Experiences

I always hear the advice to, "write what only you can!" To write the story that only you can tell, the story that's deep inside your soul and just begging to be told. To write the story that you would want to read.

I love this advice; I think it's valid and helpful because writing something you're interested in and passionate about will always turn out better than writing something that you think others will want to read. That's what brings diversity to the realm of stories--if we base our writing on what we think (or know) others already read, then every book would just be the same.

HOWEVER. While I'm all for writing the book you'd want to read, sometimes...I don't want to. I just want to cut to the reading part.

Now, I like reading and writing about the same amount. (Actually, scratch that. I like reading more because it's less work and the gratification is more instant.) I will happily work to write more stories about things that I find lacking in the ones that are already around. But writing a story myself doesn't provide the same feeling as reading one by somebody else, y'know?

Writing and reading are both about discovery--but reading is about discovering something that's out there, the thrill of finding something that you never knew existed. Writing is more about discovering what's inside you--the aforementioned "story that only you can tell."

Does any of this make sense? (I'm trying, here.)

Writing is more about getting the story right. You have this story, this idea, this sliver of a universe in your mind, and you have to do it justice. You have to. And so this results in a lot of trial and error, as you work your way through and learn more about this world that you've created and these characters that you've invented to live there.

Reading is about finding what already exists. Someone has--hopefully--already gotten the story right. If they have, it's like a friend on your couch with a warm cup of coffee in their hands, telling you about all the crazy shit that went down in the last couple weeks. They pull you in and make you care, and on their best days, they give you something to relate and identify with.

With reading, the excitement comes from following an unfamiliar path. Someone else did all the hard work, so now all you have to do is stroll on down and enjoy what they've done with it. With writing, you're the one doing all the hard work--and that's the exciting part. You choose where the path goes, and if you pick a route that doesn't work, you block it off and change course. You choose what the hiker sees, what exists for them to explore. And by the end of it, you know the whole place backwards, forwards, inside out and upside down.

So sometimes, I'm feeling adventurous. I want to put in the work, I have a decent strategy to do it, and I'm excited to turn everything in my head into something more concrete that can be enjoyed.

And other times, I just want talk the easy road and enjoy someone else's story.

As a writer, my first instict is to fill a void in the literary world myself. I notice something missing, so I immediately think that I should be the one to fill it. But at the end of the day, I get a different kind of satisfaction from finishing a story than I do from reading one--and, understandably, I don't get the same kind of satisfaction from reading my own stories.

Ah, the struggles of a writer.


Until later,

- Justyne