Writing within Limits by Rebecca Seaton

 

Writing within Limits by Rebecca Seaton

 

 

                                                               

                                               Magazine articles: deadlines and word limits!

I’ve recently been thinking about limitations on our writing. I believe the greater the limit, the more creative it forces us to be:

 

Word limits are an obvious example. I’ve recently begun experimenting with flash fiction, which is a real change from writing novels. Going from 136,000 to 200 words is a significant jump! Even in writing this blog, there’s a word limit which I initially found quite difficult but now usually write to quite easily. Culling words has helped me see which elements of my writing are most important.

 

Time is a limitation for all of us. The jokes and memes around the procrastination of writers are almost an entertainment form in themselves. It isn’t hard to see why we struggle. The creative arts involve process and exploration and it feels odd to limit this. Yet many writers regularly write to deadlines and to other people’s remits. I think this forces us to prioritise. When I jointly wrote a play with a friend, I was very much the one focusing on character whilst my friend had a better handle on plot. However we can become too focused on ‘our thing’: my co-writer had to point out that it probably didn’t matter to the audience that a minor character was farming turnips! My time was better spent on the character attributes that would link to plot. It may be an idea to have a friend, group or writing buddy to hold you to account. I might never finish that chapter if left to myself, but I will if the group are expecting me to share it at our next meeting.

 

Another limitation is audience. This might not be an issue when getting initial ideas down but if we don’t have a clear idea of who we imagine reading our piece, we will find it hard to share the final work. The good thing is, this can be practised in day-to-day life. We all adapt our language according to audience: we don’t speak to our boss in the same way that we speak to our best friend, after all. Be aware of this and experiment with your writing in a similar way. Take that email you sent to colleagues and rewrite it for your boss, a client or a new team member. What changes? Is it the vocabulary, the tone, the content? All this can be used when it comes to focusing on how your work sounds to others.

 

Next time someone says, ‘Only 200 words please’ or ‘I need it by the end of the month’, look on it as an opportunity. And if there isn’t someone to do that for you, do it yourself. Write your next section of text with a different viewpoint, genre, age range or word limit in mind. You might not keep it, but the creativity from the challenge will hone your future words.

 

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #ACW     

 

Rebecca writes fantasy novels, magazine articles and the occasional play. She had her first novel, A Silent Song, published through Pen to Print’s Book Challenge competition and is currently working on the second book of a new trilogy.