Writing...

Well let’s not beat around the bush. I haven’t been writing. Hardly a thing has been extracted from my brain in the last few months. There are many reasons as to why; and in all honesty they don’t really matter. I haven’t had my head in the right spot. Now I do. I have been reading a lot; lots of fiction, lots of books on writing and even some books on spirituality (thanks to my lovely girlfriend). And it has given me some insight into what I might actually want to do/write/achieve.

So, I have devised a strategy based on the things I have been reading. They are taken from all different sources (the ones I can remember I will reference), and one is even my own. There are four key points to this strategy which I will go through shortly. I also want to say from the outset, that I don’t know what I’m talking about. This is my first attempt to seriously write something of length in an attempt to get it published. The strategy I have here is for me, it’s what I have found works best for me, so I’m not pretending to be an expert in any sense. I’m just a crazy person with an imagination that he thinks should be shared with others.

On that note...

I have read about a lot of different forms of writing that involve planning. The Snowflake Method was one of the interesting ones that comes to mind, another was to plan each chapter in dot point, and another was having a huge white board and do a time line of events. All of these are very good ideas, but that’s not what I mean by planning. For me that sort of structure would be more a hindrance than a help because of the way I write. I prefer it just to spew out and let it do what it does. That’s not say I have no idea what is going to happen, I do. It’s just always a faint idea, a guide line for me. I let the characters create the story. But, anyway, This is getting off point.

What I mean by planning is creating a structured time for me to write. I work full-time, have friends, family and an active social life. If I don’t set time aside (which I haven’t been doing) I don’t write. This needs to be a reasonable and achievable goal. If, for example, I said I’m going to get up at 5 am every morning and write for 2 hours before work. That would fail, miserably. Because there’s no way that is a realistic goal with my current life style. So for me, it will be twice a week. And each session i will aim for 1000 words, which is quite high. But in all honesty anything over 500 is fine with me. This is the first part of my strategy, planning. Time for writing doesn’t present itself; you must make time for it.

This next part has been the hardest for me to learn. I read a very broad range of books, many different genre’s; fantasy, sci-fi, romance (very occasionally), paranormal and standard contemporary fiction. And whilst I would love to write them all, I can’t even though I have tried it in small doses. So the second part of my plan is, Write what you know. This is not something I have come up with, I have read it everywhere, all over the internet and in a heap of books too. It’s true. Write what you know, for starters anyway. Once I’ve developed my writing skills and have more time, because clearly I will get published and everyone will want to buy my books, then I can explore more.

For now though, I’ll be writing what I know. What do I know? I know drugs, addicts, serial killings, post-apocalyptic worlds, sci-fi and violence. And reading that makes me question how well adjusted I am. But that’s a blog for another day.

The third point is one taken from Stephen King, a writer who has written and incredibly high number of bestselling novels. I have actually only ever read one of his books, On Writing, which isn’t a fiction novel. It’s book about his life and writing. This book should definitely be read by anyone who is interested in writing. Whilst there were many interesting and useful sections in this book the one thing that has stuck with me is this simple phrase; Read a lot, write a lot. This means exactly what it says, read lots of books and write lots of words. It is pretty simple in theory, but not for people who have real lives. Why do I have it in here then? Because it’s true, this is how you learn. The writing is covered by my planned weekly writing and the little bits and pieces I do at work and on the weekends. The reading however can take up a lot more time, so I’ve got a kindle app on my phone, a book in the bathroom, a book by my bed, a book at work and a book at my girlfriends. Though it’s only bit and piece’s here and there, it’s better than nothing.

The last point is one of my mine, well sort of, I’m sure it’s somewhere else. It’s simple. Just write. Just start writing, it can be about anything. I’ve found that when I’m stuck with ‘writers block’ I just start writing. Anything, whatever is in my head and then and direct my writing to the task at hand. Or I end up with a new piece of writing on a completely different subject. But if I just start writing I will get through it.

In summary the four key points are:

• Time for writing doesn’t present itself, you must make time for it
• Write what you know
• Read a lot, write a lot
• Just write

With these four little pieces I will attempt to complete my first substantial piece of writing. I will have regular updates posted on here. Wish me luck.

You Should Have Seen

An entry for The Friday Challenge

I was working late, again. Eating left over pizza for dinner, it was cold but I didn’t mind. There is something satisfying about cold pizza. It was already dark outside and most of the afternoon rush had dispersed. By that time of the night there aren’t too many people walking the streets below my office.

The fluro’s from the convenience store across the street flickered making the street, which during the day looks respectable, look decrepit and run down. Like something out of a low budget horror film. Two teenagers stood out the front smoking; both of them were laughing and pointing to something I couldn’t quite see. I think it was my desire to be young forever but I wanted see what they were laughing at. I got up from my desk and walked over to another office to a get a better view of the street.

It was a homeless man digging around in a bin. I sighed and I my shoulders sunk slightly; I always forget there are reasons behind why we grow up, one of them being so that we don’t make fun of those less fortunate than us. I looked at him for a short time wondering what had happened to him. Did he have a family? Friends? Were there underlying issues that could have been treated? I heard mental health is usually a problem with the homeless.

Just as I was turning I noticed something slightly out of place with the homeless man. His shoes were spotless. Brand new Nike sneakers, the kind of Nike sneakers I pestered my mum for me when I was growing up. Homeless people don’t often have brand new sneakers. I stood staring at him for a while longer. I began to notice other things about him that were slightly off.

His hair had blonde streaks in it. I’m no expert on the homeless, but I am fairly sure they don’t see hair stylists. The dirt on his face also looked odd. Like, it was perfect dirt. Well placed. Paint even?

Was this guy a fake?

It then became clear that this whole time he hadn’t actually been looking into the bin he was supposedly rummaging through. He was looking across the street to my building; to the level below me, the ground level. He froze.

Stared straight ahead.

He’d seen something.

Then, like startled rabbit he was off. Running towards my building, my heart stopped just for a moment. Surely he wasn’t coming in here. There was nothing in there worthwhile. I pressed my head against the glass in a vain attempt to see where he had gone. But I couldn’t. I stepped back from the window and looked at the cold pizza in my hand. At least I knew where that would be going.

I walked back to my desk and sat down looking out onto the street again. The teenagers were gone. I sighed and took a bite of my pizza. Then I heard a sound.

There was someone at the door...