The majority of writing manuals get it all wrong.
Writing well is not a matter of inserting bits of prose into some magic equation.
Most creative writing texts are for most people wastes of time.
Why?
They focus only on the surface techniques of writing, not the root problems of the writer :
the heart, the mind, the soul of the one doing the writing.
The writer cannot seem to get started. Once started, she/he gets lost or loses heart. She writes well sometimes, badly most of the time.
So the root problems are matters of confidence, self-respect, and freedom.
The writer’s muse rattles impotently the bars cemented in her unconscious mind.
And what do all creative writing texts proclaim in their first chapter? Genius cannot be taught. Really? Everybody has a reservoir of it, mostly untapped due to being taught it does not exist at all.
Every nightmare (and even dogs have them) shows the secret reserve of imaginative power contained within the human mind.
The writer needs to know what habits of thought and action impede progress, what unnoticed aspects of living undermine writing well.
There are keys to unlocking the potential within every struggling writer. Those keys were held by the famous writers of the past who managed to write bestsellers in the most challenging circumstances.
Come. The ghosts of those masters are standing upon the last edge of reality. Listen to their fading voices. They wait with the last vestiges of their souls to teach you.
Now, before it is too late. Read GHOST WRITERS IN THE SKY.
***
Squid Eats: Frankie's
5 hours ago
Hmm, not the novel I was expecting. I guess it is too common a title.
ReplyDeleteI need to be careful of that when I publish my own stuff.
........dhole
And who else better to train you in harnessing your passion than the ghosts of the masters, with Roland as their vessel? You are by far one of the most passionate writers I know, so this is something quite apt coming from you.
ReplyDeleteOh, how I missed your posts. Sorry for being AWOL.
Thanks for bringing my attention the THE LADY. Michelle Yeoh may not be Burmese (she's Malaysian, from the same hometown as me), but the role still looks pretty well-cast!
Don't matter one's expertise of craft if the passion isn't there.
ReplyDeleteFantastic post, as usual.
ReplyDeleteAnd your book on writing will only be the second one I've read!
ReplyDeleteDonna :
ReplyDeleteIt is my first non-fiction work. I felt the blurb on the cover showed that. If it were indeed a novel, I would not used, as what you pointed out, a title that others have used for their novels. I wish you luck on your novel.
J.C. :
The same hometown? How amazing. I am quite looking forward to THE LADY.
Oh, you might be interested to know that Bruce Lee "narrates" two chapters in my book. And I have missed you. I figured you had a lot on your literary plate lately.
I, myself, was gone most of yesterday (my only day off for two weeks) writing the beginning of THE RIVAL, the third of my Victor novels.
Thank you for the very kind words. Please don't be a stranger. I'm glad you liked my review of THE DOLL. Folks, you should read it.
Diane :
I fully agree with you. I wonder about John Locke's passion since he tailors his prose to his hoped-for readers.
Helena :
Thank you for the compliment. Your own blog is fascinating, Roland
Alex :
Really? Thank you. I believe Dean Koontz's book on writing genre fiction (alas now out of print) is one of the best I have read. Thanks for visiting and staying to chat. It means a lot, Roland
Um... sounds awesome! I can't wait to read this sucker. :)
ReplyDeleteCassie Mae :
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it, perhaps even laugh a bit. Roland
I always thought, you can teach someone the technicalities of writing until they perfect it, but if they don't have the passion or the creative mind for it, it's hopeless...
ReplyDeleteAbby :
ReplyDeleteIf dogs can dream, I figure we can tap that same creative power of the unconscious again if we just try to see life as a child again. But you are right, technique will never touch the heart, Roland
Hello there my friend, popping by to see what new you are up to and, wow! You never cease to amaze me. I love that you're publishing your otherworldly writers' writing book, what a great idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat luck with Victor Three!
~ that rebel, Olivia
Thanks, Olivia :
ReplyDeleteI like that my ghost writers will be out there making the ebook rounds doing what they love to do!
Over the weekend, I wrote the first 11,000 words of Victor's 3rd book.
Tonight, on the way to and back from Texas, doing a blood run, I had myself laughing out loud at a sequence I plotted for Victor.
It's rather ribald so I do not know if I will use it :
Victor is back in 1834 with a comatose Maija on his hands and lots to do besides baby-sit a monster.
So he comes up with the hair-brained idea of bringing her back to her base of operations,
an infamous hotel of debauchery and villainy in the French Quarter ...
under the guise of having engaged in a menage a trois with Alice
(who at first wanted to strangle him, then burst into giggles, thinking of how enraged Maija would be upon awakening to that scandal),
Maija, and himself.
Ningyo's can see the fires of truth around humans ...
so the bizarre, wild, but non-sexual things he does to convince the Ningyo's when they scan him as he tells of the menage a trois,
scandalizes Alice and the prim and stuffy ghost of President John Adams who is riding with them.
All the while, Alice's hunger for human flesh increases with Victor being the only Happy Meal for ghouls within the carriage.
My, we writers live wild lives ... inside our minds! LOL. Roland
Hi Roland .. you said it .. you do live vicariously through your characters .. they're great .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDelete