If You Can't Define It, Don't Talk About It

I sat in on a writing class this week and the teacher asked us at what point we become a fan of our own writing.

The class was silent. This included me, as I didn't have an answer prepared for that question. I did know it was true, though, because I am a fan of my own work. So why is it the case? What changed in me that made me enjoy and respect my work?

After some time (probably seconds, but feeling much longer), I spoke up. "You become a fan of your work when you can define it. When you can say, in no uncertain terms, exactly what you try to do and how well you succeed at doing it, you will become a fan of your work."

I was pretty proud of this answer. I came up with it pretty quickly and it was a good answer. I thought about the scene and what I had said throughout the rest of the day. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was to it.

Being able to define yourself and your writing style is crucial. If you don't know what you're trying to accomplish, it will be very difficult to accomplish. If you don't know where you are as a writer, you won't know where to go next.

Now, being able to define yourself and your style and your techniques are not the first step. The first step is exposure and practice. You have to develop your mind and your muscles, gain some discipline, discover as many tools as you can and how to use them. However, once you start learning about those tools, that is when you can start defining yourself. What sentence length do you use? What kind of melody or rhythm do you prefer? What kind of story do you tell? What characters do you use? What point do you try to make (if any)?

If you can't define what you're talking about, then you don't really know it. And if you don't know what you're talking about, don't talk about it with authority. Though this sounds harsh, it is not as bad as it may seem. If you don't fully know about a subject, that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about it at all. If you did that, you would never learn. Definitely talk about it, but do it as a form of learning. Discover as much as you can so you can better understand yourself (and also better understand and discuss others). Then you can speak about it with full confidence (and be your own number one fan).