It snowed last night, which inspired me to get up and write. This made me ask myself, “What is writing?” In some ways, I come from a family of writers. My mom has written many academic articles on educational curricula. My father is currently writing a book on the environment and the progression of time. My brother, it seems, is always writing. He, too, is an author of academic works. Yet, I am different. I am the only fiction writer. Does that make them less or more of an author than I am? My brother certainly writes more than me. While I have tried my hand at technical and non-fiction writing, I do not know how they do this continuously.
So, I return to the question, what is writing? What makes an author? When you look at job postings on LinkedIn, they talk more about copywriters and content creators than novelists. Yet, when you go to the bookstore, my purely observational, not measurable, assessment, is that the fiction sections are much larger than the non-fiction sections. And, in this question, where does bias come into the equation? When the creator of non-fiction is crafting their work, if newsworthy they present the information with their own bias. If crafting a thesis or technical document, they start with a statement or question they are attempting to answer. Now, in fairness, these works are backed by evidence, and in a well-written work, they should provide a counterargument. Yet with fiction, there is no effort to portray truth. To this effort, the bias is clear, the creator of fiction wants to do one of a few things like entertain or persuade.
There is no question that all these genres qualify as writing. All of these writers are authors. But does this change or suggest that the writing process should follow a specific process? I would argue that this is a very individual decision. I cannot speak in detail to the non-fiction writing arena. When I worked on my graduate thesis I worked through many required procedural steps. However, this was some time back. In the fiction writing world, there are many tools some authors leverage. Recently, I have spoken to several other writers who have shared a more organic process. I echo this sentiment. In a prior blog post, I wrote about having coffee with one of my characters. My process is extremely personal, organic, and dependent on the people I meet in my writing time. To be specific, I am not talking about the people in my daily life. Rather, I am referencing the characters that evolve in the process of writing whatever work I may be creating.
If I am meeting so many fiction and other creative scribes who write organically, why are there so many tools for storyboarding? I think back to my classes on creative writing. They also built the writing process around tools such as storyboards. I suppose these tools have a very specific place. They do help prevent story sprawl and keep the storyline from wandering. They also help with writer's block when a writer has a clear outline before starting their work. Here the author knows where they are going. When they get stuck, it is easier to write through those difficult points and go back to clean up their writing. When you write organically, a block can prevent you from figuring out where a story should head next. It is important to have tools in your pocket, whether a storyboard or a free-write exercise, to help you through those difficult times.
So, to answer my question, writing is art. Writing is a process. Writing is work. Writing is a pleasure. Writing is many things. For me, writing, most of all, is an important part of who I am. I write to meet an exciting world and a community of people. I write as an outlet. I write because it lets me breathe. Whatever the reason, authors write. There are times when it is difficult to write. In these moments I usually find other parts of my life are also difficult. In those moments, I need to focus on something other than writing to move forward. When I reflect on this, I would say, writing is life.
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