Post by account_disabled on Dec 27, 2023 2:01:55 GMT -5
One of the many pieces of advice going around about writing is precisely this: "When you don't know what to write, write the first thing that comes to mind." I don't know if it works for anyone, but it doesn't for me. It has never worked. I have always seen this advice as the most useless one that can be given. And this is true both in writing for the web and in creative writing: both are linked by a context that guides the action of writing. A text is not composed at random, or by inspiration , but thanks to one's knowledge (technical or otherwise), to one's experiences, to creative invention if we are talking about narrative (but even in that case advice like that makes no sense ). Writing is an act of knowledge For me it has always been true: "if you don't know what to write, just don't write".
Better than writing the first thing that comes to mind. I remember certain games or certain tests in which they show you an image or tell you a word and you have to say the first thing that comes to mind: well, in those cases there was absolute darkness in my mind. For me, writing is an act of knowledge : if I know what to write, I write, otherwise I don't. If I have to heed that advice, then I'd better give up writing and do something else. Writing for the web - or at least in a blog that must bring results, whatever Special Data they may be - and writing fiction is not like writing a diary, which collects the thoughts of the moment, precisely the first things that come to mind. Writing for the web and writing fiction involve knowledge, they are acts of professional writing. Writer's block is an excuse And that advice, write the first thing that comes to mind, doesn't let anyone win. Writer's block occurs when an underlying problem in the writer is highlighted: poor knowledge of the subject poor writing skills lack of organization Writer's block is just an excuse to mask writer's shortcomings.
And by writing the first thing (but what? A word, a sentence, a thought, a memory?) that comes to mind, he will not solve the problem, if anything he will delay the solution. Difficulties in writing My difficulty in writing is represented by incipits : for me they are so important, they keep me on tenterhooks until I find the right attack. But in the end that difficulty is resolved, so much so that I don't even consider it a real difficulty, but just a moment that requires greater concentration. Even the incipit of this article, in the end, was resolved in a few seconds. The beginning, whether for a blog article or for a novel, a story or even just a chapter, cannot be written leaving it up to chance: the first thing that comes to mind could be... anything, in fact, or the wrong thing.
Better than writing the first thing that comes to mind. I remember certain games or certain tests in which they show you an image or tell you a word and you have to say the first thing that comes to mind: well, in those cases there was absolute darkness in my mind. For me, writing is an act of knowledge : if I know what to write, I write, otherwise I don't. If I have to heed that advice, then I'd better give up writing and do something else. Writing for the web - or at least in a blog that must bring results, whatever Special Data they may be - and writing fiction is not like writing a diary, which collects the thoughts of the moment, precisely the first things that come to mind. Writing for the web and writing fiction involve knowledge, they are acts of professional writing. Writer's block is an excuse And that advice, write the first thing that comes to mind, doesn't let anyone win. Writer's block occurs when an underlying problem in the writer is highlighted: poor knowledge of the subject poor writing skills lack of organization Writer's block is just an excuse to mask writer's shortcomings.
And by writing the first thing (but what? A word, a sentence, a thought, a memory?) that comes to mind, he will not solve the problem, if anything he will delay the solution. Difficulties in writing My difficulty in writing is represented by incipits : for me they are so important, they keep me on tenterhooks until I find the right attack. But in the end that difficulty is resolved, so much so that I don't even consider it a real difficulty, but just a moment that requires greater concentration. Even the incipit of this article, in the end, was resolved in a few seconds. The beginning, whether for a blog article or for a novel, a story or even just a chapter, cannot be written leaving it up to chance: the first thing that comes to mind could be... anything, in fact, or the wrong thing.