If you have any interest in writing, you probably know that there is plenty of advice out there to be had: lots of classes, how-to books, specialty magazines. For me only a small percentage of these are of any use at all to a creative individual, and after a certain point they become actively harmful. The problem is that the authors pass along things that have worked for them in terms of output and sales. These methods may or may not have helped them do their best work as well. In either case, the problem is that it's not a replicable skill where the same things will work for everyone. The consumers of these lessons fall under the category of "everyone" so they wish that this were not so.
Perhaps the prime example is the emphasis on creating conflict in your fiction. A story isn't a story, they say, unless two or more people are at odds, or one character has a goal and a problem in achieving it. Perhaps. But telling a writer that they need conflict is like telling someone they need to breathe. If you produce 1,000 words on any topic, some kind of conflict will be present. And in writing conflict, as in breathing, if you concentrate on achieving it you're going to run into more problems than if you just don't think about it.
Perhaps the prime example is the emphasis on creating conflict in your fiction. A story isn't a story, they say, unless two or more people are at odds, or one character has a goal and a problem in achieving it. Perhaps. But telling a writer that they need conflict is like telling someone they need to breathe. If you produce 1,000 words on any topic, some kind of conflict will be present. And in writing conflict, as in breathing, if you concentrate on achieving it you're going to run into more problems than if you just don't think about it.
2 comments:
I'm sure you're right that any time one writes at length about any topic there's bound to be an opposing view just as a matter of maintaining one's own interest in a subject.
I can't say I've looked at books that endeavor to teach someone how to write a novel but I'd guess most of them aren't written by successful authors. While accomplished writers might make statements from time to time about their personal approaches, overall there doesn't seem to be any reason for them to write books on the subject of writing itself. Therefore it seems likely the people who do write instructional books are the ones who haven't had much, or any, profit from their fictional work. It seems logical too that a good writer, like any skilled artist, is one who believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice.
I liked this comment by Samuel Beckett on the subject:
'There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.'
Yeah, there's bound to be some tension I think even when someone writes nonfiction about a topic. It doesn't have to be melodramatic in that case. A lot of people will make sure it is, though.
Books on writing have been written by rich authors and relatively poor ones. The former don't need to write them in career/financial terms, but do have some ego tied up in the subject. The latter are a different case, obviously. And I'm not going to judge the quality of the writers, which is all over the map anyway. But everyone has tricks that work for them. There's nothing wrong with that. It makes the impossible merely difficult. But you're never going to get anywhere relying on someone else's tricks instead of finding your own.
I like Samuel Beckett. Not that I've read much of him. Just samplings from his absurdist plays and a tiny bit from his fiction. But he had an entertaining attitude, which counts for a lot.
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