The most important thing a writer has is their story. At first, I thought it might be having the latest, all singing, all dancing writing program, or a neat writing desk with piles of colour-coded notes and no coffee rings or two day old bowls of crusty cereal. I even thought it might be the skill of being able to use words like floccinaucinihilipilification in a sentence without breaking a sweat, or having a lovely email from a lovely agent that quite liked your sample chapters. But it isn’t. (Although these things are still quite glorious.) The most important thing you have as a writer, is your story. That story. You know, that thing that won’t leave you alone. That project that you know, deep down, beneath all those grisly, foggy layers of doubt and ‘should I?’’s and ‘can I?’’s, can only be written in the way it needs to be written, by you. It’s that story that scares you, and probably excites you in equal measures, and that story that sometimes feels far, far bigger than you and your ability. It’s that story that makes your heart swell and sting, and your stomach flip. And it’s the one that you may sometimes talk yourself out of and away from.
There’s a story I have been sitting on for a long time, and I know, without question, that it is that story, because every time I sit down to write it, I feel like I have been dumped on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, without a compass or a map, but the freedom to go wherever I want to. Exciting. Frightening. And that’s why we sit on it, isn’t it? The frightening part.
Until recently, I have chosen to sit on it, firmly, and work on other ideas – ideas that excite me, and get the blood pumping and brain sprinting, sure, but ideas that upon completion, still do not quieten the persistence of that story; the one I am supposed to be writing. And it’s because of that old chestnut: fear. Fear makes us hunt for reasons why we shouldn’t be writing it, why we have no place to be writing such a thing, why people won’t like it or read it, and why we shouldn’t just be be letting our voice run loose, uncensored, and honestly on the page. And those reasons don’t serve us at all. Really, we should be thinking only about the reasons we should. Because we should - must - write what scares us.
It will set you apart
Readers, literary agents, publishers; they’re all looking for that something different, something exciting, and something new and fresh. Who talks excitedly about a book that is exactly like something else they’ve already read? Your story, your voice, the way in which you string words together is what will set you apart from everyone else.
The excitement and fear will be mirrored on the page
We read books because we want to think and we want to feel. I am sure I’m not alone in saying that I feel a weird sense of satisfaction when I’m sitting over an open book, crying into its pages, and I don’t doubt that those pages were probably the hardest parts for the author to get down. The parts you write when you have fire in your belly, the words you write when you are scared, and the words you have to dig really deep for will be felt on the page. If it’s written with feeling, the reader will feel it. “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader” – Robert Frost
Regardless, you will always have the work
In his commencement speech, Neil Gaiman talked about the importance of writing only that which makes you proud. “If I did the work I was proud of, and I didn’t get the money, at least I’d have the work.” Writing a novel is hard work. It’s wonderful, of course, but it’s consuming and tiring, and takes a lot of hours, commitment and time spent swirling around and arguing silently (and sometimes, on those particularly tricky days, out loud) with your own brain. So if you’re going to pour all of those things into a project, why not that story? If you do work you love, even if it scares you, at least above everything else, as you type “THE END”, you know the story is told, you can hold it in your hands, and can always be proud of it.
Someone will thank you for it
Not everyone likes every book. There isn’t a single book on a single shelf that has a fan in every single member of the reading human race. But there are books on shelves that mean the world to many, there are books that have made many cry, many laugh, many think, and there are books in every book shop that have changed and saved lives. Those books were never sure things, and when the author was writing them, I’d bet they had no idea that someone would ever pick up their words and feel better for reading for them. If you like your story, if it’s important to you, if it means something to you, then chances are, someone else will feel the same, and they will be thankful you took the time to write your words; especially those that scared you.
The whisper will turn into a shout
It isn’t going to leave you alone. I promise. No matter how many other exciting ideas and projects you pursue, it won’t just slink off and give up. Its whispers and prods to be written and to be heard will gradually turn into shouts and shoves, so you may as well write it now... even if it's for a quiet life.
“If not you, who? If not now, when?”
Lia is a mum-of-one, working as a copywriter and studying for a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing. Her first novel, Bubbles, is in the submission process and she is currently writing her second novel. She lives at home, in Hertfordshire, with her boyfriend, three year old, and stacks of clothes and books. Find her on Twitter here.
Fay, thank you very much for reading and for sharing the link!
Arun, thank you for reading. It is always lovely to hear that a blog is of some help! (And lovely to meet you too!)
Doug, love the quote :"Only bad writers....... and it's true, I'm living proof of a fake writers. Now I know, who I'm and write what I struggle to write about and some revered editors are beginning to like it - at least some parts of it. And as an emotional nerd I can't control my tears when I see someone I admire likes what I write -that sweet tears. Nice meeting you.
Lia, a great illuminating and encouraging and, certainly for me, an educational post. Much appreciate it and thanks. Good to meet you too.
Arun
Brilliant blog - thanks for sharing it! The sometimes pleasurable but mostly relentless knocking of the story on the walls of your mind is so true! All of this made perfect sense to me; have shared it on my FB page :).