The Creative Need to Craft Your Writer’s Manifesto

Before you start writing tell yourself what you stand for and what you don’t

If we don’t stand for anything we’ll fall for everything. Yeah, I know that’s an old cliche, but it’s critical to our success as writers and creators. Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, we’ve got you have a soapbox upon which to stand.

What’s a writer’s manifesto?

A writer’s manifesto is a short letter/statement to yourself

This document can take many forms, but it’s a statement of purpose.

Since we take the stance as blue-collar, vocational writers, we’ll treat our manifestos as a standard operating procedure — suitable for hanging on the shop wall. Next to the generic signs about safety glasses, being kind to coworkers, and avoidance of toxic chemicals.

A writer’s (or creator’s) manifesto is a daily reminder as to why we do our work, the places we’ll never waver, the readers we serve, and the readers we don’t.

Our manifesto is just as important to the work we won’t do, as it is to the work we will

When we craft our manifesto we raise a flag — drawing the proverbial line in the sand. We run our manifesto up the flag pole, give a quick (even sarcastic) salute, and get our asses to work.

Why write a manifesto?

• Because your co-writer’s won’t.
• Because it keeps you in check when you starting feeling sorry for yourself.
• Because you’re serious about your craft and you won’t accept less than your best effort.
• Because you understand we writers serve our readers and how important it is to maintain the relationship in good times and bad.
• Because maps are better than fumbling for the light switch in the dark.
• Because having a manifesto makes you sound like a bad-ass. Who do you know has a manifesto?
• Because reading it focuses the direction of our work, making us more productive.
• Because we writers know a blue-collar approach is the path to success as a commercial author.
• Because we forget what we stand for sometimes and we need swift reminds.
• Because… why not have a manifesto? It’s a great addition to your playbook

It’s important to take a stand with our work. Writers shape the world. We cause a ruckus and instigate change. If writers didn’t take a stand the world would be a very different place.

It doesn’t matter if we write novels, how-to books, or memoirs — when our reader understands what we stand for, our work is much stronger. It’s time we made a difference with our work.

Why is a manifesto important?

A manifesto sets us apart from the herd. It’s a fence that keeps our work inside a given set of creative boundaries.

Boundless work is often scatterbrained and hard to follow

When we use self-imposed boundaries, it helps us write more productively, not less. Boundaries don’t dampen the work. They give us laser focus to accomplish the mission we set with our writing.

The manifesto is the creative fence.

We don’t have to show our manifesto to anyone. Our work, under its guidance, will show the results of the manifesto.

Our manifesto is brief, affirmative, and straight-forward, with no wiggle-words and wishy-washy language. Our manifesto represents who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to become.

This is a public declaration of what you stand for.

How to craft your manifesto

I don’t want to give you a bunch of rules for this document, because your writer’s manifesto can take any form that help you best.

Here are a few key points that I found helpful (maybe they’ll help you too)

• Use number or bullet points. With one idea per point.
• Don’t make it any longer than something you won’t read every day.
• Don’t make it any shorter than something not specific enough.
• Write in present tense (i.e. “I am a writer. I write for readers who love books about kittens. I stand for all who don’t understand dogs”).
• Find other famous manifestos to use as your template.
• Write it by hand and re-type it when you’re done.

You manifesto is a living, breathing document. As you grow as a professional your manifesto will grow with you.

This is a first attempt.

Make it fun. Don’t sweat it. When you re-read it tomorrow and the whole document sounds stupid, write it again.

Cool, I’m done. Now what?

Hang your writer’s manifesto on the wall. Put it inside the cover of your journal. Stick it somewhere obvious so you’ll read it every day.

This document is for you.

We don’t try and push our ways on others. That’s a quick recipe for constant frustration

We improve our work and live by example. The others can do as they wish, no matter how much it bothers us.

Manifesto-ed writers are disciplined writers. We wrote down who we are and what we stand for. It doesn’t get more serious than that.

We can write about anything. Our work needs boundaries. Boundaries help us get better faster — become more of who we are. Without boundaries we run over here, try something new, and run back over there.

We can’t rely on willpower alone.

Willpower is very weak compared to habit -building and self-imposed boundaries. When we give ourselves a manifesto, we feel compelled to follow it — even though we made it up and there are no ramifications for veering off-course.

We make a series of smart, professional, deliberate decisions every day.

This is the power of the blue-collar creative.

The choice is yours. We know where we stand. We’re blue-collar writers. We choose boundaries over wayward-ness — a stand over something instead of falling for everything.

We’re waiting for you.

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. A self-proclaimed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indie authors how to write books that sell and how to sell more of those books once they’re written. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.

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