Being A Writer

As I sit in my room on this rainy afternoon, a lot of ideas swirl inside my mind. Now it may not be the ideas of how to keep myself motivated for college classes (sorry Mom and Dad), but instead I have these ideas of how to write books, or how to fix books I've already written.

A lot of people have this glamorous image of writers and authors because they see the finished, polished product. Well I can tell you the process to get to that lovely finish is nothing of the sort. It is a long and painful process writers go through whenever they decide to edit one of their works or even try to start a new project.

As a writer and aspiring author myself, the writing process is not always fun. Starting is always nice and you have all these brilliant ideas - if you don't forget them by the time you go to write - and then you feel like it's so great. But...then you go back and reread what you wrote. And if any of you are like me, I stare down at what I wrote and go: "This is pathetic."

While not all the writing is pathetic, granted, a portion of it might be. So begins the painful part: scratching sections of your book and rewriting it so it's better. This is not an easy process because these books are a part of our lives as authors, and we like to keep what we write most of the time. Getting back into the mindset I was in when I wrote the book originally is hard because most likely I've moved on from that project and have gone to another, or I remember the characters from the end result - not their beginnings. So remembering how the characters were in the beginning before their character development is sometimes really hard. For me, I yell at my own characters for being stupid or ridiculous, but then I have to remind myself that I wrote them that way for a reason. Mostly so their development is that much more appreciated, but also to have them be relatable. I can't have a "perfect character" or else no one would be able to understand them.

My best friend during this process is a red pen; I mark on the paper, write in the margins, and scratch or X out a lot of paragraphs. I don't necessarily love doing this, although sometimes I do because what I wrote four years ago is nothing compare to what I do now, but either way, it's a necessary part to completing your writing.

There are some positives of going through and rereading your old stuff. It's not all torture. It's fun and neat to see the author you used to be back then, because you can see how much you've grown from that story. And now that you're getting back to it, guess what? It's only going to be that much better. To me it's really inspiring and it keeps me motivated to continue editing and writing. It doesn't have to be all negative either. There are parts of the book you've written before that are so great, and every time you reread what you've done you get super excited and pumped about these great points. Since there are these awesome moments, it continues to motivate me personally to keep going, to make more awesome moments like that, and to make everything better in general.

I love writing, and I always have. It's wonderful to create something out of an idea that randomly pops into your mind. While editing may not be the most enjoyable thing in the world, it's a crucial part of being a writer. You want the very best of your ideas, your plots, and your characters, so going back and editing does just that. A lot of times the best stories come from when you go back and edit, and a new idea strikes you that would blow the old copy out of the water, and would be incredible to read once it's finally finished.

And that's what makes you keep going.

So yeah, writing can be both torturous and fun, but in the end, it's totally worth all the pain, time, and effort you put into the books you love writing. It's something I've learned to deal with and accept over the years, and I know other authors do the same.

We put up with all the pain and pressure because we love it, and that, I believe, is why writers are incredibly unique and hardworking people.