The Importance of Writing with Passion and Desire

Photo credit: @iamprovidence\Medium

Previously, we posted that Isaac Bashevis Singer (reportedly) advised that there are [at least] three characteristics that a work of fiction must possess [to be well-written]:

1. It must have a precise and suspenseful plot

2. The author must feel a passionate urge to write it

3. He must have the conviction, or at least the illusion, that he is the only one who can handle this particular theme

We added that of the three, number 2 is arguably the most important, especially as it relates to actually getting the writing done, because it will be very difficult for a writer to write for hours without the energy that a topic of passion can organically provide. 

Nora Roberts, the prolific novelist (e.g., over 200 novels), would agree. Nora advised that a writer should not write something that he or she would not read [for pleasure], and having desire while writing is a must. Nora reportedly advised:

The most important thing is you can’t write what you wouldn’t read for pleasure. It’s a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can’t say you’re going to write romance when you don’t even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it.
 

And you have to be driven. You have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done

Writing Never Gets Easy?

Louise Glück related in her Nobel Prize-winning Proofs & Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994) that it's a fantasy to believe that writing gets easier and that a writer is always inspired. Glück wrote:

It never gets easier to write. The fantasy exists that once certain hurdles have been gotten through, this art turns much simpler, that inspiration never falters, and public opinion is always affirmative, and there’s no struggle, there’s no torment, there’s no sense that the thing you’ve embarked on is a catastrophe.

However, I believe that Glück meant to advise that writing never gets easy, because like anything that you practice regularly, it will (almost) always get easier, but not necessarily easy. For example, the more you write (about a topic of passion), your stamina may naturally increase.

In the film The Tenants (2005), Willie Spearmint, who was writing his first book, shared that, except for Sundays, he wrote for four solid hours per day. However, Harry Lesser, who was writing his third book, wrote for, at least, six hours per day.

Willie Spearmint, "I work from, like, 8 to 12. Four solid hours. And then I'm out. Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke. How long you go for?"

Harry Lesser, "About six hours a day. Sometimes more."

Thus, one shouldn't be surprised that after writing consistently, that it becomes easier, but it may never become easy, because like Willie said, "[T]his writing stuff is no joke."

Literary Talent Isn’t Rare?

Kevin Barry, the Irish novelist, opined in The Paris Review piece "Jumping Off a Cliff: An Interview with Kevin Barry" (November 12, 2013) that "literary talent isn’t rare", because a lot of people have the potential to be good writers; however, most people don't have the discipline to write "every single fucking day", and most people don't make writing a priority. Consequently, most people never develop their literary talent. Kevin Barry:

"The funny thing about it all is that literary talent isn’t rare. Lots of people can write good stories with good characters and great sentences. What’s rare is the stubborn, pragmatic thing that tells you “I’ve got to do this every single fucking day, even when I don’t want to do it, when I’d rather pluck my eyes out and feed them to the birds.” That discipline combined with talent is very rare. I’d be willing to bet that some of the most brilliant writers who ever lived have never been published, because they weren’t prepared to do the work. You have to make sacrifices and be utterly selfish. Everything else and everyone else is secondary to your writing."

Barry's stance reminds me of Angela Duckworth's Grit, where she wrote that grit can be a better indicator of success than "talent" or IQ scores, because talent that's multiplied by effort equals skill, which, when multiplied by effort, God willing, equals achievement. 

Lastly, I would add that a key to having the discipline to write every single day, is to write about a topic of passion, which you passionately want to share. 

Passion Aids the Arduous Nature of Writing

In the film The Tenants (2005), which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel of the same title, Willie confessed to Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." And in terms of the life of a writer, Willie said, "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

John Logan, the prolific screenwriter, agreed with Willie. In the Los Angeles Times piece "Duos of ‘Genius’: A. Scott Berg and John Logan [...]" (June 3, 2016), Logan related that making art (e.g., writing) is "arduous" (i.e., writing requires strenuous effort and it can be difficult and tiring). Logan said,

You know what — it is really arduous to make art. It is work. It doesn’t magically happen. Those writers who say, oh you know I wait and inspiration strikes, and magically a perfect sonnet will come. I’m like, you’re lying. That’s not how Wordsworth wrote, that’s not how Keats wrote, that’s not how anyone worked.

And I would add that writing about a topic that you're passionate about is a good way to overcome the arduous nature of writing and stay driven and stimulated. 

A Minimalistic Approach Writing

Source: Donald Ian McCaw\WORDS WORDS WORDS

Per AdviceToWriters, Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, advised budding writers to take a minimalistic approach to writing, which is to simply write "only one word at a time", which will, with some passion-fueled grit, eventually develop into sentences, paragraphs, pages, and a book(s). Smiley reportedly advised:

Writing is only one word at a time. It’s not a whole bunch of things happening at once. Various things can present themselves, but when you face the page, it’s a couple of words, and then a couple more words, and [...] a sentence or a paragraph [...] when I look at writing, it’s all just one word at a time.

Colson Whitehead's Simple Rules for the Art of Writing

Via the New York Times, Colson Whitehead, the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, shared eleven (11) simple rules for the art of writing:

• Rule No. 1: Show and Tell. Most people say, “Show, don’t tell,” but I stand by Show and Tell [...]

Whitehead shared an example of how to Show and Tell: “A penetrating psychological study of a young med student who receives disturbing news from a former lover.”

• Rule No. 2: Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you. You can’t rush inspiration. [...] Once your subject finds you, it’s like falling in love. It will be your constant companion. 

In other words, write about a subject that you're passionate about. 

• Rule No. 3: Write what you know. Bellow once said, “Fiction is the higher autobiography.” In other words, fiction is payback for those who have wronged you. 

• Rule No. 5: Keep a dream diary.  

• Rule No. 9: Have adventures.  

Rules 3, 5, and 9 should be great news for new writers who often think that they have the ability to create art from their imagination instead of using their imagination to turn their experiences into art. 

• Rule No. 4: Never use three words when one will do. Be concise. Don’t fall in love with the gentle trilling of your mellifluous sentences.

I would imagine that most readers of Alfred Appel Jr.'s The Annotated Lolita and most Nabokov scholars would disagree with Whitehead's Rule No. 4.

• Rule No. 6: What isn’t said is as important as what is said. In many classic short stories, the real action occurs in the silences.

Rule No. 6 appears to be contradictory to Rule No. 1 and counterintuitive, but he's the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. 

• Rule No. 7: Writer’s block is a tool — use it. When asked why you haven’t produced anything lately, just say, “I’m blocked.” [...] being blocked is the perfect cover for when you just don’t feel like working.

In other words, if you're following Rule No. 2, you'll never, God willing, unintentionally suffer from writer's block. And Whitehead's Rule No. 7 reminded me of the film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) where Tom Clancy shared with some admirers that writer's block is synonymous with laziness (i.e., the antithesis of grit).

Tom Clancy: "I don't subscribe to the notion of writer's block."
Female Admirer: "You never experience it?"
Tom Clancy: "Writer's block is a term invented by the writing community to justify their laziness. My success is nothing more than that I have the determination and stamina [i.e., grit] to sit and get the work done.

• Rule No. 8: Is secret. 

• Rule No. 10: Revise, revise, revise. I cannot stress this enough [...] if someone challenges you to a draft-off. When the ref blows the whistle and your opponent goes, “26 drafts!,” you’ll bust out with “216!” and send ’em to the mat.  

• Rule No. 11: There are no rules.

The Life of the Novelist: Intoxicating and Free

In an interview posted on The Telegraph (14 Oct 2011), Martin Amis shared with Edmundo Paz Soldán, the Bolivian novelist and professor, that novelists are the "freest of all artists", because, unlike a painter, a novelist isn't "confined by a square on the wall", unlike a musician, an artist isn't confined to "musical scales", unlike a poet, a novelist isn't confined to "the disciplines of verse", and, unlike a filmmaker, a novelist doesn't "have actors; producers; money pressures of any kind." Amis said,

The process of writing a novel [...] is intoxicating. You can do absolutely anything; you are the freest of all artists. You’re not confined by a square on the wall or musical scales or the disciplines of verse, and you’re certainly freer than a film-maker who is dependent on the weather when he goes out to make his world. And it’s completely uncollaborative – you don’t have actors; producers; money pressures of any kind. 

I'll reiterate that novelists, or writers in general, should not have "money pressures of any kind", because a writer should not write for money but he or she should write about a passionate topic, which will, consequently, help a writer maintain a sufficient level of motivation and inspiration, which is needed, because like Willie shared with Lesser in The Tenants (2005), "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

The Best Way to Handle Rejection?

Po Bronson, the writer of the international bestseller Bombardiers, reportedly advised that the best way to handle rejection is to begin writing your next book before the inevitable "dozens and dozens" rejections arrive in your inbox. Bronson advised:

Failure is part of it. You will be rejected dozens and dozens of times. The best way to prepare for it is to have something else in the works by the time the rejection letter arrives. Invest your hope in the next project. Learning to cope with rejection is a good trait to develop.

I would say that Bronson's method isn't the best way to deal with rejection. I would advise a writer to, simply, not take rejection personally, and, like Bronson encouraged, start writing your next book. 

Qualities of the Writer: Literate, Hard Working and Passionate

 

In a piece for the Los Angeles Times, "Viet Thanh Nguyen: In praise of doubt and uselessness" (April 14, 2017), Viet Thanh Nguyen, the author of The Sympathizer, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, related that "acquiring technique" is only one part of becoming a writer, because possessing a "habit of the mind" is just as important. Nguyen wrote:

Becoming a writer was partly a matter of acquiring technique, but it was just as importantly a matter of [...] a habit of the mind. It was the willingness to sit in that chair for thousands of hours, receiving only occasional and minor recognition, enduring the grief of writing in the belief that somehow [...] something transformative was taking place. 

Thus, Nguyen opined that to become a writer, one must simply be literate and possess a good work ethic. But I would add that to sustain a good work ethic, a writer must write about a topic that he or she is passionate about. 

"How to Write Good"?

Advice to Writers posted "How to Write Good" (March 28, 2025), which is sixteen (16) writing tips from William Safire:

1. Avoid run-on sentences that are hard to read.
2. No sentence fragments.
3. It behooves us to avoid archaisms.
4. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
5. Don't use no double negatives.
6. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, "Resist hyperbole."
7. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
8. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
9. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
10. Writing carefully, dangling participles should not be used.
11. Kill all exclamation points!!
12. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
13. Take the bull by the hand and don't mix metaphors.
14. Don't verb nouns.
15. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
16. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.

It appears that Safire's advice was taken from his Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage; however, anyone who is well-read could assume that Safire was trolling, and the title of the post would lead one to assume that as well, because there many authors whom creatively and successfully violate Safire's tips. 

For example, Vladimir Nabokov "creatively and successfully" used "affected alliteration" extensively throughout his oeuvre. For instance, take these two lines from Lolita:

• Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins
• Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth

A perusal of Safire's Wikipedia page revealed that he mostly wrote non-fiction, which his tips would be more appropriate for; so, the Advice to Writers post maybe should have been titled "How to Write Good [Non-Fiction]". 

Writing a Book: Talent vs. Grit

Reportedly, Colum McCann, the writer of literary fiction, guaranteed that a writer with 80% talent coupled with 100% desire will be "so much better" than a writer with 100% talent but with only 80% desire. McCann:

The writers who are prepared to keep going [i.e., gritty writers] are the ones who are going to make it. I can guarantee that a writer with 80 percent of the talent and 100 percent of the desire will be so much better than the person with 100 percent of the talent and only 80 percent of the desire. It always works that way. 

We posted previously that Angela Duckworth wrote in Grit that grit can be a better indicator of success than "talent" or IQ scores, because talent that's multiplied by effort equals skill, which when multiplied by effort, God willing, equals achievement. 

In addition, Duckworth shared four keys to possessing grit [as a writer]:

1. Develop a Fascination

In other words, write about something that you’re passionate about. Otherwise, you may become bored with the physical writing slash typing process.

2. Daily Improvement

Improving daily may not be sustainable, but if you've written for 30 minutes every day for a week, try to write for 45 minutes, which, once again, may be more sustainable if you're writing about a topic that you're passionate about.

3. Write about something that serves a greater purpose.

In other words, be an altruistic writer.

4. Growth Mindset

In other words, don't have a limiting mindset. For instance, if James Franco can write a book, God willing, you can too!

The Fear of Writing

Richard Rhodes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, reportedly opined that fear, not talent, stops most people from writing. Rhodes said:

"If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is."

In addition, Rhodes implied that possessing passion is more important than treasuring talent. Rhodes said:

[...] You’re a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle.

And I would add that a number who people who do overcome their fear of writing are reluctant to share their writing - out of fear. 

Similes and Metaphors: Keep it on the Body

Kimberly King Parsons related that a teacher advised her [during her MFA studies at Columbia University?] to “Keep it on the body.” In other words, Parsons was advised to connect every metaphor or simile to the human body. Parsons asked:

Why compare something rust-colored to a brick when you could compare it to a spleen? Why put a plane in the sky when you could put a floater on the back of somebody’s eyeball?

Parsons opined that “Keep[ing] it on the body [...] builds bodies and worlds simultaneously." 

You may not want to use this technique exclusively, but peppering your writing with metaphors and similes that are inspired by the human body could add some muscle to your writing, but you might have to reexamine your bio.

Writer vs Actor

What's the difference between an actor and a writer? Per Joan Didion, unlike an actor, a writer can perform alone - while an actor, even in a so-called one-man show, needs a director, a producer, a lighting designer, etc. Didion reportedly said:

I wrote stories from the time I was a little girl, but I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be an actress. I didn't realize then that it's the same impulse [...] It's performance. The only difference being that a writer can do it all alone.

Writers: Don't Sell-Out

Previously, I've posted about the importance of writing about a topic that you're passionate about. Otherwise, you may not be able to sustain the discipline to finish writing a book. 

And Jennifer Weiner, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, advised that one should not sell-out. In other words, one shouldn't write with the sole intention of appealing to an agent or publisher. Instead, write "the story you want to tell". Weiner:

Don’t write something just because you think it will sell, or fit into the pigeonhole du jour [i.e., that's trendy]. Tell the story you want to tell, and worry about how to sell it later.

The Writer: "A Long, Hard, Lonely Life"?

In the film The Tenants (2005), which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel, Willie Spearmint confessed to Harry Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

And Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist and essayist, agreed with Willie when he reportedly said:

You must have discipline for writing. It is not an easy task. It is very lonely. You're all alone. You are not in company [...] You are delving into your depths, but you are profoundly lonely. It is one of the loneliest careers in the world [...] In writing, you are alone. That takes a lot of strength and a lot of will to do it.

Three Characteristics of a Work of Fiction

Isaac Bashevis Singer reportedly related that there are [at least] three characteristics that a work of fiction must possess [to be well-written]:

1. It must have a precise and suspenseful plot

2. The author must feel a passionate urge to write it

3. He must have the conviction, or at least the illusion, that he is the only one who can handle this particular theme

We would add, that of the three, number 2 is the most important - especially as it relates to actually getting the writing done, because, like we've mentioned a number of times, it will be very difficult for a writer to write for hours without the energy from a topic of passion.

To Outline Or Not

Do you write outlines for your characters or do you let them develop (organically) on the screen?  

Per Advice to Writers, Walter Mosley prefers to discover his characters while writing; however, some of his writer friends prefer to use detailed outlines. Mosley reportedly said:

I have writer friends who spend a great deal of time outlining and detailing the biographies of their major characters. Through this process, I am told, they discover the motivations underlying actions taken by these players as they move across the stage of the novel [...] 

It is, however, not my way of discovery. I meet my characters the way I encounter people in life—at a place and in a situation where I have less knowledge than I’d like and am almost always, at first, paying attention to the least important details. After that, I’m in discovery mode.

In the end, one method may not be better than the other, but a writer may want to try both methods and choose the one that he or she finds the most beneficial. 

The Three D's of Writing

Nora Roberts, the prolific novelist, opined that "it’s going to be really hard [for a writer] to get anything done" without the "three D’s: drive, discipline and desire." Per Advice to Writers, Roberts advised:

The most important thing is you can’t write what you wouldn’t read for pleasure. It’s a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can’t say you’re going to write romance when you don’t even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it. And you have to be driven. You have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done.

And Roberts is correct in that if a writer isn't writing about a topic that he or she finds engaging, then it may be difficult to maintain enough drive, discipline and desire to complete a piece. 

Writing, Rejection and Letting Go

Let It Go!

What should a writer do with his or her manuscript, which has been (repeatedly) rejected by agents and publishers? 

One option is to self-publish. And as hard as it may be to do, the second best option may be to, as Colin Broderick advised, "LET IT GO!" And move on to writing the next book. Broderick advised:

My advice is just write: write, write, write...but just as important: know when to let go. You must let go in order to move forward. Again and again I see young writers I admire getting stuck on one book. They try to get it published and nobody wants it and they go back and tweak it again and again for years without getting into something new. My advice is, "LET IT GO!" Stick it in a drawer, move on. Trust me, you will get better just by virtue of experience, and if you turn out to be Ernest Hemingway twenty years down the line, they'll ask you what you have stored away in that drawer of yours.