D.I.Y. Writing Workshop Tips
Find your Discomfort Zone: the subject that makes you uncomfortable and squeamish, that you don’t want to discuss because you’re afraid people will judge you.
Now pitch a tent there. It is the most fertile place for writing, plus it’s free psychotherapy.
If you thought we meant camping, literally, forget about writing. It requires many levels of meaning, and you perceive only one.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 23rd, 2014 at 17:57
I think it’s the possibility of sounding cliche that paralyzes me the most when it comes to fiction writing. It’s nearly impossible not to be derivative at this point in history. It’s not easy to be groundbreaking in any art form anymore. Almost everything has been done already.
Having said that, I think I’m more of an essayist than a fiction writer anyway. Argumentation, dialectics, philosophical conundrums, finding solutions to concrete problems, evidence and persuasion towards a certain position attract me more, which is probably why I’m a scientist who appreciates art and not the other way around. I just don’t have the talent and inclination for making up stuff. So finding the “voice” is not even a problem when there’s hardly any interesting character or story for the voice to speak about.
April 23rd, 2014 at 21:28
Dr. Feelgood: Fantastic segue to the next D.I.Y. Writing Workshop tip. Watch for it.
If you want to do groundbreaking work, try quantum physics (though in reality there is no ground haha). If you set out to write fiction, paint a painting, or film a film with the goal of revolutionizing the form, you are most probably doomed—which is an excellent excuse not to try making anything at all.
The goal is to entertain yourself. The work, being essentially useless, is done for the work’s sake. If it’s any good, everything else follows.
April 23rd, 2014 at 21:31
Wait, let’s rephrase that.
Entertain yourself, the goal is. Essentially useless, the work is. Done for its own sake, it is. Everything else follows, if good it is. Padawan! Coffee, bring!
April 23rd, 2014 at 22:07
“If you want to do groundbreaking work, try quantum physics…”
Exactly. Science is the only field where original work, ideas and findings are still possible now. Even philosophy is dead, as Stephen Hawking boldly proclaimed. It’s basically old ideas (reformulated or not) pitted against each other again and again within an echo chamber in some ivory tower.
But I get your point about not setting yourself up for a losing battle with disappointment of not seeing anything original in art. I just learned to sit back and enjoy what is offered to me by the true talented artists (not me) within their own context and not expect anything else. Or else I’d push myself beyond being just jaded into Ted Kaczynski level of absolute misanthropy and nihilism. Sometimes I just take an aimless long drive or look at the sky or a tree and marvel at the complex ecology that had to work for it to even exist. And then I’m okay again. Sometimes it’s those seemingly mundane things we take for granted that actually make life and everything profound. We just need to stop and listen sometimes.
April 23rd, 2014 at 22:13
Dr. Feelgood: it’s interesting you brought that up. It’s something we’d been discussing among ourselves (a motley mix of aspiring writers) – that maybe there really is no new idea out there. One of us got a bit discouraged because he felt a plot he had in mind was unfolding right before his eyes while watching the recent Captain America movie. Ultimately, we concluded that perhaps there isn’t any new story or plot out there (or, if any, they may be rare)… but perhaps it’s how we approach the idea that will make it different. Just a thought.
April 23rd, 2014 at 22:42
Dr. Feelgood: Excellent, you are in an ideal position to start writing. We’re all just talking to ourselves, but sometimes we like what we hear.
April 23rd, 2014 at 23:18
So if there’s nothing original when it comes to substance, should we just concern ourselves with form then? Because that really is the only way we can make it at least seem like not derivative now. Which made me remember my favorite quote from Toni Morrison:
“The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power.”
That is how you make it not sound cliche. But it still makes it so intimidating. LOL. Sound like a lot of work, re-reading, evaluating and re-writing. (On the other hand, if I at least had a great idea to write about, I think I can WRITE something even if it’s terrible in style. It’s just blank right now so I can’t even start.) Perhaps when I have more time. Just have too much going on right now with my day job. So I will keep reading. And listen. For now.
Or maybe I really am more like Christopher Hitchens who lamented the fact that he never had the “music” his friends Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie naturally heard with their words that enabled them to write fiction. I just cannot make up stories, at least interesting ones (if not original). At least not now. Not that I’ll ever claim to even approach the Hitch’s prodigious essay writing capabilities. Gosh. But you know what I mean.
April 23rd, 2014 at 23:22
Dr. Feelgood: Hahaha your problem is not writing, it’s overthinking. Have a drink or ten, it helped Hitch.
April 24th, 2014 at 05:28
Hehe. I probably do. Although as I had been discussing with a friend yesterday, mind-altering substances such as alcohol, Cannabis and even narcotic pain killers don’t seem to connect with my brain receptors as well as they do with other people, for I only get the side effects of drowsiness and disorientation and none of the supposed main effects that have helped some of the great writers come up with their best output. Sleeping on the couch with an open bottle and an unfinished bowl of ice cream on your lap while some Walking Dead episode is playing for the nth time is not exactly conducive to writing. LOL.
But, yep, professional overthinker here.
April 24th, 2014 at 06:27
Hmm, timely article. Something to consider:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/why-every-good-story-needs-a-good-setting/361110/