Writer’s Wisdom 86

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A Reader’s Game

At one point, you probably have asked yourself – “How do best-selling authors do it?”  “How do they keep their readers coming back for more?”

An easy answer to that question is with another question – What keeps us coming back to our favorite authors? 

However, part of their magic is that they know how to play the reader’s game – they challenge their readers.  They give them more of what they want, but at the same time, best-selling authors seem to know when to stop, and how to encourage readers to look for more inside the story.  They feed the story slowly, and they give the readers morsels of mystery and awe, of emotion and feeling, and the readers love the game.

But most important is that they seem to love the game of writing as well, they love what they do, they are true to the story and their characters, and they respect their readers.

Metropolis

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The other day, I was watching a silent movie from the 1920’s called Metropolis.  It lasted for over an hour, and I was surprised that it kept me interested despite not having any words or sounds, just the occasional line on the  screen.  The movie was full of symbolism, both, religious and political, and reflected many trends of the time.  I was glued to it, at one point.  Then, I started thinking, what is it about this silent movie that captivated my attention?

Soon, I understood, it was the symbolism throughout, despite no words.  Then, I thought that this same principle is applied in writing.  In writing, when words don’t suffice, a writer must use symbolism to keep the reader interested.  A writer must keep the reader discovering. 

This certainly brought a new awareness to my writing, and the funny part is that it came from a silent movie.

Writer’s Wisdom 85

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Of Books and Movies

There seems to be two teams of authors when we talk about books and movies.  The authors who enjoy the process of working and collaborating in the making of their best seller into a movie, and the authors who will leave the process entirely up to the director and the movie industry.  However, there is one unifying and common opinion of both groups – both agree that movies are a complete different animal, and as long as the integrity of the story is kept, they can deal with any other changes.

I tend to agree with this.  If a movie where to be made exactly as a book was written, it would actually be boring on-screen.  A movie needs a soul of its own, and that is what Directors do best – they give a different kind of life to the written word, a reincarnation  (if you can call it that), a second incarnation for the book lovers where they can appreciate other levels and dimensions of the same story.

Writer’s Wisdom 84

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The Magic of Best-selling Authors

What is the key to enchanting writing?  What is the secret of best-selling authors?  I am sure that most of us, at one point, have been captivated  with a book from a favorite author – being that person a best-selling author or not.  How do best-selling authors get to captivate so many readers?  It seems natural to think that they plan their writing and target a certain section of the population to obtain readership.  Right?

This could not be further from the truth.  While being interviewed many best-selling authors have said that they write for themselves – as in the case of Stephenie Meyer or Lee Child.  They say that they are honest to the story when writing, and they keep honest to the reader.  They seem to be of the opinion that if you evoke feelings in yourself when writing the story, you will evoke feelings on the reader as well.  Another trend is that they also mention how blessed they feel to be doing what they love – to write.

So there is no big secret of best-selling authors.  It seems that they write with passion for themselves – and they love it.

Writer’s Wisdom 83

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To Write or Not to Write – That is the Question.

When doing some freelance writing, especially if you are ghostwriting for someone, you will be presented with many topics or assignments.  Sometimes, those topics will be in clash with your values.  You are presented with the dilemma of writing the article or not.  What do you do?  After all, if you are ghostwriting, your name does not go in it.  However, your are still the writer of that piece, and you know it.  Where will that piece of writing end up?  So the dilemma deepens.

On one side you have an assignment that will pay the bills, on the other side, it will kill you on the inside to write it.  So what do you do?  There is no straight answer to this question.  You do what you do, and you deal with your feelings.  This is a personal matter and my motto is to live life, and everything I do, well enough so I can go to sleep peacefully at night – at peace with the world and with myself.

To write or not to write – That is the question.  And the answer is yours.

Writer’s Wisdom 82

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Every writer is a writer.

At first glance this may seem as a sentence without much meaning or even much sense.  However, what prompted me to write it was that it occurred to me that sometimes we are quick to criticize other’s work without going deeper.  Some might stop reading at the first grammatical error they encounter, others at the first cliché.  I have read about a best-selling author giving an opinion on another writer (now a best-selling author) and saying that the author did not know how to write.  The author became a sensation overnight.  I guess my point is that we should not judge or ill criticize the writing of others just because it does not follow our style and common rules.  There are no Gods in the world of writing just writers.

One thing is to present a piece to the world that is poorly written and obviously, without much care – that shows in writing.  Another, is to write different from the masses.  We should work on improving our writing everyday.

Writer’s Wisdom 81

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What happens when writing does not meet your expectations?

There are many ways we can approach the answer to that question.  It is a matter of individual experience, and whatever your expectations are as a writer.  At one point or another we will ask that question to ourselves, to the writer inside, and we may or may not like the answer.  Or maybe, we might not have an answer at all – at least yet. 

Sometimes, you will work hard, and harder, but the results and rewards just don’t show up in a pretty package.  What then?  Do you beat yourself up?  Do you get discouraged and stop writing?  Do you take a break to clear your mind and find a new path?  Do you just ignore your feelings and keep writing anyway?  Maybe, you will think of another approach to your writing.

Whatever your answer, it is one that you must deal with to be able to find your way as a writer – I am still figuring that one.  If writing is your passion, keep at it.  If you have to try different approaches, then try them.  If you need to take a break and clear your mind, then do so.   Do what you have to do, and what you need to do to find your writing path.  For some it will take longer than others.  Look at the different life stories of best-selling authors.  For some it happened fast, while others took years figuring out that they belonged writing.

I guess my point is, a true writer finds a path.

Writer’s Wisdom 80

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Live and Write

If you are busy freelance writing, you may find that it takes most of your day, and sometimes, a few hours at night.  It may also take some of your weekends.  Assignments come and go, and the competition is fierce – you are lucky if you can grab it.  However, how much is too much?  You know you have to eat, right?  But at what cost?  Be thankful for the assignments you get, but also live your life.  Make time for your spirit, yourself, your family, your pets, and your friends.   If you don’t, you will find yourself in a less than perfect mood for writing.

Create a balance, and write.  Live and write.

Writer’s Wisdom 79

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Change your daily routine – fool your Muse.

Most of us have a daily routine for writing.  You might wake up early in the morning, turn your PC on, while waiting for a cup of coffee, or maybe you check your email right away.  Well, one thing leads to another, task after task, and soon you are following your usual routine.  Sometimes, you feel inspiration may have left you for a while, and you fall into a writing rut.

Sound familiar?  It may take, a simple change, such as sitting outside to write (weather permitting) or just move to your living room with pen and paper instead of your PC, to break the rut and feel inspired once more.  Maybe your Muse was asleep and you surprised her by changing your routine.

Give it a try, and see if it changes the atmosphere for you.  Surprise your Muse!

Living the Simple Life

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Learning to live the simple life is more than pairing down some of your stuff.  Although it starts at that point, it develops into a spiritual quest, and appreciation of what every day brings.  Most people think that living simple is living without; this is not the case.  You might start clearing out things that you don’t need or feel are necessary for your happiness and daily comforts of living, but soon you start realizing all the blessings you have, and all the money you wasted in so much extra stuff that was far from being needed.  That is not to say that you turn into an extreme cheap and frugal person; it is far from that.  You will learn to be frugal, but out of not being wasteful and out of gratitude for the blessings in your life; it is more like a natural state of frugality, and not imposed by the lack of something.  You learn to be frugal because you recognize the abundance in your life.  This is hardly being cheap.  At the same time you will want to give more to others, and this is not being cheap either.
Living the simple life is surrounding your environment with healthy and simple things that have a functionality, as well as a purpose.  You also like and love these few things.  It is returning to simple forms and appreciating the job that these objects do.

For decorating the farmhouse, we will use the necessary furniture that we already have, and we are getting rid of extras.  We will choose simple materials, basic in form and purpose.  Some of these we already have, some we will scout for at a bargain price or recycled.  It will depend on what we need and when – and availability.

We have decided to forgo the central air or air conditioning which we have grown so accustomed to and instead, learn to open the windows, and use ceiling fans in some rooms for when it gets too hot.  We have selected a basic white ceiling fan with one center light.  We also selected a simple design portch light made of aluminum, that will last for many years.  The total cost for these two portch lights and two ceiling fans was $80.00.  Before buying them, I scouted around for these items to see if I could get them for free, but most fans available were too big or required four or more bulbs.  Since these were 19.99 a piece it was worth it to get them brand new plus it served the purpose in form, design, and simplicity.  The lighting could not be more simple and durable too.

Here are some pics.

Simple Aluminum Portch light
Simple one bulb four-blade ceiling fan
My advice here is that you try to find what you need – free first or recycled – and give it a second life, but if you cannot find it, then go with something simple at a reasonable price.  There is no sense in getting something for free if it does not serve the purpose.  I could have gotten many ceiling fans for free but they were either too big or had too many light bulbs, a waste in my opinion.  If you can wait for it to materialize in the future that is fine too, we are doing things in stages, so we decided to fit them in now.
Living simple is about saving money, but also about less excess, and the right form and function for the purpose.  And of course, loving it too.