Thread: Elsewhere on this site, a writer was asked for general advice about writing…

How about this: 'Love what you write'.

That way, it doesn't matter what s*** you write, as long as you personally love it in the end, you shouldn't give one.

Write whatever flows readily - whatever makes you passionate. Write and write as long as the flow is strong and, when it starts to ease off, spend the 3 weeks mercilessly hacking it to pieces!!!

Kill!!!

That might be just me of course...

Quote: 'Then spend the three weeks mercilessly hacking it to pieces'.

The problem with that system - is that in the cutting process, the article loses the flavour, the smell, the emotion which was the original inspiration.
The taste of the beef gets discarded with the fat in the cooking tray. So, you make the gravy with the liquid, but the gravy is to be poured over the top of the meat and the vegetables - and gets lost in the mashed potato on the plate. So you add mustard to the beef to give it back a flavour.

Already with any writing, as against speaking, I lose the expression, the tone of voice, the hands, the hesitation, the grimace, the smile, the pitch, the emotion. If I am too correct, there is nothing left in the piece for the reader to pick up on.

Even today, replied to a young woman's post about her hesitation as to whether to proceed. At the end , I stopped and re-read what I had written and asked myself whether I should post it. But I knew if I re-read it too often, then I would in the end not push the button. So I immediatetly pressed 'post' - just in case I thought twice.

Divus, perhaps it is a matter of practice for you. Editing can be a gamble, I understand that, but sometimes lightning strikes twice and you end up with a much improved piece of work.

With your dog and pony stories so far I don't think there is much to change. Ash's comments about a word that is repeated often might be the extent of what you need to change.

Risk a little bit and let's see where it goes.

I guess that is the art - knowing where not to trim.

I can't stop the flow and correct as I go along without losing the flavour you mention. That means there is always something to mend, tweak and trim...

We all have our own ways, of course!

That's true, Monkey...I mean ross. Sorry, son's been watching Curious George and you may be a victim of your own avatar.

"Write what you love"? Well, I love my family, my kids, my sibs, my friends. But if that's all I wrote about, I'd bore the world silly and guarantee no agent would come near me! Oh! I also love Russia and Ireland and Germany and Mexico and Canada and ... and ... California and ... But, again, there is only so far you can go with that. I also love languages and the various nuances and fine tuning pronunciation and the parts of the face and mouth used to speak them. I used to say that, while other kids were collecting stamps and comic books and dolls, etc., I was collecting accents and dialects and languages. (Did you know the hearing impaired actually can 'speak' ASL with an 'accent'?) But, again, there's just so much you can write about that before you bore even yourself.

But, being ADHD, many things move my soul and lead me to wonder and awe. So, just because you are - a francophile, say - it does not preclude borrowing from that passion, throwing a little of ... maybe your love of boats ... and writing about a guy who built his own boat while studying French, and sailed from Canada to France.

I have never followed that 'write what you love' mantra. It's just an easy out for people who don't know what to say to give someone else guidance. I, more often than not, follow the 'write what moves your spirit' concept. It's more of a 'Write what loves you' more than a 'Write what you love'.

I think things are being made out a little more semantic and complicated than they need to be. Write what you want to write. I don't think there's any more to the idea than that.

Originally Posted by thewordsmith

I, more often than not, follow the 'write what moves your spirit' concept.

I wonder, would it be reasonable to say that if nothing moves one's spirit, one is banging one's head against a wall in attempting to write?

It sure hasn't stopped people from trying. I've read some spiritless books.

So maybe the answer is look for The Spiritless Books publishing company.

You can stay another week. I needed a good laugh after having just read my 'fan' mail.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

I wonder, would it be reasonable to say that if nothing moves one's spirit, one is banging one's head against a wall in attempting to write?

Don't know. In my book, the two would be mutually exclusive. If nothing moves one, would one even be trying to write?

Now, that does not preclude the possibility that a person may be moved to write simply because they have been moved to write in the past and have done well enough that they have become a known commodity and now they write simply because the spirit is moved by the desire for another paycheck or a desire to, once again, stroke the ego. Those would, indeed, be the ones writing spiritless books and, if you've read their works you might agree that they are banging their heads against a wall. Too often, after some passage of time, some writers, who may still love to write, have lost the passion for the 'game'. They can sit and stare at a computer screen and feel nothing - except maybe a passing moment of panic as they wonder if there is nothing to move the spirit as it did in the past.