Summer Reprise Series #6: It doesn’t matter what you write… CON

Summer Reprise Series #6: It doesn’t matter what you write… CON

First published March 17, 2015

This is the second of three blogs on what you should be writing. What follows the ellipsis in the title is “…as long as you’re writing something.” Last week was the “pro” arguments in support of that statement. This week I’ll present the opposite side of the argument—the con position. I’ll present my conclusion/compromise/”what I believe” position in the final blog of the series.

Here we go again!

Of course it matters what you write when you write. Each type of writing has its idiosyncrasies. Fiction in different fiction genres is writing in a different writing style. Non-fiction usually differs significantly from from fiction in style and tone. When you switch back and forth, you force your brain to “reset”—something that takes some time and diverts your thinking process from what you were writing to what you are now going to start writing.

When you are writing a story, you (should—see earlier blogs or Idea Farming A Science Guy’s Read on Writing) have an end point in mind. When you divert your thinking from the goal, you derail your train of thought. Like any train that’s derails, it takes time and effort to get the locomotive back in place and train moving forward.

If you stop writing a story and work on another story or a non-fiction piece, you will have to retrace your plot before you pick up where you left off. If you don’t review what you have written and where the story ends, you will most likely end up somewhere off the pathway you envisioned for your story.

Worse case scenario: you’ll have to backtrack and rewrite part/most/all of what you started because you’ll not be able to reconstruct the pattern your brain was using for the story you stopped writing.

Unless (s)he has a masochistic tendency, and enjoy self-inflected pain, “do overs” in manuscript writing are not something a writer--at least this writer--looks forward to.

Retracing steps in the writing process leads to frustration.

Frustration leads to worry.

Worry leads to writer’s block.

Writer’s block leads nowhere.

If you’re stuck:

• Take a break.
• Take a nap.
• Read a book.

But, don’t deflect your writing process by “writing something else.”

In my New Writers Corner  is Kayla Bluster (@kaybulster). She’s got a Young Adult book out now. Titled, Wishful Thinking, it’s a very good read. I suggest keeping your eye on her progress.

Next blog: It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position

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