I was advised many times as a beginning and then an undergraduate writer to not write stories about struggling writers and authors. Because this advice came from an instructor who is the published author of several novels, I remember being a little disquieted. In the novel I am currently writing, there are three writers working through kinks, living out their own stories and pursuing the ones that are burning in their hearts.
Is this wrong? I have no plans to change this, but I cannot help but wonder if there is some truth to the warning. Should I really not write about writers... or is it just a silly thing?
More importantly, I am merely glad I know where my story is.
I think that's silly. I mean, I suppose it's good advice to prevent novices from falling into solipsism, but I don't see why writers should be a taboo topic in GENERAL. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about artists all the time, and it doesn't seem to cramp his style. Nor as Ian MacEwan suffered from it, nor Dodie Smith, nor, uh, Dante...
ReplyDeleteDid your professor say anything about why she thinks people shouldn't write about writers?
If the issue is the danger of solipsism, i.e. writing about yourself, then my post above might be relevant too...
ReplyDeleteI think my professor didn't really say. I think he was addressing the concerns of students trying to start a novel/story project and avoiding that very issue.
ReplyDeleteI also took a gander at some of my early journals and stories from high school. Eeeh! Scary, I know. But what struck me was how many times female characters, particularly the central ones, developed as secretive little writers creating worlds and hiding them in wooden boxes.
Seeing as how my story would not survive without those three essential characters... I am not really worried about crossing any lines! But have been thinking on it lately... "what would he say?"