More frequently than we’d like, we hear writers talk about writing as though it were some sort of torture: the sitting down, the staying quiet, canceling plans, working through a tough spot, proofreading. Like Dorothy Parker, they hate writing, but they love having written.
We don’t take that approach here and will caution (and perhaps rail) against it when the opportunity arises. We love the very act of writing and we want you to find the joy in it, too. In a post on Writer Unboxed, we found some good advice for just this.
He starts with the sense of wonder. “Every so often I am shaken awake, nudged to step back and appraise a broader scope,” Roycroft writes. “In those moments I realize anew that these characters have become, at least to me, fully realized people. I’m profoundly struck by how intricate and complex their world and its politics and history have become. And each time I am newly astounded by it.”
He also urges us to write with a sense of purpose and perhaps a sense of duty. “As fiction writers, we all come to a place where our study of our characters demands a deeper study of ourselves,” Roycroft says. “For my part, I’ve confronted themes and delved issues that in my prior life I had never been remotely inclined to explore.” Those confrontations have instilled in Roycroft a duty to share what he’s learned.
Anything’s better than a sense of torment.
