Writing Equity

Not All Writing Is Created Equal

This is a discussion on a writer’s process. Every writer’s methodology for producing a manuscript to be published is unique. Don’t let anyone fool you and claim to have the one true path to success. They don’t and worse, they’re lying about it probably to get your money. Like the anatomy of a ship, it has certain key elements, but they are not all alike. They must only produce the same results.

I’ll let Jack Sparrow explain. Just replace the “Black Pearl” for “your process of writing”.

Creating is freedom. Your writing process is the how you achieve it.

So why do I dither off in this direction? One piece of advice I see hammered over and over again like a mantra:

“You must write every day. Meet a word count. Even if it’s garbage. You can’t edit the blank page.”

Correct! You can’t edit the blank page. But you also can’t edit total shit. You can only throw total shit out. Being forced to throw out bad unusable writing is one of the most unhelpful wastes of time out there. What does your daily wordcount of 2000 words matter if you keep only 20 of them? That’s right. Keeping 1% of your writing is juice that’s not worth the squeeze. Find a better way.

Now many “gurus” will console you to say “that’s 20 words farther than you would have had”, and that’s true… except for the next horrifying reality that I have also suffered with.

After achieving 3-6 chapters, by powering through bad writing, I’ve realized I’d gone the wrong way with my story and had to delete almost everything I’d produced. 10k words? No matter, it’s in the wrong direction. You can claim it’s discovery writing all you want. It’s not always true.

Going down the wrong path and having to backtrack and throw out all the bad ideas you put there can be agonizing. Often you sit there trying to find ways to salvage something… ANYTHING! Most times, you can’t. Sometimes you get lucky but don’t bet on it. Digging the good out of the crap is editing… but… it’s not always the best use of your time. Trying to make bad writing work is often the “Edison” method. You’ve not learned how to write a novel, you’ve learned X amount of ways on how NOT to write a novel (succeeding only after you stole Louis Lattimer’s success and pretended it was your own.)

How useful is that?

For me, I’ve looked back at the Oracle/Neo conversation from “The Matrix Reloaded” when dealing with my writer’s block moments. It’s amazing at how much my writers block is fixed when I confront the issue in this manner.

Once I understand the choice or the consequences of what I’ve written all of a sudden it’s like the logjam burst and I’m off to the races again with writing that’s WORTH keeping. It will get edited, but much less will be thrown out, just adapted and modified.

This is why daily wordcounts are not essential IMNSHO. I’d agree more with at least doing BICHOK (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard) but research or working/chatting with a sounding board. Be they human or even AI, both can help you with ideation. One thing I’ve found helpful when I have nobody to talk to is to get Grok or a local LLM install to roleplay the character I’m trying to understand and I interview them like a therapist or cop. If you did your job well, it can give you some insights on the character personality you never thought of.

Ultimately, the proponents who shout you must treat this like a job are partially right. You should act as if this was your livelihood, but, I strongly disagree on some foundational parts of this mindset. The most often cited example is comparing writing to a craft like plumbing, or writing code. These are not the same. Even when you are a graphic artist, you’re still not in the same headspace as you need to be to write. You can’t just say “I can’t work. I have plumbers block”. That’s true.

The problem is they’re not the same.

There is no creative inspiration in a tradecraft that compares. Although there is a little creativity required, you are solving a problem that involves far less creative and inspirational power on your brain’s part. Not even for coding or engineering. Even a graphic artist, which is closer is generally low level creativity in comparison to writing a novel. (And I say this with years of experience doing that line of work.) You are doing art to a prompt. Typography is more akin to plumbing than outlining or even writing prose.

Ease up on the “ackshwualy” there, Captain Keyboard. I’m not saying there isn’t any creativity, but generally speaking a mechanic is not going to come up with an innovative solution to tire rotations or timing chain replacement. In fact, with the exception of composing music or some form of commercial illustration, there’s not much else to compare to it. Even writing copy or technical writing are less ambiguous and subject to temperament and mood as creative writing.

This is essentially comparing apples to Icelandic Spar, so don’t accept such statements at face value.

So that’s my opinion.

Not all writing is equal nor salvageable.
Powering through and just writing ANYTHING is potentially a mistake.
It’s alright to go back to ideation and figure out what you’re trying to say before committing yourself to painful revisions.
Your process is yours. Try others methods and if they work for you, keep em.
If a method makes it harder, stop doing it and find another way that works.
Nobody’s advice is gospel. Not even this. “Experts” and “Gurus” are often wrong.
Every criticism or opinion is one of taste, not fact.