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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34685
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34685
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# I'd never write scared (of either variety).

I might write something challenging, but not scared.

I would include in the "not scared" category, being unafraid to rewrite, unafraid to cut large passages or multiple scenes, unafraid to make a major revision to the story.

I do not attempt to write above my skill level or technical capability, I don't think that makes a better story, it makes it worse. I get better at writing by experience, when I see how other writers have done something tricky, or when I have a new thought for showing something or a good plot twist. I won't ever force it, I believe that would show in the writing. Greater skill will come when I am ready for it, in the meantime I can write a good publishable story.

I don't think most professional writers agree with Weiland; I read what several have said, when writing about their methods on writing, and most or all write because they enjoy it and the craft. Their stories and style change little over the course of their series. Perhaps it gets a little better, but they aren't challenging themselves to do anything but invent new plots, settings and characters about once a year. None of it seems particularly difficult, just imaginative.

As far as "emotional baring", I don't do it. To the extent I consider writing therapeutic, only as much as a hobby like woodworking or darts or video games. I try to give my characters real and plausible emotions, from hatreds to passionate love, from laughter to grief. But they are not **_me_** baring my soul.

My goal in writing is only and always to entertain readers, to help them imagine in a few days what it took me six months to imagine and two or three months to refine.

But I am writing fiction, nothing else, and I don't try to sneak an autobiography in it (although my personal experiences certainly inform my characters), or a political or social philosophy (I do have clear ideas on right and wrong in both, but I also strive to know why people I consider wrong think they are right).

Don't write scared. Write about characters doing interesting things (that you also find interesting), write to explore such characters without fear. Do your research when it is needed: I spent a half day on the Internet once learning how a doctor in the wilderness could successfully accomplish a particular surgery. All for half a page of prose, but I wanted a realistic portrayal. It was fun.

The process of writing, and the writing itself, must be entertaining to me, with the constraint that it will be entertaining to others, which pleases me. I think if I cannot even entertain myself, I won't entertain anybody else.

It cannot be something I worry whether I have the skill to finish, or worry whether it will be any good when I do. I have no aspirations or illusion of winning a Pulitzer, I am happy to tell a good story.

Original score: 4