Shouts From Down Under

What's the big idea?

What are your thoughts, when you sit down, and commit to writing a book?

Do you want it to fit into the normal, accepted, and expected channels of entertainment?

Consider looking in a mirror of your purpose, when you are at this stage. It may save a lot of screwed up bits of paper. Or backspace keying.

What do you look for as a reader? You've always been a voracious reader. I know it for certain. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here. You'd probably be off BASE jumping, playing football or some other non bookish thing. Ok, I KNOW I'm stereotyping saying that, and I know there must be many people who do those things that are very well read and authors themselves.

Ok, forget I said that stuff.

I'm just saying, put yourself into the readers shoes for a few minutes, or a couple of weeks even, if you have the patience.

It's something I need more of, but you know, every hour spent patiently thinking, and I'm talking deeply thinking, is worth it later. Or not. So what? Thinking never hurt anyone, and if more people did this, and encouraged their children to do it from an early age, the world would be a better place.

Thinking, pondering, meditating, whatever you want to call it, need not be such a big deal. But you have to be honest and let your mind go into those places that you feel uncomfortable with, and let your thinking cost you something. Cost you big, deep in your pockets of pride and impatience.

Thinking doesn't require brains. Hmmm, that's a paradoxical sort of a statement. But really, I feel that even plants think. Trees. They may not have thought on things enough to pen Shakespearean works or progressed in their brain power enough to communicate to us, but take note. They think enough to know when to shed their leaves. To know where to direct the life blood / sap. To know which way is up.

They think enough to open with the sun, follow it, and close. They think enough to close when prey is in there and then disolve it.

This is not thinking? Well maybe not, but on that level, maybe it is.

So, back to the reader, and thinking what they'd like to read, how hard is it to put ourselves in their shoes.

I think authors have lessons all the time in how to treat fellow humans, animals, plants and our environment. We can do unto others what we'd like for ourselves.
But to go further, what if we love our enemies? Hey? What if we do this? Go FURTHER than required.

Because I'm hearing the news, the rumours, the negatives, the realities, the wake up to yourselves. And all this is telling me that unless we GO FURTHER with our thinking before hand, then our story or work will be just for ourselves, and if that's the aim then well and good.

But to be published? We have to go further. We have to love our enemies and write with that in mind.

If we do so, then our enemies might just become our friends.

I suppose there are readers of differing types.

Casual. Quick witted. Serious. Bored. Searching. Critical. Educated. Humorous. In a hurry. Worried. In pain. Sad. Poor. Rich. Beggars.

And probably a lot more that I couldn't think of now.

But everyone has one thing in common.

They are looking to get something out of the book.

You, as an author, need to get serious, and give them that thing they are looking for, and if you do that, and do it consistently, without burning yourself out, then you will be successful.

Well, that's what I think anyway. Maybe this theory is in the ideal world. But I really believe if your writing has this spark, this sought after mental nutrition, then people will keep coming back.

Yes, mental nutrition. A daily food for our thinking, that piques us, stirs us, puts meat on our bones, and marrow within them.
This result of applying wisdom that kings and queens over eons of time have searched for, and not found.

Is that what we need in our writings? Wisdom? No, not just wisdom, but the applying of it. There is the secret to writing with that oomph in it that people come back time and time again for, and that can't be found in writing that is casual, transient and skipping the surface.

This thing that readers want, when they commit time, and give it up, use it up, to read our stuff, that thing they want is bread.

They want to read something satisfying in some way. I'm not here to say that this side of things has to be a religious experience or whatever. I'm the first one to say this is personal choice.

But don't kid yourself. It's bread people look for in writing, and bread, generally from what I've read and seen, (and tried to write incidentally), is truth.

That is what bread is; Truth.

It's that simple.

Some people don't like things being said that are truthful, no matter how much evidence there is to support that, whatever it is.

And I think that a lot of the reason people don't like it, is in the manner it's written, or said.

Writing and reading should be a matter of choice. Not force, and not entrapment.

I've seen some fairly graphic entertainment around the place, like everyone else who has had to use public amenities, or walked under concrete bridges, or driven through some suburbs of cities / towns. Graffitti.

And people's alterations to signs that while illegal and damaging are nevertheless a tad clever and even humorous. Definitely humorous with some.

In a local car park here, there was a sign put up to prevent people parking behind some shops adjoining a local supermarket, bottle shop and pub's carparks. Nobody else parks there. But they don't like others parking there either. They probably have good reason, and we've been in business and know how frustrating the public can be. So the spaces remain empty all the time, even on a busy Friday etc. It's frustrating all round really.

So when the sign went up, and was misspelt (their English is not so good)

Then some wag altered it. This happens a lot, as you'd know, in public amenities and anywhere that people congregate, and have a pencil in their pocket.

What my point is here, is that this entertainment is free. Some of it is quite good. So is YouTube. So are Blogs. The internet and the many stories we can read. The Libarary. Newspapers in Cafes.

So we better write something with a lot more bread in it folks, if we want to make our novels so that they HAVE TO HAVE IT.

And have to buy it. And buy the next one.

Because they know, that there was something in what we said, what we wrote, that fed them.

Personally, the thought of having to feed the hordes and masses with bread frightens the heck out of me.

I've seen what poddy calves can do if you don't hurry up and get those Denkavit buckets and teats available pronto!

But we can all have a go at it. Letters and words aren't going anywhere soon.

Relax. It's all good. Beneficial.

But think about it. THINK. And

Get the bread in there. Something of substance. Unless its a five minute romance. Then you've lost me. And the point of this blog




Sparky

** Image ID #1958258 Unavailable **