Hello friends.
After a long time, there is a writing-related video. I thought I would occasionally make a video about writing because, you know, I am writing. This channel is a channel by a writer, so there should at least be some writing-related content on it.
I put out a post in my posts tab—it used to be called a community tab, and things are confusing now. In the posts tab, you will find a post where I have asked people to send me their writing-related doubts, and I will do my best to answer them. I should warn you beforehand that a lot of what I'm about to say is how I do things. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to anything in life, and therefore you should take all of this with a pinch of salt. This is how I do things. This is what I think. This is not a universal, "do this and you will get X result" kind of thing.
So, having gotten that out of the way, let's look at the first question that I'm going to address. The topic of this video is a question from Johnny Walker, one, two, three, four. And it goes like this:
Some say the only way to learn writing is to just write. Others say it's a proper craft to be learned. So how do you learn writing? Or rather, I think what they want to ask is how to go about writing. How much attention should you pay to people who say the only way to learn writing is to learn writing, or that the only way to learn writing is to just write?
First of all, you should be slightly suspicious of anyone who starts any piece of advice by saying "the only way," because it's probably the only way they have used, and it worked for them. I'm happy for them. But people should not give advice by saying, "This is the only way to do X," because life is a little more complicated than that. Art definitely is a lot more complicated than that.
So let us focus on the two elements of this question. One is craft—the craft of learning how to write—and then there is just writing. Obviously, you have to do both of these things. You have to learn the craft of writing, and you have to just write the way a writer does. But perhaps it would be good if I started with the difference between art and craft.
What is more important for you as a writer to focus on? Should you focus on the craft of writing, or should you focus on your art? Before I start, let me put it this way. If you announce that your intention is to go to Bhagalpur and you are going to do this on a bicycle, and you tell people, "Look here, I'm about to pick up this bicycle and go all the way to Bhagalpur," then people will come and check you out. People will come and see if you can do it.
Craft is the ability to ride the bicycle. Art is making the journey and getting to Bhagalpur. If you pick up the bicycle and you pedal, and they see you go at least a few meters, then they know that you can get to Bhagalpur. They know that you have the ability to get to Bhagalpur. They know that you have the skills required to get all the way to Bhagalpur. If you pick up the bicycle and you cannot pedal and you fall down, it doesn't matter if you have the map to Bhagalpur. It doesn't matter if you know how to get to Bhagalpur. It doesn't matter if you have the strength to get to Bhagalpur. You are not going to get to Bhagalpur because you can't cycle.
Craft is the first step. Art is the rest of the journey. So when someone says that you need to know the craft to create your art, they're not wrong. You do need to know how to ride a bicycle in order to get to Bhagalpur. But getting to Bhagalpur is going to require much more than simply cycling because everyone can get to Bhagalpur.
There are other people who will walk to Bhagalpur, there are people who will take the bus—and by bus, I mean AI writing, that infernal thing that is going around right now. And some people are naturally, you know, they live in Bhagalpur. They don't have to cycle to Bhagalpur. So when someone says that the craft of writing is important, what they're really telling you is that the ability to frame your art using the traditions of writing is important, and they're not wrong.
But when they say that the only way to write is by being a good craftsman, then they're probably not right because there have been many great writers who were not great craftsmen, and they have still left great works of art. They created their own craft. There have been writers who created their own ways of writing, who created their own genres. There are writers whose work cannot be classified into a genre. There have been writers who have deliberately broken the rules of craft. There have been writers who have invented new ways of exercising the craft. That’s all possible.
But for the most part, if you're a professional writer and you want to send your manuscript to a publisher, one of the first things the publisher will look at is if you know the craft. When your manuscript gets to a publisher, the editor picks it up, reads the first page, and if they see you falling off the bicycle on the first page, they're going to put it away. They’re not going to look at it, even if you actually got to where you wanted to go.
Secondly, I think that often a lot of conversation that surrounds craft makes it appear as if craft is the only thing that matters. And that is not true. You will find plenty of channels on YouTube where people are giving you advice about craft—this is the form your writing should take, this is where the climax should come, this is the rising tension, this is the descending tension, this is the ultimate ending.
They give an inordinate amount of attention to craft, and they go into the nitty-gritty of it. You can actually drive yourself mad by focusing that much on craft. Get the basics of the craft right. Focus on your art. Leave the rest to an editor. You don't have to make the entire journey alone. Have people around you who can help you with your writing, who can give you feedback on your work, and people who can help you make your writing better.
So my advice, generally speaking—craft is important. But people who say craft is the most important thing ever are often just telling you what works for them. And what works for them may not be what works for you. You are a different person. You are a different writer. You are a different kind of creator.
Focus on the craft as much as is necessary, and not more than that. Because if you get trapped in craft, then craft is basically how to make a pot. If you learn how to make a pot, you'll make a pot. But every pot will look the same. And ideally, your work should be an expression of who you are and what you have to add to the world.
So use craft to make art. But don't be limited to the craft. There are people who will obsess over craft, who will tell you, "These are the 10 rules of X, and you must follow them. Otherwise, you're not doing X." These people exist in every field. And that’s bullshit.
Writing is about expressing yourself artistically. Focus on a nice, balanced middle ground. If you want to learn craft, there are plenty of good people who are teaching it. There are plenty of good books about it. If you want to learn art, that is something that grows out of your ability to express yourself and the ideas that you want to share.
If you're a young writer, don't worry about it. If your writing sounds like some other writer you read a lot, that's perfectly normal. You're supposed to grow by imitating. Eventually, the hope is that your own style will emerge, and you'll be able to express yourself in a way that is unique to you. This is a process. It doesn't happen on day one. It doesn't happen on day 1,000. It happens on day 50,000.
The best way to learn writing is to incorporate craft into your art and then practice. The most important thing is not craft or art—it is consistency. Focus on working hard regularly so that your craft improves and you are better able to frame your art using the craft.
I hope all of that made sense. And if it didn’t, I apologize—I’m only a writer. I will see you in the next video with another piece of writing advice. Would you like to see more writing-related videos? Let me know.
