Hoe hanteer skrywers verwerping en mislukking?
1 Oktober 2020. Ek is nie lus vir skryf nie.
Hoekom?
Want ek weet nie hoe verder nie. Skryf kan ek, ja, maar my idees is op ‘n sitstaking.
‘Tame is lame’ en my storie kort ‘oemf’.
In plaas van beweeg van intensies na ‘werk aan my manuskrip’, wil ek ‘n afdraaipad volg wat my by enigiets anders gaan uitbring – net om die dag verby te kry.
Wat sê die kenners?
John Rogers het gesê dat ‘n mens jouself nie uit skrywersblok kan dink nie, jy moet jouself by die hekkie in jou kop verby skrýf. Stephen King sê dat dit allesbehalwe slim is om met ‘n stuk skryfwerk te stop bloot net omdat dit moeilik is – hetsy jou stryd op ‘n emosionele of kreatiewe vlak is. Soms moet ‘n mens jou fokus op die werk hou, al is jy nie daarvoor lus nie, want soms doen jy goeie werk selfs al voel dit vir jou asof jy bloot net modder na ‘n muur gooi. Oukei, ek erken, Stephen King het dit in minder eufemistiese terme beskryf.
Waarvoor is ons bang?
In my geval, dat my storie vaal gaan wees.
Skrywersblok is dus net ‘n mooi woord vir ‘vrees’.
Volgens Neil Gaiman moet jy agter jou rekenaar inskuif (ek is hier, Neil!) en een woord na die ander begin skryf. (Dís my probleem, Neil: ek wil nie ‘n vaal storie hê nie!)
Ek is dus bang dat dit wat ek aanpak nie goed genoeg gaan wees nie.
Kritiek en verwerping
Die meeste van ons is bang vir kritiek.
Is dit normaal?
Ja.
Stephen King se advies is dat jy jouself op meer kritiek en mislukking moet voorberei as wat jy dink jy sal kan hanteer.
My debuutroman is deur die eerste uitgewer wat ek genader het, weggewys, toe herskryf ek dit, betaal iemand vir ‘n leesverslag en stuur dit aan ‘n ander uitgewer. Sweepslag is toe uiteindelik uitgegee, maar ek moes ‘n triljoen keer veranderinge aanbring en my redakteur was geensins oor my gevoelens bekommerd nie!
Van uitstel kom afstel
Voorturende verbetering is beter as die perfeksie wat slegs in jou lugkastele bestaan. Ek het ook nie die luukse van ‘n paar maande hiberneer voordat ek weer probeer nie, dus moet ek maar my muse aan die stoel vasketting en die muse máák praat!
Is ek uniek?
Allesbehalwe! Kyk maar na die magdom aanhalings deur beroemde skrywers. Daar is hope wat erken dat hulle al met skrywersblok/vrees gesukkel het.
Hoe gemaak?
Ek dink en probeer al ‘n paar dae lank by hierdie hekkie verbykom, maar terwyl ek vanoggend onder die stort staan, kom die antwoord: Bring nog ‘n karakter in!
Ek maak so (in my kop) en skielik werk dit uit soos wat dit moet.
Toe benodig ek nog ‘n stukkie inligting, oftewel navorsing. Ek bel my apteker pel en verduidelik dat ek ‘n paar mense met ‘n chemiese konkoksie moet uitslaan en wil weet wat sy voorstel.
Ewe diplomaties wil sy weet vir wie dit is. Ek verbeel my ek hoor die twyfel in haar stem.
Vir ‘n storie, verduidelik ek weer. My gevoelens is diep gekrenk.
“O-o-o.” Haar stem is lig. Verlig?
Voila! Ek het ‘n antwoord. My arms voel ligter en my kop minder dof.
Sukkel slegs skrywers met vrees?
Al gehoor van ‘big match temperament?’ Hmmm … laat ‘n mens dink, nè?
Bofbalspeler Lou Brock het gesê dat ‘n mens ‘n opponent wat bang is om sleg te lyk, elke keer sal wen.
Die basketbalspeler, Michael Jordan, het gesê dat die woord ‘nooit’ nie bestaan nie omdat beperkinge (nes vrees) slegs ‘n illusie is.
Ons grootste struikelblok lê dus in ons koppe.
Klim oor die hekkie in jou kop
Perspektief is oneindig belangrik. Toe iemand vir Thomas Edison (die uitvinder van die gloeilamp) gevra het hoe hy oor sy mislukkings voel, het hy geantwoord dat hy nie misluk het nie, maar bloot 10 000 maniere gevind het wat nie werk nie. Ook sê hy dat mense wat opgee, dikwels opgee sonder om te besef hoe naby hulle aan sukses was.
Steve Jobs het gesê dat dit hoofsaaklik deursettingsvermoë is wat die suksesvolle entrepreneurs van die onsuksesvolles skei.
Wanneer die vrees vir verwerping en mislukking jou lamlê, onthou: sukses is nie finaal nie en mislukking nie fataal nie; dis die moed om aan te hou wat tel. Ek dink Winston Churchill het geweet waarvan hy praat.
How do writers handle failure and rejection?
1 October 2020. I don’t feel like writing.
Why?
Because I don’t know how to continue. I am able to write, yes but my ideas are on strike.
Tame is lame and my story needs … TNT.
Instead of moving from my good intentions to working on my manuscript, I want to take the more popular road, the one travelled more often. That means: doing something else to get through the day.
Advice from the experts
John Rogers said that one can’t think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block. According to Stephen King it is a bad idea to stop with a piece of work just because it is hard either emotionally or imaginatively. He reckons that we have to go on even when we don’t feel like it and sometimes we’re doing good work when it feels like all we’re managing to do is shovel shit from a sitting position.
What do we fear?
In my case, that the story I’m working on is going to be lame.
Writer’s block is nothing but a synonym for fear.
According to Neil Gaiman one has to go sit behind your computer (I’m here, Neil!) and start writing one word after the next (exactly that’s my problem, Neil: I don’t know how to put TNT into my story and I don’t want a lame story.)
My fear thus is that what I’m doing, is not going to be good enough.
Criticism and rejection
Most of us fear criticism. Is that normal? Yes.
Stephen King’s advice is that you have to prepare yourself for more criticism and failure than you think you could handle.
My debut novel was declined by the first publisher I had submitted it to, so I rewrote it, paid someone for a reader’s report and submitted it to another publisher. Sweepslag was eventually published after having edited it a trillion times — and my editor wasn’t worried about my feelings in the slightest!
Am I unique?
Everything but!
Just look at the amount of quotes by celebrity authors on the Internet: many have voiced their thoughts about writer’s block or fear or procrastination or getting stuck.
Don’t procrastinate!
Continuous improvement on paper is better than the perfection inhabiting your dreams only. In addition, I don’t have the luxury of hibernating for a few months before trying again, thus all that remains is to chain the muse to the chair and make it speak.
1-2-3 Action!
I have been contemplating this hurdle for a few days and this morning while I took a shower, the muse answered: introduce another character.
Suddenly everything falls into place.
My new idea requires some extra information, so I call a pharmacist friend.
I explain that I need a chemical concoction to knockout a couple of people and want to know what she would recommend.
Very diplomatically she wants to know whom I need to drug.
And I thought that she would know that it was for a story! I explain to ease her mind.
“A-a-ah.” She sounds … relieved?
Voila! I have the answer. My body and mind are no longer chained to the floor.
Do only authors battle with fear?
Ever heard of ‘big match temperament?’ It makes you think, doesn’t it?
Baseball player Lou Brock said that the opponent who is afraid to look bad, is an opponent you can beat every time.
The basketballplayer, Michael Jordan, said that limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.
Our biggest hurdle is our mind.
Get past the hurdle in your head
Perspective is immensely important. When someone asked Thomas Edison (the inventor of the light bulb) how he felt about his failures, he responded that he had not failed but had merely found 10 000 ways that wouldn’t work. In addition, he said that many of life’s failures are because people did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.
Steve Jobs was convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.
When fear threatens to weaken your resolve, remind yourself that success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. I’m quite certain that Winston Churchill knew what he was talking about.