6 Crazy Things I Did to Become a Great Writer
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
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I am just like you. I never worry about word count, I just write when I feel like it. And I hardly ever read anything except books on how to write! People are always telling me you must read more in your genre, but what they don't understand it that can lead to copying another person's ideas. I have my own ideas and I will write the my way.
This is precisely why I don't have the patience to read similar authors and I wouldn't know of any because I don't want their ideas to colour mine! And if similarities exist I won't then be tempted to change my plot to avoid theirs lol
I think the fourth point is so key. Great books are just a consistent execution on a scene level
The "stop writing daily" has me spinning circles lately.
I've been doing Story Grid Guild work and constructing an editing plan for a piece since 2024 started. I haven't produced new prose in a few months, but I have been hyper focused on structure and bringing to bear the story grid tools on what I've already created. I have been using three beta readers to check my editing plans against using the five commandments, and it's been sobering to see how many scenes are redundant, could be changed, etc.
I feel like I'm making progress because I'm looking at my _craft_ as a discrete series of interrelated tasks and processes, rather than seeing the current piece I'm focused on as the thing I'm working towards. The Guild 624 planning has been really good pre-production work.
With that said, there is an anxious part of me that feels like I should be doing more. I've been resisting the impulse to produce prose for production's sake.
Is it better or is it just more digestible? If writing for no audience, maybe that's superior, but simply unrewarded by its very approach. The question is, do you define "better" as what people like more or by a standard above it? After all, people today don't read as many books as a few decades ago and I'm also doubtful that we've improved vocabulary. Is "better" just for this moment?
You don't think there's an objective measure by which one book is better than another? - Tim
@rid There are many (such as coherence), but there’s still a large element of subjectivity. Most of what I write is non-fiction and my point probably applies less for fiction due to the greater universality of story.
I enjoy writing that I assume won’t be appreciated by a mass audience. Likewise, copywriting limits itself to 5th grade vocabulary. It’s also what’s statistically most effective for viral videos. It feels as though the more you try and develop yourself (introducing more expressiveness and granularity), the less can be shared in a sustainable way. Am I wrong?
Thank you for your wisdom being shared! Where do we find a Shawn? :)
Great talk bro. Much to think of.
Larry Brooks book called, Story Engineering, was the best craft book I read of the dozens I've studied
Not only Great writer you are grest narrator tooooooooooo-TIM the Great
00:00 📚 Subjecting oneself to public humiliation can lead to valuable feedback and growth.
02:02 💡 Focusing on skill acquisition rather than arbitrary word counts enhances writing proficiency.
03:37 📖 Instead of just reading, studying and analyzing masterworks can significantly improve writing abilities.
05:01 🖋 Rather than attempting full manuscripts, concentrating on perfecting single scenes can be more effective.
06:46 🎯 Trusting an experienced editor's judgment is crucial for quality control and improvement.
08:17 📝 Becoming a proficient editor oneself can deepen understanding and enhance writing skills.
09:53 🔥 Sacrificing ego, reputation, and timelines is necessary for the pursuit of becoming a great writer.
I love how you staright up get to the point of the video and your advices have helped me SO MUCH to improve my writing. Thank you so much🩵
That's an impressive journey. I just wonder if you paid Shawn or how it was arranged? I have a similar journey and it's been painful but I couldn't afford an editor (no implied criticism). Your channel, which I discovered not long ago, helps me greatly. Thanks to you all for all this advice and help.
There's no way I'll stop. 5,5 years ago I decided that my approach (writing short stories, publish them, then maybe get asked by the publisher to write a novel... bla) will get me nowhere. I decided to work hard every day or I will never ever make it. 5 full and two half novels later, today, I went through so much, learning autodidactical and I'm proud when I see a video and think "I've figured that out by myself". It was twenty times harder than I thought it would be when I wrote the first naive sentence. I worked on my style, the art of dialogue, what to say explicitly and what to say through leaving it out, rewrote and reworked two novels without end... And more. Learned to shut my mouth 😆
Some day I just said "I'll first master my craft, I'll first perfect this novel and my style, I'll first study my history before I approach any publisher or agent." I sacrificed a relationship, worked for money and studied parallelly and had to study the Old West history from expensive historical sources. This year I hope I can publish my first novel and then find an American publisher because it's an American genre that I write.
And one of the most painful things is to have all those different characters and their stories in my head, to write beautiful scenes whilst technically progressing so slowly that I think I might die before they ever see the printed page. Sometimes my crearivity haunts me but that's nothing without the skills.
I think your overarching rule is what made me have a bit of a lightbulb moment
That last point is true but also funny, because I remember the podcast episode where Steven Pressfield said you have to sacrifice everything to be great, and you told him that was bullshit 😂 You came to an understanding later, though.
How dare you use my own words against me! 🫶 - Tim
Love this "sacrifice my autonomy": surrender the ego 👋
You are just AWESOME! I was going to film a video on the same topic but you've covered most of the points in yours. It's great that I'm not the only one who thinks this way
2:18 We don’t all exactly have access to a podcast to be publicly humiliated. Not a lot of us know editors who would like to spend their free time ripping our writing apart for free either.
This is the most bullshit excuse that people love to pull out.
I didn’t know Shawn. If you had asked me before, I would have said I didn’t know anyone either.
My contention is there are plenty of opportunities, you’re just not seizing and or chasing them down.
- Tim
I didn't know any editors either but two years ago I began writing utter drivel and started watching and reading how to structure and plot a story... I joined Facebook groups whereupon I "met" virtual contacts who were across between novices or professional editing business owners ... now I have a little team of misfits who regularly read and critique for me and I do the same for them. I'm no expert and still can't write a paragraph to save my life but I can zone in on what is purple prose, ask questions about the senses, about hitting beats, progressive elements etc. It is better than nothing if you can't afford a real professional editor. Good luck to you 😊
I was embarrassed with the First French Fan-Fiction and is still proud today. So far the most constructive review, even if it is drama-reading.
When you have idea everyday, you can't help but to write (almost) everyday. Writing for the sake of writing is bad.
I write Drabble when I have best scene while keep the essential.
Great.