You know those people who don't really have a native language? Like they grow up in one country, learn that language sort of, and then they emigrate to another country, learn that language sort of. And they're left with 2 second languages, 0 native languages. On the one hand, I just can't stand the structure imposed on my writing by the generic standards of various academic disciplines - creative writing is such an important part of good scholarship I think, because facilitates creative thought and creative communication; I have peer reviewed so many essays where I can just see the author sitting there behind the words, seeing no need to come out and speak with their reader - it makes for a really boring essay and the impression that they're only writing because they have to. Needless to say, my academic writing is quite creative, often seen as eccentric. On the other hand, when I try to write creatively, to write fiction (don't get me started on the relationships between fact and fiction!), I feel I always need an argumentative goal, that I have to write rhetorically - I really struggle with simply trying to write something beautiful which will communicate something important about life to somebody - I'm always thinking, "how can I disguise my essay as a short story?" or whichever. But I don't want to write essays, I want to write short stories. Or novels. Or novellas. And there is a reason - that's for the Why Do You Write? thread. But basically, has anybody else undergone a transition like this, from somebody who writes a lot to somebody who writes a lot of fiction? My academic writing is ridiculously creative and my creative writing is ridiculously academic. While a little cross-pollination is good, I really want to find a way to write creatively without writing academically - later on I can implement more scholarship into what I write, but for now that's my best course. Thoughts?? Thx!
i suggest you immerse yourself in the best works of the best writers of modern fiction... throw in some classics, too, for balance... constant reading allows good writing practices to be absorbed by osmosis, if you've a receptive mind... so, if you want to write fiction, concentrate solely on fiction and ignore non-fiction and academic works, till you've found your fiction 'voice' and can write confidently and effectively in it...
I experienced something similar when I was going through uni. Even though I'd been writing for about 8 years at that point, my academic voice would bleed into my fiction voice. It just takes a bit of practice to develop two voices that you can keep separate without any issues. Just read and write more and more.
Two voices? At least! Let's assume you write in a number of genres. You might present a very different author's voice for your horror pieces than for your romances, and yet another for inspirational stories you submit to your religion monthly. Far-fetched? Not at all. Our own Terry Erwin writes fantasy with a touch or horror and faith-centered fiction. In fact, if you try your hand with several genres, you probably have the drive and the versatility to succeed. Then there is the matter of character voice. The ability to adopt, or at least to observe and present, a variety of distinctive personalities is unquestionably a powerful writing asset. It may literally be voice, in the sense of dialogue, or it could be body language and mood shifts that communicate the character's opinions, attitudes, and fears.
I was referring to one voice being academic in nature and the other being entertaining in nature. Not necessarily a comment on limiting yourself to a single cover-all author's voice. Writing academically and writing fiction are two different frames of mind, it takes practice to separate them easily.
Okay, but still applicable. We all wear different hats, and we all shift voices when we address different audiences. When I give a presentation to the department heads, as I did on Monday, I use the language and focus the values of business advantage. In another meeting with technical colleagues, I speak with the voice of an engineer and/or a mathematician. When I visit my mother, I speak as an artist and a photographer, or in one of the other languages/roles natural to her. It doesn't hurt to be aware of these mode shifts. If you are, you are less likely to "drift" into a mode foreign to your audience.
I really became a writer during High School, and that was mostly with persuasive, argumentative, and exploitative essays for class. I loved figuring out how to use language to my advantage while simultaneously entertaining the reader, leading my "matter-of-fact" works to be quite flourished in language. Once I reached college and my days became filled with nothing but math equations, my analytic writing gave way to creative writing. However, I still found the same general mindset worked: get my point across while making the reader enjoy taking time to view my work. So, yes, I am one of those people who's gone from a lot of writing to a lot of fictional writing. However, I'm not so concerned about avoiding crossing the "line" as you are. The goal of my writing is as much entertainment as it is message-delivering (sometimes leaning more towards one or the other). Obviously you know what you don't want to write like, since you've spent so much time reviewing bad papers, but do you know what the kind of "good" fiction you want to write looks like? Do you want Dostoevsky's dark and humanity-filled narration, Tolkien's epic adventures and witty humor, Homer's incredible grasp of detail and low-level characters, Swift's satire-in-a-children's-story tone, etc.? If you want to write in a non-academic style, then find a non-academic author you like and read his/her works to get all the examples of how you can write like they do, and gradually develop your own techniques as you grow as a writer.
I never really understood the point of an academic essay. We, the student, are tasked with reading a piece of literature such as Hills Like White Elephants. Hills Like White Elephants is a story in which the reader's own interpretation of what is being presented is pivotal to what makes that piece good. Its the subtlety, the complexity of the dialogue, and what is left unsaid that makes it special. Yet in an academic essay we are required to argue, not present or discuss, argue, what the story is about. What makes it good. This methodology seems relatively counter productive when discussing art. What we should be doing is teaching students how to create works like Hills Like White Elephants, asking students: what did you notice, why is it interesting to you, and what did you like about it? Rather than hedging them in with these trivial essays. The greatest issue that I have with the academic essay is that it doesn't teach you how to write the thing that you are writing about. You spend hours picking apart every detail of the piece, only to learn nothing by the end of it because you're missing the soul. I'm fine with writing academic papers when discussing things such as law or science, areas in which the rules that govern the avenue of study are clearly defined (that statement deserves an entire other discussion when referring to science, but you understand what I mean,) But when discussing literature the academic paper falls short, because their aren't universal rules that govern what makes something good, and I feel like it is the purpose of an English course to help students to create the next generation of classics. I mean if you're going to study something you might as well teach the student how to make the thing you're studying while you're at it. Every other branch of academia does it, why should literature be any different?
Rafiki - that's probably because English Literature is not about good writing, it's about the message of the book and how it is conveyed and its significance for the generation of people who would've read it at the time of publication. It's more about culture, politics and history than any discussion of writing quality. What you're referring to is Creative Writing courses, and in those courses you do learn to write what you're reading about I think! As to the OP - read a lot of fiction. You pick up the style that you read, generally, and personally I'd stop writing essays altogether if possible just to get it out of your system! There's something useful in essay-writing though - it teaches you how to structure something, and even fiction needs that. It might not be as linear but certain things still need to follow a certain order.
Wow, thanks for all the advice! Time to a) immerse myself in a whole lot of fiction, b) zero in on a style of narrative voice I like, and c) develop a baseline "fictional" voice from which to develop many others. Arigatou, sensei
No, it isn't writer's block. I've tried to write stories in the past. I never think of a plot first, I just make it up as I go along (although I do understand what general direction I'm heading in). It turned out quite well- I'd say at bit lower level than most of the people on here, but I only wrote two pages before I finally lost interest. I have next to zero experience at writing; my skill comes entirely from reading so much fiction. It took me like an hour to get through a single paragraph. I needed a few minutes just to think of the next sentence, but most of the time the sentence I wrote would end up deleted and I would try and think of a better one. It usually took two or three tries to write a sentence I thought was acceptable, not to mention that each time I returned to writing it I went back and revised a lot of things I hadn't noticed before. It took me about a week to get through those two pages, which is a lot of work for too little reward. The fact it turned out so well was solely a result of my extreme perfectionism (I've always been afraid to even try dialogue) and because I constantly read fiction in my spare time. That said, it was a very therapeutic experience. It was like reading, but deeper somehow. There nothing like being able to actually express your thoughts in fiction, although I can see why authors often have distorted views of their own work. Now is there any way to prevent this mentality and be able to keep writing till I finish something? I simply can't tolerate any imperfections at all. Is anyone else here like this?
I find it interesting that you say it went well, but only wrote two pages. I'm not sure what to tell you -- you either have the desire or you don't. Writing should be enjoyable. If it's not enjoyable for you, maybe you shouldn't do it.
Sounds like you're trying too hard to get it right on the first draft. I used to have the same problem. You have to let yourself write badly. Then make it less bad with subsequent drafts.
If you're not that familiar with writing, then getting it just right will seem like it's taking a long time. But as you get used to the editing of previously written pages, you will find that you may start to edit as you write. It won't happen overnight though, and you'll still find yourself having to rework a text after you've finished its first draft. How much reworking you have to do will probably depend on your overall experience. Just remember that even the best writers don't get everything perfect first time, and often have other people read through their texts before they edit to help find things they couldn't see due to being 'too close' to their work.
Shooting for perfection on your first draft is a bad idea. I used to be that way and it really hindered me creatively and ruined the enjoyment of writing. Do not worry about time either. One of my favorite writers took 8 years to write their newest book and two years before that he had been working on a different novel but trashed it after deciding he didn't like it. Can you imagine throwing away 2 years of work? So do not stress and writing will, over time, become easier.
It only took an hour to get through a single paragraph? You're doing pretty darn well, for a perfectionist! Lots of us spend more time than that on a paragraph. Some writers just spew out the words with little regard for quality, then go back and revise later. I find that approach difficult, so, like you, I try to get it right the first time off. This means front-loading the work. You just have to get used to doing it.
If one spends all their time worrying about their first draft being perfect, then the story will never get done. Michael Crichton once wrote "Books are never written on the first draft, but during the editing process." The first draft is just getting it down on the paper. That's how I explain it to the people who read my rough draft and spot the mistakes. It's when you edit that things come together tightly. I'd worry more about getting the story down, then wait a couple days after finishing it and then shine it up through the editing process-otherwise you'll paralyze yourself.
Hi there, I've been writing on and off for about five years, wrote a book and half a dozern stories but I keep on having problems with keeping relaxed after writing. I plan out the stories as best as I can: write out a rough plot, the characters and their motivation. but for the rest of the day I keep on thinking, how can I change this, how can I change that etc and actually ended up with having a couple of panic attacks because of it. While I love writing I dont know that its worth worrying myself over it so much and am thinking of either taking a short break or giving it up for ever. does anybody else suffer with these kind of problems and if they do how did you get around them? Thanks, Jim
There are two schools of thought - one, just write and edit it all later; two, edit as you write. I'm one of those who, like yourself, edit as I write. At first, yes, it does take a long time - but that's mainly because you're still feeling your way as a writer. New writers who wait to edit will go through many more drafts than experienced writers. It's part of the learning curve. I can spend an hour trying to get one sentence right (note - 'right', not 'perfect'). But then the rest of the paragraph or page will flow, because I got that one sentence right. The real key is not to let the perfectionism be the boss. Go ahead and be picky, be demanding, be strict with your writing - but no one, ever, will write a perfect book, and it won't matter if you edit as you go or go through several drafts. For the record, I've only not finished one story with this method, and that wasn't because of methodology.
