I’ve been telling others—and myself—that I would read War and Peace soon. About three years ago I read 100 pages before setting it back on my shelf, not because I didn’t like it but because I was still in school and it was a daunting book to tackle in the midst of all that. Last year I made one of my New Year’s resolutions to read it. I didn’t.
This year it was on my resolution list again. In January I read the introduction. Last night I picked it up again. There was a scrap of paper right before chapter one that I was using as a bookmark.
The paper read: There is no set of rules in fiction. No advice. Just write it and write it well.
While I know I must have written this down in January I can’t figure out were it’s from. I’m thinking something in the introduction of War and Peace led me to write this—probably having to do with Tolstoy writing methods, but I couldn’t find it again.
But as I sat and looked at the words I’d scribbled down, I realized how much I appreciated seeing them again.
There are a lot of books about writing out there. There are a lot of classes you can take. There’s a lot of a lot of things.
But in the end I think everyone has to find their own way with writing. There’s no advice you can follow bullet point by bullet point to get success.
No doubt that getting advice, learning the basics, and learning from others helps, but there’s no formula out there that equals success.
Sometimes what works for others doesn’t work for you and vice versa.
You have to find your own way.
Absolutely.
When I read War and Peace, toward the end I found myself reading the “peace” parts and skimming the “war.” 🙂
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I’m on page 45! Haha, I keep thinking to myself “wow so much is going to happen by the time I’ve finished.”
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So. Much. Will. Happen.
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True! As I like to say, it’s all yours, go for it.
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Someone once said that there are 3 rules for being a good writer
1) read the classics
2) read your contemporaries
3) write every day
Thanks for sharing! War and peace have defeated me a couple of times too by the way.
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I try to do those three, but I have a harder time with number 2.
Did you ever end up reading it?
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I guess luck is important for the number 2, Word Press is full of great talent but you need to have the time to search, I read plenty of them every day, they are amongst my friends here.
Jeremy Orlando is a good author I recommend him. His books are available on Amazon for almost nothing, remember, “One’s man trash is another man’s treasure”.
Jajajaja not yet, It’s on my bucket list, such a beautiful book… We are playing against our digitalised mind, but we shall succeed.
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I’ll have to check him out.
Hah! Yeah I’m in the process of trying to fix my “digitized mind.” I find reading classics help me the most to read more deeply and fully. I can’t skim or I’ll miss something important.
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I hear you! Some are very gentle but some others are quite difficult, I love Virginia Wolf for example, but her use of language is beyond my reach sometimes. Still, I’m heavy headed and read her anyway.
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I’ve only read a little of Wolf, but I’ve been reading a lot of Russian lit (War and Peace just so happens to fall into the category) and some of the time I’m just scratching my head.
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Oh! I see! Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chejov… I do know some of their works, “Crime and punishment” is one of my favorite books, but it does get kind of cryptic isn’t it?
I don’t understand why, but there is always a mule who is beaten almost to death… That has to mean something doesn’t it?
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You can’t forget Nabokov! Haha
Cryptic? Yes, but that’s part of the fun.
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I know!!!! That’s the real fun!!!!
We should read it nevertheless!!
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I totally second that 🙂 no two people think in same way similarly no two people can write things in same way 🙂 it better to carve your own path 🙂 And War and Peace is in my TBR from last three years 🙂 I am hoping to read it this year 😀
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Glad I’m not the only one! haha. I’m on about page 45 right now. I’m trying to read a little every night since I don’t have the time to read chunks of it at a time.
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Ha ha 🤣 you are not alone. Reading few pages at a time is still better than not reading at all 😊I wish to start it next month let’s see how that goes for me😉
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Agree 100%. I’m a pantser but I kept reading advice about plotting so I spent a lot of time plotting out a novel, started writing, and didn’t finish. I did it a second time with the same results. I went back to flying by the seat of my pants and I finished two more novels. Every time I try to write like someone else I miss out on writing like me.
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Yes! I’ve found really great advice in terms of what not to do, but even then you find some of the classics did do it. I guess sometimes something works and other times it doesn’t. And if that’s the case it seems best to do your own trial and error to see what actually works for you.
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I’m reading it for the first time myself right now. I’m about 37% in. It’s a massive telling.
And you are correct about the writing. Everyone has to find their own way. There is no magic formula.
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I’m of the mind that, like many endeavors, the process of learning to writing is a spiral.
Learn -> apply -> review -> learn -> apply -> review…
Hopefully, at each loop, one expands the spiral outward with the assembled knowledge and skill from the inner circles. The complexity of the inner cycles is limited: use proper grammar and spelling, use active voice, reduce the use of adverbs and dialog tags.
The further from the center one gets, the more nuanced the rules become — more like guidelines. Although they become less specific, they become more challenging. One of those is finding one’s own voice.
What I find compelling about this visualization is that a spiral never ends. Around and around we go, ever outward.
No doubt that slip of paper you found was you asserting your knowledge of an outer spiral path.
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That’s an interesting image. It makes sense.
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