Writers from all genre's have a wealth of various techniques and preferences on how they choose to approach a new body of work. Some choose to begin with "the title," and then from that starting point manufacture an entire novel, literally making up everything as they go. Others are inspired by an idea or a concept and spin their tale or poetry with that concept in mind. Some do outlines first, giving a brief synopsis for each chapter and then work on completing the story in each individual chapter based on that synopsis, and then sew those individual chapters together like a patchworked quilt, to complete their final manuscript and publish it as a book, novella or novel. The list of methods and approaches goes on and on. I've learned over the years that there is no one method that is better than the other. This is one of those semi-gray area's where that old adage "DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS," definitely applies. There is an element within it all however, that is not gray at all;
"IS MY WRITING RELEVANT?"
As a writer, a poet, a playwrite, what matters in your message, is that what is being expressed, is "RELEVANT." Meaning people can relate and resolution is found. Otherwise, honestly, what is the point?
A huge problem that most "WORDSMITH'S" have is their insatiable need to constantly demonstrate their prowess in their command of their native language. For most of us, that is the English language. In fact, most Wordsmith's are so focused on how to "OUT-ARTICULATE" the next person, that almost no thought is being given to "THE TOPIC" of what is being discussed, even when the topic is weak or idiotic. In other words, being able to sound more intelligent than the other person is actually a moot point, if what you are talking about in the first place is garbage. And that is exactly what is happening to a great many writers today. I have read books by writers who clearly demonstrate a powerful ability to articulate themselves and express the various nuances and emotional content of their characters and stories effortlessly, the problem was their topics were garbage. Their focus was garbage. And it reduced the literary value of what was probably about 9 months of writing down to NOTHING.
Be clear on this point, this has NOTHING to do with GENRE. Every genre is an art form, and every genre has value. And that includes Urban, Street Lit, Erotica, and Goth. I am specifically pointing out these genre's because these happen to be the least respected genre's within the - Mainstream Literary Community. -Why? Because they have smaller commercial audiences that make it harder to market and distribute to with any real measure of consistency, but that is secondary to the fact that as a writer, what we all truly want, is to author a literary masterpiece that will impact not just individuals or specific sub-cultures, we all want our work to impact the world! We all want to leave our legacy. We all want our voices to be heard, and for the rest of the world to be able to read our words and say; "Oh,...I get it,...now I understand,...wow!" Writers are points of light trying to bridge the gap between those who do not know, and those who do. And there is value to be found, a lesson to be learned, an emotion or sentiment to be shared, a revelation to be experienced in every genre, no matter how dark, or how gruesome, no matter how different someone else may think what you write about is,...if written the correct way,...they can be brought into the light of understanding and even acceptance. The trick is making what you are writing RELEVANT.
If the focus of your writing is simply to provide yourself a canvas for you to showboat your writing skills, you will fail at this miserably. Your only hope at success with this lies within your ability to write with intent. You have to know what your message is BEFORE you write the story. You need to be able to construct the foundation of your plots with the understanding that it all leads up to "THIS!" (Your plot.) There are concepts and themes and scenarios that are timeless. Meaning, regardless of how many centuries come and go, these things will always be apart of the human condition. Things like love, sacrifice, betrayal, faith, fear, hope,...they inspire us. They fuel us. As a writer, your narrative skills in being able to describe what is going on and what things look like or sound like or feel like, is not nearly as powerful as your ability to explain to the reader, from the characters point of view; "WHY?" When you are able to successfully communicate "the why" of a character and their behavior, to the point that the reader is able to see it, relate to it, and understand it, your job is done. Making them understand "THE WHY" of a thing, is the connection that every writer should strive for. The why is your conclusion, justification, resolution, explanation, your reason for everything that has been done. It's what makes all of your turns and twists makes sense at the end.
"THE WHY" is also key in what makes your story relevant. It doesn't matter if your story is a period piece, romance, thriller, suspense, mystery, young adult, a biography or pure science fiction. All of our stories are drawn from one of two places, personal experience/knowledge or pure imagination. In both scenarios, real life desires or fears have been drawn upon for the construction of your narrative. We draw from what moves us. From what frightens us. From what hurts us. Because those are the emotions that we want our readers to feel at those specific parts in the story. It is the emotions, the lessons learned, the revelations experienced, that we are trying to give our readers. And it is here at this core, where we possess the power to move our fans mentally and emotionally.
BUT IF THE THINGS YOU ARE
WRITING ABOUT ARE NOT EDIFYING
OR TEACHING OR IMPARTING SOMETHING
OF SUBSTANCE OR RELEVANCE,
THEN WHAT IS THE POINT OF WHAT YOU WRITE?
That being said, if you want your work to be relevant, if you want to strive to create a body of work that could well stand the test of time, if you want to create and leave a legacy;
- Know what your message is BEFORE you begin to write.
- Write with intent.
- Always employed elements that can never be separated from the human condition; ie,...love, hate, hope, fear, pain, sacrifice
William Shakespeare, a poet, an author, a playwrite and actor, understood these rudimentary elements. And he employed them in everything he ever wrote. He died on April 23rd, 1616, and to this day, is still regarded as;
THE GREATEST WRITER IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
It's 2014, almost 400 years later. Now that my friend, is what you call "LEGACY." Just some food for thought. And hopefully some motivation that will inspire you to push your skills and abilities even further now. Writing for the sake of writing is meaningless. And fruitless. Increase your level of understanding to increase your ability empathize with the world around you. That empathy will translate into what you write. And for the hard core writers who insist that they don't care at all what anybody thinks about their writing, I submit to you that you have to care. Honestly, if you don't care about how your writing is received,...who exactly, do you expect to buy your books? Writers need readers. And readers need their writers to be RELEVANT. Otherwise, you will find your career as a writer very limited and very short lived. - Adrian Milan
