29 Nov

Of all the things a writer does, some of which may go unrecognized, there is one thing above all that I think deserves more of the pat on the back than all the rest. And that is believing in the story. It could take a month, three months, half a year, a year or more to write it, and he/she does it all on their own, and their belief is what carries them across that long journey, all on their own. 

Any movie based on a novel, or any novel, or movie with a writer, or two ... someone had to believe in that. And they did enough, so that it got done. And it may not even end up being well-received by the readers or audience. Or it might. But someone had to believe in it for it to be there. 

When all is finally said and done, and it comes time for the writer to pass the story on to their first readers (before releasing it to the broad public), that's when it starts to become a group activity. But until then, the writer works in solitude. (Solitude that is, in this world—after all, he's in the company of his characters the whole way through—there's Joe, or Jillian, or the captain of the pirate ship, or Simon who's working to save the day.) And it's a matter of discovery the whole way. All he has to do is (a) be able to LOOK, so that he can uncover and see the story, and (b) WRITE it down in the best way he sees fit, a way that hopefully will be engaging, enlightening and entertaining to the readers. 

And this is all to say nothing of whatever energy and time he puts into the research he does for the writing of the story. 

If there ever was a one-man show which needed balls, this is it. 

But it's also an enjoyable and entertaining activity. And, hopefully for all the writers out there, also very rewarding. 

16 Nov 2014

When I was a kid and writing a lot, I was always in these other worlds – not here in this world as much. Now, I am rarely in those other worlds, and mostly in this world. Not that this world is bad – there are some screwed-up things about it, but overall, there are a lot of good things about it. 

While we could say there are really no limits in this world, there are definitely none in those other worlds. And as a writer, I have freedom to go between them. I just would rather be in those other worlds more often than not.

It's a technical point that doesn't need to be mentioned, but I think when a writer is in those other worlds, he/she is actually still in this world as well. At the same time, we're in this world and in that world. 

The trick is just to write down what you see. Write it down in a way that will be understood to the readers and which of course is engaging. 

4 Nov 2014

In one sense, writing is dirty work. Drudge work. There's some slave master over you, which is the story, and whether it's got a whip or not, there you are, digging, sweeping, sweating, possibly not eating or sleeping well, and all you're supposed to do is write the story down. Actually you've got to get it down right. Because if you don't see it enough, and don't look enough, and dig and sweep and brush properly, then you might have more re-work than necessary. So you sweat to do it as right as you can the first time. And it can be a long, lonely job, if it's a long piece. But you put in as much time as you can so it won't take longer than it needs to. And the entire time you're not sure how the reader and audience will like it. But you discover the story and you write it as is, and as best as you can. And you believe in it. 

And finally after you're done that first excavation and report, you then have to back out and go away for a while. And take a break when the last thing you wanna do after all that work and getting to the end is go away and take a break. But you have to, to recuperate and to be able to come back to the written report with fresh eyes and fresh spirit. 

And you come back after some time, and you review the whole report—the written form of the story. (Because the story is the story—it's not the written work. The written work is only your best job of putting the story into words.) And with fresh eyes and fresh spirit, a cup of fresh coffee (or many cups), you go through the thing from start to finish. And at this point you've got to see it from a new reader's viewpoint. And make sure it's clear enough, and most importantly that the story comes through. And cut what's not the story. 

And then finally, it's ready to be presented to the very First Reader, that special someone. Or a few. And you might be exhausted, and you give it to them, and you probably don't care, but you always do care. 

You know that the story is there and we're ironing this thing out so it's a final product and ready for the world. 

Long trip. Work. Not a walk in a nice park. Although it may be exciting and fun to write, whether slow or fast, it is work and it's dirty work. No one is catering to you. It's all on you and for a long time you're alone in the whole thing. 

Alone that is, except for the company of the people in the story. In the story world you're there, you're with the characters and you're being characters. But in this world, the world we all live in, you're alone for some time. And that's the world we all count as real. The story world is real only to you—to you, yourself and you, as the writer, while you're writing. And that real-to-you feeling had better be powerful enough to carry you through. Because after the end, you just never know to how many others it will become real. 

16 Oct 2014

You want to cry, you want to be pissed, you want to be scared, want to be happy. And you want to wonder. Like when you were a kid. These are the things you want when reading a story or watching a movie. 

Readers and writers don't live one life but many. You live thousands of lives and you get hurt and you feel love and you win and you lose, and you die and then you come back again -- over and over, each time different. As long as you don't get stuck in anything, it's pretty good, wouldn't you say?

2 Sept 2014

Just published a flash fiction story in Sirens Call e-zine. Story called "The Last Night at Sacks."

On page 22, here's the PDF at: 

http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_August2014.pdf

Or download Issue #16 - Apocalyptic Fiction here at: 

Issue #16 - Sirens Call

They say readers live a 1000 lives through the reading of books. That's the exact reason why I write. To live any life. Of which there is an infinity.

9 July 2014

One of the main differences between reading a novel and a short story is that with the novel, you come to get familiar with the characters. As in a feature film or a TV series. Then in writing a short story, not only should you grab the reader's interest within the first few paragraphs, but you must get the reader acquainted with and in agreement and interest with the character or characters themselves. Why should the reader care about your character, in such a short time? It would be not only because they're curious as what's going to happen in the story, but also because they like and feel like they KNOW the character. 

So it's not just "what's going to happen to Bob" with regards to this ghost that's following him around, which tells him unless he gets up the balls to ask that girl out on a date, that it's going to either continue to torment him or go over to the girl's place and tell her himself that Bob has a crush on her. It's also that Bob drinks too much Coca-Cola while doing his homework at night and never finishes any homework he ever starts, and he tries countless pimple-fixing-products on his face but none of them ever seem to work.

One of the earliest tasks in a short story, and not a lot of time to do it.

3 July 2014

I swear life is like a story. But I guess it has to be that way. Better than "nothing happening". Even that one commercial about life, paper clips, highway traffic, etc. (if you remember that one), says life can be crazy. 

I swear life is exactly like a story - something good happening over here, then over there something going wrong or not going right. In one area stats go up, and another they drop, it's all like life is a game. All the dynamics of life. 

I'm cogniting as I write this that it IS IS IS a game – if it wasn't it would be boring as hell. If it all was going smooth all the time everywhere, and nothing ever going up or down, you might as well not even be alive. All you have to do is be ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME, and make games. I don't think it means that everything is going right everywhere all the time. Otherwise there would be no Supreme Test.

With life like a story, even Robert McKee (screenwriting author) says with stories, that when conflict gets handled on one dynamic or in one area, something else pops up somewhere else on another dynamic or area. Otherwise, NOTHING is happening. And I swear life is like that. 

And like LRH says in Problems of Work – THERE MUST BE A GAME.

We always try to "catch up" and "get it all done", but soon as we catch up, there's more. We are constantly on the move. I guess the only real chill time for a guy, at least at this point, is Sunday nights :)

16 June 2014

A writer believes in the magic of his or her story, in order to write it. If he doesn't believe in that magic, the story doesn't get started; or if he stops believing in it partway through, the story doesn't get finished.

And if he can believe enough to get it done, then he hopes that his readers will then find and experience the magic of the story as well.

This would hold true for any artist or art form.

ResPecT for all artists, all painters, musicians, producers, writers, dancers, sculptors, photographers, sketch artists, poets and all, y'all. 

14 Feb 2014

We've all been mean and we've all been kind, we've all been bad and we've all been good. Life can be crazy sometimes. This is above and beyond all that: I've been touched on a high level countless times in my life and I write because I want to touch. I want to touch the way that I've been touched. I've been blown away by the force of the writing in the stories of others, and I want to blow someone away by force of my own writing. And if I can do that to even one single person, then I could know that I've accomplished one of the main things in my life that I had intended to do.