✍️ Having Faith in the Writing Process
or, There Aren’t Any Lions or Tigers or Bears, Oh My...!
Charlie literally took a lifetime to write his greatest work. Part of that was because his greatest work was very technical, pushed boundaries of what was known in science at the time, and required years of research and reflection.
In fact, the topic was so big that I imagine he spent decades just trying to decide where to start. The beginning he chooses confounds some people. Birds and dogs? Cows and apples? Pretty pedantic subjects to open one of the most profoundly seismic conclusions ever drawn in science. Barring (possibly) Nicolaus Copernicus’ assertion that the Earth, in fact, revolves around the sun.
To complicate matters, Charlie was a devout Christian, yet his book would be perceived to threaten the foundations of Christianity and likely contributed in some way to the erosion of his own beliefs. Talk about writing stress...!
Many praise Charlie for his science. What few do is praise Charlie for his writing. If you ever read his greatest work (I’ve read bits), it’s not a dry scientific textbook. He starts with birds and dogs and cows and apples because that’s what everyday people understand. He wants to show that his new and radical ideas having been staring us in the face the whole time. Newton’s apple demonstrated gravity. Charlie’s finches demonstrated something weighty about ourselves.
I’m not sure exactly how confident Charlie was when he started writing his greatest work. I strongly suspect that he simply started writing one day without any real outline, having faith that it would come together in the end.
Charlie – Charles Darwin – was right about that, and his “On the Origin of Species” became one of the most important works of science and literature.
Why Faith is Important
Okay, elephant in the room. Was that my most translucent prologue ever? Darwin was singular in many ways, so disguising him and his work is difficult. I realized that fact very early on in writing this piece.
I relate these facts to you because they nicely demonstrate my point. I continued to write about Darwin anyway because I had faith it would come together somehow. When I write, I don’t always know where it will go. For some of my day-job writing, I often have an inkling of the finished piece. Substack posts like this one are less certain. Usually, I start with a Blue Silver moment, and I just keep putting words down until I get to what I think might be the end. Sometimes, I don’t get there in the time allowed.
Most times though, that Blue Silver moment is enough to launch me in the right direction. And even if it doesn’t take me exactly where I thought it might, I often can make it work in a different way. I’m not bragging. This is something all writers can do if we keep the faith and push through the fog.
Here’s what I’m not telling you, though. I still get The Fear with my day-job writing. It’s slight, but even after writing literally thousands of articles, web pages, blog posts, and more, I sometimes get a twinge. Will the piece work? What happens if I don’t get my vision down correctly? What if it’s all crap?
Outside of my day job, it can be worse. When it comes to writing my novel, those inklings and doubts and fears can creep up like rising flood waters. But I’ve learned how to break out the sump pump and control the rising fear. Ignore, it, even. Put my faith in myself that it will work out somehow.
How to Put Faith in Yourself as a Writer
Here are some strategies that have helped me over the years. They are not silver bullets, and they are not “fixed and done” moments either. They are part of an ongoing process. But they work for me.
You don’t need a map to start. Screw maps! They’re helpful if you need to find the fastest route to a hospital. But writing is creative. Having a destination is fine – outlining is fine too, if that’s your jam – but so is not having a destination or an outline. It’s funny how many times I just start following the Yellow Brick Road and realize I ended up exactly where I should.
Everything is fixable. We do not write in stone, so we can change anything we want, anytime we want, no fuss no muss. So why do we kill ourselves wondering if we have the right words, right now? Everything is fixable. And, probably more to the point, just about everything needs fixing in later drafts. It’s not just accepted; it’s expected.
That tightrope you’re walking is actually just a line on the ground. Writing sometimes feels like a tightrope walk without a net. But really, nobody is going to die if you make a misstep. You won’t plummet into a canyon. The worse that can happen is that you might get a paper cut when you crumple up that page and try again.
One of the great things about writing is that you can literally make shit up. Remember those English essays? As long as you backed up your arguments with logical references, you can’t ever be wrong. Fiction writing gives you even more freedom, if that’s possible. Same goes for poetry. So you can make the line from here to there connect any way you want. Non-fiction gets a little stickier with its insistence on “truth” and “facts”. But even there, you can present facts your own way.
Just because it’s uncomfortable doesn’t mean you should stop. I’ve learned this lesson in various ways, both in writing and non-writing parts of my life. You don’t have to like that uncomfortable feeling of not knowing where you’re going. But just try to push it down and write anyway. You will reach places you never imagined – and places you never would have reached if you simply just gave up.
If it doesn’t work, throw it away. This is related to the tightrope example above. The world economies will not collapse because you wrote something, deemed it not so great idea, and crumpled it up.
Doubt and fear are powerful emotions. I find it helpful to remember from time to time that there aren’t really any flying monkeys. No wicked witch. No tightropes over canyons. Only a blank slate to put yourself out there and try, risk-free.
Key Takeaway: Let yourself go and have faith that your writing will take you where you want. And if it doesn’t, meh. The sun will still come up tomorrow, and you can try again. No consequences!
Over to You: How Do You Keep the Faith?
Do you struggle with setting off into the unknown? How do you overcome it? Maybe some of you like plotting so you’re not walking into fog. Let us know how it works for you in the comments below.
I’ll leave you with George Michael’s “Faith” video. Because, you know, sometimes it’s good to just be too on the nose. Scroll down below.
Until next time... keep writing with wild abandon!
~Graham
email me if you get lost.
“That tightrope you’re walking is actually just a line on the ground.” WAIT WHAT
Having been round the block a few times, it’s now just gutting it out, sitting down and starting … something will come, eventually. And if it’s crap, which it sometimes is, I just throw it out and start again.