Good writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in the presence of experience, both good and bad. It happens because of curiosity.
Where does this path lead? Why does this character choose to act in a certain way? What happens when this word and not that one is used? What is the effect of a semicolon versus a comma or end stop?
Curiosity leads to experiencing and learning new things. Some of those things will be bad. Some will be good. All are necessary to the writing life. It is the ground from which writing blossoms.
No experience, no writing, at least not writing that resonates. Good writing finds an echo in the hearts of men and women because it reflects upon some reality they have experienced or innately know but haven’t yet been able to express. Good writing gives voice to the voiceless. It opens the world, invites people to enter it.
Because of that, writers have to get outside the house. They have to spend time with the aches and pains and joys and beauties of this world. They have to get messy—with the world and with the writing. Closing themselves off from pain and ecstasy is no way to write, and it’s no way to live.
Learning something new is. The new invigorates. It excites. The new is freshly turned ground. From it spring a few tendrils to be coaxed into light and life.
Image: Sharon and Nikki McCutcheon (Creative Commons)