The ART of Writing

By C. Michelle Jefferies

It's a discussion I've had many times with authors of all levels.

What does it take to produce a publishable work of writing?

You see, writing, or being an author is within the realm of the arts. That same realm of music, theater, visual arts, dance, and/or any other creative endeavor. Art is created to entertain, show and express. Great art makes us think and feel emotions. Bad art repels us and creates no resonance between the viewer and the creator. The same goes for books.

There is a problem in the current mind set around publishing. Many new authors think that they can write a draft and run the most basic spell check and be done with their book. That minimal effort is passable. If JK Rowling did it, so can they. If this mindset doesn't work in any other art form, why is it okay in writing?

No elementary school kid is going to produce gallery worthy pictures with paper and crayons. No first year piano student is going to play at Carnegie Hall. A just graduated high school drama student is going to land a Broadway lead.

Why?

Time.

They haven't invested the time, practice, and work that it takes to become a professional in their realm of art. At least not yet. Writing well takes time and practice. Learning character, pacing, plot and all of the other subtleties of writing a good novel requires hours of application.

I don't want this to discourage you, at all. It's totally possible to have a successful career as a published author. Whether you go Indie or Traditional.

Just think of it this way, if you want to be successful as an author like Michael Jordan was in basketball, you need to do what he did. Practice every day, for hours, and learn your art/game. Write millions of words, rewrite, revise, and edit those millions of words. learn everything you can about the publishing world and then when you feel like the story might be worthy of something, send it to people who will make you revise, edit, and rework it to make it even better.

I promise you, when a writers reputation depends on satisfying the reader and recommendations from readers, you don't want to tape a crayon on construction paper rendition of your pet cat on the wall next to the Mona Lisa.

Find your magic