Writing is one of the most underappreciated, underestimated professions, right alongside artists and hairdressers. The reality is, writing is everywhere; in the newspaper, in novels, in press releases, in the latest COVID restrictions on the NSW Health site. What we don’t see or recognise is what goes into it behind the scenes.
Going somewhere like McDonald’s to write was great! The temptation to procrastinate was significantly reduced.
A press release needs to be informative but selective in its details. An advertisement must appeal to its intended audience to sell their product. A newspaper article must use the inverted pyramid model: the most important information first, the least important last. A university level essay must construct an argument backed up with academic references, written with a clear structure. Meanwhile, a novel must have a clear narrative structure, featuring the beginning, complication, climax, resolution and ending.
There are so many different types of writing, and, especially if you’re being paid for your skills, it needs to be done properly.
There is an entire community of people out there who practice various forms of writing as a hobby. There are people who find it difficult to convey something verbally; so they write it instead. Some like to create an entire world of their own, where their characters have their own challenges to overcome. They fall in love, have fall outs with the people they care about, some people die, and then usually at the end, they live happily ever after.
Writing sounds like an easy feat, but there is so much more to it than meets the eye. I have compiled just a few of the most underestimated challenges a writer endures.
“Less is more”, and you never stop hearing it! There is always the desire to explain everything in tremendous detail to your reader. What we don’t realise is how tedious writing is when it’s written for a person with a 0 IQ and no clue of how to put information together.
“Keep it simple”. This is like “Less is More”. Basically, there is no need to use fancy words and phrases to try to show the reader how intelligent you are. The real trick is keeping things at a level so that everyone can understand and engage with it. An inexperienced writer is the one who overcomplicates their text to sound smart. An experienced writer knows how to write simply with the most impact.
“Show, don’t tell”. This has taken me years to figure out. When I’m introducing a character, it is so easy to delve into their life story, their experiences, strengths and weaknesses. Before you know it, you have given them a ten-page biography and they have not even done anything worth telling yet. The key is to show their life story, strengths and weaknesses through their actions and interactions with others. Then the reader knows the character for themselves.
“Know your intended audience”. Know who your prospective readers are going to be. For example, you wouldn’t write a children’s book which features lots of swear words, or a newspaper article that reads more like a short story.
“Don’t do it for the money”. You need to be yourself, and not do anything for the money. Finding a publisher who agrees to publish your work is like finding a needle in fifty haystacks, and even self-publishing is requires the author to sell at least 2000 copies of their work before they break even. J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series, which were made into film and merchandise. However, when you look at what she achieved, and her personal life, it was no picnic. It is clear that Harry Potter was the best way for her to escape her reality, as she immersed herself into a world completely of her own.
Procrastination is your worst enemy. It is so easy to fall into the trap of procrastinating, especially when it is a project of your own. You have no due date, you have no one checking on your progress, there are no guidelines for the project itself, and you have no one hounding you on your progress.
There are so many writers out there. Anyone can be a writer. All you need is a pen and paper. For writers whose work sees publication, and better yet is paid for their work it is a skill which takes years to refine. The cold hard reality is that, like any art form, you can’t release a piece of your work to the world without it being critiqued and judged. People will either love it or hate it. That is why so many writers just write to themselves.
As many of you know, I have spent the last two weeks working on my novel: a fantasy which I started back in 2012. It has caused me many sleepless nights over the years, as I have tried to refine my skills as a writer and put that into practice in this piece. When I had it professionally read and edited back in 2016, I was told that it would be suitable for an age bracket of no more than 10, and that my characters needed more depth so that my readers could fall in love with them.
4/5 boxes ticked. Not too shabby!
Over the past fortnight, I have had the best time re-writing my characters, writing in new characters and making the necessary edits. Two weeks ago, I made a list of everything I wanted to achieve during the time I had blocked out to get my story back on track. I will be the first to admit that I should have blocked out two months to get everything done! However, I feel like the concept, characters, timeline and storyline have come leaps and bounds from where they were before. So, all in all, I would call this a success!
There is still a long way to go, but I am so excited to finally have the ball rolling. I will be sure to keep you posted on my progress, and hopefully one day soon I will be able to share my finished work with you.
xoxo
Brett
