Michael Swanwick’s cheeky advice go new writers. I really agree with the sentence “You’ll know it’s done when every attempt to improve it makes it worse. You’ll hate it. Send it out anyway.”
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seems fair. as someone who just took up writing semi-seriously during the pandemic much of it rings true. especially: write every day and read every day. seems obvious, but, sometimes the best advice just comes in the form of K.I.S.S.
it was interesting to see the shift in how I read after starting writing. everything is seen thru the writer lens now. what is this person doing? how are they doing it? what is working? what isn’t working?
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Thanks for posting, great advice, even if I don’t quite agree with the “you’ll hate it” bit. When a text is done and “every attempt to improve it makes it worse”, I’ll hate it no longer. (I might become indifferent though.)
If I have lived with a project, finishing it can make me loathe it. It took me six months before I could start appreciate my first published tabletop roleplaying game. I worked on it day and night for half a year to finish it. It’s not a feeling that will always appear, but it might happen.
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Michael’s a terrific writer and a great teacher. I took a workshop from him some years ago and spent another afternoon with him at a rained-out festival talking craft. One of the most valuable concepts I learned from him was the difference between magic as a rigid, procedural system versus magic as a numinous, mysterious force and the differences that those approaches help you achieve in fiction.
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I’m immensely jealous; he’s one of my all-time favorites. Glad he’s still around and cooking.
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