Rules of Being a Writer 1-3

Two posts in three days? Stop the presses!

Anyway, I mentioned the other day that I’m in a Creative Writing class this semester. We’re focusing on Fiction (yay!). At the beginning of the semester, my teacher gave us a list of eight things we need to do to be good fiction writers. It’s a pretty awesome list, so I thought I’d share it.

            1.  Have fun

Hmmm…usually that’s the last one in the list. You know: do-all-this-to-write-oh-and-don’t-forget-to-have-fun. So, it being number one definitely draws new attention to it. Brother Allen’s point on this one was that many people seem to think that writing is an arduous process wrought from the depths of a suffering human soul.

Haha, that’s a load of Barnacles. Seriously.

Writing isn’t about being sad and depressed.  Though I do love some Edgar Allen Poe, I don’t want EVERYTHING I read to be like him. Writing and Creating should be a fun thing. If it grates on your very being to write or to even think about writing, you’re probably doing something wrong. “The fun should be bigger than you.” It should be so much fun that you can’t help laughing or screaming to let it out (hyperbole is a wonderful tool, don’t you think). Think of little kids playing outside. They’re having too much fun to hold inside.

            2. Become a Super Spy

As a Super Spy, we have to pay attention to what real people do. When a friend or a roommate reacts to something a certain way, we learn why so that we know how our characters would react. Pick up the little things that people do.

One thing that is most often said about Jane Austin is that she was a careful observer of human nature. As writers, we have to do the same. Sitting in a public place and watching how people act is one of the best exercises a writer can do, in my opinion. Besides that, it’s kinda fun to eavesdrop.

            3. Know why you write

Why do you write? Do you write because you want to tell a story? Do you write because you have these amazing ideas that other people should know about? Do you write because you have to, or else you will explode?

Do you write because you want to be rich? Because you want to write the great American novel? Because you want to be remembered?

Why do you write? Without understanding why you write, you lose something in your writing. Sometimes your reasons change, and that’s fine, but if you don’t know why you’re writing, you may just stop.

There are five more rules he gave us, but I think I’ll stop here for now. These rules are all things I’ve heard before, but they’re the kind of thing that everyone should hear over and over again. We can’t forget them. More about these later, then.