A Writer's Odyssey

How does a writer's education bear on his or her writing?  That was a recent topic on my alumnae list, Odfellowdiscussion. 

This was my answer:

I think that education can be a drawback when it comes to the creative side of writing.  Why?  Because it feeds the critical side of our brains. We write and then we compare what's written to Mark Twain, D. H. Lawrence, J. R. R. Tolkien, and we say, "My writing is crap.  I can't write."

I can't write, of course, like Mark Twain, D. H. Lawrence, or J. R. R. Tolkien.  If I hadn't read them, I would be blissfully ignorant of my inability and would go on honing my craft.  But I have, so I get discouraged.

It used to be that when I read something good, it inspired me.  I was more reader then than writer then. 

All of that changed when I decided to pick up a pen and write myself.  Now, reading something, I'm discouraged.  "That's so good," I tell myself, reading the latest William Gibson.  "There's no way I can ever write something like that."

Lots of people drop out of writing at this point.  It takes too much time, too much effort, and the rewards aren't instantaneous, either.  Months and even years pass before that piece gets a viewing.  Maybe you even sell some things, make money, and get a modicum of fame.

Still, you're not where you want to be.  Your next pieces get rejected, your flicker of fame fades fast.  You've had your fifteen minutes.

In Odyssey, I was shocked to hear Craig Shaw Gardner, a likeable guy and an obviously hard-working writer, say that he had been pigeon-holed as a "funny fantasy writer," and since funny fantasy was "out" at that time (2001), he couldn't write or sell anything under his name.

How could a successful writer be blocked like that, I wondered.  That's where I learned that to writing skill must be added the further element of saleability  (Are you writing what's "in" this season?), and a certain amount of luck. 

Add to this a huge source of persistence.  Craig didn't give up and kept writing things--soap operas, romances, books-for-hire--under pen names and wherever he could find the work.  It was great to see him back in print in genre this year, under his own name, with a media tie in.  Persistence matters. 

That's part of your education, too: recognizing that the business is a difficult one and that not all its stories end happily.  If you can live with that, you can go on writing.

And while your education may ultimately discourage you from writing, it also gives you the gift of recognizing when, from time to time, you do pen a good line or write a good piece.  In that moment you recognize your potential.  All of us have had that moment of recognition, or we would have long since given it all up. 

So while your writer's education can discourage you, and make you feel like you can never compete or write a decent line of prose that compares to the giants you read, while it shows you the harsh truth of publication, it can also give you encouragement by showing you your writing potential.  If you aren't deterred by that, you can work in satisfaction and leave the results to time.

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