My main vocation has been writing. I began on typewriters as a teenager, continued on them into my twenties. For years, changing even one sentence or paragraph in a manuscript could mean redoing the whole thing. This meant justifying every single word to myself because I was going to have to retype every single word. The result, I think, was more lean, succinct writing.
Word processors came along, and with them, novels, stories and screenplays that often had weirdly shaped plots with not one, but several climaxes and oddly extended denouments. Creating a manuscript was now so easy it took a while for writers to relearn editing. And for years after home computers and printers became widespread, we would still have to send hard manuscripts off using snail mail, carefully edit and format them, make sure there were no typos, put them in envelopes with SASEs. When they returned with rejections, as usual, I often had an envelope and SASE ready for the next editor.
Now it’s all blogging, email and document sharing, which, without question, makes sending out one’s writing easier. Unfortunately, this fosters the illusion that writing is easy.
It’s not. It’s hard. Even when you are a fast and accurate typist. Even when you can format a manuscript instantly, and send it to an agent or editor with the press of a button.
Constructing a readable, interesting story takes as much study, practice, and passion as does learning to play a musical instrument.
Pam Troy 