L.A. Garnett – Author

I tend to think of writing in two different camps, as it pertains to my own life and growth as a writer:

1. a scene, rarely over ten pages in length, that is the result of a sudden burst of inspiration, or;
2. a narrative that may or may not have a written outline, but that is a piece I have dedicated a lot of time and consideration towards that I intend to publish.

Often, the second form comes out of one of the smaller pieces, which I affectionately categorize as “snippets” in my Google Drive. These snippets are what got me through middle school, high school, and college – it is how I still encourage my mind to generate new ideas.

I think there is a tendency among aspiring authors to think that once someone has made it big, once they are truly an author, that they stop creating snippets. Everything becomes part of their established work – what many now think of as an interconnected literary universe – and it can be easy to assume that they follow every spark of inspiration to its literary conclusion.

I’m very much of the school of thought that encourages “bad” writing. Not every idea needs to be artistic, or well-crafted, or even good. Some of those snippets are never going to see the light of day – that’s okay. A small handful of them will “spark joy”, as Marie Kondo once put it, and when the moment is right you will pull it out, dust it off, and see what becomes of it.

I am not one of the greats, by any stretch of the imagination, but I do write a lot so I feel I have the experience to be able to say that there is value in both forms of writing. Snippets inform your larger narrative pieces, which in turn give one the confidence required to continue to create small moments in time. Most are simply writing exercises but some are going to become something extraordinary, I just know it.

If you have your own version of snippets – what are your most outlandish ideas? Which ones do you think could become something more? Let me know in the comments!