My take on Willeford’s writing quote
A couple of weeks ago Cullen Gallagher had a post on his blog titled “Charles Willeford on Words and Writing” that quoted an essay that Willeford wrote called “Writing as an Art”.
To his great credit Gallagher posted the quote without commentary.
Then an interesting thing happened in the comments. Writers, both emerging and established, jumped in shouting fist pumping proclamations about how the words were a banner to be carried into battle. They almost seemed to carry a sub textual justification of their own work.
Only one commenter, Patti Abbot, really picked up on what those words were saying.
Because…
I think that there is a difference between being a young or emerging writer and adopting what is essentially an affectation of arrogance and hard won knowledge that results in proclamations of “Yeah, fuck you. I don’t care what you think” and really feeling it (and earning it) after a long road of hard work and not being appreciated. As a proposed rallying cry I think what Willeford is saying is potentially dangerous for the young and emerging because they run the risk of stripping the toil out of those words.
Willeford’s lessons are his and his alone, not yours. And yes, there is a great sadness in them.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
You’re right; only Patti seems to catch the significance there. (She’s good that way.)
There is some writing advice worth taking there, though not what some of the commenters have noted. Writing groups can be good to keep a fledgling writer motivated, and to keep him from making the same mistakes repeatedly. Eventually a good writer will have to break away from the group that served him well as a beginner, as the advice given to him at that level will only serve to pull him back to the mean. He must either find a more advanced group, or move out on his own.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
And to be clear, I like Willeford and think that he has a lot to offer in terms of advice and I’ve read the book cover to cover that has that essay BUT what he’s saying isn’t a call to arms, isn’t a call to fly your freak flag and certainly isn’t an anarchic call. It’s a call to discipline.