"It All Begins Here..." | Back To Basics - Huge Update

I redecorated a little bit - felt the place needed some sprucing up a tad. I pretty much figured if I'm going to try and be semi-serious with this writing gig, I needed to try and display it a tad more - the picture above now proudly decorates all my social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) as well on here. The first of many changes, I can assure you.

So, an absolutely tremendous textbook arrived today on recommendation from a good friend of mine; "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers" by Christopher Vogler. I've only dived into the first ten/fifteen pages or so, but man oh man, has it been a real eye-opener. The title of this blog post is Back to Basics, and I'm here to officially announce a halt on any and all projects I have going on.

Unsettling Differences? Put to one side. When Justice Comes Calling? Maybe revisited one day in the very distant future. 45 Days and Descent Into Madness? For the time being, they're on Amazon and seem to faring pretty well - I wanted to go back and make a number of edits, but after reading the opening to Christopher Volger's textbook, my eyes have been opened.

Y'see, Unsettling Differences was going to be my take on a modern-day romance story, a story I thought that the general public would be interested in, and perhaps more importantly in my mind, a story they could relate to more than my other two published works. However, in that, there is one fatal flaw - it isn't a story I could truly invest myself in.

I'd gotten a fair way through the planning stages, with themes, narrative style, two of the three Acts mapped out, characterization, the works - but all of that was really for naught because deep down I wasn't too sure what kind of story I wanted to tell. Did I want the put my own unique spin on a romance story? Perhaps, but what was the end result? What message was I trying to convey? It was these questions that had me struggling for an answer - heck, all I wanted to do was write a story, but without a message, a cause, heck a reason for doing so, I was simply spinning my gears. I was writing something "different" for the sake of being different, and truth be told, I was writing for the sake of writing. It's a passion as well as a hobby, but if I'm doing it "just because" then chances are I've lost sight of the bigger picture.

45 Days, the story with hitman Vincent Willams, was a self-contained idea. Short, perhaps not sweet, but to the point. Not much scope was given, however not much was needed. On expanding that idea in Descent Into Madness, I began creating a sprawling world that was alive, but in that cracks started forming. Dean Moxley was a hero who succumbed to madness, a tale that has been seen in countless narratives over the year, but in trying to spread my wings in When Justice Comes Calling, I tried to fly and failed. The two previous works were merely character pieces, and I enjoyed writing them immensely, and the feedback has been great too. 

With Justice, I tried taking these characters and this barely fleshed out world, and tried running before I could walk - it became my undoing, as I was writing pages upon pages (over 25,000 words if memory serves me correct) trying to tell this story of a morally corrupt world and police force, with Dean Moxley and Vincent Williams thrown in for good measure. Their characters were there to a degree, but it all felt like filler - I am sure had a finished up the project (I wasn't too far off) and put it out on Amazon, I would have regretted it. I worked on it, on and off, for a year and a half, and by the end, I just didn't feel like an end was in sight. Upon reading it back, I cringe at a lot of it - the majority of the characters are there just to fill in the blanks, with no personality or real agenda of their own. It was reading it over with a new outlook for my writing and what I wanted to accomplish that led me to shelve the project a couple of months ago.

This has all brought me to this point - my writing is still in its infancy. I'm influenced so heavily by my intake of movies and television, and a lot of my projects are based off what I've seen and/or read. My narrative style mirrors that of Chuck Palahniuk, author of my favourite novel and film Fight Club. I've become so accomstomed to writing this style that it's really the only one I attempt anymore - I've pigeonholed myself, painted myself into an awful corner creatively by staying firmly in my comfort zone because one little idea, 45 Days, garnered a small measure of success. Branching out didn't do me any favors, and here I am, wondering what I want to do next, and how I should approach it.

Well, I put up a photo of The Writer's Journey: The Mythic Structure for Writers earlier today and referred to it as my new bible for the time being, and I wasn't kidding. Instead of just writing because it's a particular talent I have, or because I enjoy it and it kills time, I need to eat, sleep and breathe writing. Obviously, not to the detriment of everything else going on around me, such as a social life, work, family, friends and whatnot, but it's about taking it seriously. Instead of being shy and downplaying it when I'm asked, I need to confidently respond that  I am a writer, one who is learning as he goes - sure, I have two stories on Kindle and an anthology of those two works on hardback, but in the grand scheme of things, it means very little. If I want to succeed, I need to start from the beginning. All of my talent, heh, and knowledge from writing comes either from school, self-taught or what I've read. 

I need to expand that, and in a huge way - this textbook is the start. I'm going to read it back to front, making a ton of notes as I go along, and get serious about this writing gig. Perhaps join a writing club, or a writers guild, heck maybe even a book club. If I want to truly write to the best of my ability, and do the best that I possibly can, then I need to retrain myself in how I write, where I write, when I write, and most crucial of all, why I write.

Don't get me wrong however, I am super excited. I can't wait to read through Christopher's textbook and see what I can take away from it - I imagine a lot, considering the first ten/fifteen pages really opened my eyes. I've never thought I'm a "shit-hot" writer, or been full of myself, but I always considered my writing to be "good". But who was the judge? Normally, just myself, or people I knew. After starting this textbook, everything I thought I knew has already been turned on its head, and I'm thankful for it. It's going to help me grow, become a better writer, and ultimately, put out something of much higher standard when I settle on a project in the future.

The support I've had from people since I released 45 Days last November has been nothing short of brilliant. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. As I mentioned earlier, writing for me is a hobby, and a passion - my dream isn't to be a millionaire or celebrity (though both would be nice I'm sure) - I'd just want to be known as an author on the top of his game, who wrote the best he possibly could, and made a tidy living off it. A pipe-dream perhaps, sure, but nothing is impossible. It's far out of my reach for now, and there is plenty of hard work ahead, but nothing in this life comes easy. I have a very comfortable job right now, I have a good life, and I'm still young. There's still time to make the most of what I can, but every day needs to count. Similar to my 100 Happy Days experiment, I need to make every day count. Starting today, with this blog post.

There's a lot of change coming along, and I'm ready to embrace it and start anew. Tomorrow is a new day.

As always, thanks for reading.

Will