# A message for your writers



## AnEmotionalArtist (Nov 9, 2012)

Every form of art expresses your emotions whether you’re a writer, a painter, a sculpter, an actor or a dancer, you are able let out your feelings through your art. Personally I am more of a painter than a writer, but I want to talk about the wonderful art of writing today. The reason why I am bringing this topic up is that I find many writers(young writers especially) struggling to find their voice which is causing many of them to give up. I find this very sad. My concern here is this: 

How many of you have you struggled with finding your voice and what advice could you give to these writers?

I am sure everyone here has struggled at one point and time, but what tips can you give because I have a friend who is an amazing writer, but she only writes stuff she likes every now and then. She always tells me that she feels on top of the world after writing something she loves, but the rest of the time she feels like she is terrible. I really don’t want her to give up and even though I don’t think she ever would, I would like to be more of a helper to her. 

I think she is very talented but she only listens to me sometimes when it comes to her writings. 

As a person who paints and writes(sometimes) I still have yet to find the right words for her. Usually I am great at giving advice because I enjoy helping people, but this is a hard one for me. 


Excited for replies and have a splendid day.

I can actually walk the city without a coat right now… what is up with the weather??? I don’t care! I love it!
Toodles


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

While I still struggle in finding my voice, there are more than a few things I'd be tempted to suggest to any writer:

1. Know what works for you - What format works best for your writing: Poems, short stories, blogs, tweets, paperback book, or something else? Chances are there are some that work better than others. Have you tried different ones to see what works and what doesn't?

2. Know thyself - What are your core values? What is the point of this writing? What great benefit does this give you? Do you do better with structure or with out? Do you prefer being in your own space, a public place or a natural setting?

3. Write now, edit later - If you have a case of writer's block, try some free form automatic writing and then later edit what was written.

While these may seem obvious, you never know when one of these may be useful to try and see what happens. Above all else, believe in love and doing what expresses that love.


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## TrialByFire (Sep 17, 2012)

If i can only give one piece of advice its this, Live your life to the fullest. The biggest mistake you can make as a writer (and a common one) is staying locked up in a room, you lose your inspiration, and you spark of creativity. What works for me is living my life and taking in every precious moment as it comes and remembering the intense feelings that manifist within me. I always remember "the moment" it all clicked in my head the feelings i felt the way I percieved everything around me in that moment, best of luck to you and your friend!


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## Essay (Oct 13, 2009)

TrialByFire said:


> If i can only give one piece of advice its this, Live your life to the fullest. The biggest mistake you can make as a writer (and a common one) is staying locked up in a room


Instead you wind up like me: not wanting to sit still and write anything (unless it's a personal letter) when you discover the multitude of more immediate ways you can be of use to people. :laughing:


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

I have wondered about this. I'm not a writer as I've never really found my voice (I express myself in other fields).

One of my good friends is a writer and I will try and summarise some of the things we have talked about.

One thing that any professional artist will tell you is that you aren't always inspired naturally, so you need to find ways of inspiring yourself, or at least have something that you can work on. If you are an artist, then your art must become a habit. Something that you cannot avoid doing. Something that you will feel incomplete if you don't do it.

Musicians often inspire themselves by listening to music which they like before they try to create something new. Should writers then read others work before starting, or use various means to put themselves in the right frame of mind to imagine a story?

One other key observation about writers: few writers write their best work when they are young. Great musicians, visual artists often do great work when they are young, but writers tend to take longer to mature. 1,000,000 words to become a good writer as they say, with a key point being that only those who truly love writing will actually reach this mark.

But I think the other key to this is that it is not merely enough to have a good imagination, but to also have enough life experiences to inspire you, so that you can draw on your own experience and make your story real.


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## Morpheus83 (Oct 17, 2008)

I'd also like to add that many writers are able to put a personal spin on the 'mundane' as well as recurring archetypal conflicts; it's not necessarily about having the most original or 'mindblowing' ideas to beat the 'competition'.

Maybe some writers are focusing too much on what they *think* 'readers' are looking for -- while ignoring a personal wealth of experiences and perspectives. It does help for a writer to have many life experiences under his/her belt -- but it takes skill, conscious effort and self-reflection to bring the experiences to life (often vicariously through multiple characters).


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## Vexilla Regis (May 4, 2011)

Write from that which inspires you and that which you know about. Most importantly: You must always show that you believe whatever you say.

Most authors write ever single day of the week, this is how to combat writers block.

Sadly, my best work carves a path when I'm depressed and blue. :/

Example: You cannot just say something, just to say it. It has to be believable.


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## Vexilla Regis (May 4, 2011)

I have an example for you and I had thought about using this: After I quit smoking, my husbands snoring, which typically doesn't bother me, drove me insane. As a young child, I would sit down and watch episodes of "The Twilight Zone" with my Mom everyday after school. I remember an episode from around 30 years ago, the wife suffocated her snoring husband with a pillow.

I was thinking about writing a story about he and I going to bed one night. We would take our Ambien, (he because he has sleep apnea and I so I cannot hear him,) I would sleep great that night, aside from a nightmare. When I awake in the morning he is dead, because I have dreampt of suffocating and actually have--in my Ambien induced sleep. A few years ago, my husband found me nekkid out on the front porch, in an Ambien induced sleep, so this "is" technically possible. Right? LOL hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa



Snow Leopard said:


> I have wondered about this. I'm not a writer as I've never really found my voice (I express myself in other fields).
> 
> One of my good friends is a writer and I will try and summarise some of the things we have talked about.
> 
> ...


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## AnEmotionalArtist (Nov 9, 2012)

Thank you all so much! Your responses really helped me understand what she is going through better.

Thank you again! 

Toodles


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## AJ2011 (Jun 2, 2011)

Mountain Climber said:


> Sadly, my best work carves a path when I'm depressed and blue. :/


If there's ever a pattern I've seen in the best writers, musicians and in general artists, it is their intensity in experiencing suffering that they have undergone or are undergoing. George Harrison stayed in Hawaii for a while, and said he had to leave because there was no inspiration and no connection to the reality that induces a person to write or compose music. The worst of times has produces the best in some artists. I don't think it is in actively seeking suffering, but observing it as it naturally arises.


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

Another side to this is to consider trying some unconventional forms of writing. Does my work as a software developer count as writing? This depends a bit on how you want to see things. The programs I write that perform various functions aren't purely just art for the sake of art, however there is a bit of art in figuring out how does the logic appear to get the job done. Could trying to find the unusual or strange formats of the written word be useful for stimulating her creative juices?

What kind of reception do you give her when she does have something to show? This can also be a factor, particularly if someone has external motivations and gets criticized for what they thought was a masterpiece.


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## Vexilla Regis (May 4, 2011)

AJ2011 said:


> If there's ever a pattern I've seen in the best writers, musicians and in general artists, it is their intensity in experiencing suffering that they have undergone or are undergoing. George Harrison stayed in Hawaii for a while, and said he had to leave because there was no inspiration and no connection to the reality that induces a person to write or compose music. The worst of times has produces the best in some artists. I don't think it is in actively seeking suffering, but observing it as it naturally arises.


Naturally, I agree with you. Right now I'm feeling great and not artistic--so I'm going to do some cartooning or just play some music out of a book. But I am laughing, because I must have been tired. My words above are a bit mixed up. *laugh* What I meant to say is this: Depression and the blues seem to carve a path for my best work, whether it be writing stories, poetry, and music or painting. When I am angry, I write some mad poetry, my vocabulary doubles.


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## WardRhiannon (Feb 1, 2012)

As someone who loves writing, but struggles to write everyday, I'm certainly not short of ideas. Most of my ideas come from imagining or interpreting things that go in shows or books or even in different scenarios I concoct in my head. I draw upon some of my experiences to create scenes or atmospheres or to put myself into my characters' shoes, but most of the time it's all made up.


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## ewerk (Sep 22, 2012)

I can completely understand and relate to what you're friend is going through. Although I always wanted to write books when I was young I shoved it aside and developed my analytical abilities more throughout my life. I just sort of forgot that I wanted to write. I even went to a top graduate school for journalism and dropped out because I didn't want to write the stories after I did the reporting part. But then something truly amazing happened. I created a business helping women find their calling which is a true expression of me and my life experiences. And then I was forced to write on my blog. Not just one or two articles but many and often. When I started writing it all poured out of me suddenly. Why? Because it was my life and my story that I wanted to share and it just flowed unlike trying to force myself to write an article as a journalist. I just needed to find my topic and then my voice started to come out. And when people read it they told me it spoke directly to them and sounded uniquely me. And the writing continues to improve and flow out the more I do it. It's just flexing a muscle. Once you find your subject and work at it your voice continues to hone itself. I cannot wait to see my evolution in a few years. I know it will get better and better as I grow as person. The other thing I want to add here is that it's important to be authentic. Once you connect with your vulnerability and write from that place it can touch and inspire so many people. And I continue to work at it. I aspire to unleash this powerful and vulnerable voice that will someday inspire a movement.


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## Pom87 (Apr 7, 2012)

I got into writing in 2008. It felt good and I wrote some short stories but nothing more came of it. But the feeling it gave me always stayed inside. As I continued my normal life I always felt that something was missing.

I started getting more serious about it in 2010, writing about 250 ( horrible ) poems and several short stories, but still did I not write enough.

In 2011 I dedicated myself to finding my style, reading about 50 books, re-studying grammar and the correct format and editing of a story. Of course I kept writing but never with the discipline as most of your well known authors do, every single day of the year.

I have been working for a year and saved up enough money, in the first quarter of 2013 I will travel to Sweden and finish my novel that I have been working on. I have been deliberately 'saving' it to finish it there. I went on vacation there earlier this year, and like some of you said here: it is important that you go where you can find your creativity. I wrote more stories in the three weeks I spend in Sweden than I did earlier during the whole year. It freed something inside me, not being home and in another place. I cannot wait to go there again.

As for tips; it is all about discipline. You have to force yourself to write, and even though you might love it, you will find that sometimes it is difficult to commit yourself to doing so. While my friends have gone to Uni after we graduated from college, I choose to focus on writing. A bold move and I never talk about it to anyone except for a close select group of people. The rest thinks that I am just locking myself in my home and playing video games all day. It is a hard mask to keep up for the outside world cause talking about writing will meet you with ridicule. Also does it bring an uncertain future for the many people that choose writing as a profession only so many can make a living out of it.

Still the feeling remains, and it is the only feeling that has ever struck me as so, as something that I must do.


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