“You are what’s wrong with literature”
I run through the /lit/ section over on a certain image board from time to time because amongst the crap there is decent, honest advice from others. Most of it can be considered total garbage, but then something like this comes along.
Somebody posted the following:
“I’m told that to be a good writer, you should also read. What’s the optimal reading/writing ratio? Also, if I’m going to treat this like a job, do I need to be working on it 8 hours a day? And if so, does that include the reading part, or do I literally need to be writing 8 hours a day and read a certain amount in my own time?
tl;dr I need all the advice you can give to get from “yeah, I’m an okay writer” to “I’m a published author, motherfuckers, and I finish 1-3 novels a year!”
The response was summed up in two posts by an Anonymous individual who said the following. This caps-lock active ranting individual is my hero:
“YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH LITERATURE.
A WRITER IS A WRITER NO MATTER WHAT, HE CARES ABOUT WORDS, HE CAN’T HELP BUT WRITE, IT’S BEYOND HIM. ART IS SOMETHING PERSONAL, IT’S SOMETHING THAT DRIVES YOU, NOT THE DISCIPLINE.
READING/WRITING RATIO? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? YOU THINK THERE IS AN IDEAL WAY OF DEALING WITH LIFE THAT WILL MAKE YOU A GOOD WRITER? HAH.
THEY SAY PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTION. YEAH, IT’S PERFECT AND ABSOLUTELY DULL. YOU CAN WRITE EVERYDAY AND BECOME BETTER AT IT, BUT IF YOU TREAT THIS SHIT AS A JOB, IF YOU THINK ON STATISTICS AND ON “THE BEST WAY TO WRITE” INSTEAD OF PUTTING SOME EFFORT ON THE FUCKING MAGICAL REALM OF WORDS, YOU CAN ONLY GET TO AN OK LEVEL.
“BAWWW BUT WHY DON’T YOU LET ME BE OK, I DON’T WANT TO BE THE NEXT SHAKESPEARE”. I DON’T FUCKING CARE BECAUSE I DON’T WANT ANOTHER STEPHANIE MEYER OR STEPHEN KING, WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THOSE COMMERCIAL UNINVENTIVE BORING PEOPLE WHO HAPPENED TO ACHIEVE SOME GOOD GRADES IN ENGLISH IN HIGHSCHOOL (OR IN SOME CASES NOT EVEN THAT).
YOU THINK BORGES WOULD ASK WHAT YOU ARE ASKING? WOULD JOYCE WRITE ANYTHING LIKE HE DID IF HE HAD THAT MENTALITY? FOR FUCK’S SAKE, EMILY DICKINSON WROTE FOR HERSELF HER ENTIRE LIFE. LOOK AT THOSE PEOPLE, HESSE, CERVANTES, HEMINGWAY, NERUDA, NABOKOV, MOTHERFUCKING SHAKESPEARE. THEY RESPECT THEIR OWN WORK, THEY RESPECT WORDS.
LET ME TELL YOU, YOU DON’T WANT TO WRITE AT ALL. YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER AND THAT’S DIFFERENT. YOU WANT THE STATUS, YOU WANT TO SIT AT A CONFERENCE AND TAKE QUESTIONS ON YOUR DULL HERO JOURNEY STORY WITH ELVES AND BULLSHIT.
READ/WRITE RATIO MY ASS……. YOU KNOW WHY THEY SAY IN ORDER TO WRITE YOU HAVE TO READ? BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE CONSTANTLY ASKING ON HOW TO BE A WRITER LIKE MARVELLOUS AND SUCCESSFUL J K ROWLING AND THE ENGLISH TEACHERS ARE SO CLUELESS ON WHAT TO DO WITH YOU THAT THEY ASK WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU READ AND YOU SAY “AH, NOT MUCH”, SHOWING OFF YOUR IGNORANCE. AND SO THEY SAY, “GO READ A LOT”, BECAUSE MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, YOU COULD FALL IN LOVE WITH LITERATURE IN ITS CORE. WORDS, WORDS.
A READER DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TOLD TO READ. A WRITER DOESN’T HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION TO WRITE. IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMITMENT TOWARDS THE WRITTEN WORD, DIVE INTO IT. IF NOT, THEN GO FUCK YOURSELF AND FUCK YOUR “I FINISH 1-3 NOVELS A YEAR” ATTITUDE.”