So, why write? What is it about the word on the screen or in print that compels someone to want to tell a story? For me, it is rather simple. I have always been a storyteller. Whether my first book or this one, my mind is constantly creating vivid movies in my head, developing tales and adventures intertwined between reality and fiction. Life can be mundane, the same over and over, monotonous even. That is not to say that it is not exciting and adventurous, in fact, it is. Living is what you make of it. But, we fall into ruts and machinations that seem to keep us going minute by minute and hour by hour. Sunday creates disdain for Monday, and Monday bleeds into Tuesday, and so on until it’s Friday night and a tinge of excitement creeps back into your being. And then, it all repeats as Saturday ends the week. Wash, rinse, repeat.
To escape all of this ground hog day muck to assist in keeping sanity afloat, which is especially imperative during all of the craziness that smacks us in the face with COVID-19 up front and prevalent, creating a story is a release. What better way to escape than to create your own world, with your ideas, your links between people, and share it? Makes sense. You just have to utilize the space between your ears and actually create the time and space to do the deed. That friends, is the hardest task in the world to perform. Who has time to do anything today?
Well then, what brings the inspiration? Take a look around! There are countless stories, events, news, even conversations that can provide the seed for a great story. That neighbor down the street who is really quiet and unassuming, keeps to him or herself. Maybe they are a former spy who moved to the burbs to escape an international hit squad. Finally found retirement in the hopes of living a life free from espionage. Use them as a possible character and go for it! Maybe you get stuck inside during a really bad storm and sitting and watching the rain and wind, the large tree across the street has a really menacing shadow. Is it really a tree, or is it some monster watching you, evaluating you, waiting for you to go to sleep? The storm has unlocked a door to a different dimension and creatures are crawling out waiting to devour humankind. A snippet is all that it takes and then let the imagination run wild.
Another key component is reading anything and everything you can, to inform, educate, provide the underlying details and information with which to derive your content. With the proliferation of the internet information is at your fingertips. Cable television provides news and programs to supply background. You have the concept in mind, maybe even the framework. Jot it down and then begin to expand upon it. The devil is in the details. I read and watch a variety of content to assist in storing in my gray matter for when I need to open the file cabinet and access it. Information you can add descriptively helps to paint a picture for your reader in their mind. It sets the tone, the feeling, the environment. That tree shadow, its dark shape moving rhythmically as the wind roars through its branches? The pulse of moonlight as the rays penetrate through the leaves and two orbs, are they eyes, stare at you? Little things with just enough visual create the canvas and it is up to you to add the colors.
The hard part of course is finding the time to sit and actually put fingers to keyboard. That can be not only the time consuming part, but let’s be real, who can just sit and do that? Even professional writers have a life, but that’s the job so it makes it so much easier because writing is the 9 to 5. It is much easier as a pro to justify it than for others who are balancing work, life, kids, and everything else. But step back a bit. Writing is not about marathon typing sessions frantically plugging away. While it does take discipline, all you need to do is set a small bit of time aside, even if it is ten or fifteen minutes. You have had all day to think about what you want to write, create in your mind the story and details, so all you need to do is just secure some part of your schedule and hectic existence to get it all down and then walk away until the next time. Kids down for the night? Go and write for a bit and then go and unwind. Pass on watching TV to take an opportunity to put down what you thought about during the day. A paragraph a day or even a page begins to add up. In the meantime, you are thinking, stewing, creating all of these wonderful ideas. For me, my mind and imagination are always on. Easy to say, not always to do in execution.
So, I might write a page a day and then have to think about it. Do other things while I rewrite in my head. A week goes by and then I sit down and put it on the screen. Add a few paragraphs, delete and write again, or only get some words down and then hit a wall. There is no formula, it is simply what works for you and in my case, me. But what is the one things that drives me? The simplest thing? Just the satisfaction of doing it. I write to be happy, to enrich my being, to tell stories that I can share with all of you, go back and re-read when I choose for other inspiration, and to find joy. Writing is cathartic, an avenue to a means. It keeps my mind flowing and working, much like a math problem, though in my case, it’s the ability to work the idea, break it into pieces, see what adds up and what does not. Track characters and details and like a fashion designer stitch it all together to make an ensemble that is striking and compelling and screams, “I want to wear it!”
I sincerely hope you enjoy this work of fiction. It is an imaginative work, written with today’s drama and life altering experiences in mind, tweaked around a crazy idea, formulated to support it. It is just a story, a tale to tell. As a writer that is what we do, construct novels to entertain you. So, stay tuned for the next chapters as they come and prepare for what happens next!
Jason McDonald 