Good morning everyone!
Have you ever written something that made you sit back and say, “Wow! I did that?” or “I didn’t know I could do this!”
Believe me, you’re not alone.
I’m a firm believer that we having a muse standing behind us, enticing us with their ideas and pushing us to write more— or threatening to leave us if we piss him/her/it off. lol Honestly, while our muse is a part of us, it had to come from somewhere, right?
There have been several times I’ve written a sub-plot or subtle hint at something that didn’t resonate with me until way later. It could be something as simple as hypocrisy in how one lives in opulence while forcing others to live in destitution, or using the old “Do as I say, not as I do”. I know I’m guilty of the latter one when training people where I used to work. The reason was they had to learn how to do the job before they could (Make sense?), but it’s still what it is.
As some of you may know, my dad taught me how to read by using comic books. In weeks, I went from not knowing anything to being one of the best readers in my class, and my teacher was pissed when she found out how I learned. It’s not anyone’s fault I struggled without comics. I just couldn’t stand reading, “Spot walked up the hill to Jane. Jane patted spot on the head.” That seriously drove me nuts, but it also showed me a different way of thinking. Let me explain.
You see, I grew up reading about super heroes, horror comics, and classic literature. More than anything, those developed how I would tell a story once I started writing. I love the action and fight sequences, so I’m good at writing those scenes. I love the episodic horror like Tales from the Crypt, so my horror is shorter and more visceral. My style is also semi-formal, which I attribute to reading Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and others. Because of my exposure to all of those and later Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and Sue Grafton, I developed into a story teller instead of a literature writer.
So what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?
Let me answer that with another question: Where else could my stories come from?
I’m not talking about adopting another author’s style or writing similar stories. For me, I learned the pacing, when to use flashbacks, and how to tell a story in general. As for the ideas, I think we tend to switch out thinking process to the genre we’re reading and writing in at the time.
A perfect example is when I’m reading Stephen King or Edgar Allan Poe, I get into a real morbid frame of mind and envision how to kill or torture my characters in the most gruesome and psychologically damaging ways possible.
More than that, we learn how to write interactions. It’s one thing to watch and listen to how people talk, but when putting it into words on paper, it can be a daunting task. Sometimes, it’s as simple as just having the dialogue, while other times we may need to put something more like an action or tension we didn’t previously use. How much or how little is a dilemma we all have to deal with at some point, and it’s sometimes nice to be able to sit back with a book and learn through our experience.
I touched on a few things that have worked for me, but we’re all different and have our own methods when it comes to honing our craft. Remember, what works for another may not work for you. Try them out and pick what works best for you. After all, you’re the only one that can tell your story.
As always, I’d love to hear how you’ve learned to write your stories.
