Writing Leads to Discovery

Writing Leads to Discovery

@2023 Wendy Scheuring, The Author’s Writer

April 20, 2023

Writing leads to more writing leads to more writing which leads to discovery. If we cut this exciting process of writing short, we rob ourselves of digging deep below the surface and finding out what our story truly is. We may think we know what that story is when we begin, yet it is the process of writing, which makes that story come to light. Perhaps I make the writing process sound simple here; however, the writing process cannot completely be explained.

But it happens something like this:

writing is about discovering is about writing is about discovering …

You may begin with a story in mind, or maybe an idea or a concept. You’re not sure if you have enough for a story or if you have a story at all. That’s okay. Just be willing to be flexible enough to change your mind about that idea or ideas as you write.

You may begin your story with an idea of how it could be organized. But be flexible enough to change that organization as you see the story emerges and evolves.

The process of writing your story is based upon the process of discovering your story.

When we ask others for ideas, we rob ourselves of this precious gift of discovery. Though we are all humans, no one is quite the same as us. Yes, we are a collective group of beings. Yet, we are unique beings with unique experiences and unique ways to express. We don’t want to sound like everyone else and we shouldn’t want to anyway.

writers never know where their writing will lead them…

Whether or not you are going to be writing your own story, or are enlisting the help of a ghostwriter, an editor, or a book coach, keep in mind that your process of writing will still involve discovery. Along your writing journey, which is a magical process in itself, you will discover new ideas and link those ideas with past experiences or present ones. You may ask questions and need to dig below the surface to find them. You may not find the answers or perhaps you will. This may seem disheartening that the process of book-writing, or storytelling, or blog or article writing is not cut in stone. How could it be? Then, it would lose its authenticity.

True writers, those who are writing from their heart, really never know the story until they start writing. It is the act of writing which starts the story. Yet it is also the act of writing which changes the story and creates the story as you write. In other words, writing precipitates more writing and that writing leads us to discovery and the creation of our true meaning.

This sounds quite unorthodox compared to what we may have been taught in school or in our own understanding of how writing should happen. But for authentic and genuine writing this is rarely the case. True writers know that writing involves not only thinking, but also something beyond mere thinking which involves deep soul-searching, regardless of the type of story. Those who stop writing or get stuck in the process do not know this, may find it uncomfortable or feel stuck, and hence that is why the story never gets written. Yet, if they could keep writing, even when it doesn’t feel pleasant or sound good (at least to them), they would eventually break the barrier and plunge into the world of discovery.

When you put pen to paper, this is the first scene of the first act. Do realize that the play is still being written. This is just the beginning. How long should you keep writing? For as long as it takes the discovery to happen.