Writing well. Why bother?
| Meta | |
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| Title: | Writing well. Why bother? |
| Creator: | Megan Kent |
| Date(s): | May 5, 2008 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Writing Well. Why Bother?, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Writing well. Why bother? is a 2008 essay by Megan Kent.
It is part of the Fanfic Symposium series.
Some Topics Discssed
- grammar, spelling
- poor writing
Excerpts
At long last, all the words are on the page. You have (hopefully) run the spell-checker and had a friend look over it for obvious errors. Why shouldn't you post your newest, shiniest story right away?
That depends on why you're posting the story. If writing it was your only goal, you're done, and there's no need to ever post it to a public forum. But if you want something more from your writing efforts (recognition, shared pleasure, constructive criticism, community, whatever floats your boat), the time between completion and posting is your opportunity to increase your chance of getting it.
Writing and Storytelling There are people who really love the writing. They love the craft, the metaphor, the structure, the style. Others really love the story, the image in their heads and their passion to get it on the page, and are less interested in "technique." The two are not mutually exclusive and, in many ways, can be complementary. Think of a spectrum, like the Kinsey Scale, with most people falling somewhere in the middle, but closer to one end or the other.
Motivated as they are by love of craft, it may be easier for writers to enjoy the process of polishing their story and really making it "finished."
I see the storytelling process as a sort of emotional loop.
Done vs. Finished
Getting the story down is only the first step in creating the finished piece. The first draft is not the finished story, no matter how good you are.
Many storytellers want to throw their first draft out to the masses. Many do. And some readers enjoy it enough to respond. What if, by taking a little extra time, you could expect more feedback? More interaction with other readers/writers? More community?
Getting What You Want Now direct your attention back to the emotional loop. For the purpose of this article, I assume that you (the fanfic author who posts her story, rather than leaving it to linger on her hard disk) want your readers to have an emotional reaction to the story (and I don't mean that they hit the delete key and curse your name). I assume you'd like to hear what they thought of it, and maybe even have a discussion about the characters, their motivations, and possibly even spark ideas for your next story. I assume this will be fun and feel good to you.
My assertion is that writing well (as well as you're able now, and working to get better over time) will improve your likelihood of getting the sort of feedback you want, of making an emotional connection to your fellow fen, and generally improving your own storytelling experience. And it goes the other direction, too.
No amount of craft will insert passion that does not exist. Poor craft can completely obscure the purest passion.