Writing a novel

It has taken me a long time to get over teachers who let me know that I wasn't as "creative" as others in my classes in junior high and high school. I still hear those negative messages, in fact. I was taught that creative meant unique, innovative and unexpected. This would put good sci-fi squarely in the most creative realm, I guess.

I now understand creativity a lot better. Creative at its most basic just means making something that wasn't there before. It's more creative in my view if it isn't just like another thing that came before it. In graduate school, I finally had it pounded into me that we are all "standing on the shoulders of giants." This from Newton who was one of the most creative thinkers in the history of mankind. No one creates something out of thin air. It's usually a case of recombining pieces of stuff they've already seen or heard. I also know that some of our greatest composers didn't write music that was shockingly innovative. In fact, their music was well-accepted and even popular. They just perfected the form or the style of their times.

What does this have to do with writing a novel? Everything. Writing a novel is such a long process, you have inevitable doubts about whether or not it's worth the time and effort. And without a great, supportive writers' group like the one I had in Denton, a writer feels all alone some days. So even though I may not be the most creative writer out there, I plan to be one of the most persistent. And as in music, art and just about any other artistic pursuit, hard work counts for a lot.