Well, it had to happen at some point: Episode 13.
To be honest I’m not all that superstitious - much.
So I decided to make this one about the whole point of my existence!
The Easy Way to Write - What's it all About?
Studying is one thing.
I try my hardest to offer good advice on genre requirements and writing style to make it easier for you to compete in the marketplace and get published.
What I don't do is force you to study other writers and how they go about what they do.
I think focusing on how a particular author gets their results is to slightly misunderstand the point of writing.
If you take a tertiary degree in order to study writing, you will be presented with lots of theories as to how writers go about creating stories and all the options available to a writer trying to emulate them.
But to me this is counter-intuitive.
Just because you have analyzed how Dickens or Conrad or Stephen King have achieved the final draft of their manuscripts, the knowledge doesn't necessarily help you when drafting your own stories or books.
Writing is a process.
Analyzing the final product tends to leave you in awe - and intimidated - when you should realize that a lot of changes and rewriting went on in order for the final product to look and seem so effortless.
That doesn't mean it was easy for the author, or that they didn't make lots of mistakes along the way - of course they did.
Nor does it mean that you shouldn't attempt to write something just as good.
When I write books, I’m often amazed at how different - and how much better - the final drafts are to our first efforts.
This is the process.
Writing is first of all about getting your thoughts down on paper.
Then it's about clarifying those thoughts into a coherent argument - whether it's fiction or non fiction.
Next it's about polishing.
Then it's about rewriting, changing your writing to suit others and especially your readers.
Then it's about submitting to publishers or self publishing.
What writing to me is NOT about is studying the greats over and over only to beat ourselves up into thinking that great writing is beyond you.
The purpose of the Easy Way to Write is to inspire you to get involved in the process of writing - and learn to enjoy it - and learn more as you progress and improve, based on feedback from the real world, not some classroom type environment.
Studying classic writers, while sometimes illuminating (once you know the terms of reference), should not be the focus of a working, or even aspiring writer.
Studying is for students.
Writing is for writers.
I want you to come to the Easy Way to Write and feel encouraged, inspired, energized and raring to write.
That's what the Easy Way to Write is all about.
Keep writing!
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Make comments and suggestions below if you want and take a look at some more of my video courses and books at the links below.
http://www.amazon.com/Rob-Parnell/e/B006QPU4NQ
https://www.udemy.com/user/rob-parnell/
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