I spend a lot of time playing role-playing games. Well, really I spend most of my time working, taking care of my kids, and trying to write, but I spend a lot of my FREE time playing role-playing games. I love them- especially the older ones on the Nintendo, like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. And one of the main things I love about them is something that a lot of other people seem to hate: level grinding.
You see, Japanese rpg's have a valuable life-lesson to teach us. In the game, as in life, you start out weak and unskilled. Over time, as you accomplish certain goals and defeat more and more enemies, you gain "experience points". And as you gain more XP's, you become more intelligent, stronger, wiser, better able to deal with situations, and gain new skills. See? Just like life. And just like real life, gaining XP's takes time. A LOT of time. And it takes determination.
Now, let's apply this model to writing. We'll call this "Novelist: the RPG".
You start out young and unaccomplished, armed with the basic skills needed to write a sentence, and the knowledge that writing is your dream. This is the goal of the game, then: to become that dream.
At first, things don't go so well. You try to write a story and it just doesn't seem right, and you trash it and start over again. But within the context of the game, each of those words you wrote add up to experience points. You are slowly but surely leveling up. After a certain point, the words seem to flow easier. The sentences become clearer. You are beginning to develop a voice. And so you learn some new skills. You are advancing!
Now comes the first real big fight of the game: letting someone read your work. Just like in the game, if you've gained enough levels and worked hard enough, you will win this battle. Someone (a teacher, a parent, a friend) will enjoy your story. And, also just like in a game, if you fail, you just go back to the last save point and keep on trying.
THAT is the real lesson here. You CANNOT fail at this game, unless you just quit. If you keep playing, you will win. You only have to build up enough levels of experience, and you can conquer ANYTHING.
Sadly, many people just give up and quit the game.
Every victory must be EARNED: that first successful story that your teacher really loved; the first short story that an editor accepted and published in his or her magazine; your first completed novel; the second one; the third; finding an agent; going independent; selling your work.
All of these are levels of the game, and each level, each test, requires more time, more work, and more experience if you're going to win.
It takes time. A game can take hours. But this, this real life test of your strength, determination, skill, and courage, takes years.
Or you can just quit.
I hope you don't.
I never will.