Analogies and Aphorisms on Writing

It can be nice to have a concisely stated idea on your writing table, something to focus the mind on the task at hand. Also, when we find ourselves asking "what is the next step in the writing process", a map can be helpful. What follows here is not a traditional map. These analogies and aphorisms on writing are snippets from an odd sort of conversation between a creative person and a creative enterprise. In this case the creative enterprise is writing.

Any redundancies are intentional. One phrase might work on Monday and another on Friday. You know what I mean?

On book editing:

The first draft is the canvas on which you paint.

To create the first draft is to construct the language you will use to tell your story.

The first draft is the stone from which the writer carves his (real) work.

The first draft is the palette from which you paint.

On necessity & writing:

The photo model shaves for the same reason the writer edits.

The photo model needs to pose and be seen for the same reader a writer needs to be read.

The photo model's need for legs and walking is the writer's need for ideas and writing.

On motivation:

We write what we think of most and speak of least, or not enough.

We use publication as the carrot before the ass when we could just drive: a full tank of coffee and an idea pushing the accelerator. But writers have old fashioned ways.

Self-belief puts the marathon runner on the starting line. Self-will and self-belief carry him across the finish line. Writing is a marathon, requiring self-belief and self-will.

On literature:

A good book takes the shape of the world.

A great book changes the shape of the world of the reader.

On content:

The story of a novel is the body and prose (style) is the mind.

Composition in the novel is a spatial relationship of ideas.

Dialogue is action.

Nothing is more compelling than good dialogue.

On intelligence & writing:

Let the prose think for itself.

Good writing is intelligent, even if the writer isn't.

You have to let the ideas move of like characters, on their own, and live.

On influence:

Influence is unavoidable and irreversible. Careful what you read.

The writers who cause you the greatest anxiety are the ones most similar to yourself; identify their strengths and weaknesses and you may see your own.

A writer reading is like a psychologist prodding and poking for insight.

This list is by no means exhaustive and is meant to be an exercise in perspective. Taking a step to the side and writing about how to understand the practices involved in writing is a fruitful activity that lends itself well to constructing an relationship between the writer and the writer's work, passions, and ambition.

For more writing advice and/or perspectives on writing, check out these articles: Write and be patient, What is a novel, Reading as Strategy.