Fight Writing Inspiration: FightWrite™
I love teaching at writers’ conferences. I am fresh out of one in which I taught about 150 writers and worked one-on-one with almost two dozen more. My FightWrite™ table, where I took my one-on-one mentor appointments, was near the intersection of two of the five rooms where agents and editors were taking pitches. I couldn’t help but see the writers walk to and from those rooms.
(Dislocating a Thumb to Escape Handcuffs: FightWrite™)
It’s a stressful endeavor, pitching your book. I could see it on the writers’ faces and have experienced it myself. What makes it so nerve-wracking is that a piece of us is woven into the product. And when someone rejects that product, our book, it’s very easy to confuse with them rejecting that piece of us that’s in it. Before we know it, and often without realizing it, we make being published into a false measure of not only the worth of our book, but us as well. Trust me, that’s simply not the case. Regardless of where your book ends up, it’s the right place.
The Two Types of Books
There are more book genres than you can shake a stick at. The all-knowing internet shows there are somewhere between 30 and 85. But even if there were over one million genres, every single book falls into only two categories: a book meant to be read or a book meant to be written.
Books Meant to Be Read
Some books are intended for consumption. These are the books meant to be read. They intrigue a reader’s brain, tickle their funny bone, touch their heart or light a fire in their belly. These books are why we writers exist. Somewhere along the line we read one and it made us want to write, made us want to create, made us want to run headlong into the infinite wilderness of words. These books must exist in the world.
Books Meant to Be Written
Some books are intended not to be consumed but created. These are the books that are meant to be written. These books exist because we can only become who we are meant to be by writing them. They open up a chapter within us that we could only know by writing. They help us decide what we want out of the endeavor and show who will support us no matter what we decide. They help us navigate things we’ve struggled through, show us sides of ourselves we’ve never seen, push us beyond boundaries in a way nothing else could. These books also must exist in the world.
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Reconciling the Two
Every writer wants to write a book that’s meant to be read. But what every writer needs is a book that’s meant to be written. The first type of book will make you feel like the writer you want to be. But that second type? That’s the type that will make you into the writer you’re meant to be.
I am a Brazilian jiujitsu player and have competed quite a bit. (This does relate, stay with me.) My last competition ended in crushing defeat. To make matters worse, I lost to someone who was not better than me. I was the reigning World Champ, second in the world in my category. My opponent, to my knowledge, wasn’t even ranked. Anything can happen in fighting and that day it did.
When the ref raised my opponent’s hand, he happened to see me mouth to my coach, I’m sorry. The ref kindly took my arm, led me to the edge of the mat then asked why I apologized. Through tears, I told him that I felt like I had let my coach down. The ref, a seasoned and decorated black belt, told me that I had nothing to apologize for. I had gotten out there and fought. For that alone I should be proud and I should never apologize for taking a chance on losing. And now, almost a year later, I see that fight was not meant to be won. It was meant to be fought. It is part of why I am the fighter I am today and because of that, I’ve won something that a medal couldn’t have given me.
Either Way, You Win
Writer, whatever becomes from your manuscript is a triumph. The majority of people can’t even finish reading a book. You are no less a writer if they never have the chance to not finish reading yours! To write a book is a Herculean feat, and you seeing it through matters. You taking the chance matters. Fighting that fight matters. Just remember that the outcome may not feel victorious. You may write a book that will be on the New York Times bestseller list. But it may not be the book you are writing now. The book you are writing now may be preparing you to better write the next book. And that next book might prepare you to write the best book you’ve written, a book you could have only written after writing those first two books that never saw the light of day. Or, it could simply be that the book you are writing now is making you into the person you could have only become because you chose to write it. For that too, be proud and never apologize. Future you needs now you to unapologetically take the chance and write.
Until the next round with FightWrite™ on the WD Blog, get blood on your pages. And be proud of every drop.
Struggling to choose a fighting style for your character? The struggle is over. The way your character does battle isn’t up to you. It’s up to the story. The time and place of the work, the society in which your character lives, their inherent and fostered traits and the needs of the story will determine how your character responds to aggression.