While quarantine may have us all holed up in our homes, YALLWEST continued to make staying home a little brighter with its panel, “Suckage is a Part of Writing.” As an aspiring author myself, who experiences writing mental breakdowns on the regular, I knew I had to attend this panel to see if the people who “made it” are actually imperfect human beings like me, or are all just able to craft the perfect book without banging their head against the keyboard repeatedly.
Now, this highly relatable panel was moderated by none other than renowned author, Jay Kristoff, known for his Nevernight Chronicle, The Illuminae Files, and the Aurora Cycle.
After some brief introductions, Kristoff asked his fellow authors to verify the validity the statement, “suckage is truly a part of the writer’s experience.” And to both my relief and distress, every author agreed that sucking at writing is part of the job description.
So what do we do about it? Give up? Throw our WIPs in the trash? Serenade ourselves to sleep with the world’s tiniest violin? After attending this panel, I am positive Kristoff and the fellow panelists would all say, “Heaven’s no!”
Thus, here are five important things that I learned about owning “the suck” in your writing from YALLWest’s “Suckage is a Part of Writing” panel.
Thinking your writing sucks is a good thing. – Amie Kaufman (The Aurora Cycle)
Even though the doubt is not a fun part, it is a really good sign. “That doubt is what drives you to make it better,” Kaufman stated. Sometimes you just need to talk to a writer friend to help you through your self-doubt, other times it’s realizing that you’re not good enough to write a certain project. “It’s important to realize that ‘that’s okay that [your writing] is not amazing yet,’” Kaufman emphasized.
You can’t think of every bit of your writing as “precious.” – Maggie Tokuda-Hall (The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea)
“All writing is practice,” stated Tokuda-Hall. Just getting rid of things let her move forward in her manuscript. Tokuda-Hall then gave a short anecdote on how she used to save things from her debut novel’s manuscript. She kept visiting the deleted parts of the novel like “it was in jail,” waiting to see if she’d use it. “Soon as I let go of that baggage, I could move forward,” Tokuda-Hall remarked. She then affirmed, “If it’s really brilliant, you’ll remember it again. You have to learn to let go.”
Celebrate everything that happens in your writing journey. – Alex London (Skybound)
“Bad stuff is gonna happen, good stuff is gonna happen. Celebrate everything,” London stated. When you finish a chapter of a book, allow yourself to feel pride. When you are revising, and you realize you messed a plot detail, don’t beat yourself up, but be thankful and celebrate the fact that you were able to write something that could even be revised. Writing is a beautiful journey, and sucking is a part of it, so embrace it! Don’t let it hold you back.
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Finish the thing. – Janella Angeles (Where Dreams Descend) and Marisa Kanter (What I Like About You)
If it’s not finished or not on the page, you can’t tell even if it sucks,” Angeles argued.
Kanter echoed Angeles’ advice and stated that her first draft is always her “trash draft.” It’s okay for it to not be perfect right away. It’s a building block to where you need to be.
“Keep your eyes on your own paper,” added Angeles. You can feel a lot of pressure by looking at the other books and authors around you. Remember, those books all sucked in the beginning too. So keep your eyes on your own work, and finish that draft!
Write for yourself and not for others – Tara Sim (Scavenge the Stars)
“Write your heart trash,” Tara Sim said with a laugh. Don’t care about what your agents, editors, or readers will think. Write the stories you want to read. Even if you feel like it sucks, you’re staying true to yourself, and that’s the most important thing.
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So take heart, fellow writers! Even published authors wrestle with self-doubt, rough chapters, and sentences that just don’t seem to work like you want them to. What’s most important is that you never give up. It’s okay to change projects, take breaks, wallow in self-pity, but only through writing will the precious stories in your head become a reality. So don’t give up! You got this!
YALLStayHome (YALLWest 2020) took place online April 25-26, 2020. Learn more about YALLWest and its participating authors at yallwest.com.
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