Hmm, nothing that hasn't been said before. I think a regular, manageable goal (e.g. a weekly Substack post, or a word count, if you're writing a novel) is a good start. Also, not waiting for inspiration to strike -- or, to put it another way, assuming that inspiration will strike as you write, not before.
One other thought on your post: When you work at a very large company, as I do, often programming will be less like solving little self-contained puzzles and more like trying to understand what other people have coded years ago and/or how to integrate different things together. Which, if you try to compare it to writing, might be more like editing or annotating an old text. It's fun to think about!
That makes sense & is something I was already suspecting, unless you work at a start-up trying to build something more or less from scratch.
I'm not the most patient editor/proofreader when it comes to prose but then again, I expect there are more objective criteria for what is 'good' code vs. what isn't? I might actually enjoy that more! (Part of my dislike for editing other people's prose is that I think I know best & also run out of patience very quickly... haha)
Ha, yes, there's certainly a persona in the engineering world who likes to refactor everything. I'm similar with prose editing. I try to just move through it quickly, leaving comments at the speed of reading, but not linger long, or else I'll go crazy.
Great article and very interesting analysis. I don't know the first thing about programming but I wonder if the creativity element comes into play. I imagine that programming probably involves a lot more creativity than people would readily assume. Interesting stuff!
Thank you! I'm obviously very new to it but essentially you always write a program or script to solve some sort of problem. Different people will have different ways to solve the problem, I believe that's where the creative aspect comes in. Apparently there are unique coding styles too, just like different writing styles.
That's so cool! Problem-solving with a creative twist. I always thought of programming as something very numerically focused, but I can now see the similarities with writing.
I did a 3-year apprenticeship in programming from 1990-93 called Datenverarbeitungskaufmann. A mouthful. Job title does not exist anymore of course. I learned Cobol and C and Assembler. Later I taught myself PHP and Javascript and stopped at Python. I think my aversion to semicolons comes from coding jscript. The semicolon in JavaScript represents an “end of statement” or “statement delimiter.” I did do creative writing, poetry, and songwriting before becoming a programmer, though and I stopped programming years ago, aside from some quick hacks to make stuff more efficient at work and since the office closed down I don't do that anymore either.
With programming, you have to think in structure and be more modular, you want to be efficient, lean and reuse code, being verbose is not something that is wanted. I remember back when I was Azubi the Team Lead for medical surgery devices asked me to code a query routine to output the state of the tool in C. It was my first task and I added comments about everything and he said, no no, no comments, bare code, it has to be as small as possible, people who use this will know how to use it.
It's the same with readers or viewers, they don't need to be told everything, it's boring. Let them work stuff out for themselves, and when they do it will be so much more rewarding, for both sides.
Anyway, I ramble. Verbosely. In the end, does programming help with creative writing? Maybe. You still need to have that certain something otherwise no amount of programming or writing classes will help. Or books on writing, they are all the same anyway. I am finishing my Cambridge studies currently and even the tutors would tell you, it's all the same, you don't need that, you already know this, well, so why am I here then? One guest tutor went so far as to say Robert McKee is as hack and a fossil and if we use him then oh my... he will pray for us. He really hates Robert McKee, no clue why.
I think more important than anything, programming, writing classes, theory books, is to find your voice, reach down deep and let it out. Ugly warts and all. Many tend to cage or tame their voice and as a result, the writing is timid. The fear of your own voice. Or maybe I am all wrong, I am still figuring things out for myself.
I love your verbose comment! The computer science intro course I'm doing at the moment is about 50% C, 50% higher-level languages like Python, CSS, Javascript. C has been... fun (insert sarcasm here) but I don't mind the semicolons. I've been enjoying adopting the programming mindset too. Sometimes I do these self-experiments just to see how they change me or which aspects of me they might bring out more.
I'm not studying programming because I think it might help with creative writing though, in case that wasn't clear! I guess I'm fascinated by the many commonalities you discover the more interdisciplinary you go, among other things. I tend to gravitate towards details rather than the big picture so I think there's value simply in acknowledging universal principles whenever I discover them.
Voice, yes! Is that what you've struggled with in the past? I feel like I still have a long way to go with my fiction voice in English -- I used to write a lot in English but that was years ago. Every language has its own rules & possibilities. Yet another exciting challenge!
Everything we do is an experience that enriches us, sometimes we fail to see it but it is there nonetheless. Some focus on the obstacles and see only that, focus on the path instead and you see.
Learning how to program is a great skill to acquire, even if it is only passive (being able to read code). Reading someone else's code teaches you a lot, too.
Voice: I still experiment. Flash Fiction is great for that. I decided on a certain tone for SPHEREAN which may yet change as I progress, if it changes too much I may need to rewrite parts. Finding your voice often is a lifelong journey. Those who do find it, their voice may echo through the ages.
Well said on voice! You could say the truer you are to your voice, the better it resonates with others. One author who I like to recommend for this is Maggie Stiefvater, she has a very distinct writing voice (that I personally enjoy a lot which is an added bonus).
It's also an art to vary voice depending on the needs of individual stories though. You wouldn't want every single POV character to sound exactly the same - but that's something you're pretty good at already, judging from your recent 'medieval POV' story.
Ah, yes the character voice, indeed each character has their own voice.
I was referring to the "inner voice", your why. Why do you write? Many confuse "why" with "what", e.g. they write because they want to be famous, get money, prizes, or nominations, that's not a why, that's a what and you'll ask yourself then once you get there, what then? Actors who want to get into Broadway as a sole goal, are missing a why and most likely face depression and burnout once they achieve their goal because... what now?
Finding your why means finding your inner voice. It's a long journey.
I love this, thanks for sharing it. Since I found this newsletter I always enjoy how you write and the topics you write about. Most of the newsletters I’m subscribed here, is not because they are niche down, is because people have interesting perspectives and I like the way they write.
Thank you, your support means a lot! And yes, I'm the same with most of the content I'm subscribed to, whether it's here on Substack or elsewhere. Peeking into interesting people's thoughts is truly one of the joys of the internet.
My day job is software engineer :-)
Nice! And it's obvious that you make time & space for writing too. Any tips?
Hmm, nothing that hasn't been said before. I think a regular, manageable goal (e.g. a weekly Substack post, or a word count, if you're writing a novel) is a good start. Also, not waiting for inspiration to strike -- or, to put it another way, assuming that inspiration will strike as you write, not before.
One other thought on your post: When you work at a very large company, as I do, often programming will be less like solving little self-contained puzzles and more like trying to understand what other people have coded years ago and/or how to integrate different things together. Which, if you try to compare it to writing, might be more like editing or annotating an old text. It's fun to think about!
That makes sense & is something I was already suspecting, unless you work at a start-up trying to build something more or less from scratch.
I'm not the most patient editor/proofreader when it comes to prose but then again, I expect there are more objective criteria for what is 'good' code vs. what isn't? I might actually enjoy that more! (Part of my dislike for editing other people's prose is that I think I know best & also run out of patience very quickly... haha)
Ha, yes, there's certainly a persona in the engineering world who likes to refactor everything. I'm similar with prose editing. I try to just move through it quickly, leaving comments at the speed of reading, but not linger long, or else I'll go crazy.
Great article and very interesting analysis. I don't know the first thing about programming but I wonder if the creativity element comes into play. I imagine that programming probably involves a lot more creativity than people would readily assume. Interesting stuff!
Thank you! I'm obviously very new to it but essentially you always write a program or script to solve some sort of problem. Different people will have different ways to solve the problem, I believe that's where the creative aspect comes in. Apparently there are unique coding styles too, just like different writing styles.
That's so cool! Problem-solving with a creative twist. I always thought of programming as something very numerically focused, but I can now see the similarities with writing.
I did a 3-year apprenticeship in programming from 1990-93 called Datenverarbeitungskaufmann. A mouthful. Job title does not exist anymore of course. I learned Cobol and C and Assembler. Later I taught myself PHP and Javascript and stopped at Python. I think my aversion to semicolons comes from coding jscript. The semicolon in JavaScript represents an “end of statement” or “statement delimiter.” I did do creative writing, poetry, and songwriting before becoming a programmer, though and I stopped programming years ago, aside from some quick hacks to make stuff more efficient at work and since the office closed down I don't do that anymore either.
With programming, you have to think in structure and be more modular, you want to be efficient, lean and reuse code, being verbose is not something that is wanted. I remember back when I was Azubi the Team Lead for medical surgery devices asked me to code a query routine to output the state of the tool in C. It was my first task and I added comments about everything and he said, no no, no comments, bare code, it has to be as small as possible, people who use this will know how to use it.
It's the same with readers or viewers, they don't need to be told everything, it's boring. Let them work stuff out for themselves, and when they do it will be so much more rewarding, for both sides.
Anyway, I ramble. Verbosely. In the end, does programming help with creative writing? Maybe. You still need to have that certain something otherwise no amount of programming or writing classes will help. Or books on writing, they are all the same anyway. I am finishing my Cambridge studies currently and even the tutors would tell you, it's all the same, you don't need that, you already know this, well, so why am I here then? One guest tutor went so far as to say Robert McKee is as hack and a fossil and if we use him then oh my... he will pray for us. He really hates Robert McKee, no clue why.
I think more important than anything, programming, writing classes, theory books, is to find your voice, reach down deep and let it out. Ugly warts and all. Many tend to cage or tame their voice and as a result, the writing is timid. The fear of your own voice. Or maybe I am all wrong, I am still figuring things out for myself.
I love your verbose comment! The computer science intro course I'm doing at the moment is about 50% C, 50% higher-level languages like Python, CSS, Javascript. C has been... fun (insert sarcasm here) but I don't mind the semicolons. I've been enjoying adopting the programming mindset too. Sometimes I do these self-experiments just to see how they change me or which aspects of me they might bring out more.
I'm not studying programming because I think it might help with creative writing though, in case that wasn't clear! I guess I'm fascinated by the many commonalities you discover the more interdisciplinary you go, among other things. I tend to gravitate towards details rather than the big picture so I think there's value simply in acknowledging universal principles whenever I discover them.
Voice, yes! Is that what you've struggled with in the past? I feel like I still have a long way to go with my fiction voice in English -- I used to write a lot in English but that was years ago. Every language has its own rules & possibilities. Yet another exciting challenge!
Everything we do is an experience that enriches us, sometimes we fail to see it but it is there nonetheless. Some focus on the obstacles and see only that, focus on the path instead and you see.
Learning how to program is a great skill to acquire, even if it is only passive (being able to read code). Reading someone else's code teaches you a lot, too.
Voice: I still experiment. Flash Fiction is great for that. I decided on a certain tone for SPHEREAN which may yet change as I progress, if it changes too much I may need to rewrite parts. Finding your voice often is a lifelong journey. Those who do find it, their voice may echo through the ages.
Well said on voice! You could say the truer you are to your voice, the better it resonates with others. One author who I like to recommend for this is Maggie Stiefvater, she has a very distinct writing voice (that I personally enjoy a lot which is an added bonus).
It's also an art to vary voice depending on the needs of individual stories though. You wouldn't want every single POV character to sound exactly the same - but that's something you're pretty good at already, judging from your recent 'medieval POV' story.
Ah, yes the character voice, indeed each character has their own voice.
I was referring to the "inner voice", your why. Why do you write? Many confuse "why" with "what", e.g. they write because they want to be famous, get money, prizes, or nominations, that's not a why, that's a what and you'll ask yourself then once you get there, what then? Actors who want to get into Broadway as a sole goal, are missing a why and most likely face depression and burnout once they achieve their goal because... what now?
Finding your why means finding your inner voice. It's a long journey.
I love this, thanks for sharing it. Since I found this newsletter I always enjoy how you write and the topics you write about. Most of the newsletters I’m subscribed here, is not because they are niche down, is because people have interesting perspectives and I like the way they write.
Thank you, your support means a lot! And yes, I'm the same with most of the content I'm subscribed to, whether it's here on Substack or elsewhere. Peeking into interesting people's thoughts is truly one of the joys of the internet.