Over the past few days I've been thinking about all the weird things I do that I believe make me a writer or at least an amateur, inexperienced shadow of a writer. Two things stood out for me which I have done for the majority of my twenty-two years on this planet and it's only now that I've realised that, although they may be strange habits and I'm risking being sectioned by mentioning them to you, they may just be part of the reason why I feel the need to create stories.
The first of these peculiar habits is easy to link to my love of story writing. When I'm out and about, particularly on public transport, I often find myself creating back stories and character profiles for people in my head. Do you see that charming old man sitting by himself? Well, he once had a great love affair to end all love affairs. And that little girl having an argument with her mother in the middle of Marks and Spencer's? She's actually an alien that fell off a space ship. I don't know why but, sometimes, I just can't help myself and I place these complete strangers in to a story and wonder what would happen to them. My second habit is quite similar in that I tend to ask a lot of silly questions (in my head) about silly things. Why has that building been derelict for so long? I wonder what it would be like if no one ever had to sleep. What does the Queen have for dinner? These are only a sample of the ridiculous things that go through my head and, as a result, the ridiculous things that I end up Googling. I do hope that there are millions of other people in the world who also experience these odd thoughts because otherwise I am more alone that I thought and that's quite scary, although it would make a good story, wouldn't it? As pompous as it sounds I like to think that my tendency to create something different in my head is a sign that I do have some creative talent bobbing around in that brain of mine and that's okay. Ever since I was a child I've loved to pretend and make things up, the only problem is that now I'm over the age of ten it isn't widely acceptable to live in your own world. So I'm glad we had this talk. If you didn't already know that I'm a bit of a weirdo then you do now and it's good to get these things out of the way, I feel. Just be careful if you ever see me on your local high street; I might just be deciding whether you're a serial killer or not.
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If any of you have ever Googled writing tips for aspiring authors you will probably read on every list that pops up that you should write, no matter for how short a period of time, every day.
I'm not saying this is bad advice at all, it's brilliant. Athletes, dancers, footballers, bodybuilders and so much more usually train six days a week as minimum in order to perfect their technique and writers can definitely do the same if they want to improve on their command of language. However, does every aspiring author have the time for this? I've been feeling quite guilty lately as I've been doing a lot of shifts in the hotel where I work and a few of them have involved five am starts, which means that by the time I finish at three o'clock I can just about drive home and lie down on the sofa. Therefore, not only am I physically exhausted but after a full day of being nice to customers and catering to their every need my brain just needs to shut down and chill, it's not really in the mood to develop characters and plot lines. I'm sure that there are a lot of would-be writers in the same position as me; we'd love to spend our time writing and writing but we need to earn money or put the washing on or anything else that daily life throws at you. Finding the time to sit down without any distractions and let your imagination run wild can be difficult and when you do find that time it can often feel very contrived and pressurised if you've waited so long for it. Therefore, you're not exactly at your optimum creativity level. That being said, I can see the argument by those people who think that if you're determined to become a writer, like those people who wake up at silly o'clock in the morning to get down to the track or jump in the pool, you should make time to practice your craft and continue to do so until you decide it's no longer for you. Like anything in life, you won't get better at something or achieve your goals if you don't even attempt to make time for it. At the moment I'm very busy with my current job whilst looking for a full time role that uses my degree, which can be a job in itself. I adore writing and treasure whatever time I can spare to do it but I have to be realistic and, right now, I need to build a career until an agent realises that they simply cannot let Enkindled out of their clutches. Finding the balance is hard but I'm not going to stop and if I can fit in ten minutes here and there of writing or even come up with a new idea for a story on my lunch break I'll be more than happy. |
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