While reading ‘A Room of One’s Own’, I came across this quote. It’s one I’ve read before, and think it ought to be enshrined, for all writers to think about and remember.

“Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

When writing, the opinion of others is paramount. Yet there are opinions and there are opinions. The very viability of one’s writing depends on who we select to give us feedback and advice. Some feedback is just what we need to improve and keep us travelling on our road. Other feedback shreds our writing soul to bits, and some of us never manage to put ourselves back together.

Some writing is best done from the heart, or the gut. Instinctively, intuitively and creatively. James Scott Bell in his book, Revision and self-editing, compares writing by the manual to playing golf in the same way. It doesn’t work.

Just before flinging my clubs into the Dumpster, I met a golf teacher named Wally Armstrong. Wally is well known for his teaching skills, using simple household items – like brooms and coat hangers and sponges – to implant the feel of various aspects of the game.

 

If you’re thinking about the swing while you’re playing, Wally says, you’re lost. You’ll tense up. You will find yourself in a labyrinth of theory, with no way out.

 

But if you have the feel ingrained, you can forget about all the technical stuff and just play. Your body, trained in the feel, does its thing.

 

Wally was right, and I’ve been enjoying the game ever since. I don’t shoot below eighty yet, but I have fun and don’t embarrass myself.

 

Or rarely, that is.

 

Now, it seems to me that writing good fiction is a lot like playing good golf. With the same dangers, too. There is no end of books and articles teaching various aspects of the craft. But if you are trying to think of them all as you write, you’ll tense up. You won’t write, as Brenda Ueland puts it, “freely and rollickingly.” Plus, it won’t be any fun. You’ll feel like throwing your pages in the Dumpster (okay, many writers feel this way anyway, but that’s just an occupational hazard).

 

So what I want you to be able to do is feel your writing. When you sit down for a writing stint, don’t think about technique. Just write. Let it flow. Later, you’ll come back and revise.

 

Bell, JS 2008, Revision and self-editing, Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio.(pp1-2)

So that’s what I’ve been doing. Writing. Letting it flow. Forgetting rules (well, some of them are already etched in my brain, so I am remembering them unconsciously). There was a time when I would write to please others. I was always conscious of how my writing would be perceived, or judged, according to particular writing standards, or expectations. I am over that. When it comes to writing fiction, I now I write to please myself. I no longer care what others think. If nobody wants to read my stuff, fine. And if someone does read it and likes it, I’ll take that as a bonus, not an expectation.

However, I do see great value in choosing wisely my critique buddies. It is a fine balance, and one that requires critical insight. Giving too much weight to the opinions of some on how we ought to write can be fatal to our writing futures. But then again, the writing advice that comes from others, whether solicited or not, can steer us towards a shortcut that will shave years off our trek.

So in writing, as with a great many things, knowing who to trust is key.