Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Nature of Writing

Question: What is the writing process?

Answer/Quote: “ ‘If you want to be a great writer and you have a choice between being brilliant and lazy or being a little clueless but motivated, choose the latter. You stand a far better chance. Sure, such intangibles as creativity, talent and inspiration play a role, but work is where the real action is.’ So says Alexander Steele in Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York’s Acclaimed Creative Writing School, an excellent book from Gotham Writers’ Workshop. He’s focusing on what I’ve always referred to as the ‘creative slog’: You come up with a story idea, sketch out some details—and then the real work begins. It’s rarely an easy process because creativity isn’t linear, point A to point B; it’s far more complex, unstructured, exasperating, chaotic and, yes, exhilarating.”  P. 6.

Comment: My favorite idea in this editorial is “Creativity isn’t linear….” RayS.

Title: “Nothing Neat About It.” Jeff Reich, in “From the Editor.” The Writer (August 2012), 6.

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