To: Reading good writing makes me not want to write.
Echo Chernik is a very successful commercial illustrator. While listening to an interview of her, she spoke about how artists would see someone else's work and say, "Oh, I wish I could do landscapes like that" or "gosh, their dragons are so much better than mine." The truth is that all craftsmen and artists do this to some degree. We develop our own styles that will forever remain distinct from the work of another. Does that mean they're better? No. But it might mean that they're more practiced.
"Imitation cannot go above its model." —Emerson
Studying Shakespeare won't make you Shakespeare. Neither will a Tolkien education make you Tolkien. You can examine their word constructions, their sentences, their paragraphs. Doing so will help you understand how they build their sentences. But striving for this alone will always encounter a ceiling. The reason is simple; you are not them.
Instead, I recommend chasing lessons that inform and develop your ability to tell stories. Look into grammar. The units and components which comprise sentences. But also look into writing in different forms. There's essay writing--persuasive, informative, informal. Article writing is something else entirely. Then, there's screenwriting, memoir, and song. All different. All requiring different approaches and considerations. There's also poetry to consider. And rap, which contains some fascinating patterns and structures.
If you aren't afraid to do the work, the above will push your writing in new directions. One of the worst pieces of advice you've ever heard is that "a Jack of all trades is a master of none." When you become a specialist, your work progresses along a very linear path. But when you study adjacent forms of writing, something interesting happens. You still progress, but the path is not predictable. It'll reshape your thinking, thus becoming a different shape from which your work blooms.
Consider the different settings of a shower head. Any given spray pattern is the result of pushing your craft down a specific channel. The water will always emerge in that pattern. But should you trek the path I just recommended? Imagine passing water through a shower head that behaved like a kaleidoscope, and you'll get the idea.
If you truly want what you're seeking, more deliberate practice is the price for entry. What form that price takes is on you. No one can advise you on how to be great. And no one can instruct you when it comes to doing what's never been done. You'll have to become your own teacher.
As far as motivation? For me, I look at bad writing that has drawn a lot of attention. It always makes me sad. Sad because a group of people have been satisfied by something of low quality. Sad that their standards lower the value of their attention. Sad that they don't demand better. So, I improve my own work with the goal of raising a reader's expectations. To show them what's possible. And to help them see that their time and attention is more valuable than what they are accepting in exchange for it.
That's just me, though. I like to set small, attainable goals 😅 As for you, your goal will be different. Figure out what that is, and you'll gain a better understanding of how to go about arriving where you want to be.
Happy writing!
I'm rooting for you!
Original Reddit post found here.
