This new blog of mine won’t teach you anything about writing.
And why might that be?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
The older I get, and the more I write, the fewer absolutes I believe in when it comes to writing.
Don’t let this scare you. Let it free you the hell up. There are no rules, woohoo!
Okay, there are a few rules. Later this month, I’ll write you a list of the only absolutes in writing that I believe in, but that promises to be what today’s online world likes to call a short read.
Ohhhh yes, writer-teachers like to bang on about absolutes, in the worlds of prose and script alike.
You MUST do this, they bellow. You absolutely HAVE to do that.
They cling onto, and often invent, such things, because it gives them something to teach, thereby lending them perceived value.
It’s a lot harder to teach writing with a straight face when you acknowledge that no-one really knows what they’re doing.
It’s a lot harder to teach writing when you acknowledge that if a whole bunch of infallible absolutes really did exist, everyone would be not only a best-seller or a Hollywood success story, but incredibly generic and dull.
It’s a lot harder to teach writing when you acknowledge that we’re all just trying to follow our uncertain instincts, maintain our grip on an overview and desperately remember what worked before, then reinvent the whole thing, because each new writing project terrifyingly seems to demand a whole new skill set.
So, if I won’t teach you anything about writing on this shiny new Substack of mine, then what in the name of Satan’s spare toothbrush will I be doing here?
I’ll tell you the truth about how writing is for me, in novels and in scripts.
I’ll tell you the truth about how my methodology swings all over the place. Perhaps this blog will become some kind of technical diary in that regard.
I’ll talk a great deal about writerly fear and how to deal with it.
Not all writerly fear, you see, is something bad that you need to CRUSH and DESTROY.
Some fear can be fuel. And I will definitely be looking to fuel your motivation and your confidence and your sense of what being a writer is really like.
Hopefully, what you’ll find here at Jason Arnopp’s Scary Truths Of Writing is an ever-extending buffet of thoughts and ideas about writing.
Wolf down what makes sense to you and leave everything else on the table.
Sound good? Use the comments to let me know this thing is on (<taps mic>) and tell me what your biggest writing fear happens to be?
Oh, and you simply MUST subscribe. This is an absolute. ;-)
JA
UPDATE
I have now left Substack, as of Jan 2024, due to the founders’ stance on platforming Nazi content.
My content for newer writers now takes video form at my new YouTube channel Write Like Hell and free Skool community form at The Phantasia Lounge.
You can also join my Patreon as a free or paid member.
OTHER CHOICE LINKS:
My site |My Etsy store for writers | My services for writers
Check out Publisher Rocket, my favourite software for self-publishing authors (affiliate link - and I am proud to be an affiliate of this product!)
I won't teach you anything about writing
One of my biggest fears is that I’m boring people. Which means I sometimes over-edit scenes until they’re practically skeletal. Then I fear it’s boring because it’s too quick so I put everything back in. And the cycle continues 😩🤣