Beggars Can't Be Choosers

I never cared for the saying, "beggars can't be choosers." It always seemed to imply that standards are a luxury. Whether it be food or art or people, if something is not good enough for you, then you can and should choose to not take it.

I was wrong, though, about the saying. It is a correct statement, but I look at it from the opposite direction. A beggar is one without standards (or with standards so low as to be negligible). That is why they beg. Beggars can't be choosers because they are mutually exclusive terms. A chooser is one who, by definition, is not begging.

What matters, though, is to realize when you are and when you are not a beggar.

Young writers are beggars of a sort. They will do anything to have anybody acknowledge them and validate their writing (and thus validate themselves). They sell their services for cheap (or give them away) to anybody willing to accept them. It is classic begging.

Be better than that. Be strong. Just because you do not have a writing job does not mean you have to take anything that remotely resembles it. If you are a skilled professional (and if you are able to do that work, then you are), act like one. Don't take a lousy deal just because it was the first or only one offered. Be a chooser.

Don't Try To Be Quoted

I talked almost 2 years ago about unquotable quotes. There, I explained that plenty of brilliant things are thought of and shared to a small number of people, but are never realized to their fullest potential. As such, you can amass a substantial collection of ideas just by realizing how much gold falls out of people's mouths.

I want to pull a particular story from that post. In fact, it's the first paragraph. Every now and then, people will come up to me and say, "I 've been thinking about what you said the other day." I always tell them the same thing: "What did I say?"

I do have a number of quotes. I don't really think of them as quotes, but they are things I often say. Usually, they are a primary principle, like "total and complete honesty leads to true happiness." I say it often, but it never quite sticks. I think that part of the reason is that it requires further explanation to fully grasp what it means.

However, when I'm talking about the subject, it is some off-the-cuff comment I make that always seems to sink in. Granted, when I said, "putting whipped cream on a cyanide pill doesn't make you not die", it was pretty funny. And it was relevant to the conversation at hand. But I did not come up with it to get quoted. I made it up to add to a conversation.

And therein lies the point. Don't try to be quoted. Try to say something useful. Let other people decide whether it's worth quoting.

Only Relent A Little

I am working on a story for a writing contest. The contest has been around and, reading the the winners and runners-up of previous years, I find myself frustrated in trying to match that style of writing. I am still trying to do it, and it isn't completely unnatural, but it is not my default style.

I suspect that, if I wanted to, I could totally imitate it. It's mostly a matter of perception and willpower. Heck, it's a writing exercise. But, I just don't want to do that. If I imitated somebody else's style entirely, then it would be unnatural.

Sometimes, depending on what you are writing, and for whom, you may be forced to fit into a certain style. If there is no way around it, then bite your tongue and do your job. And if you absolutely cannot stand it, then don't make it be your job. (There is a reason I refuse to work as a journalist [though I will still do editing work for news publications because that's different than writing for them].)

If it is not an absolute requirement, then my advice is to only relent a little. There is no perfect writing style. Just because one kind has won a contest doesn't mean that your style wouldn't totally dominate it (or at least shake things up). I have made my peace by doing so, and however the results come in, I am happy that I stayed true to myself.

Let People Be Useful

Today's post is a classic example of being both about life and about writing.

The first part is about life. Let people be useful. Everybody likes to feel as though they have purpose and use. Your friends generally are more than happy to help you out for that reason (and maybe because they like you, which is why they're your friends). Sometimes, even if yo do not need somebody's help, you should still let them help you, just to make them feel better. You help them out by letting them help you. Plus, if you consistently turn away help, people will stop offering to help you, which may one day bite you in the butt.

The second part is about writing. Stories need characters. They very often need more than one. As such, each character should have a purpose. It is easy to focus a lot of time and energy into one character. It is not a bad thing to develop your characters unevenly (some are more important than others, some are more mysterious), but if you let one character do 80% of the work, then the other ones are basically six-year-old girls.

Let your characters be useful. They may not all have their own unique skills, but they should all have input and should all have some significant effect on the story.

Make A Satisfying Experience

People worry about the ending too much. They think that that if a story doesn't have a thoroughly satisfying ending, then it isn't worth making. Although the ending does certainly matter, I think it does not deserve as much concern as people give it.

When a story relies on a surprising ending, it is effective once. If I read or watch such a story again, I just spend the whole time waiting for that ending.

If you concern yourself more with the journey of the story, be it meeting people, amusing conversations, poignant debates, and a resolution of conflict, then the whole story will make a satisfying experience, not just the ending.

Should It Go Without Saying?

I was going through my folders, digging though my dozen documents of story idea blurbs, and dozens more expanded story ideas. In one of the documents, I read a single line: "I think that goes without saying. Still, I should probably say it."

It might have been ripped from an actual conversation. It may have been some dialogue I randomly came up with and wrote down. I have no clue anymore, since it probably predates this blog (and I have trouble remembering whether I did something on Wednesday or Thursday by the time Thursday night comes along).

That's not the point, though. The point is the words themselves. Some things do go without saying. The sun will rise tomorrow, then set. People will be born. People will die. There will be suffering, and it will be interrupted with joy. (I am aware that any of these so-called facts can be challenged by a writer. They don't really need to be said, because everybody knows them to be true - they do not reveal new information.

Originally, I titled this post, "Does It Go Without Saying?" But, thinking about it, I realized that's not the question. The more important issue is, should it go without saying? Just because something doesn't add new information does not mean that it doesn't add flavor or color to a story. Sometimes known information needs to be said to show that it is known, but it is still important.

It is your discretion whether something should go without saying. There is subtlety and nuance in giving information, implying information, and letting the audience make up their own. There is no right or wrong answer, only what you feel is right (or perhaps what your audience best-responds to).

Don't Forget To Actually Do It

I'm writing an extended piece of fiction and I can feel the burn. I haven't actually done this in a long time. Much of my prose has either been nonfictional or very short fiction. On top of that, so much of my writing has been for a visual medium, like graphic novels, that doing prose is a significantly different experience. It requires a very different skill set.

I write a lot in Cheff Salad about storytelling. Technically speaking, storytelling is the same anywhere. However, the way that you tell a story can be extremely different. In a graphic novel, you have pictures to show the scenes, describe the characters, tell those subtle nuances. The writing you are doing is about the characters' actions and personalities. The words that people read are dialogue and some narration. Compare that to traditional prose, where your words describe everything, and understand how very different they are.

As such, although I have talked much about writing prose, I'm feeling quite rusty at it. Granted, I am writing my first draft, so there will be much editing and revising in my future, which makes me not feel so bad about being rusty. (Take note on that, writers.)

This leads to the important lesson: don't forget to actually do your craft. Talking is easy. It's also cheap. Anybody can talk about doing something. The difficulty and effort is in actually doing it. And, for the serial starters out there, the difficulty is in finishing what you start.