If I were Stephen King, Doris Kearns Goodwin, or any other famous Author/ Writer, I could push out a couple of thousand words a day, by forcing myself into a pattern of doing so. Locking myself into a space or place where only ones imagination and word craft can be seen or heard and is produced on a computer or paper, for latter reveal to all. No two writers, write the same or use the exact same method to produce what they do. Some research material for biographies, some use a format to create characters and round them out as they go along in their process. Some create places and lands and have great descriptions to their stories that take a person’s mind to places of wonder and unbelievable heights not easy to reach. The point is this in my mind and it is life that gives writers material to use daily and sometimes even by the minute or hour, for as we move forward it is happening around us, but how many really stop to convey it to others in writing , in order to write one must have a passion for what they are talking about, and they must be able to let it flow from their heart and mind onto a piece of paper or on to a computer hard drive or disc. I heard one writer say and I quote ” Writing is like bleeding one’s soul in the open air and trying to capture it and explain it to all around you.” Now, I do not remember who actually said it, just that it was said and I read it somewhere.
We all have experiences in life we have lived through, and those alone can be basis for good stories and tales and factual writing. Experiences in life that can be bad, can be demorializing, or painful, or happy, and joyfol, all can be described and used when writing. People we knew or know who can inspire us because of what they did in their lives, or are doing daily in their lives and their reasons for doing so too. Look back at what others have written and watch the subjects they cover, some imaginary, some factual, some biographical and even some non-sensical. How do they do it is really the question isn’t it?
Use of the human language in conversation everyday can inspire dialogues, and converstaions in your stories. Events happening can be added into your stories for the time period you are writing in, or you can just invent some. It is all a matter of a few special traits many writers have.
First trait is, determination and persistance. The good writer’s will hit blocks and struggle through knowing at some point the words shall flow once more.
Second trait is that a writer must have a good imagination and be able to create worlds, or convey them in detail, descriptions make the story realistic.
Thirdly, character development as one goes along is vital, don’t throw the reader off by going too far out with what your characters do, it is a pattern they must follow and they must stay true to who they are in your story.
Fourthly, and I say this because I know, you must develop your story or writing to follow a pattern that makes sense in it’s progression. If a murderer you created kills for certain reasons, then those reasons must be held to the charactor and his reactions or hers, in the story. Case is in point is a television series I have just recently been introduced to, Dexter. Dexter the charactor killed for his own reasons, even though he was damaged goods himself, and he stayed true to form until his ultimate demise in the show, when he broke his pattern. The sudden change is what made the last program of Dexter shocking to many and I won’t give away the ending of course, but it is that kind of writing that makes it interesting, the unpredictability.
In the writing, we tend to sometimes drift away from the subject, or change a character in someway, before you do, make sure you give a reason or show a reqason for the character tochange, otherwise you may lose the reader.
Fifthly, stay with the plot of the story and genre you are dealing with. If it is a horror story stay with it, if it is sci-fi, or a drama, of a biographical nature, stay true to it. Don’t mix and match or you will lose the audience/ reader.
Last thing about writing I will say to anyone who tries it, if you don’t persist, if you don’t let it all out, the story won’t sell, the reader must be able to feel your passion,, you emotional input and understand where the story is coming from and where it is going. Then they will want to follow it.
Writing is a craft and in it’s own way an art. Any writer who says it is not, has a problem with perception really, for to grab a person’s imagination or to make a subject you write on interesting enough to hold their attention, it must be done in some logical progression. The story must unfold a world for the reader to get engrossed in, or taken away in. And to do that with the written word is not as simple as it sounds. Words must be learned, phrases invented, styles conveyed for it all to work. You can’t take a person from the 50’s era and slap them into a 2000 era and make it work without explaining how they got there can you. So always remember, a character, will change if you do so, but it has to be because they need to to adopt to the situation you put them in.
That my friends is my thoughts this am, on the writing craft / art. It may not be the best thoughts or the best advice someone can give to others, but it is what I understand it to be. If something is in you and you need to let it out and let others hear it and understand it, get a dictionary, and sit down and figure how to convey it in written word. But do so in plain english, and then if you must rewrite and edit it later. The importance of getting it out is vital, for once it is on paper or disc, or computer, a reading of it and editing of it, will make it acceptable to an audience and you can be heard by many. Editing is vital and makes it logical and worth reading.
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