“The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.”--William Faulkner (1897-1962)
William Faulkner is recognized as one of the greatest American writers in general and one of the greatest “Southern” writers in particular, focusing much of his storylines in his native Mississippi. Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature as well as two Pulitzer Prizes. He is the author of The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom!
Faulkner’s point is pretty clear--if you want to be a writer, a successful writer, you’ve got to write. Seems obvious, but there’s more to it; the successful in any venture in life are the ones who get on with the task by throwing themselves into their chosen field, actively learning what works and what doesn’t.
“The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics.”--I’m sure Faulkner isn’t saying that new writers shouldn’t pay attention to the advice of experienced authors (we wouldn’t have a Writing Advice from the Greats Series), but what he’s probably getting at is that it’s possible to spend too much time and energy focused on what the “experts” say you have to do to succeed, letting that hinder you from developing your own skills. If you’ve got anything in common at all with the great writers, it’s time--so use it wisely.
“The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.”--Again, how will you spend your time? If you’re an aspiring blogger who wants to build a lot of traffic and make money from your blog, it’s very possible to spend all day, every day, reading the latest “How to Make Money from Your Blog” post and never put in any work on your own. After you’ve read a certain amount and gotten a basic idea of what you’re doing, you really should just jump in and do the best you can, putting your style on it and seeing what happens.
Faulkner’s advice is something that many successful people know intuitively--they don’t spend a lot of time analyzing and questioning and planning--they do some minimal, focused research on their chosen endeavor and then attack their tasks with ferocity, ignoring the “experts” who often end up less successful than the determined neophytes.
More advice from Faulkner along the same lines:
“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him” (emphasis mine).
Get in the ring and fight, get on the court and play, get your pen and write, get on the road and find your way. Yes, spend a certain amount of time in wise, concentrated research--but once you’ve got the fundamental idea of what to do, do it. That’s the only way you’ll ever really become successful. You learn by doing. That’s true for anything in life. It’s why uneducated or undereducated people often surpass highly educated people, because the latter are so hung up on theory and end up in paralysis by analysis.
Get out there and see what you can do. Michael Masterson of Early to Rise, echoes Faulkner’s advice in explaining one his core principles of success:
“Key to understanding the Ready, Fire, Aim approach is the principle of accelerated failure. The principle of accelerated failure rests on the recognition that we learn the most - in any enterprise - by making mistakes along the way. The faster we learn the critical mistakes, the sooner we acquire the knowledge we need to succeed. In other words, don’t fear failure… seek it out!”
Masterson says it as clearly as can be said. This is one the biggest things to remember if you want to succeed:
“The single biggest reason that people fail in life is that they never take effective action….obstacles can be overcome, easily, by the individual who makes a commitment to take action, to figure out where he wants to go and then set one foot in front of the other in that direction....
Successful people don’t sit around waiting for everything to be “100 percent” right or to be “absolutely sure” they will succeed. They assess the odds. And if the odds are reasonably good, they strike out boldly and energetically. They don’t need absolute assurance because they realize life doesn’t provide any.”
Aspiring writers (or anybody else looking for success): read and analyze (but not for too long) what William Faulkner and Michael Masterson have to say above and you should find the inspiration to get hustling with what really matters--doing the deeds, developing your talents--and you’ll be better off than if you join the many others who are forever researching but never applying, dreaming but never trying.
Related
Writing Advice from the Greats Series: Ray Bradbury
Vanishing Mists: How Wisely are You Using the Short Time You've Been Given?
William Faulkner is recognized as one of the greatest American writers in general and one of the greatest “Southern” writers in particular, focusing much of his storylines in his native Mississippi. Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature as well as two Pulitzer Prizes. He is the author of The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom!
Faulkner’s point is pretty clear--if you want to be a writer, a successful writer, you’ve got to write. Seems obvious, but there’s more to it; the successful in any venture in life are the ones who get on with the task by throwing themselves into their chosen field, actively learning what works and what doesn’t.
“The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics.”--I’m sure Faulkner isn’t saying that new writers shouldn’t pay attention to the advice of experienced authors (we wouldn’t have a Writing Advice from the Greats Series), but what he’s probably getting at is that it’s possible to spend too much time and energy focused on what the “experts” say you have to do to succeed, letting that hinder you from developing your own skills. If you’ve got anything in common at all with the great writers, it’s time--so use it wisely.
“The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.”--Again, how will you spend your time? If you’re an aspiring blogger who wants to build a lot of traffic and make money from your blog, it’s very possible to spend all day, every day, reading the latest “How to Make Money from Your Blog” post and never put in any work on your own. After you’ve read a certain amount and gotten a basic idea of what you’re doing, you really should just jump in and do the best you can, putting your style on it and seeing what happens.
Faulkner’s advice is something that many successful people know intuitively--they don’t spend a lot of time analyzing and questioning and planning--they do some minimal, focused research on their chosen endeavor and then attack their tasks with ferocity, ignoring the “experts” who often end up less successful than the determined neophytes.
More advice from Faulkner along the same lines:
“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him” (emphasis mine).
Get in the ring and fight, get on the court and play, get your pen and write, get on the road and find your way. Yes, spend a certain amount of time in wise, concentrated research--but once you’ve got the fundamental idea of what to do, do it. That’s the only way you’ll ever really become successful. You learn by doing. That’s true for anything in life. It’s why uneducated or undereducated people often surpass highly educated people, because the latter are so hung up on theory and end up in paralysis by analysis.
Get out there and see what you can do. Michael Masterson of Early to Rise, echoes Faulkner’s advice in explaining one his core principles of success:
“Key to understanding the Ready, Fire, Aim approach is the principle of accelerated failure. The principle of accelerated failure rests on the recognition that we learn the most - in any enterprise - by making mistakes along the way. The faster we learn the critical mistakes, the sooner we acquire the knowledge we need to succeed. In other words, don’t fear failure… seek it out!”
Masterson says it as clearly as can be said. This is one the biggest things to remember if you want to succeed:
“The single biggest reason that people fail in life is that they never take effective action….obstacles can be overcome, easily, by the individual who makes a commitment to take action, to figure out where he wants to go and then set one foot in front of the other in that direction....
Successful people don’t sit around waiting for everything to be “100 percent” right or to be “absolutely sure” they will succeed. They assess the odds. And if the odds are reasonably good, they strike out boldly and energetically. They don’t need absolute assurance because they realize life doesn’t provide any.”
Aspiring writers (or anybody else looking for success): read and analyze (but not for too long) what William Faulkner and Michael Masterson have to say above and you should find the inspiration to get hustling with what really matters--doing the deeds, developing your talents--and you’ll be better off than if you join the many others who are forever researching but never applying, dreaming but never trying.
Related
Writing Advice from the Greats Series: Ray Bradbury
Vanishing Mists: How Wisely are You Using the Short Time You've Been Given?
4 comments:
"Successful people don’t sit around waiting for everything to be “100 percent” right or to be “absolutely sure” they will succeed. They assess the odds. And if the odds are reasonably good, they strike out boldly and energetically. They don’t need absolute assurance because they realize life doesn’t provide any.”
This really jumped out at me. I think that's why a lot of writers don't succeed, or anyone for that matter.
One of my writing mentors once told me:
Do you think the editors and publishers are going to come looking for you? No! You have to write and submit and work hard for it!
It's so true. Nothing comes by wishing. We just have to go for it.
Michele,
You're right. Editors and publishers usually have more writers pitching their services than they can use--thus, they don't need to go looking for writers.
The writers that do constantly pitch themselves to publishers and distinguish themselves from all the other folks are the ones that succeed.
So...I guess it's all about focus on what really works and elimination of what really doesn't. Of course, it's often so much easier to do what doesn't work because it takes so much less actual hard work.
“The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.”
My understanding: to be a writer, you must write what you know and what's in your heart instead of paying close attention to your critics. Writing is a "DO" and not a "WANT", so if you "want" to be a writer, you do the exact opposite.
Marjie,
Thought-provoking observation. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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