Write What You Want

One of the first pieces of advice most veteran writers will give fledgling and upcoming artists is to: Write what you know.  That is excellent advice.  Readers can spot fabrication easily, which doesn’t bode well for the writer.

  

The second piece of advice should be: Write what you want.  It is my experience that unless I’m writing something that excites me, it becomes a laborious project, and resentment towards the project grows when I’m forced.  How I feel while writing is often interjected into what I’m writing.  I’m beginning to recognize this transference in what I’m reading, and becoming more aware of its possibility in my own work.

However, this writing method needs to be balanced with scheduled productivity in order to meet deadlines and achieve story completion.  I learned very early in my writing career that you can’t just write when you ‘feel’ like it.  What you ‘want’ to write has nothing to do with how you ‘feel’.  What I mean about writing what you want, is writing the story that burns in your heart, that you can’t quit thinking about, the one your muse constantly sends inspiration, not whether you have an ache somewhere. 

So, what do you want to write today?

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray