So Why Write?
Jun. 3rd, 2012 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ljwritesMy badass beta-reader Amy Raine (though, internet nomenclature aside, she's my editor) amyraine and I have been hashing out the same three chapters of Shadow of the Dragon King for months now. She identified huge pacing and focus issues with the chapters, and thanks to her criticism and suggestions I've come up with a solution that is light-years better than my original. It did mean throwing away some 21,000 words, but it is so worth it. The trashed chapters were fun to write, and I've learned to get my outline critiqued ahead of writing it all out.
So while the process is enjoyable, all the effort involved also got me thinking, why do we write? Not just fanfic, but in general? Fiction in particular is less profitable than nonfiction assuming it sells at all, which is so far from a foregone conclusion it's not even funny. In fact fanfic actually seems to have a better benefit-to-cost ratio in terms of the effort expended, the built-in audience, and the community one becomes a part of. Barring a few rare cases of wild success, writing is an endeavor that makes no economic sense. Then again I'm a lawyer who chose to go to grad school rather than rake in my millions, and at school I'm surrounded by people who left profitable jobs for an uncertain future. That should make me some sort of expert on endeavors that make no economic sense, which is just sad.
Even works that are sold or otherwise read just remind me how ephemeral the written word can be. Most stories are simply consumed and forgotten. Even libraries are systematically destroying books in favor of digitized or microfilm versions. Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the thought of a universe of words floating out there, some plot twist or metaphor someone put a lot of work into blinking like distant stars, most of it never to be read my most people. What are the use of those words, then? Why bother?
Fun
The first reason is that it's fun, which it sort of has to be if it's both unprofitable and uncertain. I've always loved words, the way they sound, the meanings they express. In my pre-internet childhood I used to read Merriam-Webster's for fun. I devoured those neat little paragraphs explaining the differences between synonyms, the difference between "childish" and "childlike," for instance. I wrote down words I liked and their etymological origins in a notebook. That notebook has since been replaced with a text file of 800+ words from fourteen or so different languages. My love of words is probably the reason why I'm good with languages, and why I love to write, because WORDS.
My other treasure trove of reading was encyclopedias. I have always been fascinated by information, the way things and people work. Both fiction and non-fiction constituted information for me. While non-fiction told me about the real world and the limits of plausibility (which turned out to be very broad indeed), good fiction abstracted the many moving parts of life and made them universal, and so expressed recurring themes like power, greed, and courage. Reading has made me a more empathetic person, and I think it helped me understand the multiplicity of viewpoints and personalities that are out there.
I also started getting really into speculative fiction in my teens with Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown as my gateway drug to both fantasy and kickass heroines, and read The Lord of the Rings over and over. particularly the scene where Eowyn cut down the Nazgul. On the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald were other favorites. Less highbrow selections included Ivanhoe and Dragonlance, though I thought the ruthless and slutty brunette Kitiara was way cooler (and hotter) than the inspirational and oh-so-pure blond Laurana. College and later obsessions included Ursula K. Le Guin, Harry Potter, and modern Arthuriana like The Mists of Avalon. and The Idylls of the Queen. It amuses me that writing Arthurian literature is like writing fanfic you can get paid for, and I don't think it's a coincidence that there are so many women writers in the genre.
Those are the reasons writing, particularly writing speculative fiction, gets me going like nothing else. I get to revel in the beauty of words and story, in a tradition that has enriched my life for years. It's the major reason why writing is my chief hobby and passion.
Mad Skillz
A big part of the pleasure of writing, which I think deserves its own section, is the joy of getting better at it. Writing is a construct of thought expressed in language, and its beauty can be striking when the thought is clear and the writing is built to hold up that thought in a solid way. To me writing has always been a craft, a way to solve concrete problems ("how to explain the concept of justice?" "how to make a violent borderline psychopath sympathetic?") with rules and principles to guide the effort, and standards to determine success or failure. That makes writing a skill that can be improved with discerning, directed practice, and the improvement is a reward in itself.
This view of writing is probably why I'm a little wary of thinking about writing as "inspiration" or "art," even though it can be both. Even if writing is about problems and solutions there is plenty of room for creativity, like there are different patterns one can weave into a basket or multiple ways to fit electric wires into a panel. But that creativity has to be based on craftsmanship, else it just becomes an idea with no form. Inspiration alone will never carry a work, except maybe sporadically by dumb luck. There need to be methods, rules, clear targets, and above all, a hell lot of work.
Sometimes inspiration really will strike, so splendid and unexpected it seems almost divine. (Though is it just me, or do 80% of particularly "inspired" ideas turn out to be pretty bad in the end?) Sometimes the work really will soar to heights that don't seem to have anything to do with anything so mundane as elbow grease. I don't deny the role of creativity and chance. I only submit that they are unstable bases for a livelihood or even a hobby without the backing of solid workmanship to back them up, and cannot be the basis of lasting fulfillment. I also suspect, though I can't confirm, that inspiration, like heavenly aid, comes most reliably to those who put in steady work.
Sharing
Robert Heinlein said of writing that it "is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." If the private pleasure of story and craftsmanship were all there were to writing, the whole endeavor would be very much like the activity he so delicately refers to. But many of us are not content to merely touch ourselves with the insights into life and emotional ups and downs in our works. No, we feel the irresistible urge to reach out and touch others, even to grab them and pull them into the innermost depths of ourselves, the suns that light our rivers and the slow red beat of pressure just under the surface, in the dark.
Fanfic and other fandom content are some of the most immediate ways to make this sharing a reality. I talked above about how fanfic could actually be better than original fiction in terms of what you can get for the same effort. A big part of that benefit is the audience, a community of people who like what you like, know what you're talking about, and will enjoy reading your work even as you enjoyed writing it. From this viewpoint it's not at all strange that people put so much work in things they cannot profit from, especially since even professional writing isn't exactly the path to riches and fame in most cases. I really believe it is the nature of thoughts and stories to be shared, whether around a fire, as bound books, over airwaves, or on the internet. Whatever the form the written word gets out there, to multitudes or to a few, and that is exactly what it's meant to do.
Competition
Has anyone else been jealous while reading something awesome, wondering "Hey, why didn't I think of that?" While it's not a major motivation, I do feel the desire to keep up with writers I admire, to put something out there and make it good. Incidentally, since Amy Raine and I started sharing a Dropbox folder I know through the notifications when she's working on her main story. I find it inspires me to get my own writing in gear.
Compulsion
Last but not least, I write because I can't not. Sometimes an idea grabs hold of me and it refuses to let go. It's why I started writing Shadow of the Dragon King, and why I can't seem to tear myself away from the keyboard once I work up a rhythm. Maybe the obsessive aspect comes from a combination of the above factors--I like stories, I like to work and improve, I like to share--but so often it feels like the idea has a life of its own when it takes me by the throat and demands I give it life. The only way to be free is very often to write it out and free the monster into the world.
And I keep feeling that this story or essay will never be written unless I write it. No one else who lived ever thought quite the way I did, or existed quite the way I did. The same goes for everyone else: There are works that I could never write because I don't have the kind of life required for it, because I'm not the person who could produce it.That gives me a sense of urgency, and I think it should give everyone who does anything creative a sense of urgency. Very likely no one else will be able to create what is taking flight in your head. Our potential works die with us, but our completed works will survive in some form, if only in memory. Maybe that is why I feel so driven sometimes. And that is what I write, not for hope of success, though that would be a nice bonus, but because on such a fundamental level it's me.
amyraine and I have been hashing out the same three chapters of Shadow of the Dragon King for months now. She identified huge pacing and focus issues with the chapters, and thanks to her criticism and suggestions I've come up with a solution that is light-years better than my original. It did mean throwing away some 21,000 words, but it is so worth it. The trashed chapters were fun to write, and I've learned to get my outline critiqued ahead of writing it all out.So while the process is enjoyable, all the effort involved also got me thinking, why do we write? Not just fanfic, but in general? Fiction in particular is less profitable than nonfiction assuming it sells at all, which is so far from a foregone conclusion it's not even funny. In fact fanfic actually seems to have a better benefit-to-cost ratio in terms of the effort expended, the built-in audience, and the community one becomes a part of. Barring a few rare cases of wild success, writing is an endeavor that makes no economic sense. Then again I'm a lawyer who chose to go to grad school rather than rake in my millions, and at school I'm surrounded by people who left profitable jobs for an uncertain future. That should make me some sort of expert on endeavors that make no economic sense, which is just sad.
Even works that are sold or otherwise read just remind me how ephemeral the written word can be. Most stories are simply consumed and forgotten. Even libraries are systematically destroying books in favor of digitized or microfilm versions. Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the thought of a universe of words floating out there, some plot twist or metaphor someone put a lot of work into blinking like distant stars, most of it never to be read my most people. What are the use of those words, then? Why bother?
Fun
The first reason is that it's fun, which it sort of has to be if it's both unprofitable and uncertain. I've always loved words, the way they sound, the meanings they express. In my pre-internet childhood I used to read Merriam-Webster's for fun. I devoured those neat little paragraphs explaining the differences between synonyms, the difference between "childish" and "childlike," for instance. I wrote down words I liked and their etymological origins in a notebook. That notebook has since been replaced with a text file of 800+ words from fourteen or so different languages. My love of words is probably the reason why I'm good with languages, and why I love to write, because WORDS.
My other treasure trove of reading was encyclopedias. I have always been fascinated by information, the way things and people work. Both fiction and non-fiction constituted information for me. While non-fiction told me about the real world and the limits of plausibility (which turned out to be very broad indeed), good fiction abstracted the many moving parts of life and made them universal, and so expressed recurring themes like power, greed, and courage. Reading has made me a more empathetic person, and I think it helped me understand the multiplicity of viewpoints and personalities that are out there.
I also started getting really into speculative fiction in my teens with Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown as my gateway drug to both fantasy and kickass heroines, and read The Lord of the Rings over and over. particularly the scene where Eowyn cut down the Nazgul. On the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald were other favorites. Less highbrow selections included Ivanhoe and Dragonlance, though I thought the ruthless and slutty brunette Kitiara was way cooler (and hotter) than the inspirational and oh-so-pure blond Laurana. College and later obsessions included Ursula K. Le Guin, Harry Potter, and modern Arthuriana like The Mists of Avalon. and The Idylls of the Queen. It amuses me that writing Arthurian literature is like writing fanfic you can get paid for, and I don't think it's a coincidence that there are so many women writers in the genre.
Those are the reasons writing, particularly writing speculative fiction, gets me going like nothing else. I get to revel in the beauty of words and story, in a tradition that has enriched my life for years. It's the major reason why writing is my chief hobby and passion.
Mad Skillz
A big part of the pleasure of writing, which I think deserves its own section, is the joy of getting better at it. Writing is a construct of thought expressed in language, and its beauty can be striking when the thought is clear and the writing is built to hold up that thought in a solid way. To me writing has always been a craft, a way to solve concrete problems ("how to explain the concept of justice?" "how to make a violent borderline psychopath sympathetic?") with rules and principles to guide the effort, and standards to determine success or failure. That makes writing a skill that can be improved with discerning, directed practice, and the improvement is a reward in itself.
This view of writing is probably why I'm a little wary of thinking about writing as "inspiration" or "art," even though it can be both. Even if writing is about problems and solutions there is plenty of room for creativity, like there are different patterns one can weave into a basket or multiple ways to fit electric wires into a panel. But that creativity has to be based on craftsmanship, else it just becomes an idea with no form. Inspiration alone will never carry a work, except maybe sporadically by dumb luck. There need to be methods, rules, clear targets, and above all, a hell lot of work.
Sometimes inspiration really will strike, so splendid and unexpected it seems almost divine. (Though is it just me, or do 80% of particularly "inspired" ideas turn out to be pretty bad in the end?) Sometimes the work really will soar to heights that don't seem to have anything to do with anything so mundane as elbow grease. I don't deny the role of creativity and chance. I only submit that they are unstable bases for a livelihood or even a hobby without the backing of solid workmanship to back them up, and cannot be the basis of lasting fulfillment. I also suspect, though I can't confirm, that inspiration, like heavenly aid, comes most reliably to those who put in steady work.
Sharing
Robert Heinlein said of writing that it "is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." If the private pleasure of story and craftsmanship were all there were to writing, the whole endeavor would be very much like the activity he so delicately refers to. But many of us are not content to merely touch ourselves with the insights into life and emotional ups and downs in our works. No, we feel the irresistible urge to reach out and touch others, even to grab them and pull them into the innermost depths of ourselves, the suns that light our rivers and the slow red beat of pressure just under the surface, in the dark.
Fanfic and other fandom content are some of the most immediate ways to make this sharing a reality. I talked above about how fanfic could actually be better than original fiction in terms of what you can get for the same effort. A big part of that benefit is the audience, a community of people who like what you like, know what you're talking about, and will enjoy reading your work even as you enjoyed writing it. From this viewpoint it's not at all strange that people put so much work in things they cannot profit from, especially since even professional writing isn't exactly the path to riches and fame in most cases. I really believe it is the nature of thoughts and stories to be shared, whether around a fire, as bound books, over airwaves, or on the internet. Whatever the form the written word gets out there, to multitudes or to a few, and that is exactly what it's meant to do.
Competition
Has anyone else been jealous while reading something awesome, wondering "Hey, why didn't I think of that?" While it's not a major motivation, I do feel the desire to keep up with writers I admire, to put something out there and make it good. Incidentally, since Amy Raine and I started sharing a Dropbox folder I know through the notifications when she's working on her main story. I find it inspires me to get my own writing in gear.
Compulsion
Last but not least, I write because I can't not. Sometimes an idea grabs hold of me and it refuses to let go. It's why I started writing Shadow of the Dragon King, and why I can't seem to tear myself away from the keyboard once I work up a rhythm. Maybe the obsessive aspect comes from a combination of the above factors--I like stories, I like to work and improve, I like to share--but so often it feels like the idea has a life of its own when it takes me by the throat and demands I give it life. The only way to be free is very often to write it out and free the monster into the world.
And I keep feeling that this story or essay will never be written unless I write it. No one else who lived ever thought quite the way I did, or existed quite the way I did. The same goes for everyone else: There are works that I could never write because I don't have the kind of life required for it, because I'm not the person who could produce it.That gives me a sense of urgency, and I think it should give everyone who does anything creative a sense of urgency. Very likely no one else will be able to create what is taking flight in your head. Our potential works die with us, but our completed works will survive in some form, if only in memory. Maybe that is why I feel so driven sometimes. And that is what I write, not for hope of success, though that would be a nice bonus, but because on such a fundamental level it's me.
"[N]othing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations. The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. . . . [E]ach writer brings to the table, if she will let herself, something that no one else in the history of time has ever had. And that is herself, her own personality, her own voice."
- Anna Quindlen's commencement speech, Mount Holyoke College, 1999
