6 questions with blogger and author Blake Powell

Lesson: sit your ass in the chair and do the work.

Noam Dagan
Jul 22, 2017 · 7 min read
The distance between his talent and ours is the distance between our asses and the chair

It’s hard to write. It just is. And it’s not just hard for mere mortals like you and me. The best and the greatest admit this whole writing this ain’t easy.

But that’s okay. It’s good that it’s hard. That means it’s worth doing. As Steve Pressfield said: [The writer] has to love being miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any soldier, or swabbie, or desk jockey, because this is war, baby, and war is hell.”

So. If writing’s going to be hell, then you might as well get good at it and learn to enjoy it. I decided I could use any mentorship I can get. So I emailed blogger and writer Blake Powell some questions about writing and he gave a lot of insight. I recommend his posts on medium for anyone trying to work on their writing.

“When it comes down to it, if you don’t know how to tell a good story others will find interesting, then you’ve already lost the battle for your reader’s attention no matter what genre you are writing in.” -Blake Powell

  1. What advice do you have for fiction writers specifically? In your experience, does writing fiction come with specific challenges than writing in other genres does?

Always respect your readers. Hold them higher than you hold yourself.

Your readers make or break your work, and if you disrespect them in any way, do not be surprised if they never finish reading your work.

Additionally, thank every reader you get, especially when you’re starting out. Their attention is precious and even if you’re an accomplished best-seller, you need to constantly view it like gold.

In response to the last part of your question, I think fiction writing does come with its own specific challenges. As a fiction writer, you need to be aware of things like character’s back stories and the specific motivations that drive them. You also need to be able to organize your story and tell it well. As we all know, writing a novel isn’t easy, so the better grip you have on your genre, the easier it will be to create great work.

However, being a fiction writer is more related to writing non-fiction than we may think. When it comes down to it, if you don’t know how to tell a good story others will find interesting, then you’ve already lost the battle for your reader’s attention no matter what genre you are writing in.

2. Do you think writers can get too caught up in productivity and marketing, thereby decreasing their interest in the creative act itself? What do you recommend to do to deal with this dilemma?

Absolutely. I think the whole “life hack” culture goes both ways. You can only try to “hack” your writing routine so much. While it’s important to learn about and be aware of how others write, the only real way to know how you write best is to try out different things for yourself and see what sticks.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be a productive writer or market your work. You need to market your work if you want to get noticed online. There’s simply a smart and decent way of doing it, just like there’s an obsessive way of doing it that gets in the way of your work.

No matter what somebody tells you, writing always comes first. You’re a writer, after all, so if you don’t know how to write well and create compelling work then it doesn’t matter how good of a marketer you are. If your foundation as a writer is broken and you are easily distracted by the next shiny thing, your readers will notice it and they’ll be distracted too.

3. What are some ways to take the pressure off yourself while writing to make the process more enjoyable?

Don’t write for views or attention. Write because you enjoy it. I know it’s easy to say and hard to do, but if you like what you write about and your readers like it too, that’s a win for everyone. Never compromise your interests for views just because of what’s trending right now in the publishing world. That will be the kiss of death when it comes to being motivated day in and day out to not only do your work but finish it too.

You have to find your balance and the best way to do that is to write about something relevant to your reader that you enjoy writing about — so much so that you would write about it if you never got paid for it, too. Take money and views out of the factor and just let your passion burn onto the page.

Believe me, if you’re interested and fired up about what you’re writing about, your readers will be too. Writing is a two-way relationship, so passion and intrigue go both ways.

4. How do you figure out a creative writing routine that works for you?

I don’t really have a consistent routine from day to day. I don’t always write in the mornings or in the afternoons. I find that type of structure very constricting for my creativity.

Instead, I pledge every day to write for at least 15 minutes. If I can find a pocket of time to do that in, I call that day a win. It helps make writing less of an uphill battle on those days when things get really, really hard. And trust me, they will — they always do.

My advice would be to experiment and try different techniques. Don’t be afraid to change anything to make it suit you. In the end, the only person writing your story will be you, so why not write in a way that suits you?

5. How can blogging benefit fiction writers? Do you think they should publish stories online for free?

It can absolutely benefit fiction writers. Andy Weir wrote and published The Martian for free on his site before he secured a book deal for it. Wool by Hugh Howey was created through Nanowrimo before being bought by a publisher and becoming a beloved series. John Greene blogs online. Cory Doctorow and many other writers publish some of their books and stories for free as well, and it has worked well for them so far. Look at Medium and Wattpad — both of them are great platforms for telling stories online.

Gaining an audience as a fiction writer is not much different from gaining one as a blogger or non-fiction writer. You can only find your readers by putting your work out there and sharing your advice for your readers to apply to their own lives. I tell my readers to focus on ‘usage first’ principles: that is, solve a problem for your readers and give them something they didn’t have before from your work. If you’re writing fiction, it will likely be more difficult to gain traction with your work, but you can always help other fiction writers in some way. It pays to be creative here.

Some of the ways you can build an audience now come from turning your readers from aspiring writers to practicing ones. You do this by sharing your insights, helping them grow their audience, and solving different problems in their life. Providing them with value can easily come from entertaining them and transporting them to a new world just as much as it can come from giving them practical advice; like anything, you just have to find the topic you want to write about and in it, you’ll find your balance.

I would add that you should never charge for your work unless there’s enough demand for it and you’ve given enough value back to your readers and served them enough to be comfortable eventually going for the ask. This gets to the point that when you release something you care about, you’re pretty sure others will like it too, which takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation for writers so they can focus on creating great work instead.

If you want to be a more confident writer, write more. That’s it. That’s all there ever was.

6. How do writers acquire confidence in their ability?

I tell all of my readers that action breeds confidence. If you want to be a more confident writer, write more. That’s it. That’s all there ever was.

If you can develop a habit of writing and then publishing the best pieces you write on a consistent basis, the practice you gain and the feedback you receive from your readers will grow your ability ten-fold. That’s how you move from being a writer that’s good or even sub-par to one that is great.


Thank you Blake for wonderful insight. I’ve been writing more since he answered these questions and have just been doing the work as he suggested and it’s helped. Sure, maybe that’s a “duh” statement but it’s easy to sidetrack yourself by thinking about writing instead of writing.

I’ve also been working on a short story since the interview and have been diving further into my character’s back stories and motivations as he suggested. By free-writing about my characters outside of the main manuscript, I’ve found that I have a sharper and clearer focus on the story I want to tell when I sit down to write it.

Time to finish that damn story and sit my ass in the chair! Join me, writers!

Noam Dagan

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“All too often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be.” -John Gardner

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