Hi! I have a very old story with a pairing that I quite enjoyed back in the time. Because some things didn't add up I decided to rewrite it. So I read a chapter, rewrite it and... My old action scenes were very detailed, fast paced and nice to read. Nowadays I write very introspective and don't focus on the outside as much. That makes my action scenes boring. Also I was much more eloquent. (Compare: "felt like his larynx would burst" and "couldn't breath") How do I reclaim parts of my old style?
Hi! This is, yeah, this is important. I’m so glad you wrote me. Lemme see…
How to Write Like You Used to, Before You Learned Stuff that Fucked Up Your Natural Creative Flow and Turned Your Writing into Boring, Stilted Garbage
Ok, that’s maybe a little dramatic, but hear me out. Lots and lots of writers start out doing pretty awesome, interesting stuff, both on the prose-level and the story-level. Then they decide to learn more about writing, or they get some “feedback” from readers or betas, or god forbid they go to a critique group or something and then they start second-guessing the shit out of themselves. The first thing that happens is they start to dislike writing, an activity that used to bring much joy. The next thing that happens, usually much later, is that they look back at some old stuff they wrote and realize it was way better, but have no idea how to get their groove back.
I know because it happened to me. Here’s what I did to reclaim my old writing self. Hopefully some of these techniques will work for you, too.
Forget everything you’ve learned about how you’re “supposed” to write.
Like, everything. Plotting, characters, setting, sentence structure, world building, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.
Write how it feels good to write. Do run-on sentences feel good? Use ‘em. Does writing a 10-page description of a teacup turn you on? Do it. You can edit it later. But if you don’t write something that excites you at the outset, you’ll have nothing fun or interesting to work with when you do get to the editing stage. I talk more about this concept here.
Don’t worry about whether anyone else will like it. Write what you like, how you like. Be your own #1 fan.
The faster you write, the less time you have to think. The less time you have to think, the more you’ll be able to access your natural way of writing instead of forcing yourself to write how you think you “should.”
Don’t show your early drafts to anyone.
That’s your baby. Keep it safe. Getting feedback (even if it’s positive) on your writing too early in the process can kill your creative spark. Take the time to get intimate with your own work and develop it into something that won’t break under the weight of other people’s opinions before you put it out there. Remember: Your relationship to your writing is the most important thing. Nurture it!
I’m not saying not to take feedback or constructive criticism into account at some point. I’m also not saying not to try to learn how to be a better writer. I’m saying trust what turns you on. Trust your intuition. Trust that there’s something special there. Trust that eventually someone else will see that, too. I wrote this post after I got a piece published that I’d stood by for years, even after a ton of people told me it was weird and that they “didn’t get it.” Basically, in the words of a writer friend of mine, if you don’t back yourself up, how the fuck can you expect anyone else to do it? Be your own best ally.
The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library or get The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. xoxo
