The Fiction of Becoming a Writer
Posted by Jenna Cooper in 
Aundraya Ruse’s “When Is a Writer a Writer?” inspired me to take a break from the act of writing to meditate on what all this means to me. (“This” refers to writing.) Do you ever stop and wonder why you write? Sometimes I find myself thinking about writing like it’s a necessary task. I have to do it and keep at it, even when it feels frustrating. If I don’t…well, it’s not like I’ll stop functioning. (Or will I?) But I imagine feeling like something huge was missing from my life.
That’s when I figure it’s good to remind myself what initially excited me about writing. I suppose all writers have their unique origin stories. I remember as a child feeling about words the way some kids felt about crayons. Words sounded as luxurious as Midnight Blue or as striking as Neon Yellow looked. Before I learned how to write my ABCs, I drew little symbols that meant real words on the pages of my sketchbooks and hoped that someone could read them. I felt that I hadn’t entered into the world of “grown-up” letters yet, but I was determined to get there as fast as I could. read more
When Is a Writer a Writer?
For a long while, I’ve secretly gone back and forth with myself about whether or not I can call myself a writer. You’ll notice I used the word “secretly”—that is because the idea of calling oneself a writer has always seemed somewhat pretentious to me. I imagine referring to myself as a writer out loud and receiving the same doubtful raising of the eyebrows and pursing of the lips that I once gave people when they told me that their favorite novel was The Great Gatsby. “No it isn’t,” I’d think, being my own worst pretentious enemy.
Being a writer probably means something different to everyone. Maybe it’s when you get something published for the first time. Personally, I think you can call yourself a writer much sooner than that. read more
The Book Wasn’t Better
When I was 17, I made a horrifying discovery. I learned something that went against everything I believed as a lifelong reader and bookworm. I discovered that, sometimes, the book isn’t better than the movie.
I know, I know. I was shocked, too.
The first instance of this uncomfortable truth came when I read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. My high school self thought it alternated between being tedious and frustratingly complex. Plus, the print versions of Drs. Grant and Sattler were dull and cold compared to Sam Neill and Laura Dern.
Well, that’s got to be an anomaly, I told myself. Maybe Crichton’s style of writing just isn’t for me.
Then I read The Princess Bride a few months later. read more
Spooky Stories
‘Tis the season for reading, writing, and talking about horror. The last book I read that really scared me was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Whenever I mention this book to fellow readers, I usually get one of two reactions. They either say something along the lines of ‘Oh, that book scared me shitless’ or ‘What’s it called again? Oh, is it what The Haunting is based on? That movie sucked…’ But as any bibliophile knows, the book is almost always better than the movie or TV show. In the case of The Haunting of Hill House, that’s definitely true. (Although I’ve heard the 1963 movie was well done.) read more
See You Soon, WriteByNighters
Dear readers, dear comrades, I have some fateful news to share. My time interning at WriteByNight is coming to a close, and you won’t be hearing from me much more after this moment. Don’t cry! I will still keep myself visible within the Austin writing community, publishing some articles for BE Magazine, revamping my own blog, and visiting open hours at WriteByNight with my massive unpublished manuscript in hand just so I can look and feel like I’m of literary importance
But my time here has been well spent. Justine and David are amazing writers, and have a lot of knowledge to share. (My last shameless plug for WriteByNight–if you haven’t met them yet, come stop by and check out all WBN has to offer!) read more
Revisions
A few months ago I went to the Writers League of Texas Agents Conference and pitched my book to anyone who would listen. You there, the lady in the apron restocking the breakfast tacos–would you like to hear about my manuscript?
Okay, it didn’t go that far. But to the dozens people I did meet and explained my book to, the question “Is it finished” came up often. “Yes!” I would answer confidently, as I had revised it twice, had someone do line edits, and then revised it again. The beast was complete.
But when the conference ended, I spent five days trying to recover from the weekend-long overload of networking/pitching/being terrified/getting my synopsis ripped apart by feisty agents in front of 250 people/having to wear closed-toed shoes for long amounts of time. read more
Where Writers Fear to Tread
Right now I’m reading Chris Adrian’s A Better Angel. It’s a collection of short stories and the themes of the collection are death and grief. Sounds like the short story version of Nicholas Sparks, huh? No—far, far from it. It’s a mix of magical realism, dark humor, and transgressive fiction. Overall, I’m enraptured with Adrian’s work, excited to find an author whose prose reads like crème brûlée for the mind.
I found only one of the stories, “Stab,” hard to read. The protagonist, an eight-year-old boy, befriends a girl his age who takes him on nightly adventures to kill and mutilate animals. I won’t tell you the ending, but I will say that the girl’s actions drive the plot. Normally, I have a strong stomach—the stomach equivalent of Hercules—but I can’t read about animals getting harmed without tearing up. If I wasn’t on the bus at the time, I would have cried. I can’t even imagine writing scenes that depict animal cruelty. I’d probably go mad, a crazy granny-nightgown-wearing-cat-
Friday Video Dump
Friday is an excellent day to get visual. You’ve been reading articles and blog posts all week, you have some exciting reading (and WBN-visiting) planned for your Saturday, and let’s face it, all you’re really hoping to do at work today is clock watch.
But at some point you’ll need a break. And when you’re ready for that break, here’s what I think you should do with it: watch these videos. read more
Getting Unstuck
Justine, the co-mastermind behind all the glory that is WriteByNight, recently wrote a great post about Morning Pages. I had heard her talk about Morning Pages before, but this post really prompted me to try them myself. Why, you ask? Well, just take a look at my previous blog post and you will get your answer.
Following a recent harrowing writers conference, I was void of creative inspiration. Well, I suppose a dwindling bank account, inability to get a job in this godforsaken economy, 110 degree temperatures, and the breakdowns of my cell phone, two computers, and my car all within a two-month stretch also contributed to my lack of a muse. I called myself a writer, but I wasn’t really writing, except for a few stale articles and blog posts about how I have writer’s block. Writing about how you can’t write anything? Preposterous.
Finally, I had enough. read more
Inspiration From Exasperation
One of the curious questions writers are often asked is “What inspires your writing?”
While many of us like to point to the positive inspiration we’ve received from reading great authors whose books we strive to emulate, I think the truth is sometimes a little less glamorous. I certainly aspire to write as eloquently (and outlandishly) as my literary heroes Leonard Cohen, Salman Rushdie and Jeanette Winterson, but I also know that if I am being completely honest, much of my inspiration comes from life’s little irritations.
Take, for example, a recent letter I received from my mother-in-law. read more
Self-Publishing: When to Go For It
I saw an article online this week that featured a bunch of twentysomethings who were fed up with the economy, mentally told it to piss off, and decided to become entrepreneurs and eventually were very successful. I have heard this type of story time and time again over the past year or so, as more people are starting to ask “Why wait around for the job market to pick up, when you could get innovative and create your own success?”
I always translate this way of thinking into the publishing realm, because my ultimate goal is to one day be an author. I keep wondering, should I try self-publishing? Is today not a better time than ever to go that route? With all of the talk about the struggling publishing company, the closing of bookstores, and the rise of the almighty e-book, sometimes I wonder why I just don’t go for it? read more
Oh, the Places You’ll Go (to Write)
I’ve been thinking a lot about where I write recently. I share a four-bedroom house with five other people (one is my boyfriend of six years), so I don’t get a ton of privacy. Plus, the place is generally messy. And mess drives me batshit crazy. This week I finally worked up the gumption to make my house a writer’s nest. Personally, I need a clean space to feel mentally “clear.” It was well worth it, and it only took a a few (five or six) hours.
Do you ever have that problem? You know what kind of environment supports your writing, but you’re too damn lazy or busy to make that environment a reality? Luckily, I almost always prefer to write at home. All the coffee and snacks I need, incense, and a bed where I can lay in total dishabille. read more
Reading Together and Stuff
So we’ve started a WriteByNight Goodreads group, and we’d love for you to join and share your reading list with other WriteByNighters.
You can find the group here. And if anybody wants to start a discussion, please feel free.
While we’re at it, you can also find WBN on Facebook and Twitter.
Writer’s Block Sux
Katie has written about (and had) writer’s block before; now she talks about it, live (recorded) and in the flesh (in front of a green screen, then backgrounded (“backgrounded?”) with a green sofa and an afghan, which you will not find at WBN).
For your viewing pleasure:
For more writing tips and videos, subscribe to our YouTube page.
Voices in Space
As writers we know that getting feedback is a necessary evil that we all must go through if we want to become the next famous writer. But if you don’t have the time to sit through a writers critique group, or are just an extremely un-social person with a strong distaste for sitting in a circle and shifting through coffee-stained manuscripts, there is a solution for you, and that solution is Voices in Space.
Voices in Space is a free literary forum where writers of any experience level can post their work, and BAM!, receive immediate commentary and feedback from a wide range of literary enthusiasts. read more
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