By Evan J
Photo by Evan J
Reflecting on my creative life, I’ve discovered that I’m heavily influenced by the suggestions of other writers. When I come across useful advice, I write it down, and if it’s really good, it becomes a digital note on my computer, a motivational reminder that I employ during tough writing days.
What I didn’t notice until now is that these notes contain a theme: the hyperbolic.
When read literally, my most treasured advice actually suggests the impossible. Yet the advice works for me. It’s simply a reminder of the difficulty of writing, of the near-impossible and unceasing work that must be done to be a good writer.
If you're like me and you absorb the advice of other writers, then these notes might also resonate with you. I'll share three of them; I hope the advice can be of use to you. Remember that you’re welcome to critically assess it, judge it, experiment with it, adopt it, adapt it, or discard it according to your own needs.
“Fiction is impossible. Ask me [John Oliver Killens]. Poetry is impossible. Ask Langston or Countee. Baldwin will say essays are impossible. But everyone agrees, short stories are so impossible, they almost can’t be written at all.”
This is a quote that Maya Angelou relates in her book The Heart of a Woman. This book and this quote are reminders that writing is hard. Really hard. No matter the genre. Especially if you want to do it well. So be prepared for failure.
“In my opinion, after one finishes a story, one should cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we writers lie most of all.”
An article in the Paris Review attributes this quote to Chekhov. A master of brevity and subtext, Chekhov and this quote are reminders to be efficient. Do not waste time with the superfluous. Dig to the most vital core of your topic, and write only that.
“Be totally familiar with the entirety of the Western literary tradition, and if you have any extra time, throw in the Eastern.”
Also from the Paris Review, this quote is Jim Harrison responding to an interviewer’s question, “Do you have any advice for younger writers?” Personally, I adapt Harrison's advice away from the concept of a Western-Eastern literary world, but I still find Harrison’s underlying message to be powerful: it’s your obligation as a writer to know the entire literary landscape. It’s an impossible task, of course, but if you’re stricken by writer’s block, don’t worry, reading is just as important as writing. As Harrison says, “how can you write well unless you know what passes for the best in the last three or four hundred years?”