The Make-or-Break Element in Writing

Getting Started 3 Minutes

Leo Buscaglia once said:

Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey into the afterlife. The first question was, “Did you bring joy?” The second was, “Did you find joy?”

We often hear the advice “write what you know,” but we rarely hear “write what you feel.”

J. K. Rowling began writing the Harry Potter series because she said it was a story she would’ve liked to read herself. The writer C.S. Forester also said:

I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals, without a thought of those of editors or publishers.

After Rowling finished writing her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it spent a year drifting from one rejection to another (about twelve in total). It was finally accepted by Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance of £1500. Rowling, however, was warned to get a day job. Her story wasn’t commercial enough to bring in any substantial amount of money (and at the time she was “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain”).

Ironically, some of the supposed “noncommercial” aspects of Harry Potter were pulled directly from Rowling’s own life—not from things that she knew, but from things that she had felt.

In an interview with Oprah, Rowling talked about her sadness and grief:

. . . if [my mother] hadn’t died I don’t think it’s too strong to say there wouldn’t be Harry Potter. . . the books are what they are because she died, because I loved her and she died.

Rowling also struggled with depression, and to express that depression she created dementors:

I think I had tendencies toward depression from quite young . . . It’s that absence of feeling—and it’s even the absence of hope that you can feel better. And it’s so difficult to describe to someone who’s never been there because it’s not sadness . . . Sadness is not a bad thing, you know? To cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling, that really hollowed out feeling. That’s what the dementors are.

Rowling started writing Sorcerer’s Stone because she knew it was a story she wanted to read, but she finished writing it because of how it made her feel.

Her feelings of depression, despair, grief, and most importantly, her feeling of failure drove her to finish what she had started. In her famous Harvard graduation speech, Rowling said:

I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me . . . I was set free, because my greatest fear [of failure] had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Rowling is one of the most successful writers in history, but for quite a while she felt like she was the world’s biggest failure:

The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew . . . You might never fail on the scale as I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.

Ask yourself:

Did you bring joy?

Did you find joy?

Perhaps writers get a freebie here because one answer can cover both questions: write what brings you joy and your words will then bring joy to others.

The only catch is, writing what you feel—inspiring others—requires you to be honest with yourself. You have to be honest about what what makes you tick and then you have to have the courage to share it with others. Anything less and you’ll be cheating yourself and all your readers.

Let your mantra be: Dig deep. Be brave. Bring joy. Find joy.

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Published by Cary, The Friendly Editor

Cary helps authors successfully navigate the writing and publishing world at her award-winning blog, thefriendlyeditor.com.

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16 thoughts on “The Make-or-Break Element in Writing”

  1. This is suha a beautiful, wise and well written New Year´s reflection not just for an aspiring writer but for any artist, and human for that matter. Well done! It´s been a while seens I´ve seen anything posted here, but it was worth the wait. May all your resolutions come true!

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    1. Claudia! Thank you for continuing to be the incredibly loyal reader that you’ve always been since this blog was a baby! We haven’t been in touch lately, but I hope you’re still writing.

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    1. Thank you, Yvette! I always love to read comments from those writers who have been so wonderfully supportive of my blog. Hope your own writing is going well!

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  5. Hello (I would like to have a name to call you),

    I am happy that you wrote again, I really like your writing and your ideas.
    Usually I don’t comment that I like stuff, but I know how important it can be to get some positive feedback.
    Anyway, remember that you already have on reader.

    By the way, awesome post! =D

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, Sasha. You are absolutely right: Getting positive feedback and knowing that my posts have impacted others are two wonderful things that keep me writing when the going gets tough. Hope to hear from you again!

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  7. Well then, in 2014 I guess that I am happy to say that I succeeded in failing in every aspect of my life :!)

    I failed at my desk job, during the brief appearances that I made, I mostly failed to spend any fun time with my 2 young boys and I failed to make any tangible progress on the many many books I have half started!

    One day I will learn to accept failure (hell I’m at least getting a lot of practice 🙂 but today I’m going to try to wring a drip of success out of my excessively busy life.

    Today I’ve decided to write a short story. Say 5000 words, just practice so no pressure to get published. It’s like a mini novel and it’s something I can show friends and family to get feedback. (They all just humour the “she is writing a book” thing because I won’t show them anything).

    This has got me going again and I’ve recently started studying “characters” again, more specifically character architecture:

    https://timstout.wordpress.com/graphic-novel-writing/eight-character-roles/

    http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2012/11/third-person-omniscient-vs-third-person.html?m=1

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    1. Writers are by nature very hard on themselves (just look at all of the writers who have suffered from anxiety, depression, and alcohol and drug addiction). You are a writer, Isobella; you’re also a woman and a mother, which means you’re inordinately hard on yourself. Remember that guilt is not the same thing as failure. Guilt is the feeling that we have failed because of what others tell us is failure. As Rowling said in her Harvard graduation speech, “Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.” So while guilt is a feeling we impose on ourselves, failure is often times a feeling that others impose on us. But real failure is one singular event that will inevitably pass; it is not some eternal definition that we stamp on ourselves or others stamp on us. And, as Winston Churchill said, success is nothing more than “the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

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