About The Site

Writing is a torturous job. It can keep you up at night, it can make you only want to sleep in. It can consume your every thought, and it can cause all your thoughts to be born blank canvases, white paint on a white wall. Writing is not for the faint of heart, not feint of mind.

I have known that I would be a writer from the third grade. I can distinctly remember realising that one day I would sell a novel and live off writing. I guess that’s why I always liked language so much, I knew it would be my one and only trade. I still find the English language fascinating. I regularly spend time on the wwInterweb ‘researching’ different idioms and etymologies. It’s all so interesting.

Tonight I was writing a chapter of a possible book. I’m just starting, so it’s a little like dipping your toe into the pool, you write a bit and see how it plays out. If it doesn’t work, then that’s sweet, just move on and try another tack or another story completely. I started the opening chapter and tried my best to set the scene and the characters. Then I realised that I wanted something. I wanted to add something, but could not think what that certain something might be. So to find out I started writing it anyway, perhaps I could fool my brain.

I wrote myself into a corner and hoped that I’d find an exit. It took me about two or three hours, I am unsure which, time is so intangible when I write, it slips away like mist through a fist, like a snake across a lake, like Suess chewed by a moose under a goose. Anyway…I worked myself into this corner and came up with one possible exit, but then as I stood at the toilet (what else does one do but think of writing) I came up with the true daring escape. It came to me simply and I knew it was right because it made me smile. That’s all I need, that smirk of approval and it’s all good.

It’s interesting to see what the mind will come up with in the crunch. I am a big fan of planning pages, but not specific words, and sometimes I am shocked by what comes out. But I can only ever get to the page and then watch as it unfolds. I also find that pushing myself into these corners can uncover all sorts of story elements and themes that I didn’t at first see. Going into a scene blind can actually be beneficial for the story.

I think everyone should spend time each day, or at least once or twice a week, where they start writing something with no idea where it is going or what they want from it. They will often be surprised by what comes up. Hopefully in a good way.
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An oldie, but a goodie.
Here’s a link to a very special video on YouTube. It’s got a man that will always hold a place in my heart, hell, I’ve even written a character just for him in my purloined idea mini series.
I present to you the grandeur that is:

Bruce Campbell’s Old Spice

Experience, it’s everywhere, but is it yours?

Posted on September 17th, 2008 by ryan
Filed under: Writing