dreamweaving 101

When I was six years old, I went on a journey with twelve dwarves and a hobbit, over the misty mountains to take a golden treasure back from a dragon. That was my first great adventure, but by no means my last. I did all that, and much more later on, all thanks to the magic of the printed word. Since my first adventure in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, I have attended a Wizard's school, fought beside The King in The North in the Whispering Woods, stood in awe as Dr. Frankenstien brought new life to dead flesh, and even begun to forge my own dreams, however they might compare to those epics mentioned about.

And you can do the same.

I can not stress that enough. you can do the same. No matter who you are, or what you do, you have a story to tell, and if you can find the right path, learn the rules of the words, and keep your determination from begining to end, you can bring that story to life. It isn't always easy, but it is something we can all do if we set our minds to it.

Now, note that I said everyone has a story, but never used the word book. That is because in my experience, the word book is poisonous, and will kill your passion for writing faster than anything in the world. One day you will start writing, planning to write a book. You will work long and hard all through the night, and go to sleep happy with yourself and proud of your work on the book. In the morning, you will read it over, and the doubts will crawl in.

You will see the flaws, the mistakes, the typos and the plot holes and it will all pile up until you delete the whole story to start again. But no matter what you write, you can never get good enough. How could you ever have thought you could write a book? You can't even get a few pages out well, so how could you ever finish a book?

The answer is by not trying to, in my experience. Let me remind you I have never been published as of yet, so I've never written a book. I've never sat down planning to either. I write stories, long abd short. I try not to worry about perfection, and I have others proofread my work before I do it. I take breaks, and then I come back and edit. All of these work miracles, and make the writing just less stressful.

In the end, you should write because you want to, because the story is as interesting to you as it is to your readers. You don't write so you'll have a book, or your muse will eat itself.

Now that the goal is laid out, and we all know what to avoid when looking at that evil screen full of white pixels, we have the hard part. Write a few words. Anything at all will work. If it doesn't, skip a few lines and go again. Delete nothing. Keep going until you get an idea, and once you have a few pages or paragraphs or really whatever amount feels write to you, take a look at it and plan out where the story is going from there, at least a little bit.

And Boom! You are officially started as a writer. Welcome to a world of frustration, endless editing, criticism, obsession, and self doubt. This is a world that will devour your time, and give you no rest. But, in the end, its worth it, to those who truly feel drawn to writing. It is something essential, something magical, and in the end, it is worth all the heartache in the world.
 

This is what I do, and if you want to learn more about how to do it, keep checking back regularly. Feel free to suggest subjects for future posts as well. See you all next time!