Daily affirmations of a word mercenary
Easy writing
27Oct2006 Filed under: Word MercenaryI have to disagree with this quote, which I found on Alison’s blog.
Writing is rewarding but never easy. We resist starting and constantly fight the temptation to stop. Kurt Vonnegut talked of the difficulty. He said whenever he’s in a room with writers they’ll all be bitching about how hard the process is. All except one. He’ll say it’s a breeze. Every day it just flows. Invariably HE’S the worst writer in the room. – Ken Levine
Maybe this makes me the worst writer in the room, but almost without exception, the best writing I have done (as measured by response and popularity with readers/editor/etc) is the easiest writing. Maybe this has to do with my writing style which tends to be conversational, light, and casual, but for me, if I’m trying too hard my writing shows it, and it comes off as stilted and overwrought and contrived and clunky. And I love sitting down to write — but I know I’m a freak in that regard. Procrastination gives me hives.
Certainly the outlining process is never easy (my biggest weakness as a writer is developmental — I do great with assignments but have trouble coming up with my own ideas), but when it comes to actually writing, the easier it is to write then the better the result. I guess I’m a big proponent of flow — and my best writing tends to fall out of my fingers. The more I can get out of my own way when writing, the better. If it’s agonizing and hard, chances are I haven’t outlined well and I need to stop writing and go back a step.
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5 Responses to “Easy writing”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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kate
October 27th, 2006 at 11:46 am
YES! I am absolutely the same way. For years I have been wondering why my fellow writers agonize over their writing and talk about it as if they hate doing it. My best stuff is the stuff that comes the easiest, too. If I labor over it, it comes out sounding affected. But, like you, I also write in an informal, conversational style most of the time - so, yes, maybe that’s why. Still, it’s so nice to know I’m not the only one whose easiest-flowing writing turns out to be her best writing. (and p.s. you are so not the worst writer in the room! you are great!)
kate
October 27th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Oh, and yes, outlining is key for me too, since I really tend to suck at plot. I pretty much never write without an outline - so while my writing itself is more about flow, my structure is pretty disciplined. I’ll stop cluttering your comments section now.
michelle
October 28th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
sometimes the writing comes easy for me, from the individual sentences right on up to the overall flow/outline/developmental edit. sometimes, though, the sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph writing comes easy, BUT the overall structure of the piece has me tearing my hair out. 10 drafts later i’m finally happy with the dang thing. i’m not sure what kind of writer that makes me. i’ve just experienced it both ways. sometimes it depends on the subject matter. the deeper i want to go, the harder it can be to get those nuggets that really sparkle. sometimes they don’t shine through till the 3rd or 4th draft.
Playapixie
October 29th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
I’m a huge procrastinator, so I find the starting part difficult too. But ever since the advent of word processing, this has gotten easier. Instead of agonizing over the first sentence and thinking through my outline linearly, I just start writing. Then I liberally cut, paste, and delete to rearrange things to suit the piece. I tend to write complete paragraphs, and then re-arrange them as appropriate for the developing outline. I rarely find the writing itself to be difficult, just the starting.
amy.leblanc
October 30th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
i think when people bitch about how hard writing is, they’re referring to those steps like outlining and fact-checking and such, not the brain dump part. i think the quote is saying that with people who don’t ever admit the WHOLE process is hard, it’s because they’re not doing it, and chances are their writing is inferior. i can’t imagine very many of the “great writers” just sat down and did brain dumps a la kerouac.