So You Want To Be A Writer- by Charles Bukowski - Writers Forum

11-14-2006, 04:17 PM

One of my favorite poems of all time, and one which is easily debated. I find it to be excellent advice, while others say it's bullshit, typical of Bukowski's work, really. Thoughts, anyone?

-vodka

Quote:

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

Bika · 11-14-2006, 05:56 PM

Mostly crap, and egotistical.
The only part I actually appreciated was:

Quote:

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.

11-14-2006, 07:37 PM

oh come on now, bika!

you know i'm not going to let you off that easily!

so quick to write it off as bullshit?

perhaps something poked a nerve?

hmm?

hmm?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

J.R. MacLean · 11-14-2006, 08:26 PM

it's damn good advice
but just that:
advice, not doctrine.
me, I'm gonna do what
needs to be done
listening to advice
sure
but
acting out
of who I am.

Bika · 11-14-2006, 08:43 PM

Do you, ms. vodka, get up at 2am or 3am to tend your children without making an effort to do so? Or is it something that just "flows" for you?

Apply this attitude to something - anything - else.

The more you put in to something, the more you (and others) get out of it. This says exactly the opposite - if you have to make an effort, don't do it.

11-14-2006, 08:46 PM

j.r. maclean. you make me smile ever day.

bika, i think what he's saying is let 'er blow out of you.

if you're forcing it, it just ain't gon' work. don't force it man... don't force it.

and also, if you got nuthin' wait for it to build... cause if you're really meant to write... it will..

oh believe me,

it will.

muah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Hodge · 11-14-2006, 08:54 PM

Yup! Pretentious bullshit from a guy who seems to have watched many movies about writing but has never written himself, or if he has, is trying to keep new writers from posing any challenge to him by giving them shitty advice.

Charles Bukowski is a douche, not just for the advice, but because he probably spent a good many hours revising and editing this poem and all his other works.

Bika · 11-14-2006, 08:54 PM

Edit (to ensure correct post is replied to

): ms. vodka, some parts I would agree with that assessment, but others parts and overall, I read it differently.

11-14-2006, 09:11 PM

oh hodge.

you are the master of what you do.

charles bukowski is a douche.

tee hee hee hee.

darling, he has nothing to challenge and at the time he wrote that, didn't either.

he's dead.

and you very obviously know nothing about him.

poetry came as naturally to him as being forumi does to you.

in your own way, you're equally as sexy though.

it's just that when he died, he was admired the world over and well, he was much richer.

good luck with that.

Hodge · 11-14-2006, 09:17 PM

Oh ms. vodka, you don't honestly think he sat down and wrote a poem ready for publication, do you? That's just not how poetry works. Not even the great Romantic and Victorian poets could do that. I know he's dead, but that doesn't make him any less douchey, not after a patently false poem such as the one you posted.

If Shakespeare never edited or revised his poems and plays, then I never wipe my ass.

11-14-2006, 09:26 PM

and once again, you are obviously unfamiliar with his work and don't have any idea what you are talking about.

this time, even you should be able to admit that you're out of your depth.

Hodge · 11-14-2006, 09:39 PM

I don't need to know his work. You posted up his poem. Unless the next poem in the anthology was titled, "Sike!" my accusation stands.

TsuTseQ · 11-14-2006, 10:16 PM

There's some excellent advice in this poem. I have a tendency to overthink things, which hampers my writing and finishing projects. In a way, I talk myself out of writing. When I do actually sit down and write, it's like unburdening something, just letting it go. There really is no other way to write. That initial flow is usually your best instinct too -- it may need editing or revising, all work eventually does -- but too much rewriting can kill the raw spirit of it.

Hodge · 11-14-2006, 10:18 PM

You're dead to me.

(I agree, but I can't get past the stuff in the beginning about not writing if you're not spontaneous)

TsuTseQ · 11-14-2006, 10:30 PM

It's not spontinaity that he's describing, it's a need to write. That bursting forth of ideas doesn't have to be on the spur of the moment, it can be after having thought it out. At least, that's how I interpret it. With a degree in journalism, I've had to do a lot of unspontaneous writing, and when you don't have that need to share, it shows in the work. If you're writing simply to please others, to become famous, for any other reason beyond for the simple need to tell the story sitting inside of you, it'll show, and you'll be just another hack like so many.