Why do we write?

When I tell someone that I'm a writer, most people frown at me and say, "Wuh?". Others criticize the amount of time that I spend on my laptop (which is probably legitimate). It always leads me to the question: Why do I do what I do? Why do I write? Why do WE write?

Ever since creation, people have been writing, telling their stories in one way or another. Even when certain writers are outlawed or band from publishing their work, there are still writers. Here are just a few of my thoughts on the subject.

We write to understand. Writers, or at least good writers, question, ponder, don't accept the easy answer. They explore the subject and look at both sides of the story. By writing they discover the truth, or what they believe to be the truth. When we write, it reveals things to us that we've never fully understood before. And the experience, if you've ever had it, is exhilarating. We are discovery junkies, like the early explorers. Writers have to question and challenge in order to add conflict and doubt to their story. I believe, personally, that writing can give you a better understanding of yourself, of others, and of the world around you.

We write to fight. It amazes me that throughout history people will write in order to take part in the battle going on around them. They publish themselves to get their opinion out, propaganda or not. Take for example Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her writing affected the nation in many ways. So many people fight with a pen rather than a sword because they have leaned the power that words have. Sometimes words are more effective than a sword could ever be.

We write because we have to. I don't know about you, but if I didn't write I would have...problems. As a child, I always had an extremely active imagination. Lying in bed at night, I would make up stories in my head. A lot of time was spent daydreaming and roleplaying with neighbor kids. But that was never enough. I never found a satisfaction for my imagination until I finally started writing. It is a way to free ourselves, to empty ourselves. I think that (in a lot of cases) a writer becomes more observant of the world around them. Think about it. They must have very active minds all the time, searching for inspiration, watching people, listening to them talk, absorbing all that to use for writing. I'm not saying that writers are better. What I'm trying to say is that writing just has so many benefits. I think that it helps us in many ways. If used right, it teaches, it challenges, it trains.

And that's why I love it.

Any more thoughts? Please comment below!

I also wanted to say that I have submitted my writing to Inkitt for a Science Fiction story contest. You can read my story, Cyborg, for free at this link: http://www.inkitt.com/stories/15856   I would greatly appreciate a review or a vote.

Thanks so much!

 

I believe that the pen does too.



Writing Compelling Dialogue

   Dialogue can either make or break a story. So much character and plot is (or can be) conveyed in dialogue. It is a critical point in your writing. And it is one that I struggled with for a long time. One of the main things I have learned as I wrote is that characters shouldn't stay silent. They need to interact. Put a group of people in a room and see how long it is before someone says something. It's just not natural for people to not interact unless there's some sort of tension between them. Dialogue opens a wonderful door for you -- as the writer -- to reveal who your character really is. Here are several tips that I have found useful in writing dialogue.

   Tags. Your use of tags is extremely important. I've been reading a book lately with some good dialogue but horrible tags. A few mild examples, "he said loudly", "she replied laughingly", or "they said quietly". I don't know about you, but this drives me absolutely crazy! It is weak writing. These could be replaced with "he shouted", "she laughed", and "they whispered". There are places for adverbs, but they are few and far between.

   Another thing that I have learned about tags is that they should be used -- mostly, of course -- for specifying who is talking, not HOW they are talking. The dialogue itself should convey what the character is feeling and how they are saying it. For example:

"I want you to leave now," he demanded.

"Leave! NOW!" he said.

The verb "demanded" is not necessary if I convey the same thing through the way a character says something.

   Character styles. Every character should speak in such a way that it reveals something about them. What I mean by that is that each character should have a pattern of speech. Some characters might be soft-spoken and non-confrontational while another might have bullets loaded into every word. Some characters might be very particular about grammar while another might say "yer" instead of "your". It's completely up to you. Stephen King demonstrated this in his book "Misery" with the character, Annie Wilkes. She used words like "cockadoodie" and "Mr. Smart Guy" and "oogy". Dialogue is a great tool for developing character. Don't neglect it!

   Make it realistic. Dialogue, like most things in your writing, should feel authentic and realistic, not strained and awkward. One of the greatest things that you can do in learning how to write dialogue is listen to people. Talk to people. Observe their speech patterns and your own. What distinguishes how they talk? How you do? There are lots of things to be learned in every day life, especially when it comes to character. We have millions of living examples all around us. We just need to lend our attention to them.

These are just a few things that I have observed about dialogue. Do you have anything to add? Comment and start a discussion!

To Outline, or Not to Outline?

I don't know about you, but I have always been a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person. When I first started writing, I just wrote. No plan in my mind. Just writing. I was that way for quite a while. In a short period of time, I wrote three first drafts of novels like that. The problem was, out of those three, only one seemed salvageable. The characters were wooden. The plot was deeply flawed. The writing itself wasn't that great -- or at least I didn't think it was.

I was determined to find the problem, if it was even a problem to begin with. Why was my production only sub-par? Well, NOW I know that it was simply my inexperience that caused the problem. But at the time I thought that the issue was that I never outlined. I'd heard about other authors outlining and doing character development before they even started writing.

Well, that's the problem! I need to outline first and develop my characters, then the first draft will end up being better!

Made sense to me. So, I started trying to outline before I even began writing. The moment inspiration struck, I dove into the character development. It was super fun! The characters were awesome! The plot was thrilling and flawless! (This is what was going through my mind. It probably wasn't true.) Then I finally came to the actual writing. I got about forty pages in and quit. It was dull. Boring. I already knew everything that was going to happen. Outlining took away the thrill of the discovery draft. I tried outlining another book before writing it and the same thing happened! All my inspiration was spent on getting ready to write, not the writing itself!

Stephen King makes the same point in his book, "On Writing". Outlining (and this only applies to some people) takes the joy out of the writing itself.

I had been going through a long dry spell where I just couldn't write, didn't know what to write, didn't want to start something else that I didn't think I would finish. But I finally came to this conclusion. And to test it, I started writing again without outlining. In a week, I wrote seventy pages! For me, outlining is a killer. The reason I really started in the first place was because I knew that other famous authors did it. So why not?

This may not apply to some of you. I know that outlining does work for others. But in my case, it stifles the creativity and discovery of the first draft.

Have anything to add? Comment or start a discussion!