Of course this is nonsense. Plenty of people preying on this insecurity make a lot of money lining the shelves of your bookstore’s (remember those?) self-help section with platitudes. Thanks to people thinking everything they see on the Internet is worth sharing, there are scores of images with these platitudes written in Comic Sans. Well, Chad and I have a decent relationship. He’s quiet most of the time. That is, until I start to think about writing fiction.
“Wait a minute Bro-bro,” he’ll say, right on schedule, “you can’t write about that. You think it’s a good idea, but it’s weak. It’ll never take.”
Recently, Chad received a falcon punch from a former classmate of mine. I met +Ross Hendrickson in a cross-departmental class that was a survey of cognitive science. That was over a year ago. What I've recently learned about Ross is he has an undergrad degree in “Arts and Parties” like me. More specifically, he studied English with a minor in linguistics. He’s also been writing for some time now. Ross pointed me at a recorded, free version of a class he took.
The teacher is a fantastic science fiction/fantasy writer named Brandon Sanderson. I hadn't heard of him, but only now have I been able to read a book that wasn't filled with equations or code and didn't cost three times more than it’s worth. I watched the first day’s lecture and then started reading samples of Brandon’s writings. I started with the first books in two of his series: Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive. I bought Mistborn the next day.
More importantly, Brandon delivered the final haymaker to Chad. Brandon said something like “Even the worst idea can be made a good story by a great writer,” in one of the first lectures in that course. He makes becoming a good writer more important than coming up with good ideas. To illustrate, he mentioned The Furies of Calderon and how Jim Butcher wrote it on a bet. You can hear Jim tell the story, but he bet someone who was in the ideas-are-more-important camp he could write a book about any two subjects given him. This Internet Chad offered “lost roman legion” and “ Pokemon.” I checked that book out at the Denver Public Library (did you know you can check out electronic books from them?) and now I'm on the fourth book in the series. He is a good writer.
With this in mind, I decided to go for it in my spare time. Yesterday, while riding the bus to work, I came up with what I think is a really good idea.
“No way, Bro-br-- Oof!”
I’ve heard it all before, but Chad’s voice sounds better when it’s interrupted by my elbow digging into his diaphragm. I feel the reciprocal pain in my hand as the back of my fist smashes his cheek and nose. My pain is brief; the tyranny it ended no longer endures unless Hollywood needs a sequel.
We weren't born with self doubt, you know. Someone, somewhere, told us we couldn't do something or an idea of ours was stupid. Someone else repeated the sentiment. Society took up the banner and we all chimed in with our criticisms and fear of others' success until your mind took over and we could move on to the next person.
Well, you can listen to it. You can read the books that want to help you overcome it. You can metaphorically fight Chad as I'm doing in this post to add prose to a point. However, to be honest, I think it doesn't matter which way you go; you'll be all right. If Chad says you can't do one thing, I'm sure you have the confidence to do something else. You don't want him to win, do you? I mean, look at his haircut.
Well, you can listen to it. You can read the books that want to help you overcome it. You can metaphorically fight Chad as I'm doing in this post to add prose to a point. However, to be honest, I think it doesn't matter which way you go; you'll be all right. If Chad says you can't do one thing, I'm sure you have the confidence to do something else. You don't want him to win, do you? I mean, look at his haircut.
Ignoring Chad as he stands, dazed, I am reminded of a great line delivered by Steve Martin in “Roxanne”:
“Has he fallen, yet?”
