The Secret to Being a Real Writer

By Margaret Lucke

During the lunch break at a writing workshop, I overheard two of my fellow students talking. "This class is just like all the others," one of them griped. "They never tell you the secret."

"Yeah," her companion muttered. "The problem is, successful writers don’t want you to succeed too. They don’t want outsiders in their little club."

Like too many new and would-be writers, this pair was convinced that out there somewhere was one bit of perfect, painless writing advice -- the pearl of wisdom that, if only someone would reveal it to them, would admit them to the circle of Real Writers.

I was tempted to jump into their conversation. You see, I know that secret. But I held my tongue. I had a feeling they really didn’t want to hear it. They were looking for some sort of eye-of-newt formula or abracadabra incantation that -- poof! -- would make their words flow without effort and have editors begging to publish the results.

Actually I want that too. The secret, though simple, does not necessarily make writing easier.

The secret is this:  Apply seat of pants.

I learned it long ago in a seminar led by screenwriter Larry Menkin, whose credits and accomplishments included creating Captain Video and His Video Rangers, TV's first science fiction program. He was fond of the phrase and repeated it often.

Larry was telling us neophytes an important truth:  the only way we could become Real Writers was to apply the seat of our pants to the seat of our chair, and write. Write a lot. Write regularly. Write prose that’s good and prose that’s terrible (what’s terrible can be revised later.) But write.

Woody Allen said, “Ninety percent of success is just showing up.” A writer succeeds by showing up at his or her desk and applying seat of pants.

Confession time: This is advice I should follow more often. As you may have noticed, life gets in the way of writing. Other priorities, other projects, other people demand and deserve our attention, and unless we're diligent, the writing time just slides away. To be truthful, I'm not always diligent. But that doesn't make the secret any less true.

You may be saying, "There’s a lot more to writing than that." You're right. Anyone who's serious about writing needs to understand the craft of storytelling and the effective use of language. It's helpful to learn about other writers' processes and techniques so we can try them out and discover the ones that work for us. Books and classes and conversations with other writers can be sources of great advice along those lines.

But none of that will matter if we don’t show up at our desk or computer, if we don't apply the seat of our pants to the seat of the chair. And write.

Comments

[Camille Minichino]

So true, Peggy!

I got a slow start, TALKING about writing for years! Eventually I had to make some decisions to give up a few other things and actually write. Now it's much easier to write than talk about an idea (NO comments, please about my chattiness!)

[Michael A. Black]

Peggy, you have no idea how appropriate reading your blog was for me this morning as I apply the seat of my pants to a chair and struggle to begin. Thanks for the inspiration and sound advice.
Mike

[Diana Orgain]

Peggy - Amen! You're totally right.

[Susan C Shea]

Peggy, that's the big secret. And the people who overheard haven't yet discovered that writers are, by and large, the most generous, mutually supportive, honest colleagues one could wish for. They ARE sharing the secrets - large and small- of the trade. But you have to be willing to show up to take advantage of them! Thanks for the post.

[Susan C Shea]

"...people YOU heard..." Thank heavens good typing skills aren't one of the big secrets!

[Margaret Lucke]

Thanks, everyone! I hope you are all having a productive writing day.

Susan, you're so right that writers make generous and wonderful friends and colleagues.

[Terry Shames]

Great post! That paranoia is so strange, and I think you've got it right. They didn't want to hear the truth.