Why Writers Hate Writing: Charlie Donlea (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Charlie Donlea’s talk titled “Why Writers Hate Writing” at TEDxBarringtonAreaLibrary conference.

In his TEDx talk “Why Writers Hate Writing,” Charlie Donlea, a successful thriller writer, explores the often-misunderstood aspects of a writer’s life. He begins by debunking the popular notion that writers always love writing, revealing that even he struggles with the process. Donlea illustrates this by comparing the joy he feels in playing golf with the challenges of writing, noting that unlike golf, he often finds reasons to avoid writing.

He admits that while there are moments of enjoyment in writing, they are fleeting and overshadowed by periods of frustration and procrastination. Despite these challenges, Donlea emphasizes the unique satisfaction that comes from creating a novel, a tangible product of creativity that can impact readers’ lives profoundly. He acknowledges that the allure of creativity is what keeps writers like him engaged in the arduous process.

Ultimately, Donlea concludes that while writers may not always love the act of writing, the end result and its creative fulfillment make the struggle worthwhile.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Creative Life and Fiction Writing

Tonight, we’re talking about a creative life, and tonight I’m going to specifically talk about a creative life as it pertains to writing fiction. My name is Charlie Donlea. I’m a thriller writer. My first novel was published in 2017, and I’ve written one novel per year since then, with my eighth thriller due to hit bookstore shelves next summer.

My books have been translated into 20 languages across 40 countries, and I just agreed to a new multi-book deal with my publisher that will have me writing books for the next many years. So, I am entrenched in the writing world. And so tonight, as we talk about the creative life, I’m going to talk about the big lie that all writers tell.

So, the big lie that all writers tell is that writers love to write. Every writer says this, and all my writing friends say it, and I say it constantly. And if you have a favorite author, you’ve heard them say it, or if they’re getting ready to release a new novel, they put out promotional material where they give you a description of the book, and then they’ll write something like this: “I hope you love reading this book as much as I loved writing it.” And now this – there’s a lot of versions of this.

The Writer’s Myth

There’s a lot of different variations of this, because writers don’t always – don’t only love letting you know how much we love writing, but we want you to know how much fun we have writing. So, this is another one we use: “I love this one. I had a blast writing this book, and I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.” We’ve all heard this.

So, to the average reader of fiction and to the typical thriller or mystery fan, the image that these statements give is of writers sitting down at their desks every morning, happily typing along with big smiles on their faces, without a care in the world. Okay? I mean, that’s me every morning. That’s me. I mean, I sit, and I smile, and I just have fun. Do you believe that? Because I’m about to – I’m about to dispel that myth, but I hope you don’t believe that.

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So tonight I’m going to dispel that myth. Writers don’t always love to write, and a creative life in the form of writing fiction is not always filled with joy and bliss. And for sure, writers don’t always love writing. So let me – I’m going to try to convince you of this just with two quick questions and one analogy.

The Reality of Writing

So, the first question is, if writers love writing as much as we claim, how come we’re so happy when we’re finished doing it? So, my first thought every morning when I get through my 1,000 words and I’m finished writing is, “Thank God I’m done with that nonsense. Thank God that’s over with.” And as we talk about joy and bliss tonight of writers, if you want to see pure joy and bliss, find a thriller writer who’s just finished a 400-page manuscript, okay?

What you will find is the equivalent of a kid on Christmas morning times 10 on steroids for a month. And why are we so happy? Because we don’t have to write for a while, because we can take a break from doing this thing we claim to love to do so much. And if writers love writing so much, how come we so oftentimes procrastinate doing it?

Okay, writers, if you don’t know, or if there’s any writers in the room, you do know, but writers are the best procrastinators in the world, okay? We will literally do anything other than sit down and write our novels. We will come up with any excuse not to write. I’ve come up with plenty.

Writing vs. Other Passions

Sometimes I wonder what I’m more inventive at, creating stories or creating reasons not to write them. And I have plenty of those too. So let me give you an analogy. Let me just compare for a moment writing with something else I claim to love, just playing golf, okay?

So let me just compare writing and golf and see how they stand up to one another. So when I say I love golf, I mean, I love everything about golf. I’m like a golf fanatic. I love calling my buddies and planning which course we’re going to play at. I love driving to the golf course and anticipating the round.

I love warming up at the driving range. I love teeing off on the first hole, putting out on the 18th hole, and everything in between, which is why I’ve never finished a round of golf and said, “Thank God, I’m done with that nonsense.

Good thing that’s over with.” I mean, when I’m finished a round of golf, I’m usually a little bit disappointed that it’s over with. I’m usually ready to golf another hole or two.

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The Paradox of Creativity

I’ve also never procrastinated playing a round of golf, okay? I’ve never had a 9 a.m. tee time and decided at 8:55 that I’d scroll through Facebook for an hour, okay, the mindless scroll that we do. I’ve never missed a round of golf just so I can read my nutty neighbor’s political rantings ever, and I never will. I’ve never had a 9 a.m. tee time and decided that 8:55 was the exact moment that I needed to organize the kitchen junk drawer, okay?

But I have done those things and thousands of other things to avoid writing, and that’s because writing is not always fun, and I don’t always love to do it. But here’s the interesting part that gets back to tonight’s topic. If I was forced to choose, forced with the choice of never writing another novel or never playing another round of golf, I would give up golf in a heartbeat. I would give up golf in a heartbeat so that I can continue this crazy, frustrating process of writing novels.

So why is that? Why would I choose writing over golf? Why would I choose something that I oftentimes procrastinate doing and I can’t wait to be finished with? Well, the answer gets back to tonight’s topic, which is creativity in a creative life.

Creativity’s Reward

So when I finish a round of golf, I have nothing tangible to show for that. So, I have memories, and those are an important part of life for sure. But in the context of creativity, I have nothing tangible to take with me from that round of golf. But when I finish writing, when I finish a manuscript, I have a story in the form of a novel that I get to share with the world.

When I finish writing, I have a story in the form of a novel that people will take with them on vacation. I have a story in the form of a novel that people will use to get through a rainy day, a rainy weekend. And I have a novel that people will use, I just learned in a recent email from a reader, will use to get through their chemotherapy treatments. Creativity is the reason I would never give up writing.

And creativity also explains why writers claim we love to write. Writers claim they love to write. Writers claim they love every moment of writing because creativity makes us forget about all the other times when we don’t love to do it. So here’s the truth about writers and writing.

The Power of Creativity

Here’s the truth. There are times when I love to write, right? There are times during the writing of a 400-page manuscript when I love the writing process. But those are just small snippets of the manuscript, small moments when the words come easily and the story flows effortlessly.

But even though those are just brief moments that happen over the course of an entire year that it takes me to write a novel, I still remember those moments from every book I’ve ever written. And I can pick up any one of my novels and remember the passages that transported me to that magical place of creativity where I was more a portal for the story to flow through than I was the actual creator of it.

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And those moments are so powerful that they overshadow all the other times when I didn’t love to write. Those moments are so powerful that they overshadow all the other times when writing the manuscript was a slog and a struggle and when I didn’t love to do it.

Embracing the Creative Challenge

And that’s the power of creativity in a creative life. That’s the magic of creating something from nothing. So tonight I’m talking about creativity in the form of writing fiction. But I’m sure creativity touches all of your lives in some unique way.

Maybe there are writers in here, and then we have a shared experience. But maybe you garden or you knit or you crochet. I have a friend who ties his own fly-fishing lures. And so from nothing but feathers and thread, he creates these elaborate lures.

So, whatever form of creativity you partake in, remember that the magic of creativity is creating something from nothing. And creating something from nothing is hard. Creating something from nothing is challenging, and it’s the challenge that we procrastinate. It’s the challenge that we can’t wait to be finished with.

The Creative Process in Fiction Writing

But without the challenge, the something that we’re trying to create is less relevant. It’s less important. It’s less meaningful. So, whatever type of creative life you lead, embrace the challenge. And remember that it’s okay not to love every moment of it, as long as the end result is worthwhile.

Because if the end result is worthwhile, it will make you forget about all the other times when you did not love the creative process. So, as a fiction writer like myself, creating something from nothing means creating a story and characters from nothing but the blank slate of my imagination. And the end result of that is getting to share that story and share those characters with the world.

And that is better than any round of golf I’m ever going to play. So the next time you hear me or your favorite author tell you how much we loved writing our latest manuscript, remember two things. One is, we’re lying, and two, we believe every word of it.

Thank you.