Post 20 – Myths
Posted on | December 27, 2009 | 2 Comments
I have recently been accused of being reactionary. The person didn’t mean that I espouse ultra conservative political views, or that I want desperately to return to an older time. They meant that many of my posts on the process of writing during the 30 day blog challenge (Only ten more. It’s been quite a ride!) have been reactions to things others say rather than new things I say. There is some truth to this. I often react to what have become rules in any art form. It is how I examine them for myself.
I think rules are important. I think you need to know the rules of your particular discipline. However, I think you also need to know that they are myths perpetrated by the agreement of a society over many years. Myths are important, but they aren’t true.
We often equate the word “Myth” with something that isn’t valid. “Oh, that’s a myth. In actuality… ” etc. (Well, most of us wouldn’t say “actuality”, but I’m pretentious and verbose.) We think of myths as quaint beliefs from an older time. Things like Mount Olympus and unicorns. Remember, these things weren’t considered myths by the people who lived believing in them. They were only called myths once a “more enlightened” people from later times examined them. What will future generations consider myths that we now hold as truth?
Myths are valid. Society needs myths in order to function. Any discipline needs myths in order to perpetuate itself. However, when we equate “myth” with “truth” we can get into a difficult corner.
Myths have power when they are unacknowledged. When they haven’t been examined and understood in context. Once they are examined, we can choose to follow them or consciously circumvent them. At a more basic level, every individual has his own myths. One of mine might be that we need to rename our “truths” as “myths” so we can examine them. I have examined that myth and choose to still live within it’s precepts.
The myths that I have been examining in these posts, the myth of inspiration, the myth of writer’s block and “write what you know”, etc. all came about because they were useful to the writer, to the artist. They helped the artist produce. When adhered to as if they were immutable universal law, however, they control our process in an unproductive way.
I will continue to examine (and, sometimes, debunk) what I see as myths in the writing process. In that process, I may unwittingly create my own myths that need to be examined. That’s how it works.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of such how-to guides as On Writing With a Partner and On Writing a Short Story.
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December 28th, 2009 @ 6:49 pm
Isn’t it ironic that this blog began as a reaction to something somebody said to you? ;-} See the “wink” emoticon? Tongue planted firmly against cheek.
December 28th, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
That’s very funny actually.
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