{"id":28187,"date":"2022-02-09T22:08:09","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T06:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28187"},"modified":"2022-02-09T22:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T06:08:09","slug":"writing-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/writing-it-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing it Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

How does one write well? How does an author find their voice? How does one write? These were some of the questions we set out to explore this week in the readings of Stephen King\u2019s On Writing<\/em> and Steven Pressfield\u2019s The War of Art<\/em>. Both classified under the general literature genre and incorporating elements of psychology in their own ways, I found these two works to offer different perspectives to the art of writing. King, a well-known author having written over 60 novels in his career takes a clear stance that writing is a fluid process, one that can\u2019t be forced, and that ultimately an author is formed, not made. Pressfield, also an author but one that has a larger variety including non-fiction, fiction, and screenplays, holds a stronger line that it is only through self-discipline, belief, and motivation that one can truly become an author. While they both would contest that this is a craft that requires dedication and work, I found that they approached the process and motivation behind it in such drastically different ways.<\/p>\n

While I tend to err on the side of more practical applications, I found myself identifying with the critics of Pressfield\u2019s work in that his stance, and perhaps tone, of a tough-love approach to the self is perhaps too unrealistic when it comes to this art form. While he discusses the difference in the life lived and the life unlived, similar to the theme of Walker\u2019s front- and back-stag metaphors, I feel his definition of Resistance and the fight against it leaves little room for real growth to take place. Contrasting this view with King\u2019s more lived through approach, On Writing<\/em> spends much of the first section of the book highlighting prominent memories, mostly traumatic in nature, as evidence as to how he was shaped and molded into the writer he is today. For me, I found myself more trusting of the advice that King provided simply because I feel he offered a more genuine approach that incorporates real life into every step. Like Poole\u2019s notions of practicing a skillset, both authors encourage the act of reading and writing as part of the process of writing. The contrast however comes when Pressfield approaches it as a self-discipline measure to fight Resistance and King encourages that it won\u2019t be discipline if it’s truly something that is enjoyed.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

In the exploration of how one writes, writes well, and finds their voice, I found myself thinking about the connection between a writer and dopamine. After King describes the interaction where his mother encouraged him to write his own comic book at a young age, he states, \u201cthere were more doors that one person could ever open in a lifetime, I thought (and still think).\u201d I can see how this potential adventure and thrill of anticipation in the unknown an author sees and feels reinforces what Lieberman describes of dopamine in that \u201cit narrates no less than the story of human behavior.\u201d[2]<\/a> Diving further into King\u2019s personal struggles with alcohol and drug addition while still being full functioning raises questions for me as to the relationship between different art forms and addiction. Is creativity fueled by the addiction? Is the addiction providing a cause & effect relationship to the art form? Does the fear of loss of creativity keep artists in bondage to the drug of choice? What addictive tendencies in me fuel my own seeking of dopamine, even if not as an author?<\/p>\n

While not anticipating identifying with anything specific in either of these books as I do not have aspirations of becoming an author, I was struck with one sentence near the end of Kings book. He just detailed the circumstances surrounding being hit by the vehicle, the surgeries, and long recovery process, when he thinks about returning to his writing. Expecting his wife to encourage rest, she instead sets up a space for him to resume that accommodates the new normal of his physical needs. He says that his wife, \u201cknows when I’m working too hard, but she also knows that sometimes it’s the work that bails me out.\u201d[3]<\/a> Given my present circumstances, it\u2019s been assumed by many around me that I would step back from the pursuit of this doctoral degree during this season. And yet, it\u2019s never been an option in my mind unless I find myself simply physically unable to once infusions begin later this spring. But I think like King, I need this work right now \u2013 perhaps for the dopamine that it provides, but likely, more so for the need to keep any semblance of pre-cancer normal that I can hold onto.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> King, 145, 150.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Lieberman & Long, Molecule of More<\/em>, xvii.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> King, 267.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does one write well? How does an author find their voice? How does one write? These were some of the questions we set out to explore this week in the readings of Stephen King\u2019s On Writing and Steven Pressfield\u2019s The War of Art. Both classified under the general literature genre and incorporating elements of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2198,2004,2172,2199,2197,2200],"class_list":["post-28187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-king","tag-lgp11","tag-lieberman-and-long","tag-on-writing","tag-pressfield","tag-the-war-of-art","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28188,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187\/revisions\/28188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}