Ali, I find it interesting that you refer twice to what you “need” to say, as well as what you intend to say, which suggests there is a motivation prior to, and different from, intent. Maybe you could say more about this some time, as motivation to write is something I am interested in, and particularly in how it differs between writers. Why do we do it? For my own part, I don’t know - maybe just curiosity to see what happens when the pen scrapes the page.
Ah. This is a fascinating observation, and a little alarming, perceiving too much maybe…yes, that would be interesting to explore. I mostly write because I’m very bad at thinking otherwise, writing makes thoughts more linear, less tangled. I’m also horribly inarticulate in real life 😂.
As I write my unspectacular memoir I often become frustrated with my desire to write the narrative but too often I’m overcome by the need to write the philosophical. The result usually becomes disorganized bit of waste in garbage can.
It’s a fine line between the two. That’s why I really like first person present tense in memoir, no need to the philosophical. But takes so many drafts to get the balance, and so much ends up in the bin. My editor always says a book is an iceberg.
Ali, I find it interesting that you refer twice to what you “need” to say, as well as what you intend to say, which suggests there is a motivation prior to, and different from, intent. Maybe you could say more about this some time, as motivation to write is something I am interested in, and particularly in how it differs between writers. Why do we do it? For my own part, I don’t know - maybe just curiosity to see what happens when the pen scrapes the page.
Ah. This is a fascinating observation, and a little alarming, perceiving too much maybe…yes, that would be interesting to explore. I mostly write because I’m very bad at thinking otherwise, writing makes thoughts more linear, less tangled. I’m also horribly inarticulate in real life 😂.
As I write my unspectacular memoir I often become frustrated with my desire to write the narrative but too often I’m overcome by the need to write the philosophical. The result usually becomes disorganized bit of waste in garbage can.
It’s a fine line between the two. That’s why I really like first person present tense in memoir, no need to the philosophical. But takes so many drafts to get the balance, and so much ends up in the bin. My editor always says a book is an iceberg.
Thank you for the present tense advice. I’ll try it.