5 takeaway tips from Dorothea Brande’s “Becoming a Writer”
Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer may have been published in 1934, but the advice contained within is as relevant and valuable as ever.
And it’s probably a bit different from other writing advice books you might already be familiar with.
Unlike most how-to texts on writing that you’ll find, this book tackles psychological blocks which, Brande argues, are the issues that prevent most people from writing like they want to.
Brande suggests that struggling writers typically don’t realize that their problematic worldviews or habits are holding them back. They end up directing needless energy into improving their stylistic or technical skills when the most important issue is much more basic.
Brande provides suggestions and advice for helping the reader improve their attitude towards the writing process, which is the first step to improving their writing.
Although the book explicitly discusses the fiction-writing process, its advice is applicable to writers in all lines of work.
Here’s some takeaway advice from Brande’s Becoming a Writer:
#1: Learn to work with your critical and emotional sides.
I think this is one of the book’s more interesting suggestions. A big problem that aspiring writers face, Brande says, is that they reject the fundamentally dualistic nature of their personality, rather than trying to use it to their advantage:
“There will be a prosaic, everyday, practical person to bear the brunt of the day’s encounters….The other half of your dual nature may then be as sensitive, enthusiastic, and partisan as you like; only it will not drag those traits out into the workaday world.”
Instead of trying to completely suppress your whiny, emotional side, hide it away when it’s time to edit your work, and bring it out during the writing process to harvest its intuitive powers.
Rather than listening to your critical side all the time (which can be tiring and discouraging enough to prevent you from writing at all), let it objectively assess yourself, your habits, and your writing to make improvements.
#2: As a writer, doubt is your worst enemy.
Brande discusses the “slough of despond” which all authors face:
“He worries to think of his immaturity, and wonders how he ever dared to think he had a word worth saying. He gets as stagestruck at the thought of his unseen readers as any sapling actor. … He will find a hundred reasons to doubt himself, and not one for self-confidence.”
Needless to say, this thought process is paralyzing. Instead of wasting energy worrying about your lack of writing prowess, you’ve got to allow yourself to write with a worry-free mind.
One of the exercises Brande suggests to rid yourself of these anxieties is to…
#3: …freewrite every day.
You might think of a freewriting exercise as a fiction author’s exclusive territory, but it’s useful for anyone who wants to make a profession out of turning a phrase.
Brande suggests you spend 30 minutes out of every morning engaged in freewriting. Make sure to do it consistently and before you check your Reddit/Twitter/Facebook feeds, email, and other glorified distractions.
Once you’ve gotten accustomed to this, she suggests working another 15 minute chunk of freewriting into your schedule every day.
She stresses that you must treat these writing sessions as an important appointment. You should never miss them.
This is about forming a helpful habit that won’t necessarily give you awesome material for your ongoing project, but will teach you important things about yourself as a writer—which subjects pique your interest, which aspects of your work need the most improvement, and which conditions are the most conducive to your personal writing process.
#4: Learn to see anew.
Brande suggests consciously trying to examine everything you come across as if it were the first time you were seeing it, asking genuine questions about it and blocking out all other thoughts. This is kind of like meditating.
The value this could bring to your work is enormous because of the processes it triggers in your unconscious mind, according to Brande:
“Each fresh fact starts a train of associations reaching down into the depths of your nature, releasing for your use sensations and experiences, old delights, old sorrows, days that have been overlaid in your memory, episodes which you had quite forgotten.”
#5: My advice: NaNoWriMo is coming up. Take advantage of this, even if you’re not a fiction writer.
NaNoWriMo is an annual challenge to write a novel—no less than 50,000 words long—in 30 days.
Unless you plan to churn out a novel in three days, you’ll have to write at least 1,667 words per day to ensure that you finish in time.
A project like this forces you to put all of Brande’s advice to work. If you’re really focused on finishing your novel, there will be little room for doubt to show up in your mind. And you’ll be forced to make peace with your “dualistic” nature.
Yes, I finished NaNoWriMo successfully two years ago, and no, the fruits of my labor will never see the light of day.
I attempted the challenge the year before, but didn’t finish in time because I was too caught up going back and editing my earlier work before the start of each writing session. This only dismayed me and discouraged me from continuing past a measly 12,000 words.
Don’t make that mistake—just focus on turning out your set number of words each day, and at the end you’ll have something to show for it. Perhaps you’ll even decide to get it published.
Take Brande’s advice to heart and see where it takes your writing.
