High Standards, High Self-Pressure
Writing fiction is not a task that can be done efficiently. It gets harder when you become aware of the many possible outcomes. It gets even tougher when you begin to care about those outcomes. If you find yourself mesmerized by great writing, you’ll set high standards for yourself, which only adds more pressure to meet them.
Consuming is not Creating
It’s important to recognize that consuming art doesn’t automatically make one an artist. Reading a lot doesn’t make you a writer, just like listening to music doesn’t make you a musician. If that were the case, every teenager would have a stellar career as a rock star. This highlights the difference between being a consumer and being a creator. Remember that reading is a luxury for those with plenty of time on their hands.
The Gap Between Quality Recognition and Reproduction
Once you know what great writing looks, sounds, and feels like, you also realize how hard it is to replicate. You might revise endlessly and still feel like you’re falling short, oscillating on the brink of madness or depression.
Confront Your Own Limits
Identify the books you know you’ll never be able to write and confront the reality of your limitations. Part of the writing process is appreciating the uniqueness of others’ voices, perspectives, and interests, while striving to become the best version of yourself. What you may not realize is that others could be equally mesmerized by your unique perspective.
The Solitary Journey of Long-Form Writing
Mastering long-form writing and storytelling is challenging for many reasons. It’s a solitary journey, and the lessons learned can’t be directly transferable from one person to another. You need to develop your own process as you go along by figuring out what does not work for you. Having been through this long trial-and-error journey, I gained a better understanding of what doesn’t work.
Start Fresh and Learn to let Go
If you find yourself stuck, let go of everything you’ve done before—the great story you never managed to finish, with so many revisions you’ve run out of file names—and start fresh with a new project. Use it to hone your skills and move forward.
Stick to Simple Story Structures
Don’t stress about making your story structure original. In all forms of creativity, structure is simple by nature and should stay that way. Start with the most basic premise, like one of two fundamental types: a hero leaves town (the quest), or a stranger comes to town (the siege). Then, introduce a mystery subplot and two conflicting personalities who are forced to work together: now you have a compelling story.
Your Voice Defines Originality
What makes a story special is not the premise or the structure, it’s how you tell it. Originality in a story comes from the writer’s unique voice, the way you drape the basic framework. Everyone has a distinct voice but translating that onto paper is no easy task. If it were, everyone would be a writer.