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Posts Tagged ‘write’

Write what you know – People

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I was raised in a large industrial city in England. When I was about twelve years old I sent off my first story to a magazine publisher. It was full of conflict, about creatures trying to exist in the Amazon rainforest. Much later, understanding a bit about marketing, I realized the magazine published only romances. The best ‘creatures in the Amazon’ story in the whole world wouldn’t have made it on to their pages.

Someone on their staff, though, was kind enough to send me an encouraging note along with the rejection. Of course it contained the sentence “Try writing what you know.” It not only encouraged me to keep writing, it made me excel in biology classes as I tried to get to know Amazon creatures better.

Many years later I visited the Amazon and saw – and in  a few cases touched – tarantulas, anacondas, raucous birds, tiny monkeys and even a cayman (seen at night by flashlight). Let me repeat – I SAW them. There’s no way I got to know them. not like I know people.

People are what or who we know. Most of us are surrounded by them, all shapes and sizes and all with unique emotional dimensions. Each one comes with strengths, weaknesses, flashpoints, hopes, hostilities, beliefs and viewpoints. No matter where you live the people you know carry these personal individual bundles around with them, just as we all do.

Once in a while you can glimpse the reason why they act and react the way they do. Mostly, though, it’s the writer within us that compels us to try to connect the seemingly unconnected dots. We look at the little behavioral clues they leave and try to puzzle out why, in this case, A led to M instead of to B. What if some pressure was being applied that we don’t know about? What if…

And because we, as writers, spend so much time with people and thinking about possible reasons for their behavior, we start to know them and understand them better. So when we write about people we are writing about what we know. Probably more than others we begin to understand motives behind actions. We see the telltale tiny signs and we empathize with their emotions, remembering a time when we ourselves felt so angry, so sad or so distraught that we too might have…

The more we learn about people, the more we figure them out, the more our readers will connect with our characters and enjoy our writing. They will feel the reality underlying our fiction.

We will be writing about what we know, what we understand, what we have deep feeling for. And our writing will be good.

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Simple Blogging

Posted in Blogging, tagged , , , , , on May 29, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Blogging is a really useful answer for people who like to write, but who perhaps are not getting published as often as they would like.

So, if blogging is the answer, what are the questions? The questions, some of them, are:

How can I get other people to read my work?

Whatever you write – fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, kid-lit – it isn’t going to reach anyone if it is in a file folder in your desk or on your computer. Blogging gets it out there.

But isn’t it difficult?

(Pardon me while I laugh. If I’m doing it, it isn’t difficult, trust me on that one.) You go to WordPress (my favorite, and the one I’m using here) or Blogger, pick a title, pick a theme – which is the visual layout of your blog, and start writing. It’s that easy. you don’t have to pay anything, although WordPress does have a more complex version that costs a small amount.

But maybe my writing isn’t that good yet, and I’m no good at grammar.

Writing, and knowing other people will be reading your writing, is great motivation to improve. If it’s just grammar, do some research and write yourself a few simple rules covering basic mistakes like their/there and its/it’s. And if your writing isn’t ‘that good’, believe me, writing regularly will improve it.

Can I make my fortune putting ads on there?

It’s called ‘monetizing’ and I’ve heard that some people have earned money that way. Personally, to me, it looks  like a lot of work for not much reward. In the beginning just concentrating on writing. Focus on making your work high quality so people will return time after time for more.

What if people steal my work?

It’s unlikely, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Unless they are re-publishing blog after whole blog of yours under their own name I’d just take it as a compliment. (I’ve written books that were plagiarized big time on two occasions. Having an occasional blog sentence stolen is not going to get me excited.)

What should I blog about?

What are you interested in? What can you talk for hours about? What do you believe in? What do you wish other people know more about, or wish they would do differently? What is your ‘thing’? What turns your crank? That’s what you should blog about.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a popular topic like cooking pasta or something unusual like shoeing Icelandic ponies. You’ll find people who are interested and who want to read your thoughts on it. Your take on it is unique.

But what if I don’t really know much about anything?

Can you write in an amusing way? Can you inspire people with ideas. Can you motivate people? Have you overcome an illness or personal tragedy so you can guide others through that? Do you want to share your faith or a way of life you have discovered?

Blogging is a direct route to readers. It removes the gatekeepers – the publishers who must publish what sells most or what the advertisers want. This is just you and the reader. No gatekeeper.

What a marvellous opportunity. Take it.

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Writing Habits

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , , , on May 16, 2012 | 5 Comments »

To become an expert you have to practice. This goes for writing too. I look with amazement at people who tell me they “write” and when I ask “What have you written?” they say “Well, um, nothing yet.”

I mean – can you imagine someone saying “I’m a doctor”, and you asking about patients and him saying Well, um, I don’t have any yet.”

To be a writer you need to write. I know I’ve said that before but I think it bears repeating. When you go to bed at night ask yourself “How many words have I written?”

Never mind that the dog got sick or your in-laws came to town or  you had to take your car for servicing – how many words did you write?

Never mind that your friend was on the phone to you for an hour, you couldn’t miss your soap opera or you just had to give yourself a manicure – how many words did you write?

Some writers set themselves a daily goal of, say, 1000 words a day. The number doesn’t matter as long as it is reasonably achievable for you. You need to write a lot to become a writer. Some of A lot of what you write will not be great but you need the practice.

Parents used to tell their kids “Practice makes perfect”. You don’t hear that a lot these days, and perfect may not be realistic, but still … practice is the only way to improve anything.

But what will I write? Write a character. Think of someone whose path has crossed yours in the last day or so and describe that person. Describe them as they are, describe them as a horrible villain, describe them as a brilliant inventor, describe them as a medieval saint.

Describe them as if you are in love with them, as if they annoy you, as if they are dying, as if they are suddenly twenty years younger.

Tired of characterization? Try setting. Describe your house, your best friend’s house, your dream house. Describe a kitchen in a hovel, in a mansion, in a train.

And dialog. Dialog is hugely important and it takes practice to write that well. Practice dialog between two people who love each other, but disagree on this one issue. Dialog between two people who dislike each other but who are forced to get along to get the job done. Dialog between a child and his imaginary friend.

Write a journal, write a blog, write letters or emails. But write.

Make it a habit, a good habit, a habit you’d never consider breaking.

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The Writer’s Influence

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , on April 23, 2012 | 3 Comments »

What result do you want from your writing?

It used to be believed that a writer only had to connect with a major publisher and fame and fortune were just around the corner. Everyone would know your name and a million dollar advance cheque would be yours.

Until the day you woke up and realized that too many writers were chasing too few readers and that publishers needed platform and proven performance before they would look at your manuscript.

But still people write and get great satisfaction from it. Why?

At the very least, it means that you have got your thoughts organized and presented coherently. That’s far more than most people achieve.

If you’re writing fiction it means you have created a world of your own, with characters you yourself invented, creating conflict in the way you direct and working the whole to a satisfying conclusion. People read it and are entertained and perhaps learn from the message. You entertained and perhaps taught. That’s an achievement.

If you write memoir you are giving newer generations an insight into the world of the past, a world they might never otherwise have understood.

It comes down to your ability to influence other people. The pen (or the word processing program)  is mighty. Your stories, articles and blogs create change. You might make a harassed person smile, or a closed-off person feel an emotion for the first time in years. Would you think that gave your work significance?

If you took someone out of their weary world and set them loose in your fantasy world, even for a few minutes, would that make it worthwhile?

If you offered support, encouragement, a new perspective to even a few people would that make your work valuable?

If you have discovered something, learned something, connected some dots that you never saw before – and you share that, have you made a contribution?

Have you reached some understanding of yourself that might resonate in other lives?

The joy of writing comes from the influence you have over other people. Lasting or ephemeral, it doesn’t matter. You might have created a smile or a complete change in behaviour. It could be in people you know or  in people on another continent.

It used to be that if your story or article didn’t sell it would be buried in a drawer. With today’s technology there’s no excuse for hiding any of your work in a drawer. Self publish, blog, ebook it. What you have written is worthwhile.

Use your influence.

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You’re a Writer! Are you alone?

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , , on August 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The temptation for writers is to squirrel themselves away in the quietest room they can find. Once the door is closed they either write pell-mell or sit and dream quietly, formulating ideas and occasionally actually getting some words down on paper.

The problem with this is that writers need to experience life and to be a part of it. Too much isolation and your thinking starts to get skewed. That may be why many writers like to find a favourite coffee shop and write there.

If you can treat the comings and goings in a coffee shop as white noise – vague, distant, nothing-to-do-with-me happenings – that seems to be an ideal solution, especially if you find the coffee stimulating and you can  ignore the goodies that go with it. You don’t have to do all your writing there – just once in a while to perk you up.

On a warm day you can write in the park or on the beach. Life goes on around you; kids play, couples smooch or argue, dog walkers toss balls. Again, you can ignore it as you work away. Or you can watch. Some of it is standard human behaviour – a couple of boys will toss a ball, wrestle over it, hit each other and run off, best of friends. Moms hover over little children, mindful of the water’s edge, rambunctious dogs and sunscreen.

Once in a while something different happens. A dog shakes sandy water all over a stranger’s picnic. Harsh words are exchanged, or apologies. You pay attention.  What’s the body language of the picnickers – are they angry, upset, amused? How does it show in the way they react? How does their body move? What are their facial expressions? How does the owner (and the dog) respond to them? Can you tell from the body language what the response is going to be?

This is all part of being a writer. These are the experiences that fuel your knowledge of human behaviour. Without watching and listening your writing will be thinner and poorer.

You might do most of your writing alone but recognize the need to spend some time getting out, watching and listening and being part of your world. You need the world, warts and all, and the world needs you. It needs your perspective and your ideas. And you can’t develop them without the understanding that comes from being part of that world.

See you at the coffee shop?

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