Lies People Spread About Writing
By: Odessa Denby
Tags: Creativity, Art, NaNoWriMo, Novel, Writing

As NaNoWriMo approaches, here are some misconceptions to shed

Photo by Kat Stokes on Unsplash

Writing is an art form. Just like painting, sculpting, gourmet cooking, or photography. And yet, writing has always had the distinction of being the most democratic art form. You don’t need special supplies or a studio space to do it. You learn the basics when you’re in school.

For better or worse, then, nearly everyone wants to write a novel it seems. As a professional writer with an English degree, I’ve gone through the phases of creation and rejection. I’ve also spent plenty of time with aspiring and occasionally, successful writers. So I want to decode some of the nonsense I see spread around through popular sayings and on the internet these days about writing.

Everyone Has a Novel in Them

This is an old one. My father, an avid reader would always state this adage as fact, even though he himself never wrote a novel. I used to believe this was true, but I’ve come to realize it’s not. Not everyone can be a professional painter or a gourmet chef, so why do we believe that everyone can be a novelist?

Everyone has a story in them. A story is not the same as a novel. A story can just be a brief anecdote that one shares around at parties, or a collection of life lessons learned hard. Novels have structure, detailed plot lines (usually more than one), dialogue, themes… you get the point. If you hated writing 5-page papers in school, you’ll probably detest writing a 300-page novel.

This isn’t to discourage you, but to put it in perspective. Even if you enjoy reading or writing, it doesn’t mean you have to write a novel. You can have fun with short stories, poetry, or blogging. Novels are not the end-all-be-all of writing. And being a reader is a fulfilling hobby on its own.

Write What You Know

This saying is a bit double-edged. Some people strictly adhere to the idea that you should only write about your own personal experiences. If you’re an accountant from Missouri, your main character should also be an accountant from Missouri. Well, writing about only things you’ve directly experienced may get boring quickly (though it does explain why so many novels are written about writers trying to write a novel…)

Instead, think in broader strokes. Have you experienced grief or heartbreak? You now know those deeply human emotions and can authentically share them in your writing. People you’ve met and stories you’ve read are also part of what you know and can inspire you.

You Need to Write a Certain Amount Every Day

Obviously, if you’re participating in a writing sprint like NaNoWriMo, you’ll have a target word count every day. And it can be liberating to just pump out a huge collection of words if you’re always second-guessing or self-editing as you write. But there are a lot of quantity-based discussions on forums like Twitter. People will post their daily word count or keep a tally of how long their work in progress is in their username.

Perhaps it helps with accountability for some because writing is often a solo endeavor. You don’t have coworkers to chat with or to check in on your progress. However, this can lead to the feeling that there is a “right” amount of words to produce and that you really have to write every single day.

Everyone is different and creative processes vary wildly when it comes to professional authors. Quite simply, not everyone works the same way. Nor should they. If every writer wrote the same way, all books would be very similar. Many people don’t have the luxury of having hours of free time to work quietly by themselves every day either.

Writers Should Publish by a Certain Age

“30 Under 30” lists would have us believe that you should make your name as a writer in your 20s or else there’s no chance of having a career as a writer. This is completely false and, quite frankly, very elitist.

Publishing is a hard world to break into. Writing a novel takes hundreds of hours of unpaid labor. If you don’t have a support system that allows you to work what is basically a full-time job for free, it may take quite a long time for you to get a manuscript polished enough to submit for publication.

Agents and publishers get sent thousands of manuscripts every year, so unless you have some sort of connections, yours is just another one in the pile. It can take months just to hear back after submission. It’s a slow and tedious process.

Besides, writing is a craft that takes time to master. As you get older, you can keep honing your skills. Mark Twain first published at 41. Annie Proulx at 57. Toni Morrison didn’t even start writing until 39. Alan Bradley didn’t publish his first Flavia de Luce novel until he was 70 and now it’s a very successful mystery series.

You Have to Have a Big Online Presence to Get a Publishing Deal

While having an online following may help, ultimately when you’re writing fiction, it’s all about having a good manuscript. Even if you have 50k followers on Twitter, that’s no guarantee that your book will sell well if it’s messy and ill-conceived.

An online following is actually more important when it comes to non-fiction. If you’re writing as an expert on something, it’s important to have some sort of qualifications. For things like lifestyle, cooking, and self-help, people on the internet valuing your advice and experience is proof of that qualification, so a successful blog or YouTube channel can be a big help.

I’ve seen writers with virtually no online presence land a good publishing deal and only then start a Twitter account to help with promotions. Social media can be a great networking tool, but it can also be a distraction. You shouldn’t feel that you must engage in it if you don’t want to.

If You Write Something, You Have to Publish It

While many people may engage in other art forms just for the sake of doing it, writing seems to be an exception. You might paint a picture just for the enjoyment of expressing yourself and not seek to sell it or put it in a gallery. But for someone to write a novel just for the sake of it isn’t seen in the same way.

The assumption seems to be that if you write a novel, you have to seek publication, whether through traditional or self-publishing means. Just as any creative practice, it can be as personal or as public as you like. You can write just to explore an idea or character. You can write to work through trauma or grief. Or just for fun.

Maybe you want to share it with friends and family or as a blog. For a book to be ready to be published in a more professional way, it can take a huge amount of work in terms of editing and revising. Self-publishing asks you to do copy editing, layout, cover design, and marketing on your own — or to pay professionals to perform those services. Traditional publishing is a slow process that is rife with rejection along the way.