I just discovered a quote from Raymond Chandler that encapsulates something I’ve been feeling personally, but had no idea it might be a universal – or even that more people than I might feel like this.
It came about after yet another bout of writer’s doubt brought on by reading too many books/blogs on writing. I get those occasionally, and they’re much more difficult to deal with than writer’s block. (For the record, at least for me, 99% of writer’s block is because I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque somewhere earlier in the story. If I go back and re-read the story, I’ll usually find that wrong turn. Delet it and everything after it, then start up again. Voila – writer’s block, busted.)
The summation of my thoughts was this: You never know everything, but sometimes you know enough.
Meaning – you might know enough about the various parts of Story to write good ones. If you are writing and enjoying it and your work is not receiving comments that you need to go back and learn basic grammar … you might know enough. (At least for now.)
Mr. Chandler was more forceful, saying:
“Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all of the tricks and has nothing to say.” (I found the quote at https://swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread/474/writers-talking-writing but there was no further source that I saw.)
The quote resonates with me, because after reading a how-to-write book or taking a class, when I sit down to write, the ICBM is asking, “Am I doing this right? Is this how it’s supposed to be done?”
There’s not much that will stop the writing dead, but that constant feeling of not being good enough is right at the top of that list.
So maybe it’s time for me to do what I’ve been thinking/feeling that I need to do for a while: stop taking writing classes (she says with a laugh, because next week the four or five writing workshops I got for backing the COLLINDING WORLDS Kickstarter are supposed to go live) and for sure stop reading blogs and how-to-write books.
Not forever, of course; we do need to keep learning, after all. (And then there’s my old 4-H motto: To Learn by Doing; which in this case means write a story, and then another, and then another, and then….) But for a little while, a few months, a year.
Instead, I want to write more stories and read more fiction – not necessarily as a writer first and foremost, but for sheer enjoyment, though I’m sure I’ll learn something from reading so much.
