“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.”These words by Octavia E. Butler might provide us with a window into how she reshaped science fiction—because she gave it guts, brains, and a spine that stood upright in the face of the demanding publishing world, especially for a Black woman writing speculative fiction in the 1970s and 1980s. While her novels crackle with imagination—time travel, telepathy, post-apocalyptic survival—her advice to writers was the opposite of dreamy. No mysticism. No waiting for the muse. Butler was ruthlessly practical. While her stories could stretch the bounds of reality, her writing habits were firmly grounded. So when one of the most prolific sci-fi minds offers advice, you pay attention.This article unpacks her habits, her headspace, and her hard-won hacks. All this in the hope that you stop romanticizing writing and start doing it.1. Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard“Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent,” Butler said.She wrote every day, usually in the early morning, long before distractions could talk her out of it. Her journals show she aimed for a minimum of four hours daily, treating it like a shift at work. Sometimes she wrote before her day job. Sometimes after. No excuses.This wasn’t about magical productivity hacks. It was survival. She...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today