Your permission to do you

Forget all the learning and just write

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Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer avalanche of information out there about writing and publishing?

All the dos and don’ts. The rules, guidelines and suggestions. The workshops, courses, and how tos.

Once you immerse yourself in the writing world you’ll soon realise how little you actually know about writing. And from there it’s a slippery slope to thinking you need to know it all before you start or tackle your work in progress.

You’ll wonder what narrative structure is, character interiority, pacing, motivations, stakes, wounds and goals.

You’ll question if your characters are complex and deep enough, if your story has themes (or the right themes), and if your story is worthy of being told. You’ll experience literary snobbery and if you're wiriting any type of commercial fiction, you’ll begin to think you’re inferior.

No wonder writers suffer from imposter syndrome and crippling self-doubt!

And as wonderful as the online writing community is, particlarly on socials, at some stage you’ll no doubt suffer from envy scrolling. Where it seems every other writer on the planet is doing better than you. They’re finishing drafts, signing book deals, being interviewed, publishing novels, on best seller lists, having their work optioned. And what have you done?

The hard truth is we live in a world of overwhelm. The word not doing the meaning and true feeling justice. And while having information at the tip of our fingers is a luxury, it’s also a curse.

Writing is an art. It’s subjective. This we know.

It’s also a craft. The more you do, the more you learn, the better you get at it.

Of course, there will be those among us who for whatever reason have a gift with words and storytelling. They will write exceptional stories.

The rest of us will get by writing ‘good enough’ stories. Stories that resonate with some readers, and not others. (To be fair the gifted writers stories won’t resonate with everyone either. One person’s five star read is another’s DNF, no matter who the author.)

It’s hard not to get caught in the trap of thinking you need to know everything about writing before you write. I know. I’ve been there. I’ve done the courses, the workshops, subscribed to all the things, listened to all the podcasts.

But there comes a time when you realise you just have to write to get better at it. You can’t beat on-the-job training in any job, and writing is no different in that regard.

So this is your permission to simply write.

Write shitty first drafts.

Write crappy second drafts.

Write things that remain unfinished.

Persist writing those stories that you believe in despite (or in spite of) the literary snobbery.

Persist writing the stories you want to write. The stories you want to read.

Sure, do some courses and workshops here and there. Subscribe to some podcasts. Connect with other writers. Find your squad. It’s all part of it.

But don’t let the overwhelm bog you down.

Don’t think you have to know everything about story structure, narrative drive, and character arcs before you write. Because you don’t.

And the advice and rules? Take them all with a grain of salt. Tuck some in your tool belt, and leave the rest on the floor.

Editing is where the lessons are learned.

Writing doesn’t get easier, but you do understand more about craft each time you take a story from first draft to final draft.

Then you forget it all and start again. (True story.)

So ditch the overwhelm, kick the mindset that you don’t know enough or understand enough, and just write.

We need more stories from people like you (aka imperfect humans).