Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Best Writing Advice Ever


I’ve read many books on writing during my journey to becoming an author, but there is one that really reached me—“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott. I actually read it for a writing class in grad school and I had no idea it would become one of my top 10 favorite books. In “Bird by Bird,” Lamott gives a close-up view of the writing process and all of the bumps and bruises that come along with it. It chips away at any false perceptions that glamorize writing and gets right to the point on issues like finding your own voice, creating better dialog and even using writing to become a better reader. Bonus: The book is funny!

For me, the most spectacular thing about this book is a single quote. The quote is not actually by Lamott herself, but by acclaimed author E. L. Doctorow. It’s marked in my copy of the book—dog-eared on p. 18 and highlighted in faded green ink: “E.L. Doctorow once said that ‘writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’”

When I read it, it was as if the clouds parted and the angels emerged wearing flowing white garments, playing enchanting melodies on stately golden harps. Well, maybe the experience was not that dramatic, but it did produce an epiphany. This quote confirmed that my process wasn’t as haphazard as I thought. Maybe I was closer to the habits of many successful writers who’d already broken through the barriers of rejection and struggle. It was okay that I didn’t know the outcome of every scene, let alone the ending of Broken Vessels. I was no longer uncomfortable in sharing the fact that, from the beginning, I had dumped the traditional approach (screw the rigid outline) and was letting the story unfold as the characters led me.

So now you know the writing quote that keeps me going. And it will continue to guide me…as long as I’ve turned on the headlights.
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