Last week my writing tip was to write. Today, I’m qualifying that with “what you love.” The cliche is to “write what you know,” but that’s not always the best or even possible. What if you want to write about fairies but you don’t know any fairies? Who cares! If you’re passionate about a topic, that passion will seep into your writing and make it that much more awesome to read.
Who cares what you know when you start writing something. Research exists for a reason. Investigate the topic you want to write about. Find the story your heart wants you to tell, and then write. Everyday.
It’s the passion and drive for the story that will get you through the first draft. And the second draft. And the third. And the twenty-seventh. Writing is rewriting. So you have to be in love with the story in order to get it to where it needs to be. Maybe you’re one of those people that can just write it in one draft, but chances are you’re not. I’m not being mean or negative about your writing! Even Nora Roberts (who has more than 200 books under her belt, loads of them on the NYT List at #1) says her first draft is her POS draft. So how are you going to sustain the drive to write this story and write it well if you don’t love it? If that desire to tell it isn’t burning a hole in your gut, dying to get out?
So write what you love. Write what you’re passionate about. Because all writing, in the end, is a labor of love.
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