I Should Be Writing

A Writer's Workshop

Mur Lafferty

• Publisher: Rock Point
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781631063657
• eBook ISBN: 9781631065637
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

I Should Be Writing is everything you'd hope to find in a writing workshop, condensed into one highly effective journal. It’s time to stop dreaming about what you want to write and finally do it!

Let award-winning podcaster Mur Lafferty, who in the past has interviewed authors including John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman, Gail Carriger, Adam Christopher, and Kameron Hurley, guide you through the nuts-and-bolts process of honing your craft, including which writing myths to ignore, how to refine your creative process, listening to your inner muse while ignoring your inner bully, and more. 

This book also contains writing exercises that will help the blossoming writer strengthen the writer’s muscle of writing every day. These include everything from situational writer's prompts to lists of ideas writers should try to jot down between writing sessions.

With this helpful guide, you can make the phrase, "I've always wanted to write a story..." a thing of the past. Because you should be writing!

CHAPTER 1
Acorn Writers, Oak Expectations

“Every writer suffers from the imposter syndrome from time to time—some more often! Of course, new writers worry that they don’t have what it takes, but did you know that well-published writers worry about whether they’ve lost what it takes? Self-doubt never goes away, although I think maybe that’s not a bad thing. It certainly keeps me from getting complacent! But I find that these concerns are most acute when I’m not writing. When I’m writing, even if things aren’t going well, I know that I’m doing the best I can. So sit down and get to it! ”

— James Patrick Kelly,
award-winning science-fiction and fantasy author

I get a lot of email from listeners with themes. I think one of the most prevalent messages is from people who are hesitant to call themselves writers.

And it’s tough. With a science-based job, you can call yourself a doctor or an engineer or a biologist or an astronomer when you graduate from years of school. With blue-collar work, you can call yourself a barista, a construction worker, or a ditch digger, when you get hired and trained. Sometimes you need education or certification.

The common thing between a doctor and a plumber is you aren’t one until someone else tells you.

But no one tells you when you’re finally an artist, a dancer, or a writer. Yeah, you can get jobs, or schooling, but there are people who have never had any training at all and they still are writers, and actors, and singers.

We’re so used to someone else marking our finish lines that we aren’t sure what to do when no one has marked out the course. Where do you start? How do you manage obstacles? Where do you finish and say you’re finally A Writer?

One of the saddest things I read in my email is people telling me that they don’t want to call themselves writers yet, or that their family or friends ask them when they’re going to start publishing and make the “big bucks.”

This is unfair to the extreme. If you were to start a running program, would your family and friends say, “So have you run a marathon yet?” No, they would say, “You did a half mile today? Awesome!”

If you wanted to be a surgeon, they wouldn’t say, “How come you’re not doing brain surgery yet?” They would say, “Biology and chemistry this semester? Smart.”

Or that’s what they would say, you know . . . if they aren’t jerks.

Nearly every skill or profession has a learning curve. Just like a beginning baker needs to learn about what baking soda does, or a beginning accountant needs to understand the tax code, so a beginning writer needs to understand the three-act structure of a story or how to build a complex character. And just like an athlete needs to work out frequently to achieve any success, a writer must write. A lot.

Still, it’s hard to tell when you’ve reached the level you’re aspiring to. There is no test; there is no final exam. No one can tell you that you graduated and now get to make a living writing. We get better by increments and continue to evolve through our whole creative career, which is both good and frustrating. If there is no official person who says, “You’re good enough,” then you will always wonder: am I a writer?

Let’s skip over that whole bucket of angst. You’re a writer.

Now keep reading.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Imposter syndrome is often unexpected (I certainly didn’t see it coming), but it’s surprisingly common. When almost anyone starts to achieve success or improvement or just starts getting attention for something they posted on a fanfic site, they start to feel uneasy. They don’t feel different. Nothing has changed for them, and yet suddenly others say they’re a writer. But in their head, they’re not a real writer like Patterson, Rowling, Gaiman, Butler, etc. They just wrote that thing, the one that people happen to like, and those people are probably wrong anyway.

In 2011 I had to pleasure of interviewing Lev Grossman, author of the series The Magicians (the books that show is based on). His second book had just come out and that morning it had hit the New York Times best-seller list. Before the interview started I congratulated him on the news, and he looked down at the floor and said, in a tight monotone, “Thank you, it’s very exciting.” He looked like I had asked if he felt ready to roll a giant boulder up a hill.

BULLY: You’ve got imposter syndrome just like Lev? I know Lev Grossman....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Acorn Writers, Oak Expectations
• Chapter 2: Your Tools
• Chapter 3: Squashing Myths
• Chapter 4: All Writing Advice Is Crap
• Chapter 5: Getting Started
• Chapter 6: Snips and Spice, Sugar and Snails
• Chapter 7: Second Draft—Silk Purses from Sows’ Ears
• Chapter 8: Let It Go
• Resources
• Care and Feeding of Your Author
• Writing Exercises
• Acknowledgments
• Dedication
• Copyright