Writing - Curse or Blessing?

‘Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.’ - Georges Simenon.

For a long time I didn’t like to call myself a writer. Although I had been a journalist and feature writer and written TV-related books, a couple of which had made it into the Sunday Times bestseller list - and from there got into ghosting autobiographies - I didn’t feel worthy. I wasn’t sure I could claim to be a writer. Not a real writer. Once or twice people told me that ghostwriting wasn’t ‘proper’ writing and I was so unsure of myself I agreed with them. Such self-doubt probably isn’t unusual when it comes to writing. Writers can be an insecure bunch. Despite fearing I was some sort of imposter, I kept writing because, like everyone who writes, it was something I felt compelled to do.

Writers are driven. They have a passion, a dream. The ones who succeed take criticism on board and learn from it. They find mentors, a like-minded community, and explore all the options there are to get published.

They toil ceaselessly at their craft.

Writers write ... and write. They keep faith. At one time I felt embarrassed to be ghostwriting, as if it was something to be ashamed of.  I no longer feel like that. I now understand that writing comes in many forms and, as long as it’s good writing, that’s what matters. For me, however, there is nothing to equal the writing of novels.

For at least ten years I’ve been writing fiction alongside ghosting. A while back, on the recommendation of the late Ali Gunn, I sent the first three chapters of a novel to a high-profile agent who turned out to be a big character, full of confidence, and did wonders for my self-belief. He submitted my novel to nine publishers and, naively, I thought that was it; I’d cracked it. We didn’t actually have to wait long to hear back as the agent was so well regarded editors responded promptly. One after another, the rejections came in. In the end we had to accept defeat. I hadn’t cracked it, after all. Far from it. The agent told me not to be discouraged but to write something else. It was the last thing I felt like doing but I took his advice and got on with it.

Looking back, I can see that those editors were right to reject my novel. They did me a favour. I wasn’t good enough. It was a hard lesson to learn but a valuable one.

I’m still chasing my dream but now there are many more ways to be published than the traditional route – crowd-funding, self-publishing. You don’t even need an agent, although I happen to think it’s important to have someone on your side, championing you and your work.

If you have a passion for writing – one that means you do it no matter what –  I’d say persevere. Seek feedback and do all you can to improve as you strive to get your work out there. If you get rejected, look for the silver lining. Ask what you can learn from the experience. What can you do better next time?

Keep inspirational books, like Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writingto hand as a boost when you find yourself flagging.

Keep planting seeds.

Consider every option.

Don’t work in isolation.

Read … and read.

Tap into writers who have already succeeded – like Stephen King – and are generous enough to share what they learned in the process. 

It was the Javier Marias piece entitled ‘There are seven reasons not to write novels (and one to write them)’ in the Independent that prompted me to write this. I might not have seen it had Rachel Abbott not tweeted about it, so I owe her thanks. We all have our reasons for writing but what struck me here was the line, ‘Writing novels allows the novelist to spend much of his time in a fictional world, which is really the only or at least the most bearable place to be.’

Yes, that is it. When I’m writing fiction, spending my time with made-up people in a made-up world, I am absorbed and happy. Stephen King, in On Writing, says, ‘When you write, you want to get rid of the world, do you not? Of course you do. When you're writing, you're creating your own worlds.’

However many reasons there may be NOT to write novels, I, and many like me, feel driven to do so because that made-up world is such a seductive place.

If you write, you will know what I mean. 

Georges Simenon might have been on to something when he called writing ‘a vocation of unhappiness’ but to all writers out there I’d say be grateful rather than tormented, because to write is a precious gift.

And in those bleak moments of despair that every writer knows only too well, remember the words of Stephen King in On Writing: ‘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.’

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