Courtney Cantrell's weekly writing advice.

When I was in college, I spent one particular semester feeling as though I were afflicted with a rare and temporary form of Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka Multiple Personality Disorder). Two of my classes that semester were Media Writing and Creative Writing II. In Media Writing, I learned to write one-sentence paragraphs; to put all of my important information at the beginning of each sentence so as to keep the reader’s attention; and to use passive voice. In Creative Writing, I learned to vary the length of my paragraphs; to hint at important information so as to pique the reader’s interest; and to banish passive voice to the depths of the hell whence it originated. You laugh (and yea verily, I can hear the Schadenfreude in your sniggering), but I honestly did feel like two different people vying for control over the same mind. Depending on which of the two classes I happened to be sitting in, one personality dominated, while the other languished in impotent frustration. The homework assignments for both classes had me picking up my marbles off the floor of my living room several days a week.

Eleven years later, here I sit, having finally learned that divergent creative personalities need not remain unintegrated forever.

Over the past two-and-a-half weeks, I have written five posts (counting this one) for Unstressed Syllables. My writing for this site is not wholly media writing, nor is it wholly technical writing. (At least, I don’t think it’s entirely tech writing; but please don’t quote me on this–you’d have to ask Aaron to be sure.) It seems my quirkier side can’t resist putting in a word here and there, peppering my articles with creative flair. Still, what I’ve been writing for this blog is not fiction.

But.

Since I joined Unstressed Syllables, I have added 6,000 words to my work-in-progress, a paranormal novel entitled SHADOWS AFTER MIDNIGHT. That’s compared to the preceding six weeks of teeth-pull-writing that garnered me a measly 7,000 words. Now, I find myself putting together story scenes in my head when I’m away from my computer. I’m making random notes again. The kind you scribble on napkins at restaurants because you can’t remember to keep a Writing Notebook in your purse. The kind you hieroglyph onto a scrap of paper on your nightstand without turning on the light in the middle of the night. The proverbial creative juices are flowing again–not in torrents to overwhelm me, but in a steady trickle that teases me to come back for more as surely as I’m trying to tease you, my inklings, into reading what I am writing now.

I credit my Unstressed Syllables writing with the end of my creative drought. It would seem that even just the act of writing–stringing thoughts together, finding the best adjectives, editing-in more powerful verbs–just The Doing Of It triggers my need to write fiction, even if my trigger isn’t fiction at all. Finally, I get it: I carry around with me a Tech/Media Writer…who is an excellent resource for my Creative Writer. No longer must I banish one in favor of the other. They are one, they are integrated, they are whole. They help each other, instead of hindering one another and giving me creative blackouts. I don’t have to be a writer version of Sybil anymore.

Metaphors and frilliness aside, the age-old adage (say that ten times fast) is true: If you want to be a writer, YOU MUST WRITE. Write and write and write and write, my friends. Write a journal. Write a poem. Write a song. Write a blog. Write ten grocery lists and pick the one you like most and makes sentences from the words upon it. Write something. You carry within you something that wants you to write it. It needs you to write it. And if you “go through the motions,” eventually the Something Which Must Be Written (please excuse the passive) will come out for a romp that will leave you breathless and begging for more.

And that’s WILAWriTWe!

(Furthermore, the FCC wants me to tell you that if you click on the link within this post, and if you buy a product, This Starving Artist will get a few bucks. Consider it your small contribution to The Arts! ;o)

Photo credit Courtney Cantrell.