BC Writing Workshop #1 - Know your Literature

Hi everyone!

This is going to be the first in my series of writing workshop articles for reader/followers.  I envision that for some supporters, this series is going to be a little extra, maybe just some added value.  Meanwhile, some will come to my page specifically for this.  That’s fine.

For this series, I am going to put on my business hat and leave all other bullshit behind.   This means you will all get the full force of my normal, somewhat robotic personality.  I’m not going to sugarcoat anything I say, nor minimize any of my successes or failures.

So what is my background for writing this series?

I just went full-time as a writer.  I am a business major (BS), but I got my degree (from UoP) after I already had a job as a project manager in corporate IT, working for Hewlett Packard.  I managed to get a job as a data entry person less than a year after being homeless, making a bit more than minimum wage, and turn that into a 6 figure career in IT within 3 years.

I only got the 4 year degree for legitimacy, validating my leaders promoting me.

My degree isn’t glamorous, but it really taught me a valuable lesson in life and reality.  Sure, a degree from Yale is more impressive, but I was actually making more in the corporate world than some Ivy League graduates...and I secured that position before I even had a 4 year degree.  

Hard work and common sense pays off.

Formal education is nice, but doesn’t really teach business acumen or drive to succeed.  I’m not throwing shade at colleges.  What I am saying is that there is no replacement for personal accountability for your life and career.  Self study will /always/ be critical if you want to succeed at anything you do.  This obviously applies to writing as well.

Getting a degree in creative writing is nice, but it's definitely not necessary to be a successful author.

Anyway, my professional history includes enlistment in the US Army, a bunch of menial jobs (including selling furniture, which was the worst job I ever had), retail management, restaurant management, Business Analysis, and Project/Program Management.  The last “normal” job I just left to start writing was Senior Program Manager.  It’s a very fancy title that means I was paid very well to have good organizational skills and a large amount of common sense.

I understand business...and I understand literature--which brings us into our first module.

-KNOW YOUR LITERATURE-

If you want to be a professional writer, you need to know the sea you’re aiming to swim in.  What does this mean?  You should be an expert on your chosen field.

For example, if you want to write sports articles, you’d better be an expert on sports /and/ on sports writing.  You should gobble that stuff up, know all the big writers, and the history of the media form.

If you want to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer like me, you should have at least read several thousand titles.  Consuming more stories not only lets one figure out how best to write a book, but also makes it less likely that a “new” story will just be a rehash of an existing, popular IP.  Being fresh is important.

Reading voraciously is extremely important.  One of the best ways to train for writing is to read.  In the amateur writing world, it never ceased to amaze me how many would-be writers would complain about how hard writing is, but then admit they had never really read any real books.

Translated Light Novels and comics are /not/ a substitute for real books.

As an example of how silly this is, imagine if a new director was trying to direct a film.  Now imagine if then they admitted that they hadn’t really watched any movies, just a bunch of youtube videos.  In reality, film directors usually watch /tons/ of movies, and are students of cinema way before they ever pick up a camera.

It’s worth stressing that you should know the genre/styles that you want to write in.  It’s probably not necessary for every fantasy writer to read the movers and shakers of Romance, for instance.  Nor is it necessary to keep up with modern literary fiction.  However, some classics should probably be read at some point by every writer.

I’m talking about (in no particular order) books/stories like:

Harry Potter
The Odyssey
The Great Gatsby
Treasure Island
Various religious texts
Various by EA Poe
Great Expectations
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit
Beowulf

Etc etc etc.  To actually sound intelligent in literary circles requires a pretty extensive background in literature.

Now all of this begs the question:  “Is it really necessary that I read all his crap in order to craft a fun story?”  The answer to this question is:  It depends.

How talented are you, honestly? How well connected or lucky are you?  How good are you at promotion or marketing?  How well read are you in the genre you’re writing in?  How good is your grammar?  How much time have you studied story flow?  Have you ever watched any lectures on novel structure?

You get the point.  Every single author is an individual, and we all take our own journey.  However, even if you are successful (which requires a certain amount of luck), anyone who wants to continue to grow their craft /must/ still find time to read.

There will be other articles in this series on other reasons it is important to keep reading in whatever genre an author writes in as well.
So let’s recap for workshop #1 here.

Read a lot.

Read the classics.

Know your genre.

This point may seem basic, but I can’t stress this enough.  Every really successful author I know was a voracious reader before they put pen to paper.  Granted, I’m sure there are some exceptions out there, but the rule is that the best way to learn to write is to read a lot.

Telling a story on paper is not the same as in person, or out loud.  They’re different skillsets.

Anyone who wants to be a racecar driver probably watched a lot of races before they ever got on the track.  Martial artists observe other martial artists.  Writing is a skill and an art.  Learning from the successes and mistakes of others is a hallmark of any artist in any discipline.