Personal Philosophy: Priorities

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      No series on personal philosophies would be complete without a look at priorities. Priorities help you get on track, stay on track, and even find the track in the first place. Your priorities reflect both your ideal and your actual creative life-style. Your choices affect both long-term and short-term creativity, productivity, and stamina (some would add sanity to this list).

Sleep may hurt short-term productivity but definitely helps with stamina and creativity in both the short-term and long-term.

Exercise helps with energy for creativity and productivity.

Length of writing session. I am guilty of long writing stints. Only recently have I been learning that breaks actually help long-term productivity and stamina. But I find I go further with my creativity when I set aside long blocks of time. On the other hand, many long sessions hasten burn-out which hurts you in the long-term.

Frequency of writing sessions. Writing more often definitely is a plus for creativity and productivity.

Rest of your life. I'm really bad at this but it is excellent for long-term stamina and creativity. And when you make a point of taking quality time for your family, they are more willing to accommodate your writing schedule.

      What would you add to this list of priorities?

Personal Philosophy: Critics and Critiques

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      This isn't a how-to for how to deal with criticism. It's about identifying your personal philosophy about them. Love them, hate them, fear them, avoid them. But why? And what are your ideal critic and ideal critique?

      Let's start at the end. What is your ideal critique? I would love for someone to some day call my book “a high fantasy for all ages … has major elements of adventure mystery and love”. Knowing this about myself, I try to write these elements into my story.

      You may not have thought about an ideal critic. But critics are not a single species. They are readers, so your ideal critic is probably going to be a lot like your ideal reader. Write for one and you may already be writing for the other. Personally, I see a critic as a reader who has a voice with other readers. So, to me, a critic is no more scary than any other reader. I see a particular critic as only being representative of a certain type of reader. Thinking about critics – who they represent, the power they wield (and why) – is intimately tied to how you see your readers.

      How do you play with critics? Do you avoid them or invite them in? Even more important is why. Many times this is a reflection of how you see your own worth and/or the worth of your book. Some people look to themselves for this while some people look to others. Most people are in between. Other people see a critic or critique as a challenge to be met by their work or by themselves. These people might go seeking feedback.

      Also important is whether or not you like the way you deal with positive and negative criticism. Once you know why you act the way you do, it is of course possible to change. But I digress. For the purposes of learning your personal writing philosophy, it is enough to know how you respond, why you respond, and possibly to set goals to change. A personal philosophy is, by its very nature, evaluative and contemplative so if you see room for improvement why not set goals to change?

Personal Philosophy: What It All Means

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      What makes any book great? Great plots, characters, settings, and world immediately come to mind. So does a narrative style that pulls the reader into these and leaves the “real” world behind. But all that is common advice, not necessarily personal philosophy. What's really important is what “great” means to you.

      Great can mean what makes a book wonderful and first-rate. The (possibly)
bad news is that greatness is subjective. The good news is that your criteria for greatness are probably shared by your your reader. 

      Technique is important, but I also care about scope.

      I care about the purpose of the book, the underlying meaning or
message. This sounds suspiciously like theme but can also be seen as
the book's perspective or assumptions. I really, really love books
where hard work leads to success, where good wins out, where people
find true love. Whether the book argues for the existence of these
things or simply assumes them, I find that almost “great book”
has these elements. Find your own criteria of greatness
and incorporate them into your personal writing philosophy.

      I also care about the room in a book for exploration of ideas and
perspectives, as well as exploration of the world (which almost
necessarily plays into the first two types of exploration). This may
or may not be important to you and your ideal reader. But it a
potential that books have and may be something that you find in a
“great book”. Exploration is very different than statements or
assumptions. While the first can satisfy a sense of 'rightness”,
the second can promote openness and flexibility of thought. I think
it promotes creative thinking and personal involvement in a book. So
it is part of my writing philosophy.

      In a less abstract sense, scope can also be the length or extent of the
work. I happen to most enjoy books that bring me back to (and expand
on) a world. I prefer series of series over stand-alones. You may be
just the opposite. You can see how knowing this informs how you
design the scope of your work. My belief that series allow for more
exploration of character, plot, theme, and world – and the value
that I place on these elements – predisposes me towards series.

      In fantasy and in romance, I look for length, “what we wish might be”,
“a truer version of reality”, a complex universe, and “the
world as it should be” (excerpts from my own lists). These are
things that I think I always unconsciously looked for in the books
that I read. When I became conscious of this, I was able to
incorporate them into my own stories. I quickly found that my stories
gave me more satisfaction – and when they seemed lacking I knew what
to check (aside the obvious).

      What does this all mean? To me, a book needs technique but it also needs
“greatness” or scope. And scope comes in many flavors. Because
of space limits I touched on only a few the elements that I think
make a book not merely good but great. What do you believe makes a
book great?

Personal Philosophy: Topics and Themes

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Part of the appeal of writing is the opportunity to write whatever you want. That's the theory, anyway. (The drawback is that you don't get to write however you want.) Many writers actively look for inspiration from the outside world in the form of news articles, overheard conversations, and research. But these strategies are grounded in and filtered through your personal interests, values, beliefs.

Interests → Story You write what you know and you probably know (or are working to know) a lot about what interests you. The facts and suppositions about what you learn fuel your characters, plots, and settings. By knowing your interests, you can more efficiently focus your intelligence-gathering efforts.

Values → Theme. Your values influence how you think about almost anything that catches your eye. Is it good or evil? Was the decision fair or unjust? Did she get what she deserved? All of these assessments are fodder for themes and plots.

Beliefs → Conflict. Your values are judgements made based on your beliefs. Conflict most often happens when beliefs clash.

Personal Philosophy: Why This Genre?

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Outsiders tend to group “writers” in one big pack. But there are many types of writers. But writers are selective in what they write – usually just a few forms. Knowing your reasons for writing these genres and styles can help you keep going or know when it is time to change.

 

Define your genre(s). You might have thought a lot about what genre(s) you would write in and whether you should branch out or cross genre lines. Or maybe the decision was obvious to you. Either way, you reached your decision in part because of how you defined that genre. Not the market definition – your definition. A definition provides important guidelines for your writing. For instance, I believe fantasy is the literature of ethics, is a truer version of reality and also what our minds “wish might be”.

 

Identify its potential. How you define your genre gives some insight into its appeal but also consider what you want to do with your genre. I love the familiar-yet-strange characters, settings, and world-building of fantasy (a standard). I enjoy innovative use of myth (an option). And I like use my genre as an expansion of reality. Within your genre, what possibilities excite you?

What you give. There's a lot of books out there so know the qualities you can bring to the table. This can be as simple as a love of writing but originality helps. What makes you special? There are hints to this in the last two sections. We'll explore it from another angle later by looking at what you want readers and critics say about your works.

These truths are at the core of why you write what you write. They give you direction, ideas, and affirmation. They also pinpoint your personal writing interests. Sometimes these interests change. For instance, perhaps your concept of the genre evolves. This changes your idea of its potential which in turn might affect your perception of what you can give.

Or you stretch your abilities and you feel another genre has more potential. Or maybe you see the potentials for your current genre as drying up as the genre evolves. If you stay aware of your beliefs, you will know why you are uneasy or unsatisfied. Know yourself and you'll know when it is time to consider a change (or expansion) in genres – and why.

Personal Philosophy: Ideas and Ideals

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Your writing philosophy is more than a statement. It is a collection of personal truths and beliefs. Some are about your writing – why you write in a particular genre or genres, what topics and themes you want to address, and what you want your story world to be like. Part of your philosophy should concern your readers – what you want them to say about your books and what sort of relationship you want to have with them. And part of your writing philosophy is about yourself as a writer – your priorities, your conduct, and your lifestyle. We'll look at these issues over the next several days.

Even if you already have a writing philosophy, it is worth your time to examine it again. Over time, you change, your writing changes, and your life changes. This means your writing philosophy may need to change too.

If you do not have a concrete writing philosophy, there are several benefits to having one. First, you will know where you are headed and why. Second, a record of your writing philosophy gives you something to go back to when you are feeling underwhelmed, overwhelmed, or simply not motivated. Finally, it gives you a way to explain to yourself and others why you write – what you give and what you get.

Over the next few days, I'll give you ideas to think about but no template. This is intentional. A writing philosophy is unique to each writer. Not only are your ideas about your writing unique, your way of expressing your philosophy may be unique as well. A poem, a collage, a certificate, a list? There are many ways to record your resolve.