5 More Misconceptions About Writing

By georgelthomas on 31 Aug 2021 • ( 1 )

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all well and that you’re all feeling fulfilled in your creative endeavours.

Today I’m sharing another 5 Misconceptions About Writing since there seem to be so many of them floating around. You can find the first part here.

5 More Misconceptions About Writing

1 Writing Is Always Fun
While many writers derive a lot of joy from the creative process, it is a huge misconception that if you are writing then you must be having fun. In fact, a lot of the time, writing is frustratingly hard. It’s always fun coming up with great ideas, but writing is so much more than thinking about a story or a character. The finished project must make sense at the end which takes a lot of time and patience.

2 You Should ‘Write What You Know’.
While writing about subjects that you already know about can work in your favour in terms of saving time, writing what you don’t know can be great too. If there’s a subject you want to write about in which you find your knowledge lacking, then you will need to research the topic. There are no bounds on what you can write about.

3 You Have To Have Been Published To Be A Writer
Some people like to define a writer as someone who has been paid for their work or had their work published somewhere professionally, but those people would be incorrect. If you pick up a pen, put it on paper (or the electron equivalent) and write, then by the very definition of the word, you are a writer.

4 You Need To Be ‘Qualified’ To Be A Writer
It’s a common belief in the writing community that you need to have credentials to call yourself a writer. You do not need any qualifications or special certificates at all to write. It may be helpful to take a course on creative writing to help bolster your skills, or a course to brush up on your spelling and grammar, but it’s certainly not necessary. You learn those things as you go anyway. Anyone can write. You just need an imagination and a writing implement.

5 You Don’t Have To Edit If You Don’t Want To
It’s such a massive misconception that editing is optional. It isn’t. Of course, if you’re writing just for fun, or just for yourself then no, you probably don’t need an editor. However, if you want to present yourself to the world as a professional who knows what they’re doing, then your unedited work will make you appear inexperienced and amateurish.

As always, thanks for spending your time with me!

Until next time

George