Good evening, writers, or good morning, good afternoon, or good night, depending on where on Earth you are.
Tonight I want to talk about Octavia Butler. I've only read a little of her stuff (I'm reading Kindred and Parable of the Sower right now, in fact — well, no*), but I recently read about her rules for writing:
Octavia Butler’s Advice on Writing
I'm not sure about the copyright status or what permission Maria Popova needed or got, so I'll just summarize:
- First, Read
- Write every day (Forget about Inspiration)
- Forget about Talent (It doesn’t matter)
There's plenty more at the link.
On reading, I’ve been doing a lot more of it so far this year than I usually do (part of a New Year’s resolution), and I’m amazed at all the details and ideas I pick up as I’m reading others’ works. It’s very hard to sum up so I won’t even try, but I’m sure you’ve all had the experience of reading something and thinking, exultantly, Oh, I need to try something like this, or, dishearteningly, Oh, this is so wonderful, I don’t think I could ever write something like this. Naturally, the latter thought, unavoidable though it often is, is not to be heeded.
On inspiration, she suggests that waiting for it can be just another excuse to procrastinate. If you have to be inspired in order to write, it gives you a good reason to put it off until a more seasonable time. However, on her last point, about talent, I think she underrates herself.
Something else I found that she said about talent, though:
[G]o to the bestselling lists and see who else doesn’t have talent and it hasn’t stopped them, so don’t worry.
I think that’s great advice. I also really like this quote from this interview:
[T]here will always come a time in writing a novel for instance, a long undertaking like that, when you don't think you can do it. Or, you think it's so bad you want to throw it away. I tell the students that there comes a time when you want to either burn it or flush it. But if you keep going, you know, that's what makes you a writer instead of an "I wish I was a writer."
And one more collection of her quotes about writing that I came across. Finally,
No matter how tired you get, no matter how you feel like you can’t possibly do this, somehow you do.
She also relates a story about Bram Stoker and how he produced a lot of mediocre writing before Dracula. She refers to the saying, "chance favors the prepared mind," but I would like to recast it thus: "You can't get struck by lightning if you aren't standing out in the rain."
In other words, you've got to be writing for fate to intervene. Just like you can't win the lottery without buying a ticket. Of course, writing is even better because you can improve the more you do it. At least, that's what I hear.
Now excuse me, I've got to go buy a lottery ticket and write a chapter in my work in progress.
Tonight's Challenge:
Write a scene that's either:
- Inspired by Octavia Butler's works; or
- With the words “octave” and “butler”; or
- About someone winning the lottery; or
- About getting struck by lightning
The lottery or the lightning can be figurative or literal, at your discretion.
* I was reading Kindred and Parable of the Sower at the time I started drafting this diary; I had her books checked out from the library as e-books and they turned into pumpkins at midnight. Now they’re on my “gotta get back to” list.
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
If you’re not already following Readers and Book Lovers, please go to our homepage (link), find the top button in the left margin, and click it to FOLLOW GROUP. Thank You and Welcome, to the most followed group on Daily Kos. Now you’ll get all our R&BLers diaries in your stream.
Write On! will be a regular Thursday night diary (8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific) until it isn’t.
Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors (at FB their last post seems to be in October 2023) &/or critters.org/c/pubtips.ht), Absolute Write, and/or Writer Beware.