Create Your Own Structure
Learn the rules of narrative convention, then break them immediately.
On Craft…
During my most formative mental health journey, I had a buddy tell me something profound: “There are no rules.” This came after a heartbreak and an ego death. It reshaped the way I view myself, and for our purposes, it reshaped the way I view writing. That is, I understood the importance of creating my own structure in life and in art. There are all these conventions, for sure, but the real joy of life comes with breaking them. With making your own true-to-you conventions in their place. Your writing will thank you, and maybe, even, you will thank you.
As writers, we spend a lot of time hearing about and chasing the flow state. The dream is to always have the work pour out of us, no matter how unrealistic the circumstances. Lately, I’ve been considering allowing the idea of flow to redefine the shape of my writing, but not my process. Instead of trying to trigger flow, I’m more interested in respecting it as existing, but not necessary to the work. What is necessary to the work is tailoring a structure, both in my practices and in my writing itself, that works for me exclusively. This refines voice, and it makes life better.
This morning, I was editing a lovely piece by one man you might know as Yoh. I left him a note to the tune of: “This story does not need to be told linearly; there are no rules.” I urged him to create his own structure. The best structure for your piece is not always going to be—in fact, it will rarely be—the tried and true linear set-up-pay-off structure. The best structure for your piece is something you invent that achieves incredible emotional and logical impact. It’s the structure you pull out of thin air to create a story worth reading more than once. So, while I can’t tell you what your structure should be, I am giving you permission to do whatever the fuck you want in your draft.
This same notion applies to the act of writing itself. I wake up at six in the morning and write for hours before work begins. That’s my structure. I can’t possibly write well past, say, 4:30, if I’m being honest. My co-workers edit late into the night. I go to bed by eight. There are no rules! I have created a writing practice structure which maximizes lucidity and has me excited to write every single day. And if you read this and decide I am a crazy person for waking up at six when I don’t technically need to, that’s actually wonderful because it means you’re a step closer to defining your practice structure. Listen to and learn from yourself.
Anyone who tells you writing advice and life advice are static is lying. Everything is dynamic and you’re meant to apply your own flavor to whatever you’re hearing or reading. These are not hard and fast rules, but rather, a set of permissions you can activate to grow as a writer and feel better. I don’t actually know anything. I’m not the czar of the writing world. I’m just a lady with some thoughts on how to get the words out. There are no rules. None. You can even delete this email right now and I wouldn’t mind, because it was you acting in your own interests and that’s all I want for the writers out there. Move with intentions you set, not the intentions someone set for you.