Writers On Writing

The best inspiration you can have, as a writer, is from other writers. One of my favorite non-fiction books is by Stephen King. On Writing was started prior to him trying to become a hood ornament on that guy's van, and was finished during and after his recovery. If you've never read this book, go buy it or pick up a copy from your local library. It is excellent.

One of my favorite parts is toward the end of the book. King says, "Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy." He went on to write, "Some of this book--perhaps too much--has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it--and perhaps the best of it--is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up."

Isn't that just beautiful?

E.L. Doctorow once said that "writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination. You don't even have to see the scenery that you're passing. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. I must say, this is some of the best advice about writing (or life, for that matter) that I've ever heard.

The great Western writer Louis L'Amour said, “If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.”

And, just in case you think writing should be easy and you must be a dummy because it ain't easy for you, think about what Harlan Ellison had to say: “People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.”

One last one, from Virginia Wolf: "It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything."

The common advice these writers have given us is:

1. Start.
2. Keep at it.
3. Finish.

And enjoy the journey along the way.