Encouragement to write

My granddaughter just turned a year old..  I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet, as her parents live over 2000 miles away and money is limited.  What?  A writer who is struggling?  Did you know in 2009, the United States alone published more than 288,000 books?  Very few saw instant success, my friends.

So why continue to write?  When I was a kid in grade school, I was very sickly.  That meant that on the playground, I didn’t do a great deal of the running around that most kids do to blow off steam.  I was the one with the dress and the pants under it that sat on the cement steps alone.  Sometimes I was joined by other recess recluses.  That’s when I began to tell my captives my stories.  Now these were very imaginative stories which lasted several days, sometimes weeks!  Of course, there was always a damsel in distress and she was always rescued by the handsome man of her dreams.

When I was in the sixth grade and was in the midst of what I thought was a very interesting story, one of the recess teachers came over to listen a bit.  When the bell rang, she told me she wanted to see me after school.  As I waited outside her classroom, I wondered if I could get into trouble for telling stories which I made up as I went along.  She called me in at last, sat me down and asked, “So what happens to the little girl?”  Of course, she was talking about the little girl in my story.  I must have looked quite shocked, but I answered honestly.  I told her, “She hasn’t told me yet.”  My teacher took a bit to recover and then replied, “Wow.”  After a brief staring contest, she whisked me out the door to catch the bus.

The next day, as I entered the classroom, I was pleasantly surprised to find a writing tablet and a box of #2 pencils on my desk.  There was a yellow lined paper on which the recess teacher had written, “Write it down.”

That’s when I first began to record where my imagination sent me.  It was – and is - one of my most favorite things to do.  As a matter of fact, little pack rat that I am, I still have some of my first stories.  Of course, these were not the ones in grade school, but the ones which I typed on my manual typewriter (how’s that for a generation gap).  They are simple in both vocabulary and plot, but still dear to my heart.

Like all things practiced, you can only get better at them.  What starts out like a school girl’s story can soon develop into something deeper with significance to your audience.  Frustration will find you as you write.  That’s a give-in.  It’s also part of the learning process.  Since it’s your story from your imagination, you can ask for help from others, but only you and your story can decide what fits and what doesn’t.  That also means you can make mistakes along the way.  Your “friend editors” will be quick to point them out.  Don’t be mad, that’s what you asked them to do.  As a matter of fact, don’t expect everyone you like that you ask to read your story to fall in love with it.  That’s just not going to happen.  Sometimes it’s the story, sometimes it’s the friend, but you will find that choices in favorite genres are as different as favorite food choices.

As a child, my friends asked me where I got the ideas for my stories.  I told them that I read a lot.  That’s what made me a good story teller and that’s what will make you a better writer.  I’m not saying you’ll revel in reading every book in your chosen genre, and I’m not saying that some won’t remind you that you’re “just a beginner”.  What I will tell you is that while you are writing and publishing your work, keep your day job.  This is an art, just like painting, acting, dancing, etc.  Because it’s an art, it’s also hard to break into on a grand scale.  But think about this – how many actors had first parts as starring roles?  That’s right. They clawed their way to the top by taking those smaller roles and becoming noticed.

So what if your first few books don’t make the best sellers’ lists.  You’re competing with hundreds of thousands of writers for Pete’s sake.  So don’t give up.  Do what my teacher told me years ago – write it down.  It won’t be long before someone asks you as well, “What happens to….?”

My corelation: video games is to writing...

Did I tell you I love to play video games?  Of course, I can’t play the ones in first person because I have motion sickness.  Yep, it’s not just for amusement parks or long rides.  For me, it’s that same sickening feeling when I’m not playing a third person video game.

I love the RPG games because I’m always surprised to see where they lead me.  It didn’t take me long to realize some great authors are responsible for these quests.  And character development?  Wow!   Most of the games I play involve killing people.  That’s something I would never think to do in my own life.  I don’t own a weapon and don’t believe in violence.  I’m the one who always looks for alternative methods while I’m bursting inside to do like the RPG characters.

That’s what I like about writing.  I can be young, old or any character in my books. I can be all of them – I’m omnipotent.  As my story develops, I can be the hero or the victim.  I can save the hour or make it worse than it was before my fingers touched the keys.  There’s this great feeling of power when I write.  I meet one challenge and then I’m faced with another, just like in my video games.

However, sometimes I have to repeat a “level” several times before I get it right.  I decide exactly where I want to go with my story, but after I get there I realize that’s not where I want to be at all.  But, I don’t throw the game away because I can’t beat the level.  I just try the level again.

When I play my RPG’s (and no, I don’t do MMORPG’s) I have a goal, at least for each level.  When I reach that goal, I quit.  There’s no sense pushing it, right?  Sometimes the goal is easily attainable, but most of the time it requires several chapters to set up the goal and several more to reach it.

Another thing I love about playing RPG’s, is that I’m sometimes surprised at who I meet along the way.  This reminds me very much of real life scenarios.  For my own personal information, I’ve been asking friends and co-workers for years where they met their significant others.  Now these are people that I feel comfortable asking, of course, but I’m always surprised by their answers.  Some have been married for years, yet met in the most unlikely places (considering where they are now).  I’m also surprised by the type of people they were and who they are now.  Some of my friends were WILD in their younger years; a few still are, I’m afraid.  So when an RPG character sometimes does something I don’t expect, I’m as shocked as when my friends tell me where they met.

I guess the best part of the RPG’s is when I beat the game.  It doesn’t happen that often and I take soooo much longer than my children to beat it, but I’m proud to finish just the same.  That’s how I feel when I finish a book.  I sit back and allow the glow to wash over me.  Sometimes there are tears, like I’m leaving an old friend.  Other times I’m dancing around the room for joy.  And the best part about this?  Those are the same reactions that my “informal editors” (my friends whom I have preyed upon to read my next work) act as well.  Sometimes they cry and sometimes they are elated!  That’s when I know I can’t stop writing.  And it’s just like when I finish a good RPG – I can’t wait for the next one to begin!

Where do my ideas come from?

People ask me where I get the ideas for my characters. I guess it would be fair to say that they resemble someone I have met or someone that impressed me in some way. Over the years, I’ve found I’m a people watcher and truly get a kick out of seeing what people will do next. I’m always surprised by their reactions to simple things and I believe I incorporate those ideas into my characters.