Practice, Practice, Practice

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE You’ve heard that old joke. A man asks a New York cabbie tips on how to get to Carnegie Hall, and the cabbie says, “Practice, practice, practice.” I’ve written before about work ethic issues, deadlines, laziness, and the barriers we are likely to erect around our own creativity. I’ve preached that you must be able to write anywhere, any timeâ€"not just in your particular little author’s nest after everybody in the house has gone to mattress, or before they wake up in the morning. This recommendation is intended to help you write more often, to write more phrasesâ€"to apply your craft. A few weeks ago, at Wondercon in San Francisco, I was cornered by the guys from the Guys Can Read podcast. A couple of nice gents, enthusiastic supporters of books and reading . . . my sort of guys. I was delighted to do the interview and delighted with the podcast. One of the things I touched on in that interview was the quote I’ve typically repeated however nonetheless don’t know how t o credit score: So many individuals say, “I’m going to write a guide,” having never written before, having no background or education in it, but none of them would ever say in the identical cavalier method, “I’m going to play cello for a significant symphony orchestra.” Who was it who mentioned that everybody has one nice e-book in them? I hate him (or her), whoever it was. It might be that everyone has an excellent story to tellâ€"a real-life experience that may be worthy of a e-bookâ€"however that doesn’t mean everyone has the power to write down nicely enough to actually do it, and end up with a manuscript price studying. This concept that everybody who passed highschool English can do what I do peeves me to no finish. That screenwriter who in contrast the thought of sitting down to put in writing a e-book to strolling right into a symphony orchestra and demanding a cello hit it spot on. No one would really suppose they might simply pick up a cello and play it, and affordable individuals would settle for that even after some lessons that they wouldn’t have the talent to play the cello at the stage of Yo-Yo Ma. I shot baskets in the driveway with my father and brothers as a child, that does not make me prepared for the NBA. I may practice and follow and follow and I would by no means be wherever close to as good at basketball as the typical NBA third-stringer, let alone Michael Jordan. I just don’t have the talent for it. When I was in faculty I was in a string of would-be punk bands that by no means did get a taking part in gig. One of the explanations for our lack of success could have been that as a journeyman punk bassist I wasn’t actually that good. Thankfully, I got here to that understanding whereas nonetheless in college, left the punk world behind as something however a fan, and targeting learning the way to write. I’ve practiced that craft ever since. I learn books about how to write. I actually have a bachelors diploma that s ays “Cinema & Photography” on the diploma, but was actually a liberal arts degree with an emphasis on screen writing. My senior thesis project was a screenplay. I stay for writing the way skilled athletes reside for his or her sports, or skilled musicians stay for their music. It’s well-known that to be an excellent athlete or a fantastic musician requires practice, but for some reason that lesson is lost in terms of writing. Could it be the seemingly endless string of books by folks everyone knows usually are not writers, from no matter this Snooki particular person is, through a variety of other “actuality” TV “stars” . . . Jessica Simpson “wrote” a “book” about “Achieving Your Dream Wedding,” Was that earlier than or after her televised celebrity marriage disintegrated on fundamental cable? And then there are the politicians. Raise your hand should you think Sarah Palin really sits down at a pc and writes these books beginning to finish. Really? For thos e of us who don’t have one thing to sell that the publishing business thinks could make it a quick buckâ€"reality present “fame,” a pop princess’s wedding plans, or a politician’s partisan speaking pointsâ€"we’re going to need to do it the onerous means. We’re going to should be taught to write. We’re going to have to really sit down and write. We’re going to have to just accept and think about criticism. We’re going to should survive rejection. We’re going to have to consider what we simply wrote and the way it might be better. We’re going to have to seek out and accept the recommendation of agents and editors (the writer’s equal of coaches). We’re going to have to follow. Musicians do it, athletes do it, and the best of them mix uncooked pure expertise with hours and hours and hoursâ€"no, years and years and yearsâ€"of hard labor so as to achieve greatness. Michael Jordan was born with sure physical attributes that helped him play basketball higher, how ever in the end he turned the best basketball participant of all time by working his ass off for years. So when your good friend tells you she’s pondering of leaving her job as an engineer to put in writing a novel, and you know for a proven fact that she’s by no means written a full sentence of fiction in her life, just smile and need her good luck. Eventually she’ll run across somebody who doesn’t know her, received’t have to stumble upon her at family functions or at work, and who shall be keen to inform her to not quit her day job. If she quits her day job anyway, and spends the subsequent a number of years taking programs, attending workshops, not simply studying but finding out books on writing, and banging out brief stories, failed makes an attempt at novels, notebooks stuffed with poetry by which every poem is just the tiniest bit higher than the final, and eventually she writes a fantastic novel, nicely, then, good factor you didn’t tell her to give up her day j ob. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans I assume it’s the most common factor to say: ‘I’m gonna write a e-book’. The why is kind of easy IMHO: Everyone -nicely, everyone who attended faculty in whichever form or form- discovered to write down. Write sentences, that is. Also, eveyone has their reminiscences of events, be it from rumour (third particular person), precise things that happened to them (first particular person), or simply ‘plain made-up’ stories, both factual (non-fiction) or simply fantasies (fantasy/fiction). Hence, in essence, it is common belief that ‘writing a guide is simply one thing you do’. After all, us lads all thought we had been going to be the following Pele, or Cruijff or any modern-day star football (soccer) participant. Some of us succeeded, the bulk nevertheless still gets off the bed every morning and goes en route the workplace for our 9-2-5. The above is simply to level out that yes, everyone has a story in them, and all people thinks they will write it down. And they'll, be it sentence for sentence, but they can. In my li’l book of knowledge, there may be nonetheless a HUGE difference between being able to write down an event, and being able to translate an event into a -readable- story. The latter is the place we Wordsmiths come in… (Perhaps this is where the distinction between writers and authors actually arises…) Let it's identified that this is the view level of a wannabe author (author?) Regards, C. Matt Hewes () Rectification: I mentioned ‘plain made up tales’ and named the factual ones ‘non-fiction’.. That’s not proper in fact… ought to be -as a result of it's- fiction. Bad choice of word, sorry.. Fill in your details under or click an icon to log in: You are commenting utilizing your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Facebook account. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of latest commen ts through e-mail. Notify me of recent posts through email. Enter your email tackle to subscribe to Fantasy Author's Handbook and receive notifications of latest posts by e-mail. Join four,779 other followers Sign me up! RSS - Posts RSS - Comments