On Writing

Lately I’ve been thinking about what makes a good story. Storytelling– from a non-English major’s perspective– seems like such a nebulous skill, and though I’ve been the beneficiary of some truly amazing books, I’ve never deliberately set out to improve my own storytelling abilities.

That is, until I discovered Brandon Sanderson’s creative writing lectures on Youtube. As one of the most successful fantasy writers in the world, regularly releasing thousand-page books with complicated, century-long plot lines, I knew he’d be a great storytelling teacher.

As part of my learning, I knew I needed to work on a book of my own. I wanted to put his teachings into practice in real time, wrestling with my own plot lines and character arcs. I determined that by the end of his lectures, I would have a 60,000 word book under my belt, and a better understanding of what makes certain stories great.

In 6th grade, my friends and I each decided to write novels. I was so excited. We would bring our composition notebooks to class, discreetly writing under our desks. During lunch, we’d brainstorm character ideas and critique each other’s work. Everywhere we went, we wrote. We were obsessed. 

I called my book “Immortal Tide.” A cross between The Hunger Games, Avatar, Divergent, and Eragon, it conveniently included all my pre-teen crushes and obsessions. I was convinced it would be a bestseller.

I ran out of steam around page 118, but have always wanted to continue writing Immortal Tide. That is, after cutting out most of the dragons, pegasus, and love-triangles. I’ve decided that even if I never do anything with the book, I just need to get it out of my system and do 6th grade me a solid by giving it a shot. Only then can I move onto a new fantasy world.

I’m currently five lectures and 3,000 words into my Immortal Tide rewrite, and wondering how in the world anyone writes books at all. Though I’ve always held a near-daily artistic habit, writing fiction habitually is a lot harder than I thought.

A few takeaways from my struggle:

1. Don’t try to get it perfect. Just keep moving.

2. Do a little every day.

3. Let it unfold the way it wants. 

Through the class, I’ve learned that I’m what’s called a “discovery writer.” Rather than planning out my book/blogpost/etc… from beginning to end, I prefer to discover what I think while writing. For example, my only planning for Immortal Tide consists of:

1. How the characters’ relationships will start and end.

2. What each character wants, and what they end up achieving.

From there, I’m improvising. I highly suggest attempting to write a novel. I really believe it’s the best way to learn storytelling.

A sample of my childhood writing. Clearly, I was a prodigy.

As a supplement to my self-taught writing education, I am practicing visual storytelling techniques in my illustration practice, and documenting it on Patreon. This upcoming month, I’ll be attempting a storytelling challenge an editor at SCBWI gave me called “First line, Last line.”

If you’d like to join, visit my Patreon page :)

Thanks for reading,