Coorlim’s Guide to NaNoWriMo 7: Improvement
Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
Coorlim’s Guide to NaNoWriMo is a multi-part series on writing, creativity, and the work-life balance throughout the month of November. Today we’re talking about improving as a writer.
You are not yet the writer you are to become
That’s sort of a given, isn’t it? Beyond even platitudes like “nobody’s perfect” and “everyone could stand to improve”, the writer’s journey is very much one of finding your voice, finding the habits and practices and attitudes that work for you.
Critics of NaNoWriMo sometimes overlook the fact that simply writing 50,000 words is hours and hours of practice towards a skill. Approach it as a learning opportunity, and you can vastly improve your writing skills by the end of it. This is why it’s important to develop strong work habits and overcome whatever it is that holds you back.
You are going to write a lot of awful words
Someone, I forget who, wrote that a writer must “write a million words of shit before they can write a single word of gold.” And it’s true. We all have bad writing habits we need to shake off, and the only way to improve is to actually write.
Yes, there are books and classes and workshops you can take, but those are auxiliaries. Your primary means of improvement is pen on paper, butt in chair, hands on keyboard.
But writing bad fiction is just part of the process. Write it and throw it in a desk. Start working on the next one. Don’t spend years polishing the same piece, because it’s a less effective learning process than writing something new. First draft, second draft, drawer.
What does this mean for your grand opus idea that you’re dying to write?
It means it’s probably shit. No offense, but one of the writer’s skills is coming up with good ideas, knowing what works, and knowing how to leverage them. The ideas you’ll have after a year, two years of writing are light-years ahead of whatever you can come up with now, simply because future-you is a better writer.
But even the best idea is limited by its execution.
A good writer can spin gold out of the worse idea
Conversely, once you’re awesome, you’ll be able to salvage a decent story even out of terrible ideas. Does this mean you should go back and rewrite stories in the future?
Well, maybe.
Thing is, you’re not going to stop having ideas. You’re going to have more ideas than you can conceivably write throughout your entire life. The more you improve, the faster and stronger these ideas can be. You’ll have to decide what you have time for.
My advice?
Write whatever your strongest idea is at any given moment. Don’t stop and start, finish what you’re working on, then start your next strongest project. Remember, quality is a function of writer skill x idea strength. Don’t write below your belt level out of a misplaced loyalty to the dumb ideas you had when you weren’t as good a writer.
Your career as a writer, professionally or as an amateur, is not about this book or that book. It’s about your whole damn library of work, so make that library as powerful as you can.
Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.
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