"Writing is Easy"
This week, I have chosen to write about a topic that continues to make me furious whenever I hear people speak of it. This topic is centered around one simple sentence:
“Writing is easy.”
Now, the act of writing is incredibly easy. Almost anyone can put a pen to paper and write words. Writing a story, however - this is a completely different matter. An incredibly difficult matter. A matter that not everyone can handle.
In this article, I’m going to explore several different reasons why people think writing a story is easy, and refute them with my personal experiences as a writer.
“I can base my stories off of people I know.”
Fun fact: Basing stories off of real people without their consent is actually ILLEGAL! If you want to dramatize your classmate’s vacation story and turn it into a book that might someday make profit, chances are, that classmate will read your story, realize it’s about them, and sue the hell out of you until you compensate them for using their personal life for profit. That’s one legal battle you have no chance of winning.
"As long as I am honest and genuine, I will succeed."
This might be true in other areas of the world, but it is absolutely not in writing. If you are honest, it means you’re probably writing about your own life, which (I’m sorry to say) probably isn’t interesting enough to make a story out of.
Authors embellish - it’s their job. I’m still working on embelleshing my stories to make them grander and more interesting!
So to say that you can just sit down and pour honesty onto a page and call it writing - sorry, buddy, but whatever you just wrote probably isn’t very good. Honesty isn’t appreciated in writing - a good story is.
“Now that the Internet is here, I can share my work and get support no matter what.”
This is something I commonly witness on Wattpad. I prefer to read stories that have low amounts of supporters and votes - after all, I want to help others get discovered as much as I myself want that chance!
However, many of these undiscovered stories have awful grammar, their punctuation is completely off, their dialogue is unrealistic, and they seem to simply not think through what they’re writing. And then, when these authors don’t get the overwhelming support that they were expecting, they put the book “on hold” and move on to the next project.
(That is not to say that all “on hold” books are in such a state because of jilted authors - I myself sometimes must put books on hold because of my busy schedule.)
Just because there are millions of bored people on the Internet doesn’t mean they’re going to enjoy your story. You have to put time and effort into your books. Writing even a successful Internet story takes HOURS of writing, editing, reviewing…
“I can just start writing and figure out where the story’s going later.”
I’m going to admit - this is something I am horribly guilty of. When I get the idea for a story, I’m itching to sit down and just write.
You need to have some sort of idea of where your story’s going, what the characters are going to be like, significant plot points…that’s how your story’s going to be the best it can be. I cringe whenever authors say that they’re not sure where their story’s going yet - it usually means that their book’s going to fall flat within the first few chapters.
Again, hours of work goes into writing in earnest. You also have to put a significant amount of time into planning!
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For these reasons and many more, I can say with confidence that writing is NOT easy. It is NOT simple. If you’re writing in earnest, it’s going to take hours of planning, writing, editing, and reviewing.
But I’m not trying to discourage you - I’m just trying to warn you! Writing is not the walk in the park that many make it out to be, but that doesn’t mean you’re not capable of creating a wonderful story!
I wish you all the best of luck in your writing endeavors, and hope to someday read your amazing story.
