Tell A Story Only You Can Write

I’m been trying to write this guide for weeks now, but I’ve been finding it hard to tell someone what they should or shouldn’t do, for it goes against my concept of creative expression.

For me, creativity is something that cannot be taught or tamed, simply because it’s not something you need to learn, or something you control. Creativity is in your essence, it’s inborn in every being, and our job is to merely free it, and shape whatever it is that’s needs to be expressed into a chosen form.

Though here we speak about expressing creativity through writing, I feel this applies to every area of making. But let us focus on writing for a while.

If you’re a writer, it is very important that you have a broad vocabulary, have a good sense of punctuation, and know enough grammar. When you work with something structured – as any given language – you need to follow certain rules to make yourself understood, and to be understood it’s important, for it is the basis of communication. The way I see it, creative expression is a means for both communication and self-discovery, and though the later meets no restraint, communication it’s more fulfilling when it’s bilateral, rather than unilateral. If you wish to write to yourself, you are the only one who needs to understand it, but if you write for others, you must make it understandable enough so that people can fully seize your words and make it their own.

These are all obvious statements, but I feel it’s important to reiterate such points, for what I’m about to say next may be misleading in that sense.

There’s something inside you that’s essentially yours.

I’m not speaking about your personality, nor those thoughts and voices on your head (and don’t believe those who say you need to ‘find your voice’, you’ll have many voices throughout your life, and none of those will be yours really – a voice is more of a tool, something you use, rather than something you are) – those things are subject to change, and to change they will. I’m speaking about something that’s more intrinsic to your being, that has always been there and always will be. Some may spend a lifetime without ever tapping into it, for it’s elusive by nature, but believe me when I tell you it’s there, and you can seize it yourself if only you desire to.

But well, what is this thing?

People has given it so many names, it doesn’t really matter how do we choose to call it. We can call it ‘creative source’, for it gives a slightly less ethereal connotation to it. Either way, the name is not really important, and I ask you to focus on the essence of it that I’ll try very hard to put to words only.

This creative source, as I mentioned before, it’s elusive. But it’s not difficult to find or grasp because it’s in hiding – it’s merely because it’s shapeless, almost intangible, and the world around us demand such a structured approach to thinking, we’re obliged to dismiss whatever threatens the linearity of our reasoning, including those things that shape the very essence of us – our dreams, our innermost desires, our secret selves, they all become inconspicuous. The same as this creative source, they slowly fade into the background as we grow old, and leave us under the impression there is but an empty space within.

Now you may be thinking “okay, this is all very nice and poetic, invisible things, essence, blah-blah-blah… how does that relate to becoming a better writer?”

Well, let me tell you something – if you come to recognize the source of your creativity, and learn to channel its energy into your writing, you’re to become a tremendous writer. Not because it will make you better at grammar, nor have you magically master poetry writing – skills are important, and they will always take study and practice to develop – but it will bring your writing to an honest level, and that’s the very core of good writing.

We write because there’s something inside us that need to be expressed – a thought, an opinion, an emotion, a desire… But we’re so easily influenced by all there is, we often end up expressing something that’s hardly our own, perhaps for thinking it will be better appreciated, or better understood. But well, you need to know something: whatever isn’t yours can be better written by someone else. And it certainly will be.

If this creative source is about the one thing that’s essentially yours, whatever comes from it will surely be nobody else’s – it will be something that you, and only you, can thoroughly put to words. And that’s what everybody wants to read: something they couldn’t have written themselves, thought they might have wished to.

On the other hand, if you spend your days writing from the limited view of your ‘under-influence’ perspective, you’ll always be second best. There will always be someone to find better ways to write it, no matter how good of a writer you are.

But how do we do it? Can we learn to tell apart what’s ours and what’s not? How do we learn to channel this energy and come to recognize its source?

There are many ways to do so, and I encourage you to explore for your own. It’s a continuous effort, and it takes a great amount of self-discovery/self-awareness. know thyself, and you’ll surely know what’s yours and what’s not – it is as mysterious as it is simple.

BUT…

If you want a practical advice, I have one for you:

#1: Write something.

#2: Take what you wrote, and write it again.

#3: Did you write it again? Re-write it.

#4: Keep going.

If it gets boring or tiring, toss it out, it’s not yours. Start something else.

Keep writing that one thing, for weeks, for months, and perhaps even years. You might wish to make it a side project, it won’t work as well if you put a deadline to it, for it might literally take years on end.

But well, keep coming back to this piece of writing as often as you can, and most importantly – enjoy yourself as you do so. When long enough has passed, and you come back to it, you’ll find there’s always words/sentences/plots/characters you’ll wish to change, improve; but other things will remain the same, no matter how many times you re-write it.

And one day, hopefully, the time will come when there’s nothing you’ll wish to change – and then you’ll know, what you’ve written is thoroughly yours, and no one else could ever have written it any better.

I’ve been working on a novel for over two years now, and all I have so far is an ever-growing collection of drafts and an idea for a first chapter, because my approach to this story has continuously changed. Whilst some would find that to be insanely frustrating, I find it to be the most exciting experience there is. It’s something that has taken a life on its own, and offered me a great means for self-discovery – the story grows as I grow, and it changes as I do so. The single fact that I still want to tell this story even after so much time has passed has given me clues to what matters to me the most.

I’m not saying you should only write to yourself and share only every few years. Sharing is important. But so is getting to know yourself. As I said before, it’s a good idea for a side project, something you can do without any pressure, just for yourself, to get to know what really lies inside.

A lot will change – and I don’t mean just in writing, but in life itself – but something will always remain. Whatever stays, it’s yours. That’s what you should be writing about.

So do it. Start writing it, now.