{"id":72,"date":"2013-09-11T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writinghope.com\/?p=72"},"modified":"2018-09-26T08:18:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:18:13","slug":"how-to-write-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/how-to-write-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>

Image courtesy of D. Sharon Pruitt via stock.xchng<\/p><\/div>\n

Monday I started a little series about How to Write<\/a>, and I began my answer in Part 1<\/a> by saying, Break it down into these four steps.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s a lot going on when you talk about Writing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some people get stuck at step-1<\/strong>, and that has almost the easiest solution. Even if you never know what to write about, you might be awesome once you get started.<\/p>\n

If this is you, there are all sorts<\/a> of books <\/a>for sale<\/a> and even free options on the internet to get you started: just Google writing prompts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For step-2<\/strong> (image into language), assume that time will be involved. Give yourself permission to make a few running jumps. Throw some words at the idea (like spaghetti at a wall) and see what sticks. If you’re a natural talker, use that facility with language that you already have. Talk to a friend, talk to yourself or your pet. Talk into a recorder of some kind, and see if you like what it sounds like later.<\/p>\n

This is what you do in that early stage of storytelling. You say what you remember. Other people remember it differently, or your listener has a question. The next time you tell the story you shape the transmission differently, based on what you learned from your earlier audiences.<\/p>\n

You’re half-way through the process, and it’s something you’ve done all your life!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is good to get into your mind from the start is that this is all part of the grand process I call writing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Writing<\/em> is like Growing<\/em>. There’s not a meaningful before-and-after separate from existence.<\/p>\n

In step-2<\/strong>, and sliding into step-3<\/strong>, you take your impressions, thoughts, intuitions, hopes, fears, dreams and delights and try to put them all, like fireflies, into a jar of language that won’t suffocate them.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>

Image courtesy of Horton Group via stock.xchng<\/p><\/div>\n

Some people can’t do that. It feels wrong. <\/em>It makes them sick to their stomach.<\/p>\n

The act of capturing is inherently cruel and deadly, and even hearing me urge it leaves you feeling threatened.<\/p>\n

Something I’m learning: Not everyone needs to write.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some famous so’n’so once said,<\/p>\n

“If you can keep yourself from writing, Please do<\/em>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The point being that everyone is already wading through more information than any of us can adequately process. He’s saying Please don’t add to the noise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But <\/em>if you have to keep writing, DO<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We’ll keep working on the getting-better part. (Humility can be a great asset in this process.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why write if there’s already a gobzillion people out there writing, and a lot of them doing it better than you can?<\/p>\n

I wish I could tell you the first place I saw this, but I’ve latched onto it, and it continues to provide meaning for my work.<\/p>\n

People are still hurting.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s a real and legitimate reason to write.<\/p>\n

People still seek delight, and beauty and words to describe the world, whether they see a gracious, nurturing world, or a dangerous, cut-throat sorta place. There is a security we humans feel when we are reminded we’re not alone.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/a>

Image courtesy of PLRANG Images for design via stock.xchng<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

All art does this. Sometimes I think that is the core reason for art<\/a>— to draw us out of our individual foci and our isolated experience of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

Writing is just one form of this shared experience.<\/p>\n

No one expects everyone to become a painter in watercolors, or a sculptor, or a violinist, but the fact that we’re all exposed to writing at an early age makes us feel a sort of obligation.<\/p>\n

I do<\/em> think we all need a basic comfort-level with writing, because there is a sort of mass or momentum to it.<\/p>\n

It is “the common tongue.”<\/p>\n

Not everyone understands modern dance or acrylic abstracts. That’s not a reason to abandon those things any more than Swahili or Gaelic, but a lot of people study French or English primarily because of momentum: more people already understand those languages.<\/p>\n

This is the way I see writing’s function in general-use.<\/p>\n

Look for How to Write<\/em> Part 3 on Friday, and please “follow” (box in lower right corner) to have regular updates delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a lot going on when you talk about Writing.<\/p>\n

Some people get stuck at step-1, and that has almost the easiest solution. Even if you never know what to write about, you might be awesome once you get started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,2,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Boots-at-Home-smaller1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3TVXH-1a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120707,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/120707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}