A Writer’s Thoughts on Writing Guides
My first published book was Lights! Curtains! Cows!, a humorous middle grade novel. I wasn’t terribly familiar with writing guides and writing handbooks at the time. As a lifelong writer, I’d certainly come across a few. But the texts I remember turning to for inspiration and guidance were other books in the same style or genre as the story I was writing. Reading these books with a “noticing eye” helped answer practical questions that arose as I wrote my own draft (word count, chapter length, etc.). They also helped me to absorb the beats that occurred in the kind of story I was writing, and the overall rhythm of story itself. It was slow going in some aspects, but it wasn’t a bad way to (begin to) learn the craft. To this day, I will always remind my fiction workshop participants that their own bookshelves are like teachers ready to share their wisdom.
Another advantage to writing my first book without a guide: there was a certain freedom in just letting my story come to me and unfold as it would. I wasn’t thinking about story structure or character development in the way I do now, and I’m still quite delighted by how much of that came through intuitively and from my lifelong love of storytelling. I have, however, never had so many rewrites to do at the request of an editor. And while these rewrites were a great learning experience, consulting a writing guide might have saved me some of this work!
After Cows! was published, I became more aware of the writing guides on the market. What a transformative experience! There’s a wealth of information out there about story structure, the essential elements of stories, character creation, and building immersive settings. Some guides drill down even further offering beat sheets and templates to help you craft a story into something readable and engaging.
But here’s the problem—and it’s not necessarily with the guides themselves, many of which are brilliant. It’s my personality. I love to learn, and that’s a good thing, right? But as I cracked open fascinating guide after fascinating guide, I let myself get caught in a sort of “learning loop”. I was reading a lot, and it was great—but it came at the expense of my own writing. And when I did try to get around to writing, I would often become paralyzed by all information I’d taken in. Gone was the freedom of just letting my story out, and using my creative intuition. I’d start writing but then worry if this scene landed at the right moment…or if that scene properly expressed a particular story beat. For me, the problem was that I was measuring my fledgling idea against the ideal, finished product (i.e., the novel) that is often analyzed and broken down by writing guides. I started to doubt that my ideas could ever become the complicated, intricate beautifully paced and structured thing I was learning about.
To keep going with my writing, I had to come to a place of balance. I had to find a way to harness the amazing things I’d learned about story, while still allowing my intuitive, creative self to express the story that was unique to me. I’m glad I did, otherwise I may still be stuck in a mindset that says I don’t yet know enough because I don’t know it all.
I know from teaching creative writing workshops and getting to work with all sorts of writing personalities that I’m not alone—there are plenty of us who are wired to fall into a learning loop and then let ourselves get caught in information overload. That’s why I’ve constructed my workshops the way that I did: each session contains an essential nugget of informative, encouraging instruction, then…use it and go write! It’s why I wrote my own writing guide The One Week Writing Workshop with this same structure. It’s a writing guide that will teach you story essentials, but it’s activity-driven. You write as you read, you write as you learn…basically from page one. I know from experience that a lot of us need that approach! BUT, I also learned from the very slow, stopping-and-starting and blunder-filled process of writing my first book: it’s helpful to have some guidance.
In a lot of ways, The One Week Writing Workshop tries to replicate the conditions of my first writing experience—making the writing process as hands-on and organic as possible—but offering the helping hand at the places I could have used that expert help! I guess I wrote the book I personally would have loved to have found back then. For writers like me out there, my hope is that maybe you can benefit, too.
Please know that I think many writing guides are brilliant, as are the experts who have shared their experience and knowledge in them! We can feed our writers’ souls with the wisdom contained in these books. They can play a crucial role in our professional development—they certainly have in mine! I also think a possible strategy for any writer can be to write your first draft, then consult a writing guide (or two) during the revision process to help you fill holes, strengthen your structure, and make your story the best it can be. (I’ve written more extensively about this in my article How to Plan a Story…for Pantsers?!?)
Bottom line for me—at the same time we’re listening to what other writers have to say about writing, we can’t lose sight of our own creative spark, our own writers’ intuition, the way that our own unique stories are yearning to express themselves—and the best way to get at all of that good stuff is to write. Whatever writing guide you choose, be sure to balance reading it and learning from it with the act of doing your own writing.
At the end of the day, I think both of these things can be true at the same time: writing guides can support your writing…and you’re (already) capable of more than you think!
Happy writing, all!
Karin 🙂