John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
Your Writing Weaknesses are Your Strengths
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Hi Bookfoxers, At the age of eighteen, Django Reinhardt, a brilliant jazz guitarist, suffered severe burns to his left hand in a fire, rendering his third and fourth fingers unusable. Everyone said he'd never play guitar again. I mean, he only had three fingers on his left hand -- 40% of his musical possibilities were gone. But Django persisted. He worked with his shortcomings rather than against them. He figured out how to use the injured fingers for bar chords, and then use the good fingers to hold down specific strings. And in doing so, he came up with an usual musical style, a sound that belonged uniquely to him. His lack of fingers forced him to be original. Every writer has lost fingers. Basically, you have some kind of shortcoming that you have to work around to be great. Some writers are bad at writing dialogue, and they end up writing books light on dialogue, and their books have a specific texture that's unique.
Some writers are coming to English as a second language, and their lack of grammar and limited vocabulary guides them into a path of simpler prose -- giving them a specific voice.
Some writers struggle with concentration, or with orchestrating complex scenes, or with writing in short bursts while caring for children, and so end up writing a whole book in little snippets.
Your shortcomings are not problems, but invitations to develop a unique voice. Now if you don't have shortcomings (or don't know what they are) you can still take advantage of this advice. I'll tell you how, but first, a word from our sponsor:
To teach you how to use shortcomings to improve your book, we have to look at a French group of writers in the mid 20th century. A group of French-speaking writers, led by the poet Raymond Queneau, decided to artificially limit their writing styles. They called themselves "Oulipo". They hadn't suffered the loss of two fingers, but instead they took on artificial limits that forced them to be creative. Some of their exercises were wild (like not writing with the letter E). I won't ask you to do that (it's really hard). But you could try one of these exercises as a way to force you out of creative grooves and into new territory:
Another benefit of the Oulipo technique is that it cures writers block. Somehow when you put up road blocks for your writing, it allows you to be creative, but when there are zero restrictions, it's a struggle to face the infinite possibilities. Maybe you already know what your missing two fingers are. Or maybe you can just pretend to be missing two fingers. Either way, the limitations will force you into new and original territory. Best, John PS. Check out my latest Youtube video, "Huge Lies Writing Gurus are Telling You" |
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John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
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Hi Bookfoxers, When I was 31 years old, I’d been laboring over a novel for 5 years. It was a quagmire. I was stuck in a plot that wouldn’t move, in characters that couldn’t elicit sympathy, and with ambitions that were far beyond my skill as a writer. But here’s the thing: I wasn’t a quitter. I thought that only losers quit. I thought that way, because when I was in high school, I tried out for the JV basketball team both as a freshman and sophomore – and didn’t make the team either year. So...
Hi Bookfoxers, I once had a creative writing professor who would read out loud the first paragraph of any story submitted to the workshop. Reading it out loud was a way not only to test it, but a way to slow down and really focus on the beginning. To see whether it sounded boring, or weird, or just plain dumb. I’m afraid that nearly all of the stories did not pass muster. He would growl through the first paragraph, and sometimes he would ask whether we thought someone would want to: Have a...