But during that spring semester, a sort of hush fell over my previously busy creative life – not a writer’s block, but a sense that it was time to stop goofing around with a pick and shovel and get behind the controls of one big great God a’mighty steamshovel, a sense that it was time to try and dig something big out of the sand, even if the effort turned out to be an abysmal failure.I've been pissing around with writing for most of my adult life. I've primarily stayed within the shared genres of fantasy, sci-fi, and magical realism. And all of my attempts begain with one big, metaphysical and mythic idea. I then would craft a meticulous clockwork scaffolding to execute this idea. And the structure would inevitably fall apart. Then I would try to build it up a bit differently. But the same thing would happen.
It's many years later. I still haven't finished writing anything. And thought I have what I think are a ton of great story ideas in my head, I've pretty much given up on writing.
But there is freedom in giving up. It gives you the freedom to just write, without any goal or motivation, other than just to write.
So Mr. King's quote gave me just the right impetus. Maybe the problem is exactly that I've been trying to build brilliant, Swiss-mechanismed, be-all-and-end-all masterpieces. When what I should be doing is throwing a bunch of clay together and just build something big and powerful. Go for impact, power, and imagination. Not wow, look at this complicated, amazing, brilliant thing. Put characters, technology, settings and events that are just big and cool. Not because they effortlessly fit together like a Chinese puzzle.
So, my advice to struggling writers:
So write big. Write hard. Write fast. Write loud. Leave your editor far back in the dust. And don't look back.
