Writing Craft: The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes

     The Courage to Write affirms common writing fears, many of them illustrated by literary superstars confessing their private terrors. Thanks to my writing friend and fellow Archon 47 panelist John Allen for recommending this book!
     Keyes says: “Fear is felt by writers at every level.  Anxiety accompanies the first word they put on paper and the last.  …Those who put words on paper for public consumption live in fear that whoever reads their words will see right through them.  At the very least, readers will discover what they themselves have suspected all along: that they’re faking it.”
     “Writers work under constant threat of public ridicule and rejection,” he says, which triggers what he considers our greatest human fear: “looking foolish.”

     According to Keyes:  “Compelling writing is a result of strong feelings with a sharp edge. …It takes courage not just to expose such feelings to others but to reveal them to ourselves.”  He argues that weak writing often stems from trying to avoid these deeper emotions.

     He also addresses the pristine perfection of the unfinished story:

• “One way to preserve a fantasy of becoming a great writer is by never testing that fantasy; by being a writer of great promise whose best work is always yet to come.”
  
• “The best time of writing is before any words have been committed to paper; when all is prospect, clear in one’s mind, and utterly brilliant.  The problems begin when one attempts to record that vision on paper.”
  

• “We’re all better writers when we worry more about what we want to say and less about how it sounds.”

     Our fear of falling short of our own ideals can stunt our growth as writers.

• “Authors routinely, if unknowingly, calm their nerves by producing less than their best.  This is most often accomplished by building sturdy walls of obscure words and complex sentences to protect themselves from critical eyes.”
•  “Saying exactly what one means is hard work.  Being vague is far easier.  Endless revisions are sometimes necessary to clarify an idea.”
• “To the degree that we can confront and transcend a fear of exposing ourselves on the page—any page—our writing will improve.”

     Ira Glass addresses this gap between our dreams and our actual work, which he says narrows as we practice and grow as artists. 

     Keyes advises us to consider our fears “courage points,”  and to “look at fear as not just an incidental but an invaluable part of the writing process.”  He compares courageous writing to climbing mountains:
​     “Mountaineers enjoy being at the bottom and top of a peak far more than they like being in the middle.  As they begin a climb, all is hope.  At the end, relief and elation take over.  In between it’s mostly slog and anxiety… Like climbing a mountain, writing a book is exciting at the beginning, exhilarating at the end, but tedious, frustrating, and hair-raising in between.  [Similar to] high-standard mountaineering, serious writing is seldom done as a lark.  These pursuits are engaged in because one is compelled to do so; because of the challenge, the self-test, to confront, engage, and transcend fear.”

     Determination is the most effective tool against fear, says Keyes.

• “The more I read and write, the more convinced I am that good writing has less to do with acquired technique than with inner conviction.  The assurance that you have something to say that the world needs to hear counts for more than literary skill.  …It’s hard to be that passionate.  It means you must put your whole poke on the table.  Yet this very go-for-broke quality grabs and holds a reader far more surely than any mastery of technique.”
• “In writing, as in so many pursuits, it’s not the most gifted but the most determined who succeed.  [Whoever] is willing to persist, to put up with boredom, frustration, and anxiety.”

     The Courage to Write was first published in 1995 and it is a product of its era.  Yet it contains useful advice, especially for writers early in their career looking for help wrestling with the fears all authors face.

For more on tackling writing fears, read Embracing Fear or my reviews of Fearless Writing and Art & Fear.

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