Everybody was Kung Fu Writing

[jimhines]

Comments

[out_totheblack]

Very good analogy. I've been discovering that the process of painting and writing are very similar as well.

[jimhines]

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest :-) I suspect the same holds true for most crafts.

[sartorias]

Ain't that the truth.

[mtlawson]

When I watch my wife practice in her karate class (it comes right after the kids'), the other mom in the class gets berated for thinking too much. "You have to cut that out," the Sensei tells her repeatedly. "Once you get through that, you'll be able to progress farther."

My wife, wearing the mighty white belt, hasn't gotten that far yet, but even she can benefit from that advice.

So can we all for things such as writing or learning to ride a bike or anything else. You can study and think about something all you like, but you still have to go out and do it.

[mtlawson]

I'll have to mention that to her.

In my case, whenever I'm doing something I have to have some music in the background to help me focus. Headphones are a godsend for that at work, and the rise of the MP3 player with multiple GB of storage is a wondrous thing.

(The internet radio development ain't so bad either.)

[temporus]

I think it's a sign of advancement when one finally reaches the point where you realize how little, in fact, you know and how much more there is to learn.

[jimhines]

Sweet! That makes me super-advanced! ;-)

[swords_and_pens]

I'll echo tempronus: whenever I think I know what I'm doing when it comes to sword work, I go back and teach a class on the basics. I always end up getting another insight. If I can't do that, I go back and read the original manuals. There's always some new dimension I'd missed before.

Well, not missed, so much as I wasn't ready to see until then.

Same with writing. I think I know what I'm doing, and then *bam* something else gets up and smacks me in the back of the head.

So, yeah, I know exactly what you mean, Jim. And I agree with the analogy 100%.

[brownkitty]

There's a point of mastery? I thought it amounted to being better at bluffing. "Yeah, yeah, I know what I'm doing," when what you actually have learned is how to listen to the characters and the autopilot a little better.

[jimhines]

I don't know :-) My guess would be that, if anything, mastery is a process and not an end point. That's about as far as I've gotten....