Last Sunday, I wrote a blog post discussing how I broke through my writer's block after numerous months of struggling to write a single word. I was very determined to break free of the horrible grasp that my writer's block had on me and finally write peacefully. But I made the mistake of returning to the same story that initially produced my writer's block and after a couple of days it returned with a vengeance. I could not write, no matter how hard I tried. Everything sounded as though a five-year-old had written it. I was incapable of getting into the minds of my characters, to see through their eyes. I was angry -- really angry -- teetering on the edge of giving up. I was desperate, though, to write something, anything, but I was stuck.
Though, instead of giving up on writing completely and turning off my computer, I decided -- quite spontaneously, I may add -- to write something new. I wanted a new cast of characters to
Wednesday, 8th of April: 10,033 words
Thursday, 9th of April: 3,069 words
Friday, 10th of April: 1,655 words
Saturday, 11th of April: 3,760 words
Sunday, 12th of April: 3,911 words
Total: 22,428 words
Before anyone questions how in the world I have written this many words in five days, let me tell you that this is completely unedited. I have, instead, spent the past five days writing furiously, trying to get all my ideas down. This is because I am pantser, not a plotter. Honestly, it is a little all over the place at the moment, though I do love my protagonist, but that isn't the point of this little writing venture. This novel isn't about getting it perfect or published, it is about practicing my craft and finding my passion for writing all over again -- like a married couple, trying desperately to reignite their spark.
I think that there is often this unfair misconception in the writing community that everything that they write has to be worthy of publication and that the only thing they should be striving for is seeing their work become bestsellers. They shouldn't be writing something for fun or practice. I remember, in fact, reading this thread on Absolute Write a couple of weeks ago about 'being a real writer'. One of the points was: "you're not a real writer when you treat your manuscript as writing practice." I would like to point out that this is not true. In order to be a 'real' writer, you must be writing. It doesn't matter whether or not you are practicing or trying to get published, as long as you are writing, you are a writer.
It is often forgotten that you need to love what you are doing. After months, and months, of being consumed by writer's block I feel like I have almost lost that passion entirely. Writing slowly became a chore; it wasn't fun anymore. But I have almost found that love and passion again -- our sparked reignited -- by simply turning off my inner editor and focusing not on perfection, but rather practice and fun. So yes, you can write for fun.
I think that there is often this unfair misconception in the writing community that everything that they write has to be worthy of publication and that the only thing they should be striving for is seeing their work become bestsellers. They shouldn't be writing something for fun or practice. I remember, in fact, reading this thread on Absolute Write a couple of weeks ago about 'being a real writer'. One of the points was: "you're not a real writer when you treat your manuscript as writing practice." I would like to point out that this is not true. In order to be a 'real' writer, you must be writing. It doesn't matter whether or not you are practicing or trying to get published, as long as you are writing, you are a writer.
It is often forgotten that you need to love what you are doing. After months, and months, of being consumed by writer's block I feel like I have almost lost that passion entirely. Writing slowly became a chore; it wasn't fun anymore. But I have almost found that love and passion again -- our sparked reignited -- by simply turning off my inner editor and focusing not on perfection, but rather practice and fun. So yes, you can write for fun.
What do you think? Can you write for fun? Or is it a waste of time? Should you instead be focusing on writing something for publication?
I definitely think you can still write for fun when you're working on something for publication.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get writers block I go to be question pages, questions like "A recurring thought you have" "Three things people have given you" and I write two pages on that one question. It's fun because each answer is a fact that I know and all I do it elaborate on them, sometimes it takes me one question to answer to get back to focusing on the piece I'm working on and sometimes it can take 10 but I find having that little bit of fun and doing something different definitely sparks something to carrying on.
Oh, I definitely agree that you can have fun writing something for publication. But there are many people that forget that not everything that has to be written needs to be intended for publication, but can be for practice or just because you feel like writing.
DeleteI like that idea of answering questions like that when you are experiencing writer's block. That seems like a great way to ignite some inspiration and motivation. I will definitely have to try that when I get writer's block again!
That Wednesday word count is awesome, good work! You're making me realise how lazy I've let myself become concerning the writing of my own book. So I'll give myself a good kick in the arse tomorrow--when I'm awake--and get some more writing done!
ReplyDeleteThank-you! Wednesday was probably my only day off for the week, so I had plenty of time to just let my imagination run wild. Good luck with your writing! :)
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