This newsletter's about things we tell ourselves to keep creating, the mantras repeated late into the night as we plot a story, edit a fic, tweak a drawing. Here are words of wisdom from AmityWho, Gowerstreet, Rudbeckia and more, words you can go back to again and again, words that help.
And hey, for a future newsletter, tell me your experience of starting small—a tiny poem in an anthology, a story placed with a regional magazine, a logo for a local business—how did you start? Tell me by 30 September please! — Atlin Merrick
Spark Spoke: This newsletter, podcasted by Sophie Cumberland!
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Repeat After Me
By AmityWho
I will confess to you all right now that I am a rank amateur when it comes to writing. I’ve recently rediscovered it as a pastime, and I’m enjoying this renascence immensely, while simultaneously reeling from the audacity.
Enthusiasm hasn’t dulled my judgment.
Do you know this feeling? You sit down to write a scene, you think about it for a bit, an idea presents itself, you start typing, and you’re off and running. You hit that groove where words flow without effort. One idea leads to the next. You can hardly keep pace with them. You’re exuberant and triumphant and so thoroughly pleased with yourself and your product.
Then duty calls. You reluctantly step away from your keyboard, still basking in the glow of all that creativity.
The next day you settle in to pick up where you left off, and you think to yourself, “Oh my god. This is So Bad.”
Truth be told, it isn’t usually So Bad, but neither is it So Good, which is So Discouraging. What does it say about your taste and breeding that you ever thought this twaddle was acceptable?
Perhaps you never have these doubts? Never think that this leaden, clunky prose indicates a profound lack of talent?
A dilemma. Shall I slink away to lick my wounds, or shall I stand and face that vicious inner critic? It’s time to assume the virtual lotus position and find my inner Zen warrior.
Today’s writing mantra is brought to you by Anne Lamott: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to begin somewhere.”
Thank you, Sensei Anne.
That’s just what I need to remember, not only as it applies to an individual bit of writing, but to the craft itself. You must begin somewhere, specifically where you are right now, in terms of experience and ability and desire. That first draft (and maybe the second, third, or fourth) isn’t going to be golden. This isn’t manna dropped from heaven: writing is hard work, and as in any craft, perseverance and practice, informed by objective and compassionate review, will lead to improvement.
At least I hope so. Anne Lamott wouldn’t lie to me.
Amity Who is a fledgling writer but experienced reader. On AO3 as Amity_Who and Tumblr as Amitywho.
Come Hell or High Water
By Atlin Merrick
A thousand words a day.
One thousand words a day. A thousand every day every day one thousand.
That. There. The rule I lived by for two years.
Several years ago, in an effort to become a better writer, I promised myself I'd write a thousand words a day for a year. When that went well, I continued on into two years and by early year three…
…I was…
…sometimes…
…………falling behind.
Because by year three I'd become deeply involved with fandom, going to meetups and conventions, I'd moved countries, and I'd started a degree programme.
So a thousand words a day became difficult, but I would keep track of the words I'd missed anyway, and I'd grouse to myself, "You're three thousand two hundred and four words behind you know," and the number would grow and then wane and I'd complain to myself times forever. Then once, just the once, I made these grumbling mouth noises in the presence of Ms Verity Burns, fellow writer and my friend.
She said something then that became a mantra for me, is one to this day, and those words were these:
Who made that rule?
Who, asked wise Verity, made the rule that I had to write a thousand words a day? Everyday. No matter what. Who did that?
I blinked at her in surprise and said as softly as I ever get: "Me? Me. I made that rule. I made that rule."
And I had, obviously I had.
I think we all do this, make rules that feel iron tight, unbreakable, important. Like not using the china except for special occasions and the thing is—who made that rule? Once you have the answer to that, here comes my second vital mantra, this time from my wonderful brother Bobby:
How's that working for you?
A thousand words a day come hell or high water was a rule I had made. How was that working for me? Once I asked that question I knew: it wasn't.
Each of these mantras was a revelation and now I take 'em with me everywhere, a one-two punch: Who made that rule Atlin, and how's it workin' for you? The answers have helped guide me to more sensible behaviour for years now and for that I'm grateful.
Before those mantras I'm not sure I could have seen things as clearly as they now help me see. Maybe they'll work for you too, or maybe you have other words that do? Tell me won't you?
Atlin Merrick writes fic, edits this newsletter, can be found on Twitter, and is acquisitions editor for Improbable Press, which wants your book submissions!
What mantra keeps you creating? What words do you whisper late in the night as you plot a story, sketch a drawing?
AmityWho
"Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to begin somewhere." — Anne Lamott. Helps me keep trying when everything I write seems like crap.
Dr Nicko @nickovdw
That's easy..."You'll have to give the commission money back." It works every time. ;) lol
Esik Elwood @EsikElwood
When I feel like I can’t do something I think of all the other times I thought I couldn’t do something & succeeded ...& then go back to thinking I’ll fail cos I seem to be programmed that way anyway!…It’s amazing how quickly the brain forgets. You have to keep topping up that confidence or believe that the reserves are there waiting somewhere under the surface. Ok [in] the end we won’t know until we try!
Hugo Award Winner Nemesis @asstromechdroid
No words. Just the urge to complete.
Jamie Ashbird @JamieAshbird
Multi-tasking is a lie. One thing at a time! also
Chop the big thing into little things you can actually chew and swallow.
Linhith @Linhith
It's my characters who whisper to me.
Lynn Fraser @LynnAFraser
Just fucking do it.
Nosecrinkle @nosecrinkles
Does crying count as a mantra?
Nym @nymeriaking
And now what?
And now what?
And now what?
There's never a stopping point because time does not stop (except when my eyes close of their own volition).
S. Diana Nimm @SDianaNimm
“No bad writing”. #StephenKing
Star @Splintered_star
Bad drafts are better than no drafts.
Xan @ comms open @xandrei
I can't take credit for the originality since mine comes from Yuri On Ice; "When will you come out of warm up mode?"
Mantras Times Three
By Gowerstreet
* Writing is key to a life well-lived
The days when I don't or can’t write rarely go smoothly. Characters wave at me from the corner of my sight, demanding to know why I’ve left them inches from calamity for days at a time.
Consulting detectives and ex-army doctors in particular have superhuman levels of passive aggressive sulking because I’m elbow-deep in the work inbox instead of documenting their adventures across London. They forgive me, eventually.
* I write for myself—past, present, future
For the teenager surrounded by frenemies in a town that shut its eyes at dusk. Life Will Get Better.
For the woman who took decades to realise that she was allowed to be creative with the threads of existing narratives and weave them into new cloth.
For the individual who looks back at this time, taking joy in the patterns of life which fandom has given her.
* The courage to share should be rewarded with encouragement
I’m discovering new writers each time that I open a tab on AO3. Every now and again, the writer will preface a great story with phrases such as “This is my first fic ever / in a very long time / that I've written in English.”
It takes me back to when I first took that terrifying leap and posted for the first time. Previous to that, only a clutch of people had read my writing. To share anything was terrifying, even behind the mask of another identity.
It takes me less than a heartbeat to press the kudos button, perhaps a minute to post “Loved this!” or “Thanks for posting.” But that parcel of appreciation gives a writer on the other side of the internet (and quite possibly the world) the gift of being seen and known.
In my earliest days of writing for the Sherlock fandom, this is what spurred me on during a time when little else made sense.
Gowerstreet writes fic in multiple fandoms and you can find her stories on AO3.
The One I Must Please
By Jen C Flynn
Up until now, I’d never really thought of myself as having a mantra. Sure, there were things I’d think about to remind myself to keep writing, but I never thought of them as being mantra-esque. But now, looking back, I suppose they were. They are.
The thoughts that have kept me going have changed occasionally, and usually consisted of things like, “Just keep writing” (as I shared in the last issue of Spark) and “X amount of words is X more than you had before” and “You can do it!”
Recently, it’s changed again. What is it now? (Other than the aforementioned, just keep writing?)
I write for me.
That might sound like a rather selfish thing to say, but it’s true. I write for my enjoyment first and foremost, and if others enjoy reading what I put out there, awesome! If not, oh well, they can simply scroll on by and find something that appeals to them.
Admittedly, it’s a mantra that has taken me a long time to be okay with. It’s not easy coming to terms with the fact that my writing is not going to please everyone. Why write at all if I can’t please people? That thought in and of itself can be down-right crippling. So much so, that I often second-guess myself, second-guess how well my writing will be received, if it’s received at all.
And then I remember that in spite of the doubts and the second-guessing, “I write for me” are the words I write by. They are the words I live by. If I am not writing for me, then writing feels like something I have to do, rather than something I want to do. It’s impossible to please everybody.
But, the one person I must please day in and day out is, me. So, I’m going to just keep writing and write for me.
If you’re curious about her writing, find Jen C Flynn’s Sherlock fanfiction on AO3. You can also find her hanging out on Twitter under the handle JenCatheryne.
An Incredibly Diverse World
By Rudbeckia
When I first started writing fiction (as an adult) I was stuck in a mindset where fanfiction was somehow lesser than other forms of writing.
I told myself that by indulging in fanfiction I was developing my skills for when I was ready to tackle the (supposed) loftier goal of literary fiction. So my mantra was probably something involving words like “practice” and “polish” regarding my use of written language to shake it free of its academic origins.
But I realised after a while that my mindset was all wrong. I wasn’t practising so that I could join the ranks of authors I admired after all.
In fact, the more fanfiction I read, the more my standards for traditionally published fiction changed to match the incredibly diverse world of transformative works, and the lower some traditional outlets for fiction slipped in my estimation as they failed to measure up.
Now I decided I was writing so that I could produce stories that I wanted to read, and maybe other people might find entertainment in what I wrote too. So my mantra was “write whatever you’d want to read.”
In the last year or so my mantra has evolved again.
I write because I have stories I want to tell. I write because plot and characters scratch an itch that other activities can’t quite reach. I write because it is the most fun I can have inside my own head. It can be as solid as a multi-chapter behemoth on AO3 or as ephemeral as a chain of tweets. And I tell myself over and over that it doesn’t have to meet anyone’s standards except my own.
So my current mantra? It's “write, if you feel like it.”
Usually I do.
Rudbeckia is a scientist who can write, draw, sing, play guitar, and ski. Mostly badly. Rudbeckia can be found on Twitter and on AO3.
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The best way to guarantee Spark is useful to you is to be part of Spark. So write us a few words won't you? On any (or all) of these ten future topics?G'wan, we want your words. You can do eet.
Ooo, you know what I'd especially love for a future newsletter? To learn about your experiences starting small. Did you place a poem with an anthology? Did you sell a short story to a regional magazine or draw a logo for a local business? Share your tips on making that first writing or drawing sale no matter how tiny because that's how almost all of us start—small. Share by 30 September, 25-100 words OR 250-600 please!
