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Writing Advice From Creative Icon Joyce Carol Oates

5 Principles for Creating Better Work.

By RJPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Writing Advice From Creative Icon Joyce Carol Oates
Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

“We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”

― Joyce Carol Oates

Art can be impossible to define, it can't be restricted, and it's free-formed and flowing. This makes it hard as writers to improve. There are no concrete rules. What is a good writer? How do you become better?

“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.”

― Joyce Carol Oates

How can you write in a way that lets your reader into your voice and within your soul? There are ways to harness your creative energy and hone your process. Joyce Carol Oates, a decorated author, and professor can provide some clarity.

Oates History

Illustration via 99designs

Joyce Carol Oates entered the world on June 16th, 1938. It was a Thursday in Lockport, New York, and Joyce was the first child of Frederic and Carolina Oates. Her brother Fred was later born in 1943, and sister Lynn in 1956. Joyce developed a love for writing early in life and received a typewriter in her teen years.

By 22, she had a manuscript accepted and published. She went on to publish dozens of books, plays, and short stories. She's a National Book Award winner (1969), selected in the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, and a multiple-time New York best-selling author.

Creativity Takes Energy

We need a good deal of energy to be creative. We need a good deal of spirit and optimism. I think of it as kind of positive delusions, or illusions, about the worth of what we’re doing.

-Joyce Carol Oates on the Tim Ferriss Show

By Federico Beccari on Unsplash

I often speak about how I believe my inspiration to write comes from an unspoken energy or force. I never considered the power in that level of focus and motivation. In an interview with Tim Ferriss, Joyce describes how your creative energy can be drained off in several other areas, leaving you less to create with.

Oates calls the siphoning of energy "the enemy of creativity." She also speaks about how she likes to write when she is exhausted, and her "soul feels as thin as a playing card." Within the act of writing, she finds that energy and a sense of rejuvenation, simply from getting to work.

How each writer uses their energy can vary; for example, Oates describes some of her students by saying,

"It does depend upon who the person is. I have writing students who have a good deal of energy, but I have others who’ve been working on one project for some time. And so they’re focusing their energy. But as I said, the great adversary is being interrupted and distracted."

It's not so much that you work all night or get 5 projects done at once. But it's how you dedicate your resources and how well you block out the distractions of our world.

Revision is 99 Percent of the Art

By Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

"Well, I think of revision as so much fun. It’s so exciting. To me, the first draft is like material. And then the second draft, the revision, is my use of that material."

Joyce Carol Oates via the Tim Ferriss Show

I have heard several influential writers mention their love for revision. Jerry Seinfield often recounts wordsmithing each sentence to perfection. Personally, I feel more creative in the draft stage.

Nothing feels off-limits, and I feel most engrossed in the work when I'm just beginning. However, Oates regards the editing process as the actual formation of the piece. Revision is her taking the raw material and making it into art.

"The revision is really like 99 percent of art, I think. There’ve been very few artists who don’t revise. Visual artists may make sketches. They may do several variants of the same scene."

Use Your Subconscious

By Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Often when Joyce Carol Oates is sitting down to edit, a sentence will call to her and beckon to be expanded. Something simple can transform with the guidance of the unconscious.

"I sit down to write or to revise, I will get some goading, some nudging, some hints, something surfacing from the unconscious, so that a sentence that may be relatively simple, by the time I revise, it might be a full page long because something else is pushing at it or pulling at it. It’s like an octopus with many legs, or limbs, or arms. "

-Joyce Carol Oates via The Tim Ferriss Show

Writers should try and be less rigid in their editing process, let the pull of the subconscious draw out ideas. It won't come immediately, but our ability to let it influence our work affects the quality of the finished product.

"The pull of the unconscious, I think, is very powerful. And the more we can let that fuel what we’re doing, the more potent it is. Also the more enjoyable for the writer."

Write About What You Care About

By Florian Klauer on Unsplash

Joyce Carol Oates recommends that new writers write about what they like. Whether it's your significant other, satire, or based on your life, she offers a caution, though; new writers should not experiment. Oates believes new writers are not ready to experiment with words and that finding your natural voice is easiest when writing about what you know.

Joyce values the writers' ability to be vulnerable and open to their readers. Vulnerability is something that must be practiced before it's able to transcend words.

Be A Careful Custodian of Your Time

By Elena Koycheva on Unsplash

We spoke earlier about the enemy of creativity being distraction. Oates expands on this idea by speaking to how she works without inspiration. She doesn't wait for the moment she creates it.

However, often in writers' lives, there are factors that keep you from dedicating energy to work.

"Most people are living in families, or they’re living with a partner, and the other person has a schedule and expectations. And while you may love your family, they can be the ones who drain you of energy."

She goes on to describe how interruptions often materialize for women by saying,

"For women, that’s always been a problem. Women are nurturing. There’s nothing wrong with that. But women find it very hard to say no. Women writers are always being asked to do things pro bono, to volunteer their time, to do different things, to read manuscripts, to be on committees, and so forth."

Be a careful custodian of your time. Be stern with what is of utmost importance to you and expend your energy on that and only that. Energy is a finite resource that is too valuable to be wasted. Even on the important, sometimes you have to realize that your work may be more important.

Parting Words

By Dan Counsell on Unsplash

It's hard to advise others on a subject that is so subjective. Different things move all writers to write. But we all work with words; we all use energy to create. We all can find wisdom in guarding our time and finding the most natural and authentic voice. Often writing articles are based stiffly in reality. With practical tips like start a consistent writing routine, and read others' work.

I agree with those sentiments, but I like to explore the nuances of creativity. How can we use our innate instincts and energy to create potent work? I believe Joyce Carol Oates describes and teaches a writer's emotions better than most educators, and I look toward her example.

“The ideal art, the noblest of art: working with the complexities of life, refusing to simplify, to "overcome" doubt.”

― Joyce Carol Oates, The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982

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About the Creator

RJ

Find me on Instagram at @awriterwhodraws

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