What does it take to write a book? How can you gain confidence when publishing your work? Furthermore, how can you become more authentic when it comes to your writing style? And how can you ensure you remain focused in this increasingly distracting and technologically-focused world, where attention and time are perhaps the most important assets?
Chuck Palahniuk is the person to answer these questions. He is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. Among many books he published, the one that especially stands out is the award-winning novel "Fight Club," which also was made into a film of the same name, starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.
It’s not uncommon that writers struggle with their confidence: whether people will read and like their book. There’s often lots of analysis and overthinking, especially when publishing your work for the first time. How does one move beyond this fear? Chuck also shared interesting thoughts on this. “When you read your work in a workshop, you get the most valuable feedback, and that is the un-intellectualized, emotional reaction.”
Seeing and hearing people’s reactions, laughter, gasp, joy, and anticipation, and letting them reveal what is about to happen before the narrator gets there---that’s a fantastic way of getting real feedback and eventually boosting your confidence as a writer.
For most, authenticity is kind of a jargon word right now. It’s being thrown around loosely and in the process, we lose the power of its true meaning. Authenticity, at its root, is about honesty. It’s about being true to who you are and what you believe. In writing, authenticity is about creating work that is true, honest, and real.
As for Chuck, there is no grand formula. It is simple – draw out from your personal struggles when writing a book. Embrace the rawness, realness, and authenticity of your own writing. It should not be a work that is circled to impress the readers, but it is a piece that is birthed in the deepness of our hearts, which connects people to the truth of who we are.
Most of the important aspects of our lives have been replicated online. In the wake of forced social distancing (COVID-19), Zoom and other video conferencing platforms are the new normal, enabling effective work from home, online schooling, or large forum meetings. Reading his works in a workshop held in a physical room offers a lot of implicit information that’s extremely useful for an author like Chuck. Zoom meetings largely lack natural interpersonal dynamics.
As a keen observer, physical room workshops are helpful to get the most valuable kind of feedback which Chuck calls “the un-intellectualized emotional reaction.” Zoom interactions lack intimacy and spontaneity because of the absence of cues of body language and moods that are hard to decipher because of the unnatural flow of these conference platforms.
If you write something to fix the world, the idea is not to improve the world, but instead, to model a new possibility. If it's something that appeals to you and other people, it can be a more effective solution. Find joy instead of repairing something.
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