you are a writer

NOVEL WRITING LESSONS, January 2007

FACING REALITY — YOU ARE A WRITER
by zentao

Writers are prone to depression — deep, destructive pits from which there seems no escape except to change the direction of their lives, never again to lift pen nor tap keyboard in pursuit of story. During these bouts, they not only doubt themselves, but doubt every word they have ever written. During these bouts, they will burn, delete, utterly eradicate anything they've penned in a desire to destroy the very thing which brings them their pain — manuscripts and stories which refuse to come to satisfying completion and completed stories which sit idling for wont of a willing publisher.

But writing is a compulsion, one from which there is no escape…for the writer. Even when a writer is successful in abandoning the call, stepping forth with resolve to emerge from the writing chamber into the light of the world, something ever more eats upon their essence and very soul, a crying need left unfulfilled.

It is my opinion that writers must suffer at least one such low in their careers — at least one — in order to face the fact that they are writers, that they cannot stop. A writer will return — always. A writer will pursue — always. Despite the depths of misery, writing is to them what breathing is to their bodies. They must do it, this fact proven and reinforced by the very fact of their depression which is but grief, a lack and misery suffered when they feel they've failed and cannot achieve.

Why is this depression so necessary? Because it forces a writer to face themselves and the fact of their existence — that they must write. Writing then becomes, not a choice, but a requirement for living free from the Nag — an inner voice only discovered within the Pit, the Nag who urges forth new ideas and new stories, brimming over the cup of abandoned inspiration with tantalizing and tempting morsels of stories that could be.

So the writer picks themselves up by the scruff of their own neck, rattles their own self-secured cage, and returns to the chamber to beat upon the keyboard and scratch with the pen anew, owning finally, even though still peering through eyes fogged in misery and self-doubt, that they cannot quit, that they must pursue.

This critical point, once achieved, offers an opportunity for the writer to free themselves from the self-imposed bonds with which they have constricted their free expression. It also forces them to face one simple fact: for them, writing is not a choice, but a passion and compulsion. They MUST do it. This realization in itself makes them face their ultimate epiphany: that, regardless of whether or not any other desires to read their work, they must write.

Reestablished within their writing chamber, they bemoan their destruction. They face an overwhelming task of writing it again…unless, of course, disk recovery is employed or they failed to empty their recycle bin. Perhaps there is a set of hard copies hidden in the closet or once given to a friend. Or maybe not. Maybe in fact, it is lost and irretrievable. But the hard fact is: they must pursue…and will.

Lesson TOC (Table of Contents)...4

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