This Is Why Writers Go Insane.

You sit at your desk, eyes bright, a frothy machiatto on standby. You’ve been putting it off for months, maybe years. Maybe it’s a novel, or maybe what you have to say will not exceed ten pages. The point is, you’ve had a story locked away in your head for too long, and it’s time you finally got it all out in a cathartic rush of literary genius. Your fingers are poised over the keyboard.

…………………………………………. Now what?

      Huh, you mumble to yourself, annoyed that the aforementioned genius has yet to flow. You lift the machiatto to your lips, like any good pseudo-intellectual, then nearly spit out the lukewarm mess. You check the clock, and realize with horror that you’ve been sitting at the computer for a full hour. One hour… and not a single word written.

This is where a great many would-be writers drop it all. Why aren’t you able to write? This road appeared much smoother as pieces of the story came together in your head. Why now, on the cusp of converting your creativity into action, does your storytelling oasis feel as dry as the Sahara?

There is a sole misconception that writers long ago decided was a law to be adhered to. The professionals tell us to stop thinking so much about “what comes next” and to “just write.” Hey, it works for Stephen King, right? And isn’t that every writer’s ultimate goal, to become the next Stephen King? (Answer: Yes. There are studies on this.) So, in our journey to become Stephen King, we stare at the blank screen, hoping our story springs to life by sheer force of will. When it doesn’t, a subconscious doubt is triggered, and we assume our storytelling is simply not worth the effort. After all, you can’t get a single blasted word out, right?

Wrong! Foolish wrongness! Here’s the thing. Say you were building a house. That’s right, you’ve gone from failed writer to architect. However little you know about the fine inner workings of architecture, it’s pretty basic that the first thing you need is some sort of blueprint. How else can you possibly hope to build a house? “Hey, yeah, we’ve got wood, some nails, other… uh… house-y stuff. Just throw it all in a pile and wait for a house to grow!” Yes, that’s so stupid that it isn’t even funny. But aren’t we guilty of this in the writing world?

What I’ve been getting around to is ultimately this: a story won’t work without a proper blueprint. Stephen King, you ask? He’s the exception, not the rule. Some writers have the natural disposition to write it all, then edit it to perfection later. Good for them, I say. But the rest of us need something to go by. And that something is structure.

STRUCTURE

     Look at it this way: unless you’ve thought long and hard about what your story is about, the characters it revolves around, and the page-by-page growth and interactions that take place, it’s likely that it isn’t going to hit you all at once. A story is a delicate thing. If a single ingredient is missing, your metaphorical dish will be lumpy and inedible. At its essence, a story is plot, which is propelled forward by characters interacting through a number of scenes. If the characters are not developed, if the plot has a dozen loose threads dangling, if the scenes are unevenly paced… you may as well not have written a thing.

     “But you still haven’t answered the question you posed in the first place!” Where do you start? Try out this experiment. Purchase a notebook, and take this notebook with you everywhere. Anytime you get an idea about whatever story you feel compelled to write (it’s different, of course, for each person) jot it down in said notebook. Quotes, character ideas, an interesting setting, a philosophical quandry that occurred to you in the break room at work… any and all of it could be a launching pad for your story. After a fair amount of time, you’ll begin to piece these snippets of random thought together. Compile enough of it, and surprise, you realize there’s enough there for a story.

     Inspiration can strike at pretty much any time. Sometimes you get a small piece of an idea, and sometimes you get an entire franchise ala J.K. Rowling. But compiling information is not enough – take a look at the list below.

     Plot

     Character

     Scenes

     Setting

     Theme

     These are some of the most basic and most irreplacable elements of storytelling. Organize the ideas you’ve collected in your notebook into these categories. I’ll delve deeper into each of these subjects in the coming weeks. But as it stands now, you need to start thinking of your narrative. Write things down. Just a single notion may your spur you to storytelling stardom. Now, the subject of structure isn’t going anywhere – in fact, you’ll find that it remains prevalent through most of the other subjects I tackle. It’s importance may seem trivial, but in the next few posts, you’ll see just how integral in can be.

We Are Writers And Poets, All.

Writer.

The word usually conjures images of an intellectual or bookish person, with a personality that toes the line between avoidant and off-the-wall bonkers. That certainly seems an appropriate description as any, at least in regards to myself. Now, I’m no published powerhouse (not yet, anyway), but I’m working towards that illustrous dream of having even a single, doe-eyed fan scramble up to me and tell me that something in my book – something I had written – had spoken to them, made them think, brought about some sort of change.

My first novel was Dead Trees, a psychological thriller set in the mountainside suburbia of North Carolina. While friends went off to college, I was up until 4 AM pounding the keyboard in frustration, trying to churn out just one more chapter. My family and friends’ support of my work varied from encouragement, to doubt, to sometimes chilling indifference. It was a long road… a tough road.

But I did it. I finished my first novel.

No road simply ends, though. Being the perfectionist that I am, I never felt I could get it “right” enough to submit it to a publisher. I’m currently struggling to begin my second novel, which has proven to be as trial-and-error filled as my first. But from personal experience as well as others’ I have learned many a hard lesson… and it is my hope that I may share those lessons with other aspiring writers.

The first lesson here, is that pretty much anyone can become a writer. It seems like a broad and naive statement, but maybe I should explain. Anyone willing to work at writing, anyone who will slave over keyboards and desks with defiant passion and a humble eagerness to improve and better themselves… they can become a writer. Writing is not as natural a talent as one might think. In fact, even the literary bigshots admit that they would not truly consider their work as being “good” until after the rigorous “rewriting” process.

But the gist is this: even if you’re a lousy writer – and most are, so don’t despair – writing can be improved upon.

This opening post is mostly an introduction to the ones that will follow; just so you know what to expect. But I’ll be covering everything from plot and character developement to overcoming writer’s block. From one writer to another, I hope you’ll join me.