Ask the Author: Neil Ellis Orts
Answered Questions (4)
Neil Ellis Orts
Depends upon what you mean by "writer's block."
If it means sitting in front of a blank sheet of paper or computer screen without knowing what to write, I can't say I have that problem.
What I experience more are periods when the writing stinks, when I can't seem to write much of anything that I would ever want to show anyone. That feels like a block to me.
And the only way to deal with it? Keep writing.
If it means sitting in front of a blank sheet of paper or computer screen without knowing what to write, I can't say I have that problem.
What I experience more are periods when the writing stinks, when I can't seem to write much of anything that I would ever want to show anyone. That feels like a block to me.
And the only way to deal with it? Keep writing.
Neil Ellis Orts
It's inexpensive to do. If you can afford a notebook and a Bic pen, you can afford to be a writer.
Neil Ellis Orts
I'm going to go with Rainer Rilke on this. If you can NOT write, step away from the word processor.
Really, unless you have a particularly commercial mind/ideas, there is so little financial reward in this game. I've known so many writers and only one has been on the NYT bestseller list---and that's still a pretty high percentage. So, unless it's a need that won't leave you alone, I recommend putting this energy into a social life, a family, a charity---any number of things that I'd like more time for if I didn't have to write around a full time day job.
Also, and no one really wants to say this, but unless you're doing technical writing or ad copy or celebrity profiles something else that's very utilitarian or commercial, for the most part, no one is really asking you to write. No one really wants another creative writer. Not many people are sitting arount thinking, "gee, I wish someone else would start writing." Maybe editors who have to publish a catalog of books every year, but even they are looking for a finite number of us.
But if you read that and you still Need to be a Writer, then there's nothing to be done. Write. A lot. Because a lot of it will be crap, but when you get something that you're happy with, it's just the best feeling ever. And you think everything you write is brilliant---well, that's another discussion, but do get with people who will give you feedback and keep it real with you. Learn to revise and edit your own writing. Learn when to let something go and move on to something else. Learn to find the motivation from within because it's very hard to find it from outside your own skin. Not impossible, but hard.
And if you get to where you're occasionally published or published regularly . . . I have to tell you, seeing your name in print has never grown old for me.
There's a lot more advice to give. Magazines are published monthly to give it to you. The main thing, to recap, is that if you can stop it, do. If you can't, then write without apology, write seriously, don't think about writing, don't want to write, write.
Really, unless you have a particularly commercial mind/ideas, there is so little financial reward in this game. I've known so many writers and only one has been on the NYT bestseller list---and that's still a pretty high percentage. So, unless it's a need that won't leave you alone, I recommend putting this energy into a social life, a family, a charity---any number of things that I'd like more time for if I didn't have to write around a full time day job.
Also, and no one really wants to say this, but unless you're doing technical writing or ad copy or celebrity profiles something else that's very utilitarian or commercial, for the most part, no one is really asking you to write. No one really wants another creative writer. Not many people are sitting arount thinking, "gee, I wish someone else would start writing." Maybe editors who have to publish a catalog of books every year, but even they are looking for a finite number of us.
But if you read that and you still Need to be a Writer, then there's nothing to be done. Write. A lot. Because a lot of it will be crap, but when you get something that you're happy with, it's just the best feeling ever. And you think everything you write is brilliant---well, that's another discussion, but do get with people who will give you feedback and keep it real with you. Learn to revise and edit your own writing. Learn when to let something go and move on to something else. Learn to find the motivation from within because it's very hard to find it from outside your own skin. Not impossible, but hard.
And if you get to where you're occasionally published or published regularly . . . I have to tell you, seeing your name in print has never grown old for me.
There's a lot more advice to give. Magazines are published monthly to give it to you. The main thing, to recap, is that if you can stop it, do. If you can't, then write without apology, write seriously, don't think about writing, don't want to write, write.
Neil Ellis Orts
The germ of Cary & John came to me decades ago, probably before I was even out to myself as a gay man. One of the advice letters (Ann or Abby, I don't recall which or maybe if there was even another) ran a letter from an older man who was writing just to express his secret grief. It seems many years earlier, he'd been on a business trip with a co-worker. During that trip, sharing hotel rooms and whatnot, they fell in love. I don't recall the details, exactly, but I believe they were both married and kept their love affair a secret for a long time. One of them had died and the other didn't have a way to grieve in a public way. I was probably morally appalled at the affair, but the image of this sad, lonely man, writing an advice column just to so someone knew of his grief touched me.
Then a few years ago, something or other spurred an image of a conservative woman learning of her deceased father's homosexuality. It came to me as a very strong image and I knew it was the start of a story. It took me a while to find the details (how did she find out? what would a dead man would leave behind to reveal this?), but eventually, I just started writing letters between these men.
There's always more to the start of a story than what I described above, but that's the broad strokes of its genesis.
Then a few years ago, something or other spurred an image of a conservative woman learning of her deceased father's homosexuality. It came to me as a very strong image and I knew it was the start of a story. It took me a while to find the details (how did she find out? what would a dead man would leave behind to reveal this?), but eventually, I just started writing letters between these men.
There's always more to the start of a story than what I described above, but that's the broad strokes of its genesis.
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