Guest Post by Gen Methot: Why I Became a Writer

Becoming a writer is a struggle for most, from gaining experience to having the time to write to believing you're a "real" writer. In a past blog post, I shared my experience about how I fell into a fog, believing wholeheartedly that I couldn't write and didn't have a future.

I asked some friends of mine, Lia and K.T. Anglehart a while back to share their writing stories. In today's post, I asked a friend and fellow writer, Gen Methot to share her journey of how she got into writing. Below is her guest post. Enjoy!

The Lovely Gen Methot

Gen's Story

I don’t know why I’m embarrassed to admit this, but the thing that made me want to become a writer was the film Little Women. Nope, not the book; the Hollywood movie. Granted, I was probably seven or eight years old and classic novels were probably inaccessible to me, but I still can’t seem to forgive my eight-year-old-self for being so uncultured. How silly of me!

I don’t know why Jo March had such a profound impact on me. It makes me think that perhaps destiny is a real thing. If I wasn’t meant to be a writer, would I have fallen in love with Jo’s character? Maybe the universe put that story in front of me for a reason.

It was then that I knew that books were the answer, no matter what the question. Even then, I knew that stories could change the world. It was so long ago that perhaps I’m oversimplifying my experience. Truthfully, I don’t remember what it was about Little Women that had filled seven-year-old me with such conviction, but I do know that Jo March was the person I wanted to be.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, but only in the last few years did I think it was a pursuit I deserved. You see, growing up, I cultivated the belief that I wasn’t good enough, and therefore should not dedicate my time, effort, or soul into writing. Who knows how I internalized that message. No one told me I couldn’t write. No one told me not to pursue it. It’s just one of those mysteries.

That didn’t stop me from applying pen to paper or accumulating books and books of half-scenes, story ideas, characters that just wouldn’t get out of my head. I wanted it. I just didn’t think it wanted me. I treated writing like it was a guilty pleasure rather than my life’s purpose. I studied literature in university, because if I couldn’t be a great, at least I could surround myself with greatness. As a literature student with a false impression that my writing would never be up to scratch, reading the likes of Eliot, Lessing, and Lawrence only confirmed my belief.

And then, just to drive my point home, I studied publishing, where I got to learn how hard it was to get published. That was the nail in the coffin. That was all the proof I needed that writing professionally was just not going to happen.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

I Don’t Know When or Why This Belief Stopped

I must have just realized one day that I had zero to lose by trying. What if I just tried? It must have been around this same time that I finally figured out that writing fiction was the only thing that made me happy—the only thing that filled me with the kind of joy that burned my stomach and made me shake with energy.

So, I ended up dusting off an old manuscript I had been sitting on for the last million years and got to work fixing it. I started thinking of myself as a writer. I started calling myself one. I started identifying as one. Other people started seeing me as one.

I am still in the editing stage. I queried my novel too early and, as expected, did not get any responses back (you live, and you learn). That matters less to me now, because the point is that I’m still writing.

Wildly so.

What Advice Can I Give Aspiring Writers?

Even if you don’t think you’re good enough, pretend you are and keep going. I wasted so many years doing that. Keep going. Your craft will get better. You’ll learn as you go. You’ll look back at your first pieces of work and be amazed by how far you’ve come. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater if you can’t seem to get your prose right. Take workshops, hire editors, ask other writers for advice. Whatever you do, just don’t stop.

I agree with Stephen King when he says that if you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader. Don’t trust a skinny chef. Don’t trust a writer who doesn’t read.

I don’t happen to agree with Stephen about his no-adverb policy. He doesn’t like adverbs. I say, don’t be so rigid. If the sentence could be improved with an adverb, go for it.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

A Little More About Me

I love to write and read books about wild women. I love to read about magic and our ancestors. I love characters who have dirt under their fingernails and live in the woods.

Most of my work is influenced by ancient mythology. I am a huge fan of magical realism and stories about witches. I tend to write and read speculative fiction, but I also love historical fiction, modern classics, memoirs, and literary fiction.

You can learn a lot more about what inspires me by listening to Writing the Broomstick—a biweekly podcast that I co-host with author, K.T. Anglehart. We discuss writing topics for fantasy authors or anyone interested in fantasy novels and supernatural characters.