Alan Moore's best writing advice: Treat writing like a god

Hey,

welcome to another post about writing advice from the great Alan Moore.

I said yesterday that this man has been my biggest writing influence, so why not talk about his infinite wisdom again?

I want to tell you about something I remember him saying in an interview that’s out there on YouTube. I’d link it, but there are so many that I can’t quite remember which one it was. Watch them all, I’d say.

He said, “Treat your writing like a god.”

Easy to follow, right?

Treat writing as if it were a real god with real power, Alan Moore said. Pay tribute to your god of writing as if it were real. Give it nothing but your best effort. Make a real sacrifice. Give it your best.

He doesn’t say, “Give it your best and it will reward you with fame and fortune, and veryone will love you.”

He says, “Give it your best.”

Not only does he not guarantee success of any kind if you do as he says, but he warns you: give it something that is not your best, try to trick the god of writing, and the god of writing will f#ck with you in ways you can’t even imagine.

Do it for fame and fortune instead of for the glory of writing, and the god of writing will f#ck you for good.

(Just so you know, I write “f#ck” because I think it’s in bad taste to write the word “fuck” on the internet.)

Me? I don’t know how mean and resentful this god of writing might be, but I do think this approach is a very good way of taking the craft seriously.

So, as always, I try to do as the man says, and I hope I’ve explained it well enough that you do, too.

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PS: The Flight of the Condor: The Sunday Strips, Volume One. A compilation of the first year of this newsletter’s strips. The second volume is coming out soon.

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PS2: If you already have this volume, maybe you would consider writing an honest review on amazon. Even a short one helps. Thank you.