Writing Blog Number 2

20240319 Offering Solicited Advice

Spur Of The Moment Advice

I was sitting in the library the other day (where I currently reside… or might as well reside) when a lady I have come to know – another regular – came up to ask if she could ask me something.

“Sure,” I said.

“I want to write. I feel like I want to write. But I don’t know where to start.” Now, this is something new. I have met people who want to write and have a couple of ideas, and people who want to write and have had a go but are stuck, but not someone who wants to give it a go “just because”.

Now, I will say she is an avid reader, so that was not going to be an issue. If she didn’t read, then this would have been very different.

And, despite my aversion to doing so, I gave her some advice. Advice? Helpful hints? Something.

Anyway, I read her first piece last night and it was not too bad. She had done what I suggested and run with it.

So, here is what I told her:

Start with an idea. Just write whatever comes to your head. Start with a word. Turn that word into a sentence. Turn that sentence into a paragraph. Keep writing until you run out of something to say. Don’t think about how many words it is, just write. Then put it away for a week or so, go back to it and see if you can work on it some more.

But where do I get that idea? That first thing to write about?

This was a curious question, and I did have to think for a little while. But I didn’t think too long, and what came out was spur of the moment: Start with something that happened to you. Write about an incident from your life. Anything in your life. Does not have to be major, just an incident you remember clearly. Just describe what happened, how you felt, what the outcome was. That’s all. Then do it again with another life event. Maybe something you saw, something you were on the edge of. Once you’ve done that a few times, try exaggerating the events, or change the outcome to something you would have preferred happen, or it would have been funny if it happened. Now we’ve gone from memoir to fiction, and you’re writing.

And, again, length does not matter.

What do you do next?

That is up to you. You are writing for an audience of one – yourself. First and foremost, that is the one person who has to be satisfied with what is written. Everyone else is a bonus – you are the main person you are writing for. You don’t have to show anyone, but if you do, show someone who is going to be supportive. Not sycophantic, but supportive. And don’t feel you have to show everything to someone. Some works will remain private and personal.

It’s all fine. So long as you’re happy. And so long as you’re writing.

This was advice I gave her over the course of a 60-minute conversation.

What do you think? Was it any good?


Serious questions, by the way.