It has been said that it takes about 30 days for an activity or action to become a habit. So much of what we do is by habit. Most of the time that is good.
If you hope to create by writing – poem, short story, novel, memoir, non-fiction – it’s necessary to do so almost every day. It doesn’t matter how much you write, or how good it is. In time that will take care of itself. The key is to start.
When I was working full-time, I would awaken an hour earlier than usual and write. Some days it was tough. Just to keep the habit going, some days I simply typed “The.” Fortunately, most days an idea for the story would emerge, and I would eke out several hundred words before leaving for my day job.
If your ambitions don’t include a major piece of literature, writing in a daily journal can be just as if not more rewarding. Writing is excellent therapy. Whether it’s a daily journal or a full-length novel, the process of writing opens the door to deeper recesses of your brain, your consciousness, spirit or soul. It is a journey, part self-discovery, part reaching out to other people, and their souls. Once you start, creativity will emerge.
One of my favorite writers years ago, Louis L’Amour, said: “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” And Stephen King (not a fan of his books but impressed by his writing): “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: Read a lot and write a lot.”
Once I began to write regularly, I dove into creating a full-length novel without any practical training or professional advice. Sort of like hopping into the driver’s seat with no knowledge or experience about driving a car. Workshops or books about the craft of writing do help.
Resurrecting a comment in a previous column, creating gives meaning to life. To engage in creative writing, while it helps to have talent, the primary ingredients are perseverance and habit. You don’t need magic or creative genius.
Some technical know-how helps. You can read manuals about the craft. You can attend workshops. I waited 15 years before attending a workshop. The last workshop I attended provided labels for things I already was doing. Workshops help as long as you don’t allow the technical stuff to interfere with creative intuition.
Early on I did understand the importance of theme. Beyond that, stories can be dissected into a variety of pieces: Point-of-view, set-up, plot stages, horizontal questions, vertical questions, dialogue and gesture, sensory detail, scene, summary, backstory, floating time. Applying these techniques helps as long as you avoid “paralysis by analysis.”
“In the beginning….,” Genesis 1:1. My training as a newspaper journalist drilled in the value of a summary lead, or ‘lede’ in newspaper jargon. The old “AP style” required the first paragraph to tell the basic news, and if with literary flair, the better. The old ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how’. That might be a bit too brief for a novel, but at least first chapter should answer the ‘aboutness’ question. Editors still advise trying to “hook” the reader.
When I pick up a novel, I want to know what it’s really about, its theme, and how it might end, the resolution. So, what’s the point of reading it, then? It’s like a journey, a long road trip. You know – or think you know – the destination, the purpose, but you don’t know all the details or surprises along the way, the learning experiences, the literary artistry, even surprise endings.
You can find various descriptions of plot structures or story arcs: Inciting incident (set-up, identity), rising action-tension (essence or spirit, complications), climax (return to identity, essence, final push), and resolution (aftermath, transformed essence). In time I gained an understanding of the value of tension, the energy that keeps a story going.
When you have a theme and a general idea of the plot, and sit down to write, understand that revisions and edits will follow. That removes some of the pressure of starting. The set-up can be challenging. I still haven’t figured out how to follow the advice, “start in the middle.” Or, as Mark Twain said, “The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time, you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.”
That might be a bit too drastic for a full-length novel, although it’s true that a story evolves in some organic process. There are turns and twists that sometimes surprise even the author. Who knows? Maybe, when ‘In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’, He had the ending in mind, but the story is a journey, told in the creativity occurring in the universe, in nature, in us.
(Post No. 17 in original “Words on Paper” series, drafted Fall 2024)
