How to actually write anything at all, or at least how to take those thoughts and images that buzz in your head and put them on to paper is a problem that plagues all writers. Whether you write fantasy. horror, poetry, or lyrics to a song one is always gripped with that horrible fear that they will not be able to get down what it is in their head.
So, how do we fix this issue? How do we overcome this problem. In part this is a problem that can not get fixed. It is a force of nature for the creator. Just as a wildfire must sweep over the land, destroying the brush and leaving the seeds and ash for new, fertile things to grow, so to must the creator feel the icy grasp of nothingness. Without this we would not have to push ourselves. We would not have to probe our minds and tease out the worm of an idea.
That being said, there is a certain bravery that comes with creating. All good or great creators have an inner critic that lives within them. This beast of a thing is like a devil, constantly whispering in your ear that nothing you write or create is worth the time you put in it. This inner critic wants you to polish something until you do not know how to fix it and, at that point, it prods more, telling you to hide what you have created for fear of judgement.
In some ways this is good. The critic is our own filter that drives us to being as great as we can. He is also a force of nature and to do without him would thereby allow us to write whatever thing passed into our minds and, as we all know, not every thought is a gem.
However, this does not mean that we should listen to this inner voice always. There must be a balance between "eh, this is okay," and "I must never allow this to see that light of day." That is perhaps the hardest part of it all. To sit and read while a part of your brain tells you that what you pour onto the page is pure shit.
This is why we have beta readers, to give us notes and opinions that are not our own.
Bukowski probably said it best in his poem "So you want to be a writer." At no point did he say it was an easy task to write and he was write. Those of us who write do not do so because it is an easy task. We write because we must.
We creep into our little rooms and write because, deep inside us, there is something akin to a demon. Writing and creating is as exorcising and, upon returning, we are exhausted, dehydrated, and in desperate need for food.
Yet we return to that world.
So, to those of you who have had writers block or have had an issue starting your own stories. In one way it is as simple as one word after another. Yet in others it is as hard as all that. Do know, however, that if you choose to write or create that you will need to be brave. At times you may have an idea that will not come and you must simply let it age, like fine wine. At other times things may pour from you freely with only a handful of them ever being any good.
Be brave and write. The only way to start that story or write that song is to do it and allow nature to work through you. Most of all, do not concern yourself with giving away this work and selling it. Writing is as much an art as anything, perhaps you wish you to treat it like a job, yet you must still pay your dues to the art side and write simply to express and create.
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