One of the really neat things about writing is when you “find your voice.” A voice is a rather elusive thing, in that the darn thing hides right in front of you. It will also hide in technical nuances too. Lemme give you an example from the past few years of my life.
* I’ve had this notion that I couldn’t write fiction. It seemed somehow “different” than writing non-fiction or journalism stuff. See, with fiction you need a plot, a storyline, characters, climaxes (that word still makes me giggle, sorry), and resolutions. It’s so easy to worry about telling a good story that you never end up telling a story at all. Here’s the skinny: If you tell a good story, it has all those things. Yes, you can tweak, improve, modify, learn — but really, if you just tell a story, the elements fall into place. Because that’s what a good story is. 🙂
* I spent all of NaNoWriMo 2008 fumbling over point of view. Really. It’s sad. I never got to telling a story because I was worried about who was telling the story, what they knew, what parts of speech they used, and if the reader was omniscient or not. See? Insanity.
* Everyone says it, but I’ll reiterate. Because it’s good advice: JUST WRITE. It’s OK to suck. Vacuums do. Black holes do. Tornadoes do. Heck, even mosquitoes do a little bit. The point is, just write. Take this blog post: It’s not great. But hey, that’s not stopping me from clicking publish. MWaahahahahahhaaaa.
My point is, find your voice. Your voice is what makes you distinct. Wanna be a writer? Write. Now. 🙂
Amen!
And I’m glad you’re finding that voice!
How did you get a vertical line through your post?
Who is the kitty? It’s a wonderful picture.
I don’t see a vertical line? Also — I got the pic from flickr, there’s a link at the bottom to the photographer. 🙂
You said it — just write! I always tell people that you can’t fix a blank page. Put some words on it, however, and that’s another story.
Great advice Shawn. That’s what I try to tell myself when I get stuck or am trying to find the motivation to write, and I’ve heard plenty of published authors give that same advice. It seems to be the one universal piece of advice for writers.
I should have looked at this last night and maybe I would have gotten a little writing done instead of playing Mario for a couple hours.