You’ve probably heard this writing truism: “you have to write a million words of crap...” before, I guess, “...writing something worth reading.” Or maybe “...writing something worth publishing
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Oh I've easily written more than a million words. Some of us take longer to learn than others and we learn in different ways. I've written since I was 7 or so. I walk away from it, I come back to it. I've journaled for many, many years. That's the umpteen million words of crap, in my case. My journal is definitely crap-words. Purposely so now to clear out my head. (Not to be confused with lj, which is a journal that has been heavily edited for public consumption.)
But sometimes, I take journal observations of the world and a couple of years later when I have distance, they become stories. Pretty good ones. The initial stuff is crap but in that crap is a kernel that can be grown slowly into something better.
Not everyone works that way. But I've reread a lot of my journals from various times in my life. And to an incredible extent, they're crap. One useful thing they have, though, that kernel, is a 'true' voice for that age. When I was 12, I wrote like I was 12. Now I just write down observations about the kid and she provides the 'true' voice of her age set.
And some of what isn't crap still ends up on the cutting room floor. It has to. I shed a tear as I cut, but once I have enough distance, the need for the cut is obvious.
But it's a silly saying because some of us need to write several million words of crap to learn to write and some of us just do it and do it well from the starting gate. But all of us continue to evolve as writers. Writing is cool that way.
But sometimes, I take journal observations of the world and a couple of years later when I have distance, they become stories. Pretty good ones. The initial stuff is crap but in that crap is a kernel that can be grown slowly into something better.
Not everyone works that way. But I've reread a lot of my journals from various times in my life. And to an incredible extent, they're crap. One useful thing they have, though, that kernel, is a 'true' voice for that age. When I was 12, I wrote like I was 12. Now I just write down observations about the kid and she provides the 'true' voice of her age set.
And some of what isn't crap still ends up on the cutting room floor. It has to. I shed a tear as I cut, but once I have enough distance, the need for the cut is obvious.
But it's a silly saying because some of us need to write several million words of crap to learn to write and some of us just do it and do it well from the starting gate. But all of us continue to evolve as writers. Writing is cool that way.
Oz
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