Interesting piece into today's Salon dealing with what it is to be a "writer." First, read the reader's question and the columnist's answer here:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2008/04/28/
talent/index.html?source=newsletter
I'm always intrigued by writing theory, and I'm sure many folks adhere to the tenets presented here. But when people ask me why I like to write, I usually quote the W.P. Mayhew character played by John Mahoney in Barton Fink. As in, "I just like making things up." Like many heartfelt endeavors, I think it's possible to both over and under-think the underlying principles of an "artform," be it commercial, personal or somewhere in between.
I knew a writer some years back who considered completing a paragraph of his latest novel a good day's work. Me, I would find that sort of painstaking pace maddening, but his working method required the sort of obsessional dedication (*) identified in the Salon piece. These anecdotal tales often end with "and incidentally, he never sold one of his books", but in fact he did, and his novels (the second, as I recall, took close to ten years to write) were well received, sold fairly well, were optioned for movies, etc.
The Salon piece also talks about writing as a vehicle for self-examination. That, of course, is one perfectly valid reason to sit down at the keyboard. But I've always felt that writing in about communicating, too... presenting your ideas to others because you have this crazy idea there may be some value in your point of view. I suppose that's why I blog instead of scribbling this nonsense in a private journal. I kinda know what's scrambling around in my head; presenting it in a more public forum is the way I exorcise my pesky idea-demons...
I recall another acquaintance, some years ago, who met me for lunch to chat and brought with him a bulky manila envelope. He never once mentioned the envelope or its contents, though. I just assumed it was something he had bought outside the restaurant, but later his wife explained that her husband has spent the last several years writing a novel, but now he was stymied. Because it was done, but he didn't have the courage to show it to anyone. He was so terrified of rejection, of all that effort being denigrated by an outsider, that he was essentially paralysed into inaction.
It's not like I don't understand that feeling. I do think people (especially in the movie and television business) forget that even the most commercial writing venture involve the writer putting some piece of him/herself on the page. When those pages are criticized, it's hard not to take it personally. Indeed, one of the most important skills required of anyone trying to make a career in screenwriting is "how to take notes." Both how to assimilate them, understand where they are coming from, and then how to move on. Anyone who has done television knows what it's like to complete an outline or even a script and then have the whole thing jettisoned because it's just not working. Early in my so-called career, I decided on a "three hour" rule for such (fortunately rare) events. I allow myself three hours to lament, curse, point out to anyone who will listen that my way was right and the world is unfair. Then I force myself to start the next one.
But that's me. I suppose I used to think that writing "for yourself" was a bit of a wank, but these days I'm much less judgemental. Because basically that's what we're all doing, whether it's writing for Battlestar Galactica or poetry or book five of our personal journal...
(*) Re: obsessional dedication to writing, note that instead of sleeping in, I am writing blog entries...
