others may not. It’s all about being unique. Not about keeping up with ever-changing trends and staying relevant, what an awful reason why. But, then, if it keeps you writing can it really be that bad?
Life, and understanding it, is so subjective. Am I not just as bad as the people who tell you how to write if I sit here and moan about people whose ‘why’ is to teach others? I don’t think that writing can be taught, but I also don’t think it’s a skill that you’re born with. You can give advice, feedback, and criticism but it might not necessarily help that person — they may not have the right mindset, way of thinking, or ability as others.
I think that Orwell sums up writers best:
“…at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery.”
I’m definitely rambling now, and I doubt that I’m making that much sense either. But I hope that my overall point got across well: that writing is unique to each person, so anyone who tries to say different is wrong. Take that point on board, or don’t. It’s not up to me to tell you how to live your life, I can only advise.
Articles referenced:
Love the way this is written!