There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.
Red Smith
Don’t ever delude yourself into thinking that writing is easy. It is not.
It is a brain-swelling job that requires dogged determination and stamina.
A writer is basically an amalgam of a poet, a baker and a chiropractor. His job involves a lot of musing, kneading and massaging.
When you endeavor to write a story, you first need to come up with a subject. And it is not as easy as it sounds. Practically everything on earth has been written about… by others.
You want to present your personal view of an event, and (in my case) it is often opinionated.
I always thought that readers are not interested by bland accounts.
When you put together a story, you try to be true to yourself and express opinions in a civil manner and without unduly offending anybody. But regardless of the subject, you are bound to hurt someone’s feelings. It cannot be helped or avoided.
“I always start writing with a clean piece of paper and a dirty mind.”
Patrick Dennis
When I begin a piece, I start by quickly jotting down a temporary title and random thoughts, in no particular order. After this, I often go for a solitary walk mulling over what I wrote or what I should include. Exercise relieves the stress and gets the creative juices flowing.
After my constitutional I flesh out the story with details gathered on the Internet and then, like freshly kneaded dough, I let it rest. I sleep on it.
The second day I read my story again and pay attention to the fluidity of the text. A story should flow steadily, but not chaotically. It should be interesting, droll and provocative at the same time. I also check for repetitions and accuracy and that’s where the Internet comes handy. In doubt about a fact or a date? No worries mate, you Google it, a few times if necessary.
A text is massaged, kneaded and modified a countless number of times. Bless Microsoft’s “cut and paste” and “spell-checker” for that, but never blindly accept all the latter’s suggestions.
Once in a while I think of the time when everything was penned by hand and when editing must have been a nightmare.
I often reflect on Alexandre Dumas who employed it is said more than 45 “nègres” (ghostwriters) to write or correct his stories.
Today, thanks to word-processing, I can manage without even a “négrillon”.
When I am halfway through my story, I might change the working title if it not in synch with my story anymore. It happens often.
And finally, I try whenever I can to post an accompanying picture that I personally took.
No writing is useless. Its purpose is to make you pause and take a position on various issues.
If you let others do this for you (as seen recently), you are courting big trouble.
Alain