Neil Gaiman on Writing, from The Nerdist Podcast
I hope you watched/listened - for sure listen - because British accents are awesome.
As we inch closer to a new school year, here are my takeaways from Mr. Gaiman regarding writing. Although his comments are geared more towards aspiring novelists, they apply to any writer...even student writers.
Nobody cares about your first draft.
This is SO TRUE. Just get it out there and fix it later! Don't be OCD and self-censoring or spell check every two seconds or agonize over whether or not the teacher will like it. Just write it! Of course, this does imply that your first draft will not also be your last draft...
You have to write when you're not inspired.
One of the tried-and-true statements of a first class Procrastinator. You're a writer - whether you're a novelist or a freshman or sophomore English student. Don't wait for inspiration before you start or else you'll never finish a sentence. Neil says that you have to write the scenes that don't inspire you. I hope there will eventually be some that do, but you won't know that until you start writing.
It's a process of putting one word after another.
Writing is the only way to write and the only way to get better at writing. Will everything be golden? No. And guess what - it doesn't have to be.
Read outside your comfort zone.
Wonder why your teachers make you read Shakespeare and Dickens? Me, too. Just kidding. If everything you read in school was John Green or J.K. Rowling, how much would you stretch and grow? Remember - Tolkien didn't spend his life reading Tolkien-esque novels.
There'll always be better writers than you, but you're the only you.
Don't worry about how you match up. Don't read your friends' stuff and throw in the towel because you don't think you're as good. Don't let one grade dictate your worth. Have something to say and say it in an interesting way! Guess what - people will probably want to read it. And you'll have more fun writing it... Even if it is for school.
