Back to Our Roots

Good morning everyone!

The other day I was chatting with a friend about history when I suddenly had an epiphany about why my stories are so character driven.

I know, it sounds weird, but one thing I’ve learned is, when it comes to writing, nothing is too weird, right? Lol

If you can’t guess, I love history, I mean I. Freaking. LOVE. History.

I can’t get enough of shows on the history channels and will read text books (these are the only ones I’ll even look at. Lol) any chance I get. What always struck me and led to some poor grades in school was the fact I couldn’t remember a lot of dates. Sure, I know the big ones like when the Civil War took place, the Revolutionary War, and so on, but I never bothered with the dates of most, if not all, of the battles nor the generals.

To me, breaking historical events down to nothing more than those facts takes a great deal away from the events. They’re only part of the story, and I wanted to know the rest of it first, second, and third. Knowing why a certain decision was made is great, but understanding the thinking and reasoning behind it is where we truly learn. For that reason, I love reading biographies about Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett, Theodore Roosevelt, and so on. Why? Simply put, they bring history alive for me.

I take the same mentality into reading and writing. As a reader, I’m pretty easy to please. If the story is interesting and the characters are real, I’ll like it. If not, well…

When I started writing, I never set out to write a certain style or focus on this or that. I just wanted to tell an entertaining story I’d like to read and, hopefully, others would, too. I think that’s what we all want, and why not? Is there anything better than having someone we don’t know tell us how much they loved our story?

Sometimes it’s best to go back to our roots.

We all have our own ideas and methodology, but how much of yours is based on something so simple you never thought about it before? Why does that resonate with you so much?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. See you all next time, and remember to let your imagination fly!