I’m writing a series of blog posts based on “The Kick-Ass Writer” by Chuck Wendig. It’s an excellent book packed with witty, sometimes vulgar, sometimes very vulgar, half-out-there-half-right-here writing advice. I love the book and the way it pushes me through some periods of doubt.
I recommend you read the whole book at least once. Then keep it close by. Once a day, open it at a random page. I challenge you to not find something that somehow applies to your writing, makes it easy to stop taking yourself seriously, and remind you how much fun writing and reading truly are.
What follows are very condensed bits of advice that stood out to me. Sometimes I add my own “wisdom” in there. Sometimes I don’t. I hope you’ll enjoy nonetheless.
Chuck Wendig’s wisdom – Part 1
- Finish your sh*t, a.k.a. finish what you begin. This is the only immutable / undisputed / don’t-bother-arguing-with-me-cause-I’m-not-even-going-to-listen piece of writing advice. The best piece of writing you never finish is always inferior to the worst piece of writing that you did, got it? Good. Now go finish your sh*t!
- Writing advice is just a bucket of ideas that are at least half-nonsense. A bucket of ideas that serve as tools. Not every tool is meant for every job. Not every craftsman finds value in every tool.
- When someone gives you advice keep in mind their goal is not to inflict their ways and rules upon you. The goal is to make you think. We should think about what we do. What we do is an intellectual and creative pursuit, so why not take the time to noodle it?
- For most people, good writing is a skill, not a talent. Practice it by writing, by reading, by living a life worth writing about. You must always be learning, gaining, improving.
- Writers can’t be born overnight. Writers are made – forged, really, in a kiln of their own madness and insecurities – over the course of many, many moons. The writer you are when you begin is not the writer you become.
- Storytelling is what makes the world go round. Stories have the power to make people feel. To give a sh*t. To change the world. Remember that when you are back in the what-the-heck-am-I-doing-writing-when-World-War-III-is-about-to-start mood.
- If you’re not succeeding at writing you can only blame yourself . Your “rampant masturbation schedule” excuse stands no chance. Do what you must to take care of your primal, animalistic needs, but then super-glue your booty to your chair and finish your sh*t!
- Find your own voice. Write your own way. Write the way you can’t help but write.
- To be a writer you have to read and write a lot. You also have to live. So go travel. Ride a bike. Go on a nightstand. Have a threesome. Wait … that’s not what Chuck said … but go do it nonetheless. Experience things. Otherwise, what the heck are you going to write about?
- Writers are given to a kind of moribund gloom. The drama comes with the territory, what can I say? Don’t give into the misery though. Love and hope can get you up again. They can open your eyes to the fun part of writing. Yes, writing is a lot of work. But you need to let it be a lot of play, too.
That’s all the Chuck Wendig advice for this post. Now that I’ve had my fun, I’ll go back to the lot-of-work part of writing. I have my own short story to finish. My main character just got hit by a car. I want to find out what happens to her.
May the muse be with me so that I might breathe some life back into her. Otherwise, bloody death it is. Oh, well, you can’t save them all. The end.
Ada Ireland is a pen name I came up with for myself. Unashamed Writing is a name I came up with for my blog.