How about I give you a break from politics and offer some nice thoughts on writing?

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A lot of writers get duped into spending a ton of money on some ridiculous course built on a false promise. There are plenty of charlatans out there who know how to leverage a combination of vulnerability and impostor syndrome to take advantage of innocent people.

I absolutely despise seeing writers getting fleeced. The majority of the writers I know are good, honest, decent, and caring people. They’re exactly the type of people who are most qualified to handle the burden of authority. Unfortunately, we live in a society that contains a mechanism to reward corruption.

There is so much bad writing advice, and so many scams, that I honestly believe most people would be better off retreating to a secluded cabin to figure out the mechanism of storytelling for themselves. In my experience, even college classes repeat concepts that are easily exposed as blatant lies.

The simple fact is that you can’t give some self-stylized writing guru a hundred dollars, and then receive advice that will transform you overnight. It’s not happening, so save your money. Anything that distracts you from putting pen to paper is ultimately derailing your ability to improve.

Plot doesn’t matter

I meet a lot of writers who assume the secret to writing “the great American novel” is to sit down and figure out some meticulous and intricate plot. It’s natural enough for a person who has never tried to write a book to land on that idea.

You could compare it to how a person who has never worked on an engine might perceive a car. When you pop the hood and you see all those squiggly bits and whirly gizmos, it’s natural to assume it must be some part of a preconceived plan.

It’s astonishing to discover that’s not the case. It’s so astonishing that a person who has absolutely no idea of the history of engines won’t believe it when you tell them. But all you have to do is pop a hood from a vehicle that was built 50 years ago. When you do that, you’ll see an astonishing amount of empty space. That’s when you’ll realize the complexity of the modern engine, and the way the components are designed, represents nothing more than additions to an existing structure.

The point I’m making is that nobody could have sat down and designed the modern engine the first time they tried. Instead, you start with something basic. You start with something that works. Then the rest is added on as necessity arises.

“You must start with a perfect plot”

Any instructor who says your story structure must be perfect from the beginning is either deliberately lying to you or unconsciously inept. I’ve seen professors map out story structures as if the activity will yield some sort of insight into creation that can’t be achieved in any other way.

As far as I’m concerned, you’ll learn as much about writing by digging a hole and filling it back up. Mapping out complex plot lines is a waste of time. I guarantee that’s not the process the creator used.

The problem with truth is that it’s a lot harder to use to fleece people. Charlatans have to say they’ve mastered something complex to get people to listen. They build themselves up and puff out their chests and look down their noses at you.

In contrast, if you say, “Just come up with a basic story line and let the novel emerge,” there’s no money. Unfortunately, our society is so driven by profit that truth is often discarded in the ditch.

Strip the plot down to its most basic element

Don’t get me wrong, there is value in looking to the great works of literature for inspiration. But you have to do your evaluations honestly. Don’t start with the assumption that there’s some magic that transforms a manuscript into a work of genius. Coming up with a plot is like sticking a seed in the ground. The size of the seed doesn’t matter, it’s the process of cultivation.

Writing is a process. Don’t think of yourself as a creator, think of yourself as a gardener.

Consider the plot of The Hobbit. You could summarize it as “A soft individual joins a quest to reclaim a stolen treasure.” I didn’t even mention the word “dragon” because that’s not necessary. You’ve got everything you need with what I just said. That’s the plot. You’re done.

Once you’ve written that down, the questions start coming naturally:

* How did he meet the other members of the quest?

* Where did the treasure come from?

* How was the treasure stolen?

* Who stole the treasure?

* How will the treasure be reclaimed?

This goes on and on and on. Answering those questions is how you write a book. That’s how the first person who said, “I want to build a machine that can take me places,” ended up creating the complex jumble of mechanisms and wires you see when you pop the hood.

Be true to your characters

The hard part about being a writer isn’t coming up with a perfect plot. The hard part is being true to your characters. When you come right down to it, people pick up books to be entertained and to learn something about the human condition. If they don’t learn anything, the story is inauthentic. It’s unrelatable. It’s going to leave them feeling frustrated.

The joy of writing is that after you’ve created the plot, you don’t know every detail about how it’s going to play out. You might even find that once you’ve gotten to the end of your story, the characters you’ve created are doomed to fail. Along the way you might find that their personality flaws will be too much to overcome. You might even discover that your main character isn’t the main character at all.

Sometimes even a gardener plants a seed for an apple tree and is astonished to discover an orange tree sprouting up from the soil. You can’t force an apple tree to bear oranges. That’s the model for why most books fail. The hubris of the writer takes center stage and creates an abomination the writer doesn’t recognize but which the audience can’t ignore.

When you start answering the questions that grow from the plot, you’re confronted by problems that need solutions. The solutions must be in service to the plot, and they must also be true to your characters. You can’t plan this. It emerges.

Don’t get bogged down in details or assumptions

It’s important to recognize that you’re likely to arrive at absurd assumptions about anything you haven’t formally studied. The good news is that the complexity of the world grows from astonishing simplicity.

It’s been said that the simplest explanation is usually the answer. The complex justifications we go through to stop ourselves from recognizing that truth are the essence of comedy. Get out of your own way!

It breaks my heart to think there are so many creative people out there who are simply bursting to tell a story, but who assume they don’t have the training required to do it justice. Nobody has to tell a seed how to grow. You simply pop it into the ground and wait.

Don’t fret about irrelevant complexities. Set your characters off on a quest. Be true to the characters. Honestly answer the questions that arise. Before you know it, you’ll have created a plot far more intricate than you ever thought you could conceive.

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