What am I supposed to write?
If I had a penny for every time a writer asked me this…I
could probably buy a Starbucks to fuel a chapter’s worth. If I had a penny for
every time I asked myself the same question I could make that coffee a large
one.
Back before I started getting under-way with my own writing
this question would crop up a lot. And when it did it was a sudden and as sharp
as an all-too-hot mouthful of coffee down the ‘wrong hole’, leaving me
spluttering and gasping, reaching for the napkins to clean up the mess I’d made
on the papers…
…please, people, let’s keep this clean and not read into
that statement? I might have handed you a double entendre on a plate, but there’s
no reason to slow-cook me over a spit roast of my own oddities.
Returning to the matter at hand. What are you supposed to
write?
I don’t know, why are you asking me? But more importantly,
why are you asking yourself?
Writer’s write because they want to. Because they can –
because they have a story to tell. If you’re wondering what you’re supposed to
write, look a little closer at your story plan and wonder what’s missing. That
might be why you’re asking yourself this in the first place.
But, and this is a BIG BUT, if you’re asking yourself ‘What
am I SUPPOSED to write?’ then you need to dissect your intent. Is it because
you want people to like your story? Is it because you want to be the next ‘50
Shades of a Vampire’s Sparkly Skin with a side of Philosopher’s Stone’?
If that is the case…STOP! Put down the pen before you hurt
yourself, I beg of you.
The dangers of trying to write the next big thing are an
endless catalogue that’d make thumbscrews seem like a pedicure. There’s no harm
in big ambition, actually I encourage and applaud it, and if you’re taking a
not-so-popular trope and prodding it toward the limelight then good on you. But
penning yet another ‘that’s popular so it’ll sell well’ book might actually
leave you out in open water, with a longer swim back to shore once the tide’s
abandoned you.
What I’m trying to get at here is: when you write, the first
person who is going to read your work is going to be you. And for most writers
your biggest critic is always going to be YOU (unless you have a dog like mine
who you subject to orating first drafts to). Imagine this: between worrying so
much about ‘what you’re supposed to write’ you end up scrawling something you
think the reader will like, but when you end up going over it you in fact
detest it…
The tide moves pretty fast out there in the sea of writer
world, doesn’t it? And low and behold the sharks of doubt have started circling.
WRITE what YOU WANT to WRITE. I cannot stress how important
this is. If you don’t enjoy the process how do you expect to get to the end?
The reader will pick up on the fact that you’re second-guessing yourself, and
the story itself will lack the conviction and honest delivery it truly
deserves.
So the next time you ask yourself ‘what am I supposed to
write?’ answer, simply, with this.
‘My story’.
That, or hire a dozen monkeys and force them to the
typewriters.
((Note: No monkeys or sharks were harmed in the writing of this post, but my dog did get a little bored of hearing me speak out loud as I typed...and no, that's not him in the picture.))
