Yes, this post will kinda sorta contradict an earlier post, but hopefully the nuance between the two will help you overlook that. Something many non-writers don’t get, and which many writers can’t push past, is that writers in general usually have strengths in certain genres. We instinctively understand this when we look at who wrote the book, but in conversation, we seem to think that being a writer translates across all domains. It doesn’t.
I bring this up because a friend recently asked me to write
a non-fiction memoir for a friend of his.
This person lost her husband recently and wanted to share the story of
that person’s life. As I found out more,
it sounded intriguing…but it wasn’t something I could pull off.
I write fiction. In
fact, most of what I write is fantastical fiction. I got asked once to critique a western novel,
and I was completely lost since westerns aren’t my thing. Similarly, while I may enjoy memoirs and
documentaries, crafting them isn’t my thing.
I would do a horrible job, so I decided to pass on the project.
All of this comes back to writers knowing their
strengths. I know a comic writer who creates
stories based on his life, and they’re awesome.
He then tried to eek his way into science-fiction, and the result was
terrible. Awful. Among the worst sci-fi I’ve ever read. He asked me for a critique, and I was as nice
as I could be given the nature of what I read, but I tried gently telling him
to stick with more real-life situations that you can put a comedic or relatable
twist on.
Writers need to know what they’re good at, and what they’re
not good at. Yes, you can always seek
out ways to improve, but sometimes it’s just not your thing, much like no
matter how much I train, I’ll never be able to disassemble and reassemble an
internal combustion engine – my brain simply doesn’t work that way. So find out the way your brain works and go
with it rather than fighting against the tide and looking untalented.
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