You Don't Know What You Don't Know
After yesterday's post, I have come to the conclusion most of us agree we sucked as writers in college and before. I took every creative writing class there was at my university--and got all As. But you simply don't know what you don't know.
What do I mean?
Being a writer is a journey. You're constantly improving (hopefully). But at different times you reach what I can only think of as plateaus or the tops of hills, and from there you can survey the valley and realize, "NOW, I can see how far I've come."
For example, when I wrote in college, there was no such thing as subtlety. I wanted to make sure you got my message. I chose violent, dark, difficult characters and I made sure you knew they were violent, dark, and difficult. My symbolism was heavy-handed. Spiders, snakes, worms in tequila bottles. I made sure you GOT IT.
Dialogue, for me, back then, never contained anything important. Anything "important" you got from the heavy exposition between dialogue.
Yes, I got As. Yes, I had public readings during a writing program I took when I was 21. But NOW I see from a whole different place. A whole different vista.
You don't know what you don't know until you have a break-through, an "A-ha" moment. A Maslow "peak experience." An epiphany. A painful rejection. A moment of insight that takes on significance. And from THAT point, your writing changes. Until the next paradigm shift.
So, what do you know now that you didn't know that you didn't know? :-)
E
What do I mean?
Being a writer is a journey. You're constantly improving (hopefully). But at different times you reach what I can only think of as plateaus or the tops of hills, and from there you can survey the valley and realize, "NOW, I can see how far I've come."
For example, when I wrote in college, there was no such thing as subtlety. I wanted to make sure you got my message. I chose violent, dark, difficult characters and I made sure you knew they were violent, dark, and difficult. My symbolism was heavy-handed. Spiders, snakes, worms in tequila bottles. I made sure you GOT IT.
Dialogue, for me, back then, never contained anything important. Anything "important" you got from the heavy exposition between dialogue.
Yes, I got As. Yes, I had public readings during a writing program I took when I was 21. But NOW I see from a whole different place. A whole different vista.
You don't know what you don't know until you have a break-through, an "A-ha" moment. A Maslow "peak experience." An epiphany. A painful rejection. A moment of insight that takes on significance. And from THAT point, your writing changes. Until the next paradigm shift.
So, what do you know now that you didn't know that you didn't know? :-)
E
posted by Erica Orloff at 8:57 AM
10 Comments:
Whew! I didn't know that I didn't know ANYTHING! And I'm still not convinced I really know how much I DON'T KNOW.
I was also extremely heavy handed. Particularly with description. I wanted to hammer you over the head with setting until things read like a detailed real estate brochure more than a story. "Two Tiffany lamps cast the 12x16 room in bright light that glowed off walls the color of rich new cream and turned the thick velvety carpet beneath her feet the deep green of a gulf course in the summer sun..." blah blah blah. *snort* *snore*
My first attempt is a whopping 167k tomb that cocoons what is probably a 35-40K story. But it certainly increased my keyboarding skills :)
I also didn't know 'normal' people wrote. I had this mental image of 'authors' being born that way--as otherworldly, super-gifted beings. I thought I was just a crazy broad with too much imagination and time on my hands.
OMG, 167K?!? You are brave, woman!
:-)
E
See... there is what you know, what you don't know, and then there is what you don't know that you don't know.
The more I know, the more I find that there is in the world that I don't know.
I think that those 'A HA!' moments we have when writing are when we tap into that 'don't know that you don't know' area. You just finished a writing frenzy/binge and you go back to read it and you realize that you have no idea where it all came from.
That is my favorite part about writing.
Well, that and blogging with other writers about writing :)
Oh man, where do I start?
The biggest thing I didn't know that I didn't know was a lesson from Mark Twain: THe art of storytelling is in withholding information, not revealing it.
I didn't know that point of view is a strategic storytelling tool, not just an "um, time to switch characters" whim.
And I didn't know that there was no right or wrong way to write. I used to think that if I could just figure out the secret, then I would be a masterful writer. :)
Louise
ewoh:
I love those moments too. Or getting goose bumps realizing you're nailing it--you're not sure why, but you are.
louise:
I never heard that tidbit from Twain, but it's of course brilliant.
E
I think we are given infinite knowledge at birth. We spend the first few years losing most of it, and the remaining years trying to gain it back.
Jude:
What a beautiful sentiment.
E
I'm a know-it-all, of course.
Which means I definitely don't know what I don't know. :)
Actually, after 13 years of learning my craft, I FEEL like I have heard it all, even if I don't use it properly, which means it's very exciting when I learn something I didn't know. :)
natalie:
I definitely DON'T know it all. And then some. That's what makes the journey a fun ride.
E
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