What a Writer Wants

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Have you ever wondered what it takes to love a writer? It all starts with knowing what we want... Here's a short list of my desires:

• A writer wants to connect. When I sit to write, I do so as one speaking to a confessor, a confidant sworn to secrecy. I want you to understand and even resonate with what I am saying. I want to let you know and in turn, know myself, that we are not alone. Emotions and perspectives are unique but the same in so many ways. I am revealing myself to you.
• A writer wants to rant. Most of what I write I am dealing with on some level. That may alarm you if you have read any of my books or my shorts. That's okay. Be alarmed. A writer's rant, I can almost guarantee, means something completely different than you think it does. 
• A writer craves details. I am completely irritated and undone when I get the short answer. "What did you think of the book?" "It was good." Good? Seriously? What did it make you feel? Did it teach you anything? Don't tell me it was good! Tell me it was spectacular, it was horrifyingly boring, it was rancid. Description is a meal and words are the seasonings - FEED ME!
• A writer longs for truth. Whether in research or honest word choice or description of the hard scenes, a writer is searching out the truth of what they write. There is no worse feeling than reading something you know is not true. It is a slap in the face of your audience if you don't at least attempt knowledge of what you speak. Respect of their time is always at the top of my list.
• A writer wants quiet. This is a hard one for me to describe. Anyone that knows me as that other person, knows that I am less than a brooding, solitary soul. Still, in my writing life I have to have a sense of serenity. I need a quiet place, a few hours of my day unassailed by the noise of life: no television, no radio or music, no interruption to the process of writing. The noise in my head alone is so loud it often takes me days to quiet enough to get even a few words on the page. I have to have that stillness to make sense out of the static energy in my cluttered mind.
• A writer wants release. When I write, if I am paying close attention, concentrating on word choice and being demanding with my concepts, it is like having amazing sex. There... I said it. Any writer who tells you otherwise has either never had great sex or is lying to you.  When I put in the work, decide selfishly I will not stop until I am done, I feel as spent, as satisfied, as gloriously loved and attractive as I do after a naughty romp in the sack. It opens up my whole world to more! I am energized, confident and contented... I'm pretty sure I glow. That release of my story onto the page clears my head and allows me to move on with my day. If I am honest, that same release also keeps me coming back for more, because - well... Isn't it obvious?
• A writer wants stimulation. (No I'm not all about the sex today...) The death knell to any sort of creative juice I have is to sit stagnant, to let routine rule my life. I have begun to travel in my aged years (wink, I'm not all that old), and in those adventures have come to realize it fuels my writing mojo. The more I see, the more my mind opens up to the possibilities. The more I stretch my boundaries the more my mind stretches its imaginings. When I cannot travel, just a trip into a cafe where I can sit and observe, a little darkened bar in the middle of the day, a park bench under a canopy of trees... All of these become fodder for the page.
• A writer craves appreciation. There is nothing more heady than to be told someone is waiting for you to write another story, tell another tale, create another character. To be lauded by those who read my stories is a drug as addictive as heroine and the cravings can become destructive, especially when I have gone dry. If you know a writer in your midst, if you admire a blogger you lurk but never comment on, let them know you appreciate them. It may give them the courage they need to try a new character, to re-edit their last short, to finish!