# A Writer is Only as Good as the Sum of their Experiences



## ziodice (Sep 3, 2014)

That's a quote from a movie, but I'm pretty damn sure it came from elsewhere. In any case, I agree with it deeply, but the question is: What do you do if you haven't experienced enough?


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## popsprocket (Sep 3, 2014)

You go out and experience more things?

There's no substitute for actually doing things.


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## Guy Faukes (Sep 3, 2014)

(Most) Writer's tend to live rich inner lives to comfort them from their tepidly boring or mundane external lives. Don't fret. Many are in the same boat and can still have rich writing.


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## Gavrushka (Sep 3, 2014)

Guy Faukes said:


> (Most) Writer's tend to live rich inner lives to comfort them from their tepidly boring or mundane external lives. Don't fret. Many are in the same boat and can still have rich writing.



I don't think anything more needs adding.


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## Miles-Kirk (Sep 3, 2014)

Question is, when is enough, and what do you class as life experience? Vague upon vague. Never feel like I have done enough...


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## qwertyman (Sep 3, 2014)

> [h=2]A Writer is Only as Good as the Sum of their Experiences[/h]



I believed it until I read Mark Haddon's, 'The curious incident of the dog in the night time'. A rare exception?

For those who haven't read the book, it describes the thoughts and actions of an autistic teenager.


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## Sam (Sep 3, 2014)

No, a writer is only as good as the amount of time they put into their craft, and you can't put time into your craft gallivanting around the world.


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## garza (Sep 3, 2014)

I'm not sure about that, Sam. I made good  money by turning in a lot of what editors thought was good copy while I was 'gallivanting around the world'.


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## Plasticweld (Sep 3, 2014)

If you want to please others who's only experience is their "rich inner self" you need only to be able to speak at their level.  If you seek a wider audience, "those who are not introverts" you actually have to go out and experience the world first hand and be able to communicate with someone who is actually living and doing things.


One reason why Gaza is as effective as he is, is the reality he brings to his writing, both through long years and many varied experiences. It shows up in the depth of his work.  The best writer with only a vivid imagination will always be pale, compared to someone who has both. My humble opinion.


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## InstituteMan (Sep 3, 2014)

Life has a way of happening to you. I don't think this is something you need to worry about, ziodice. I've at least read some of your wise beyond your years comments on here, z. You'll be fine and have plenty of experience es in your sum, trust me.


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## Cran (Sep 3, 2014)

ziodice said:


> *A Writer is Only as Good as the Sum of their Experiences                 *
> 
> That's a quote from a movie, but I'm pretty damn sure it came from elsewhere. In any case, I agree with it deeply ...


Why? Why should you agree with it? If you think about it - "good as the sum of experiences" - it's saying that the best writers must be over 90 years old, and those 90 years had to be packed with events, adventures and dramas. Really? 

It's that whole "quantity beats quality" argument, and falls down every time. "It's not the size, honey, it's what you do with it."

Even the mathematics of the statement is wrong: it's not a sum, it's an n-dimensional product, and it includes imaginary and often irrational sets. 

The quality of writing includes factors like intelligence, knowledge, wisdom (and these are not the same), drive, passion, sensitivity, imagination, and craft. Of these, only two increase with additional experiences; one is innate, and the rest are a blend of environment and choice.


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## Phase (Sep 3, 2014)

I think it is a bit of both. Agree with Sam the time you put in is very important. Then again you need to live a bit, but that doesn't mean you need to go to the extremes. Reading books or simply listening to other people stories and adventures can go a far way.

... And I guess you're talking about the movie 'Stuck in Love'. Loved it.


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## InstituteMan (Sep 3, 2014)

Although it does help to take a class in complex algebra to be dropping little nuggets like this:



Cran said:


> Even the mathematics of the statement is wrong: it's not a sum, it's an n-dimensional product, and it includes imaginary and often irrational sets.


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## Terry D (Sep 3, 2014)

We all have enough life experience to writer effectively. Writers are liars who tell the truth through our lies. A sufficiently skilled liar doesn't need experience (although it never hurts).


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## ziodice (Sep 3, 2014)

Thank you for the many and varied posts in response to this. They've been...helpful. Or maybe a better phrase would be "thought-inspiring" at the very least.


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## Sam (Sep 3, 2014)

garza said:


> I'm not sure about that, Sam. I made good  money by turning in a lot of what editors thought was good copy while I was 'gallivanting around the world'.



You were gallivanting around the world because it was your job, garza. You were a freelance journalist, so you had no option but to go where the stories were. But the sole purpose of going to those places and experiencing those events was so that you could document them. You were always writing. 

Gallivanting around the world because you think the experiences will make you a better writer, without putting the required time into the craft, sounds to me like the fantasy of someone who thinks writing is a glamorous job that you don't have to work hard to become better at.


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## Kyle R (Sep 3, 2014)

Phase said:


> ... And I guess you're talking about the movie 'Stuck in Love'. Loved it.



I enjoyed it, too. I was pleasantly surprised it was about a family of writers. Stephen King (or, more specifically, his voice) also has a cameo in it, for those who haven't seen it.

The quote from the movie was made in dialogue between a father and his son. "Rusty, a writer is the sum of their experiences," he says. "Go get some."

The next scene begins with Rusty "going to get some" life experience by attending a party.

So, while the quote itself is a great one, we should also keep in mind the screenwriter put it there as a *plot device*, a reason for the next scene to exist (and, ultimately, the father is telling Rusty what his character arc will be in the story—the thematic lesson he needs to learn).

That whole scene, actually, is a great study on dialogue and how it can not only entertain and illuminate, but also serve purpose. :encouragement:


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## E. Zamora (Sep 3, 2014)

A writer is only as good as the sum of_ his_ experiences.

Grammar probably has something to do with it too.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 3, 2014)

Think this is a bit like "Write what you know" which i personally think is the biggest load cow excrement ever. I think more experience will help when it comes to character development and dialogue perhaps, but it won't help with the actual writing at all. The guy who wrote Eragon was an 18 year old home-schooled kid living in his parents house. How worldly and experienced was he? Not at all yet he still managed to create an amazing series, because he practiced writing.

So I think it could help, as could a great many things, but that's all it can do and so the title is utterly wrong


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## farahnaazz (Sep 3, 2014)

yes wisdom and experience of life is very important in making a good writing
but sometimes it is your efforts and hardwork also which gives good results
get on and keep on writing
have a wonderful journey as a writer


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## Jeko (Sep 3, 2014)

> What do you do if you haven't experienced enough?



Most of the time, you have. You just need to realise what experiences are at your disposal. 

I tend to think a writer is only as good as their communication, since that's what writing is ultimately about.


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## Sam (Sep 3, 2014)

E. Zamora said:


> A writer is only as good as the sum of_ his_ experiences.
> 
> Grammar probably has something to do with it too.



'Their' can be substituted for 'his' or 'her' when you don't want to use a gender-specific pronoun.


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## InstituteMan (Sep 3, 2014)

ziodice said:


> What do you do if you haven't experienced enough?



Another observation from me on this particular question is that, for me at least, I need several years of perspective to do a decent job of writing on something I've experienced. If everyone works like me (and I doubt that, certainly), younger writers are necessarily going to be lacking both the full range of experience _and _the age needed to develop a fuller perspective on those experiences. 

There are definitely some youngsters who I could point to on these very boards who apparently don't require the same experience+perspective process I do, so I know that this isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario, and your mileage may vary, z. I just want to throw this out there in case you are in the same boat. If that is the case for you, I would recommend both writing about what you have experienced, even if that seems a bit juvenile, and writing about something that no one (at least on these boards) has actually experienced, like alien mating rituals. Also, to steal a line from Gavrushka, accept that you are going to write rubbish regardless at first.


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## Terry D (Sep 3, 2014)

While writers like John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway certainly had volumes of life experience to feed their writing, others, like Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, J.D. Salinger, Cormac Macarthy, and Robert E. Howard, have been wildly successful with perfectly ordinary lives--some even being recluses.

Here's another: this guy was raised rather poor--but not excessivly so--came from a single parent home with one brother. After high school he went to college and became an English teacher. He wrote in the utility room of the mobile home he lived in while he worked 2 jobs (teaching and nights at an industrial laundry). His life was not exciting; he didn't travel much; had a very run-of-the-mill life... until he wrote _Carrie_ that is.


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## Folcro (Sep 3, 2014)

...Or the quality of their BS.


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## Bishop (Sep 3, 2014)

Experience aids any artistic craft, and often serves as some of the best basis and/or inspiration for great works. That being said, a powerful imagination and a finger on the pulse of human behavior can act as a strong, effective, enjoyable, and awesome substitute.

Not to mention, until they invent a warp drive, I won't be able to experience like... 98% of the things I've written about.


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## LeeC (Sep 3, 2014)

> Originally Posted by InstituteMan:
> Another observation from me on this particular question is that, for me at least, I need several years of perspective to do a decent job of writing on something I've experienced.



Ah yes, and for some things it takes longer than several years. After forty years with a wife I believe a windfall, I can't bring myself to fashion any stories after experiences with my previous wife. I keep telling myself that I will someday, when I see some humor there ;-)


As for the latter writers Terry D notes, I would venture they were keen observers of life around them. Which goes to say that one needn't necessarily be a whaler like Herman Melville, but for reasonably realistic fiction one can vicariously accumulate sufficient material, if they're observant enough.


Beyond that, when it comes to original far-out fiction, I haven't a clue how their brains are wired


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## E. Zamora (Sep 3, 2014)

Sam said:


> 'Their' can be substituted for 'his' or 'her' when you don't want to use a gender-specific pronoun.



Yech. 

Of course, you can make the relevant noun plural, and then reword the the sentence as necessary. 

Otherwise, each of us has their own standards, right?


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## tabasco5 (Sep 3, 2014)

ziodice said:


> What do you do if you haven't experienced enough?



Make stuff up.


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## count58 (Sep 3, 2014)

If you want to be a full-time writer ... you have to turn it a passion.
Only people who love to write can turn it into a hobby.
If you get the feel of it, then you can smile and write what you have in mind.
Just remember to write it properly and correctly so it is understood. :eagerness:


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