Try it out!

Where does this stuff come from? I don’t know how often people have asked me that question after reading one of my stories. This question is typically followed by; I could never write a book. There are two things here I want to address.

Honestly, I didn’t think I could write a book either at first (I’ve now written six with a few others in progress). It’s a daunting prospect. One-hundred thousand words, 300+ pages is a lot of work. I won’t lie. The best advice I have is to try. The story can be just for you. You can lock it up and circle it with no trespassing signs, but I think you’ll find that once you start, you’ll be eager to share it with others very soon. Until relatively recently, roadblocks abound to sharing your work with others, but that has all changed now. What a perfect time to test your writing waters! Sure, you probably won’t become a best-selling author, but you’ll have the experience of creating a world and letting others experience your creation. This is the real joy of writing!

I started writing seriously back in 2005. The idea of being an author was something I found tantalizing since I was a child, but I didn’t have the time or the drive to embark fully. That changed when I was living and working in China. I started to test my writing chops one long, rainy day without internet or TV (that I could understand). I haven’t stopped since. I found that once you have a basic idea and start putting words on the page, something begins to grow organically. For me, it was a homeless man walking a country road and stumbling upon an abandoned house. That story evolved further than I thought possible, and I eventually cut that scene from the finished work. The point is, you have to start someplace. After a few weeks to a month of writing, you’ll have a book. You’ll put down your pen, and you’ll be very excited to read it. I promise you you’ll be crushed to discover it wasn’t the best seller that you thought it was going to be, but in time, and with a lot of work, you’ll find there’s a diamond in that rough that only needs some polish to sparkle.

As to where I find my stories? That’s a good question. My ideas usually come late at night just before I fall asleep (which is not very agreeable to a good night’s sleep). For some reason, that’s when the Muse likes to whisper in my year. From that spark, I usually start with a scene, and then I just let it grow from there. Sometimes that scene finds its way to the beginning, others the middle, and maybe even it becomes the final chapter. Perhaps it gets cut altogether, but you can tuck it away, and eventually, it will find the light of day (much of that first scene I wrote eventually became the bones of Spears home’s cellar in Island of Stone).

You’ll be surprised how much a book will write itself. Humans are storytelling creatures, and spinning a yarn comes naturally to many of us, whether we know it or not. Try this. Create a character (it could even be you) with a few specific traits (easy-going, hot-headed, neurotic, etc.). Give that character some background (office worker, policeman, writer, etc.). Then put that person in a situation to see what happens (stuck in traffic, grocery shopping, walking the beach, etc. ). Sometimes they make the wrong choices, and the story ends after a few pages, but other times they embark on a beautiful journey, and you find yourself asking the same question of where did that come from?

The joys of writing are hard to explain. The best way to experience it is to try. Sit down at your computer or take out a sheet of paper and let your mind bleed onto the page. Tuck it away, share it, burn it, it is up to you. But if you find yourself bored during this time of isolation and uncertainty, I can’t think of a better way to fill your time and distract your mind (except maybe reading Island of Stone, sorry I couldn’t resist). However it turns out, I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the results.

Cheers!