I wrote this about Facebook and then realized I didn't want it there

[pastrylikewolf]

I never know what to say anymore, because I'm fairly convinced that adding to ambient despair isn't helpful but I also don't have much in the way of hopeful or constructive ideas. I want to be angry sometimes but I'm really so scared of reprisal or retribution or just once again contributing to THINGS ARE BAD. I've had experiences in the past of people obsessing so much about my facebook posts that it creates problems for me, so I'm guarded more around what is worth writing and posting here (which is there, which is Facebook).

If I write hopeful things it is corny, if I write angry things I'm burning bridges and feeling bad, if I write sad things I'm pathetic and putting it onto others, and if I write fearful things I'm fear mongering/doom posting/etc. It's a real bind I find myself in.

I wonder sometimes if I have any way of becoming a more prolific or more read "author." I know there's no one who can say "you're not a writer" or "you're totally A WRITER" and have the final say but I think part of my problem is I don't even know what it is I want to write, or at least what genre it is. I think it must be non-fiction, because I'm not much for writing pure fiction or the like (though it'd be nice to be better at that), but I kind of wish I could combine magical realism with non-fiction in a way that makes anything actually palatable for people to read or find or want to read. Unhinged ramblings about the world might be satisfying to write, but aren't likely of interest to people. That's all not to mention that I'm hardly able to reach an *interesting* level of unhinged and instead probably just want to spout lazily crafted incoherence. I write POSTS because POSTS are what people read but I want POSTS to be POEMS or POLEMICS (maybe).

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I never know what to say anymore, because I'm fairly convinced that adding to ambient despair isn't helpful but I also don't have much in the way of hopeful or constructive ideas.<<

I deal with this a lot, because I am enough of a scientist to see how dire the environment is, enough of a student of history to see how dire politics is, enough of a spec-fic writer to see where this foolishness is going ... and fucking stubborn enough that I still want to do things about it. Just the things I choose to do are different nowadays.

Some things I find helpful:

* Posting about depressing or enraging stuff is less paralyzing if it comes with a "things you can do about this" section.

* Posting only horrible things is exhausting for everyone. So I also have a handful of neutral to positive websites where I can find links for lighter content. And if that's not enough, then YouTube has a functionally endless supply of kitten videos.

* If I find that I'm in such a bad mood that all my replies are bitchy, it's time to stop blogging and go read fanfic or pull weeds outside.


>> I wonder sometimes if I have any way of becoming a more prolific or more read "author." <<

More prolific is easier. There are many methods, but you have to experiment to find things that work for you personally. Some popular options:

* Prompts. Dreamwidth has scads of prompt communities. allbingo has bingo fests. eggbug_writes has some fantastic prompts of the format "A(n) X who Y."

* Measurements. Some writers find a daily time for writing or a monthly wordcount to be motivating, and these are easy things to track.

* Books. I love writing books, and a current favorite series is Writers Helping Writers. Some of these are loose parts, like the setting books, but others like The Emotional Wound Thesaurus basically give you a character and a conflict/growth plot outline. You can take a book and write based on its contents, which is what I'm currently doing with The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows inspiring A Poesy of Obscure Sorrows.

* Challenges, like National Novel Writing Month. It can be inspiring to chase a theme or a time limit.

* Groups. Lots of people like writer's groups, workshops, etc. where you can share with others.


More read is challenging, but there are ways to do this too.

* For blogging, DW offers some tools that tell you what people are interested in. Use the Latest Things and Popular Interests pages to identify potential topics and then post about them. You still have to make a good post, but at least this will give you ideas for topics that people (here) care about.

* I mine fanfic for ideas that readers love so much they will write their own. Pick a handful of your favorite fandoms and skim for what things appear over and over. Stargate is really into alternate realities and time travel. Sherlock does asexuality and platonic bonding. Valdemar is mainly Companions & Choosing. But then there are things that cut across fandoms, like "enemies to friends/lovers" and "hurt/comfort." When you write about things that many people already love, you have high competition but at least you know it's a type of thing that often gets read.

* Or you can do the exact opposite and write things that are rarely or never written: niche writing. While this makes it challenging to find an audience, once you do they will stick like glue because you are the only game in town. It's one of the best ways to find deeply devoted fans -- and customers. I've literally had individual poetry fans give me more money than what poetry editors said was their entire yearly budget.

* Join events on DW. The two biggest that I know of are snowflake_challenge coming in January, and 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth (April 25-May 15). These are times when bunches of people try to follow the activity so you can get tons of new traffic. Then most of it dries up after the event ends, but with luck you've gained a few new followers.

* Watch for friending memes and addme communities, which are generally good for finding new friends.


>> I know there's no one who can say "you're not a writer" or "you're totally A WRITER" and have the final say <<

A writer is someone who writes. That's all. It says nothing about quality or cash. It just means you string words together into art of some sort, as a purposeful practice.


>> but I think part of my problem is I don't even know what it is I want to write, or at least what genre it is. <<

That will definitely screw you. Use the Six Layers. The first two are actually interchangeable; you do one and then the other, then work outward from there.

* Make a list of things you care about. These will be helpful to include in your writing.

* Make a list of forms or genres you like or wish to try. You can go through and see how they match with your topics.

It's totally find if you just mash any combination of "one from Column A, one from Column B" but some will probably work better than others.

* Sometimes this problem comes from lack of life experience. Younger writers, or older ones who haven't had much chance to explore the world, may have a hard time with personal voice and getting excited about things because they don't have a foundation of interesting experiences. So go do something quixotic. Walk into an ethnic food shop and buy something random and eat it. Study a new language. Listen to an unfamiliar genre of music. Visit the library and grab 10 or so books on topics you know nothing about and read them. Tie your dominant hand behind your back for a day. Dye your hair. Pick out a thrift store outfit that is totally not your style and wear it for a day. Buy a cheap kit for a craft you've never tried and make the thing with zero expectation of it turning out like the picture on the box. If you're a people person, chat up strangers. Collect a jar of dirt, put it in a flowerpot, water it to see what sprouts, then try to identify the plants. Somewhere in there, you'll want to write about it.


>> I think it must be non-fiction, because I'm not much for writing pure fiction or the like (though it'd be nice to be better at that),<<

If you want to get better at writing fiction, then write fiction. It doesn't have to be long; drabbles are popular. But you won't get better if you don't practice.

Nonfiction is fine too.

>> but I kind of wish I could combine magical realism with non-fiction <<

Consider creative nonfiction, like nature writing. That might give you ideas.

>> in a way that makes anything actually palatable for people to read or find or want to read. <<

Do you have a target audience in mind? That'll make it easier to figure out what to write and how to market it. But it's also okay to write just because you want or need to.


>> That's all not to mention that I'm hardly able to reach an *interesting* level of unhinged and instead probably just want to spout lazily crafted incoherence.<<

Lazy is fine if you're just amusing yourself. If you're writing for others, putting some thought into it will probably increase your audience. Think about what kinds of off-the-wall things interest you, then look for patterns; and once you spot the patterns, ask how you can craft something in the same category.

>> I write POSTS because POSTS are what people read but I want POSTS to be POEMS or POLEMICS (maybe).<<

If you want to write poems, I highly recommend grabbing a list of techniques and/or forms to try your hand at. I love The New Book of Forms but there are online lists too.

Polemics are easy. Grab a newspaper, pick a current issue in it, and write on that. You can just do your personal opinion, or you can actually research what's going on. But to shake things up a little, consider a philosophy exercise: Also get a list of 10 or so ethical systems and explain how each of them would resolve the issue. Which do you think would work better, and why? And if you iterate this exercise across 10 or so topics, which system(s) seems to perform the best overall?


It's easy to feel discouraged or overwhelmed or confused. Pick one little thing you can do toward a goal, and do the thing. You want to be a writer? Write something. Anything. If the only skill you have is gluing your butt to your chair and smacking your hands over a keyboard, you're already ahead of the 90% of people who are all talk and no type. If you also proofread the damn thing after you're done, now you're ahead of 98-99% of the competition. And if you keep doing that, you will get better, and more people will read it.