Recently I have been reading forum threads about how a story should or should not be written. Mostly there are comments that I find interesting. The topic itself is also interesting. Because I think there are hundreds of people who don’t realise that there is no standard.
To be honest, I am not someone who fully understands that a story can be judged as good or bad. I do, however, begin to realise how it should or shouldn’t be written at the writing stage, and I don’t think it’s a subject that needs to be examined too much. Nevertheless, in a way that I find interesting, it keeps coming up as a timeless theme. As far as I understand, everyone has to go through this phase. Maybe they are forced to.
“You shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t use that word, these are the things you should definitely pay attention to, you should show the events rather than tell them, you shouldn’t create your characters in this way.” There are so many of them that I realise after reading each one that I shouldn’t comment on them. Because I have always found it funny that everyone knows too much.
Of course there are commentators who make the right points and give good advice. I prefer to call them sane and reasonable people because they know their own limitations rather than being in an expert position. They are aware that the advice they give is always valid within certain rules and criteria.
So what is my attitude to the subject? How does one write a good story? As I said, I am not familiar with it, but I am trying to make a very basic point, and I believe that as the number of people who accept it increases, such questions will diminish. The point I want to make is to write from the heart.
It’s so simple and one of the first things that comes to mind, isn’t it? It isn’t. Because the reason for all those dozens of titles and comments is that people still haven’t fully grasped it. So what is the reason for that? I think we have to question that first.
The first reason I can think of is that people are trying to get a financial return. If your focus is on writing (or rather finishing) your book, then you need to be fully committed to it. Looking at it from other perspectives will profoundly affect your initial thinking.
The desire for profit is understandable, there is no problem with that. But if that is your primary goal, the books we write to achieve it will not be creative. Do you want to create well-crafted fiction, or do you want to make a quick buck? If it’s the latter, then you don’t have such problems, and you can copy and paste from other “works” written for that purpose.
But there are also those who want to produce a good work. I write for them too. Never write to “make” money. Concentrate only on the joy of your creation. That is the beauty of writing.
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash
Another reason may be inexperience or the striking (negative) feedback they receive. These may cause the person to unconsciously question and criticise both oneself and others. In my opinion, it is even possible to give up on writing in the future.
Feedback is important, I mentioned this in my previous article, but not all feedback provides you a creative thought. Some people are jealous of you and attack you in a destructive manner; they make comments and slander you just to criticise you. Some do not want to make you feel bad just because they are your friends; they make a good comment in general terms and do not look after them, they do not have much to add.
I think both are understandable. The important thing is that the person writing the story handles all this in a coherent and balanced way. It is important to realise that these comments, especially the negative ones (people tend to remember negative things), should not be taken too much into account. Constructive criticism is obvious, it is appreciated, sometimes it is parallel to creation, sometimes it can lead you think in the opposite direction. They are valuable and their brilliance makes them visible. They are not like hollow and contrived positive comments or negative comments painted in the shade of evil.
Perfectionism can also be a factor. Consuming all sorts of ideas, whether right or wrong, in order to do all the preparation beforehand and not finding the strength to make time for it, can make things difficult. It is also important to realise that the more we read that comments, the more we may become confused. Therefore, acting with a selective style will be of better quality and will give us a quick result to take the first step.
Certainly, the last reason that comes to my mind is that these seekers are honest with themselves. These people are really looking for feedback to improve themselves. They have the consciousness I mentioned above, and they sort out the logical and constructive ones. Paying attention to reading and understanding the works of these people will be more educational and entertaining for both the writers and the readers.
These are the people I refer to as sane and reasonable. They write with proper awareness and their comments to others are useful and logical in direct proportion to this consciousness. Their focus is fixed, they are the ones who are aware of their creation and whose main desire is to move their book to a better point and complete it. We should take care to be such people.
So, as I said, although I like reading these comments and adding something to them, it is actually sad that most of them are ridiculous. Because if the consciousness in society does not consist of the people I mentioned at the end, it will become more effective over time. What I mean is this: if the dominant view is not made up of sane people, the newly accepted (norm) view will shift towards the absurd. This will lead to a decline in quality and consciousness. This can be seen in all works of art.
Surely we cannot expect this to happen immediately, but the fact that most of the stories on the internet are about teenage drama suggests to me that this idea has taken hold. The purpose of writing these “works” is clear: to exploit the impulses of people of this age, to open a door for themselves in order to gain followers and then profit without doing any artistic and creative work. It’s a disgrace.
With these points out of the way, let us return to the main question: What exactly is writing from the heart? When authors of different genres that I like to read have books about how they write their works, I pay attention to read them. It is as if they are sitting in front of me and giving me advice. I pay particular attention to the themes that make sense to me or that I feel I can apply to myself.
They all have one thing in common: telling a simple, understandable story as your heart desires, within the rules of grammar. Again, this sounds very simple, but when it comes to doing it, we can easily see that this is not the case.
Then let me explain by continuing to exemplify myself. I try to follow this advice, but changing moods during the day or period, shifting focus from time to time, taking a break from the creative process sometimes cause me to stumble. By accepting all this as natural and a part of life, I try to keep my anxiety to a minimum. Sometimes patience is indeed the greatest virtue.
Writing fast, writing a lot, writing a detailed narrative or creating dialogue with a poetic feel is unique to each individual, but it is not a necessity. If you feel like it, so be it. However, as this is a time-consuming process (no matter how fast you write), you will continue to write with different thoughts and feelings every day. I think the most important thing is to be able to channel all these feelings into the right places, the right dialogue and the right characters.
In another article I wrote about the effect of the time a person is in on their narrative. I mentioned the inevitability of this. Of course this applies to what is going on around us as well as what is going on inside us. If we are feeling very emotional that day, it would be understandable for our character to cry or feel sad. Surely, when writing this, it is imperative that we also consider the appropriateness of the character to himself. This is an attitude that a conscious writer is already aware of.
A poor writer may find it difficult to describe the life of a rich man; he will be content to describe the wealth of his imagination. A man will miss a few stops on his journey into a woman’s inner world; it is normal that some stories will be out of place because he cannot feel like her. When we write about places we have not visited, if we are not content to convey what we have heard about them, we may feel the need to research them. There are also rare times when emotion is not enough.
Let’s finish slowly and wrap up. Accept criticism in your writing, but weigh it carefully and take time to reflect on those you find valuable. If there are writers whom you know to have great understanding, read their works. If you want to learn in detail, study their books (if there are any) or ideas about the art of writing. It is up to you to adopt or internalise.
Pay attention to the grammar of your expression. Recognise that there are some accepted rules, but that they can also be bent. Make mistakes and go back and re-evaluate. Correct yourself. You will find it can be fun.
You have done your reading, you have used the rules in your expression. Now it is time to write as you wish. Do not hesitate to write what you feel. No one can judge you. Because you are a conscious writer, this is not your problem. Your problem would be to accept the criticism of those who are as conscious as you and to continue on the path with new knowledge.
In the light of all this, it should not be forgotten that writing is not as difficult as it is thought to be; the real difficulty is in finishing your story.
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