The Faucet

I started this post with the title first. Generally, I like to name a piece after it's finished, but in this post, I decided to briefly discuss what being a writer is like.

Any writing, if it's good, flows freely and naturally. It requires little editing, and it'll surprise you at how fast it piles up. Conversely, bad writing generally takes a lot of time. This isn't to say that all great works were unedited, this is just a rule of thumb.

Good ideas are easy to describe and discuss. You get an image in your head, and you describe it. You make it move, you give it a face, a skin, an outfit. You invent a history, you have a conversation with it, it speaks to you and you write down what it tells you. A great idea is something that tells you how to present it; all you're doing is describing it, and it takes only the capacity to listen and ability to write.

The exact opposite of that is hard writing. Bad writing, while not necessarily awful in itself, either takes a long time, or the writer doesn't care about it. The idea is poorly formed and not well described, mostly due to the fact that there isn't much there to discuss about it. Perhaps the writer is looking at a good idea but lacks the talent or even just the practice to put what he sees into word. Maybe he's incapable of seeing the idea for the detail; another angle on the topic may lead to inspiration.

Bad writers may be able to describe good ideas well, but also have the tendency to think that bad ideas are good. Good writers can identify the difference.

A really great writer can take a bad idea and discuss why it is so awful. A great writer can make a Tome out of anything by just describing why it's bad or perhaps how to make it better, or even to discuss the history of the creator, kind of going around the idea. Avoid a bad or overused good idea by generating ancillary content, it's a trick that goes to the heart of every spinoff.

The ability to write well is a talent that few have. To do it on command - to turn it on like a faucet or perhaps a fire hose - is even more rare.

Good writers can turn into great writers just by becoming prolific writers. I used the word 'becoming' as opposed to 'being' because the journey to having 49 works of fiction and 14 other works is a trail littered with imagination and invention, of realizing that 'writer's block' is just a way of giving esteem to a lack of imagination. On the journey, a truly prolific author will discover techniques to push through the ennui when his imagination has been tapped. The key is simply practice.

Imagine a pie chart. Leave 85% to 'failure,' with slivers of 13% to 'so-so,' and 2% to 'greatness.' Now, throw an imaginary dart at this chart. Most of the time it'll land you in failure territory. But, no matter how bad a writer you think you are, eventually, with practice, the odds of 'failure' will reduce themselves because of the skills you gain along the way. On a long enough timeline, that 2% chance of greatness will be completely filled. The nice thing about greatness (from what I've observed, not personal experience) is that it VASTLY overshadows failure, easily above a 1:50 ratio. People in general don't dwell on failures, because they don't like to be reminded of their own. People celebrate success, and you can coast for a good while on greatness.

I've also said that inspiration isn't like a faucet or a storm, but like a train: ten thousand tonnes of power and potential, it arrives for a moment and leaves, with or without you.

A great writer doesn't require inspiration; he can turn powdered shit into gold dust. But what makes a really great writer is perseverance, patience, discipline, and knowing the value of inspiration. When it arrives, that train is a nonstop express to greatness. A great writer will be able to identify the rumble when inspiration is coming, and will drop everything to take advantage of it.

(This post was written quickly.)