Just Write

One of the most infuriating moments I’ve had so far is when someone says “just write”. Like it is that simple.

All you need to do is sit back. Breathe. Write. Move over King, side step please Gaiman, time to sit down Cornwell. I am going to write and take over the bookshelves because I am going to ‘just write’.

This got me, I hate to say, rather angry. Like an internal carnal level of anger that was aimed at the screen. I was trying to write about a situation I had been given in an evening creative writing class set in a supermarket. I have no qualms admitting this, I was struggling. Could not see through the fog. Which amusingly became mixed in to how the story then started.

But to the advice of “just write”. Write what? A character, a place, a mood? It reminded me of that useless phrase some may say to those stressing or worse. “Just clear your head”. Having had a friend be told this repeatedly, if someone is struggling mentally, PLEASE do not use it. Help them to clear, but don’t use it as a way to get them to do it (show don’t tell right?).

So, I was sat there, not very happy with my favourite person, trying to write on my tablet. Typically, the more I tried, the less that got written. Zero words in fact. Actually, my word count went down as I didn’t like what was already there.

But here is the annoying thing. A 1st draft will always be successful.  Its primary goal is to be completed. That’s it. It can be awful. It can be completely rewritten. One draft I recently did was changed from 3rd to 1st person as I realised it needed to be that way to have impact. But the 1st draft was done. Had I not completed it, I would not have created the yet undiscovered masterpiece that is now on the 3rd edit. I can hear the awards knocking on my door, or that is my dog wanting more food.

So what is it that I’m trying to babble on about. Well, the advice that annoyed so much that lovely evening, is one I wish to suggest you have as YOUR mantra. Not to say to others as you may have a pen, or worse, thrown in your direction. But have it as your own post-it note, the scribble you have in your notes or just let one of the inner voices use when writing.

In the end, something will be there. Once a dialogue has been drafted or a scene pieced together, you can then, and probably only then, begin to see what works. What phrase brings it together, did the twist really stay hidden, or have you changed something part way through that needs changing at the beginning.

The obviously way to end this would be to say to you to get out there and write. I won’t.

BUT, what I will say, is when you have an idea, play with it. Put something down. Don’t worry about what it will be in the 1st draft. Having a 1st draft is more than most ideas come to (Do not look into the statistics, it is worrying).

Enjoy your stories.