How to be rewarded as a writer
Happy Writing Advice Wednesday,
Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to explore this week...
3 Ideas From Me
I.
What are your characters doing when you’re not following their actions in the story? Perhaps the assassin needs a few hours to pull off a hit; what does she do in her downtime? Does she relax? Or is she nervous and high-strung?
Don’t just observe your characters in the world. Follow them home. Follow them to their families. To their friends. To their hobbies.
You don’t have to write about all this, of course. But sometimes your best discoveries come from observing your characters outside the bounds of the story.
II.
Would you write if you knew you would never get paid for it? If no one ever read your stories?
If your answer is no, consider: there are easier ways to get money and attention. If you write, do it because you love the craft. That intrinsic love is needed to carry you through tough times.
III.
Creative fields reward incremental improvements.
An A+ book may take 10%, 20%, 30% more effort than a B+ book. But the rewards of writing an A+ book will be exponentially higher.
Think about it: would you rather read the best thriller, or a goodthriller? Almost everyone will gravitate to the best one first. Even if it’s only 20% better than the alternative.
Don’t toil away for 20 years. But also, don’t cut corners. The small improvements make a big difference.
2 Quotes From Others
I.
“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” – Stonecutter’s credo.
II.
“To get to do the work – that’s the reward, not whether the work is recognized. Which is all we control anyway.” – Ryan Holiday, How Does It Feel to Get Everything You Ever Wanted?
1 Question For You
Why will your book be even more enjoyable on the second read?