Wednesday, August 24, 2011

8/24/2011 Writing Wednesday!

Hello! Since this is the first Wednesday post, I decided what I would do is give a few tid-bits from my own experience as a writer. Questions I've been asked, or the such that might help others along their way.

Why writing?
That's a very good question mysterious interviewer in the sky. I think the best answer is so that I can get all these ideas out of my head. When I think of a story I tend to do so for quite some time, until I either need to get it out in some way shape or form, or go crazy. I'm not that great of an artist, I don't know enough, or the right people to produce a movie or write a script, and when it comes to gaming, I'm not that compelled to be a GM (game master) so writing really was the best option. Plus, I'm a fast at typing, I need to use that skill somewhere.

What's the hardest part about writing something?
The beginning. By all means just figuring out what the first sentence is has led to many times just staring at my blank Word document and hoping things just magically appear on the screen. Sadly that doesn't happen. I mostly do it based on the tone of the story I plan on writing, if I want it to mostly be internal, I'll likely just start with exposition, though sometimes to get things on the ball faster, it's fun to start with dialog or an action sequence. It all depends on what you're going for.

How do you plan your stories?
I mostly figure out the very basic 'beginning, middle, and end' scenes and fill in the blanks. If I know what I'm leading up to, it makes getting the story out a lot easier. If you just sit down and say, "I'm going to just make this up completely as I go!" you're either going to come up with something that makes absolutely no sense, has no consistency, or you'll just give up out of frustration. It's better to have some kind of idea of what you're getting into before doing it.

What does someone need to become a writer?
Not to say there isn't some kind of skill involved, but I think patience might be one of the most important aspects to writing. Some stories are very long, drawn out epics, and if you think it takes a while to read them, just think about how long it takes to figure out plot/characters/setting, then to actually write it, then edit, then re-read, edit again, and continue that cycle until you finally proclaim it's finished and hold it over your head in victory (Please be careful if you're using a desktop computer for your writing when you get to this part. They can be heavy, and the monitor is connected to other things that will fall down and break if you don't do this correctly.)

Any other advice you can give to others?
Do it! I know it's sounds completely cliche, and it really is, but honestly, if you want to write something, then do it. Don't say you're going to one day and then never actually get around to it. If you're say you want to write something, you have the drive, at the very least basic spelling knowledge (spellchecker is useful sometimes), know what a book should be formatted like (beginning/middle/end/chapters), and have an idea you think other people NEED to see, then go for it. Finishing and publishing a book is probably one of the most satisfying and fulfilling things I've ever done. It feels fantastic to accomplish something like that.

Thanks a bunch for reading! If you have any other questions you would like me to answer, please let me know and I'll add them in next Wednesday. This Friday is the first promotional day, so come and see what book we'll have up and where to find it!

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