Category: writing craft

Own your shit

own your shit

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

I’m a huge fan of J.R. Ward’s writing. There. I’ve said it, again and again.

I’m a fan. And not because of the steamy scenes. Even though I like those. They were kind of a slap in the face back in the day.

I’m an enthusiast of her so distinctive writer’s voice. She’s a badass writer. The work shows it and the fans know it.

I have been an admirer for more than a decade, since her “Dark Lover” first came out. I have induced others to read her work, and it didn’t disappoint. I know men that read Ward’s work. And I find her writing-craft-personality very masculine.

And now?! In this moment of my life?

Now, I’m a huge fan of J.R.Ward’s as a person-writer… to the extent of what I can perceive about her (which I may say it is not much on the personal side, but enough in the writer’s one).

I did not pay much attention to her online presence over the years. I don’t remember her to be that present there.

I usually don’t go down the rabbit hole for most writer’s that I know. Too much time to waste in that. If I’m am intrigued by something, or I admire their work and want to know more about them, I’ll go investigate their website or blog, or buy some kind of Memoir or Letters written.

The rest? The YouTube and social media stuff? I figure that, it’s just stuff to occupy idly the time I have. So I try to avoid that.

Quaint detail about J.R. Ward: her looks kind of surprised me.

It was not what I was expecting. And, at first, I couldn’t wrap my head around how a vanilla-like-lady could write so many cuss words, hard-core relations and witty remarks. The lesson’s on me.

Her works had been a constant in my life, since I first bought the first book.

I collect the Portuguese editions every time-o-money I can. Also, I buy the English originals every time a book truly speaks to me.

Because I am all in for an original.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood had been a constant, but also the Jessica Bird’s books and The Fallen Angels. I have still The Bourbon Kings saga to pick up… and now there’s a new pet project of Ward’s, in a more Dark Academia theme, which I’m putting in my tbr.

Then Ward got herself a YouTube channel. It has two videos, and two shorts, in a bit of insight into herself and her life.

The simplicity, and fun in them got me wandering if I had been missing something online about her work and her author’s mindset and routines. Did I ever…

It has been a while since I searched for anything online about this author so this came as a surprise: There are basically two types of content about J.R.Ward on YouTube: fan made videos about books and characters AND J.R.Ward’s interviews and public events.

First, were the usual stuff being filtered through magnifying glass search. The fan videos are fun. And that’s it.

The second type of content out in the virtual world consists of interviews and public events. And…

She sure can draw a crowd in. Entertain it too.

In these, we get to know a bit about the writer behind the successful writing. Commercial success, as she puts it. But I figure it’s a Writing success with no bullshit about it.

I have been listening attentively to her answers. She’s big on giving insight to her listeners. And not just about her routines and creative process.

No. If we listen carefully, we find an inspiring kind of justifiable obsession with writing. A true, not emphasized by wanting to sell books on the craft business side of things, genuine life experience on devoting herself to writing.

Writers Write and that’s it, isn’t it? And she puts it as it is.

All the career stuff, and public relations stuff, and fame stuff is an expensive accessory that entangles an author in a too-self-important trip… instead of writing.

All they have to do, their first and foremost activity, is Writing.

All we have to do for our Writing is Write.

And own our shit frankly.

She has a big kind of speech in this video that culminates in:

So drop your emotions at the door, pull in your big girl pants, and if wanna do that, than you fucking own that shit. – J.R.Ward in Unabridged: J.R. Ward @LFPL @LFPL_Foundation @JRWard1

It’s a good, inspiring piece of knowledge. Of Writer’s professional knowledge.

Maybe we should all own out shit. Just saying… I know we suffer more when we don’t.

In all that Insta wisdom’ness look for Mel Robbins full post (find it here…)

hard stuff

All things we avoid become breaking point harder.

Let’s not avoid writing… or own our weird shit. There’s no easy way to go about it. Just

Own your wants and dreams. Own your shit, not your bullshit.

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

 

we are what we believe we are & to be of service

we are

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

Wondering about what means to be a writer seems to be part of this thing that I have chosen to be.

We choose and we become that which we have chosen. Even if it seems a dream. Even if it doesn’t seems feasible. Even if it’s so damn hard to do.

But the Truth is, if we choose to do it, an put in the actions to have it, we are it.

This argument is part of a few books. Works about the writing craft, books by those who struggled in the pursuit of this work, even philosophical, and religious spokespersons believe firmly in this idea: We are what we believe ourselves to be.

It took me a while to understand it.

After all, we are told that, it is through outside validation of our work, through making money with it, that we believe ourselves to be validated in our choices.

But should it be? Are we what we believe we are?

Is it not by doing the work itself that we become professionals? Is it not by writing that we become writers?

Is it not that by writing, I become a writer? That I am what I believe myself to be? 

This is a rationalisation that I find myself drawn to, for the good and the bad parts of it.

Good because we feel that we are something, and feel proud by being it, getting ourselves more motivated to pursue it.

It’s kind of fulfilling our dream without actually having the solid proofs to back it up, but building the structural base as we go along.

Bad because, if we are not willing to put the work in, we end up convincing ourselves that we have already achieved it, we are already writers, and we want what is due to us… without actually becoming the thing that we want to be. Without actually Writing and learn to write.

Quoting from the already mentioned poet  Jacqueline Suskin:

“What it means to be a writer in this day and age?”

Jacqueline answers this for herself with the following words:

“My job is to be in service as a writer, and my specific outlet is this kind of accessibility, this thing that I can write for anyone. I can write a poem for any type of person.” – in The Poem Store: A Life Changer | Jacqueline Suskin | TEDxSouthPasadenaHigh 

It’s not without great effort that we try to find our own answer to this question. Specially if we consider all the writing-for-hire and AI-knock-off’s out there.

I know I keep searching for my particular answers.

What does it mean to me to be of service? What does it mean to be a writer? What can I consider Writing?

I do write loads of blog posts. Are they, in due legitimacy, Writing? – is one of my most asked questions.

This reminded me of…

I have served. I will be of service.

in John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum

… and it’s kind of like that, isn’t it?!

We have served by writing. We will continue to be of service by writing. We might find other venues that support our writing efforts. We might teach, perform, add other means to one’s end. But we will be contributing through Writing.

Each one of us have to find our own answer to what means to be of service to mankind.

What means to be of service to people? What means to contribute to this big, huge, world of ours?

And how our own experience will provide something for others to discover their own questions and answer them.

For me, it’s being here, writing my way through books, articles, poems, short-stories, videos, notes, journalling and all that brings this activity alive.

For me, it’s to provide entertainment, to pass inspiration along, to connect and feel connected, to share my journey and hope it will be useful for other’s pursuit.

To be of service is to serve our passions. So that, through them, we may be here for someone else. We may be here, and let them know that they are not alone.

We believe so we can serve, and that is what has some chance to make a difference in this weird world. 

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

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References: 

Write in Awe

write in awe

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

A few years ago I took a short online training called Every Day is a Poem, with Jacqueline Suskin (on Commune).

You may say ‘I don’t write poetry‘ or ‘why poetry matters when writing fiction?‘. Or not. If you write, you have a sense of musicality, or lack thereof, about the words you use.

But let me tell you, that first lesson of Every Day is a Poem, truly stuck with me.

It was called ‘Be in Awe of Everything‘. And it was a wake-up call to recognise all the awe inspiring things that surround us.

An invitation to find reverence in daily life, as an inspiration to express ourselves through poetry.

meaning of awe

I have found this lesson very useful not just for poetry practice but for all types of writings. The subject of this lesson never seemed to slip my mind entirely.

And not just because I frequently catch myself wandering through Aweness on the most unexpected situations (i’m the weird adult that, in a social gathering, keeps staring at the ceiling because she saw something interesting there), but because I find it a sound advice in any creative writing practice.

A small example of awe: check the huge thistle on the church roof? It’s half the size of the artichoke statue! It is blurry because it was very windy…

weed
São Bartolomeu do Beato Parochial Church

It was not supposed to be there, after all the church is remodelled and in full use, but Life always find it’s way around obstacles, doesn’t she?!

[Yes, Life is a She, a Mother, a Creator of all sorts… just saying.]

Awe is what I aim for when I write for this blog. To inspire through awe, and get it on the page, and through to you.

I find that when we write with feeling, from the depts of our convictions, from the heart, we access to a part of ourselves that can be kind of lyrical, and truthful, and inspirational to ourselves and others.

When we let feelings flow through words, and scenes, and characters, we get a noticeable emotional experience. A powerful one, if done in awe.

It’s not about telling people that these characters are in love, it’s showing them what their love looks like, in a recognisable and inspiringly way. It’s to produce emotional imagery that readers can relate with.

To convey powerful feelings like these, we need to access to that part of ourselves that sees the awe in it. That recognises the feeling. That knows what Love may look like. That can envision the world shattering power of feelings.

And that’s what this process is all about: write to inspire, to enlighten, to soothe, to support, to help, to just be there when the words are needed.

The same goes for fiction, and for non-fiction also. Both aim to bring something more to the lives of the one’s who read the words.

Fiction moves through emotion and subtext.

Non-fiction lives in the realm of possibilities and inspiration.

To construct we need to have understanding of what is, and non-fiction serves this purpose. Its job is to convey awe in dealing with more down to earth subjects.

But to be in awe, in such a cynical world, and to write in awe are not simple tasks.

Sometimes, it takes all we have just to get through a few sentences. And other times, it just doesn’t come to us at all.

We keep getting to that point when we feel empty, bare of all awe induced mindset, uninspired.

Letting go of what is, the pain, the daily stress, the pressure, to find that feeling of reverential respect, of dazzle, can be a hard task.

And exterior inspiration can only take us so far.

To find within ourselves our will to create is to find awe in what is, and in what we are, and in what we desire to put forth in this world.

It’s to find our rituals, our creative processes, all the things that nurture an awe mindset. And to find this is adamant to be well, feel well, and create awe inspiring work, whatever that work might be.

***

Here’s a suggestions of a creative writing exercise for your practice: Awe Narrative

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

***

References: 

Writing Awesome Characters

characters

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

Telling stories is all about creating awesome characters.

Think of it like this, in a world of our own volition, even the dog can, and must, be a great character.

An awesome character is not just the more likeable, or the most evil, or the better constructed. An awesome character has something in him that captivates the reader.

It’s like when we meet someone and we get all these vibes about who that person might be, and all the secrets that are hers, and the little details that make us wonder who, what, and how she really is. And, ultimately, why someone is the way she is.

The process that goes from those first impressions, to knowing a character a bit better, to understanding him, and where he is coming from, is kind of comparable to knowing a new person in real life.

All about the characters

In some stories, it’s all about the characters. This reminds me of the characters of a movie I have seen recently: ‘Elvis‘, 2022, with Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Just, UAU!

I guess it’s a truth well acknowledged that Tom Hanks is a spectacular actor. At least, I think so.

And that any movie made about Elvis would be well loved by the fans.

But Tom Hank’s ‘Coronel Tom Parker’ is something else. I just couldn’t hate the guy. Not as he is being portrayed in his glorious simplicity by Tom Hanks.

And Austin Butler has made this story/character justice. He gives Elvis character some unknown animated spirit that just takes control of who’s watching.

I’ll leave a sneak peak here:

These are strong characters, in a real life inspired story, but never forgetting that ultimately, it is entertainment and fictional factors bringing this movie to life.

It is not a documentary. It’s a living, breathing, piece of art, full of color, sound, feelings and dazzle.

And so much has been said by Elvis and his life, work and career, that I never thought it could be done in a so inspiringly new perspective.

And this movie experience serves the theme of this article, because these characters are truly well constructed, whole, amazing in themselves, and in this particular rendering. 

Characters and Character-driven story

In a character-driven story (with a special focus on characters, instead of plot), having a clear notion about who the characters are, what they desire most, what they want, and what they really need, how they will evolve throughout the happenings of the plot, is imperative to create an epic story.

We need to know them profoundly in all their shortcomings and awesomeness.

An awesome character has a je ne says quoi, something in him that reels us in, in his very private, very demonically, very growth needed existence.

Usually, this is achieved through feelings.

We get an awesome character  and make him ignite feelings in our readers. Through our words, and concepts, and delivering them the right way, we are able to nurture specific feelings in our readers. Positive or negative feelings.

Even if the character is weird, out of the box, totally wrong for common sense standards, if we make people feel for him, understand him, have compassion or/and even hate him profoundly, we have created an awesome character.

Even the dog needs to be a great character

In a story all characters should have this dept. Even if they are not the focus (the main characters), they should be well constructed and feel real, instead of just a random prop, popping up here and there.

So, even the dog needs to be awesome. And not just for the empathic statement of the ‘save the defenseless to create empathy‘ scheme. 

The way he looks like, how he behaves, the role he has in the main story. But also the meaning that his presence partakes to other characters, and their own needs and actions, growing along while the plot is unravelling.

As a great side kick, or as the main character, even an animal needs to be imagined in awesome, plot contributing ways.

But these are just a few ideas to consider about creating awesome characters.

There are so much more. More practical, or inspired, and even formulaic ways to create and develop a character.

But to make it awesome, I believe we must infuse them with the power of evoking feelings. And I’m sure we will get an awesome fictional being.

So…

Make them special. Make them known to you. Make people feel for them. Work them thoroughly.

And it’s: awesomeness achieved.

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

Ideas are Variables. Use your own personal flavour.

personal flavour

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

The Idea is everything. Or is it? When working on some art project, the idea, the first concept is the most important. It’s what make us hooked on the work.

But…

All have been done one thousand times. Plus one.

I grew up listening to my father say: “It has all been done before” or “there is nothing new, because everything has been invented” or “We just need to see the variables” or “there is a finite quantity of musical notes and we are bound to find similar combinations in different songs“.

All different iterations of the same thought: It is all finite and it’s a matter or reorganising the material we have to work with.

Or is it?

I still struggle with these teachings, as my insecurities play their part in the evaluation process of the ideas for my writings.

And even though I agree with the principle of this (we have a group of stuff that we use in repetition), I’m not quite convinced about the part that it has all been done before. After all, between his time and mine lot’s of new things got worked on and created.

And I’m not convinced because it lacks the personal fingerprint, the noninterchangeable factor that each one of us puts in all that we do.

We keep evolving and there are things today that didn’t existed back in the (his) day. So I figured there is no argument there.

The same goes for all literary creations. New versions of old stories keep showing up and there are good iterations, bad, awful and so-and-so.

There are repetitions and do overs but are they similar to each other? Or is there novelty in them?

And does this matter? Does it matter how many times somebody reiterates the story of ‘The Beauty and the Beast’? Or that the retelling is being made?

I confess that, I have been caught mumbling my dislike about the lack of originality, and constant reiteration of the same stories. This process of recycling the same old entails a lack of novelty that frustrates me, when there are so many choices out there for making new films, books, and art in general.

But the truth is, there are different ideas, concepts, ways to create something. There are different views that we can take on an old matter.

Okay, we do not start from scratch. We have concepts, reorganisation of ideias, our own experiences and inputs, that we tap into in order to create an art work.

We do not start from an empty vessel…

…or toddlers would be creating full symphonies at the piano, and writing new future classic stories.

But it’s our time in this world, our own personal flavour that makes us grown upon an idea, and infuse it with our own way of work it into a specific creative work.

This is why some creators are so well attached to their initial ideas. They believe in the uniqueness of them, detached from the surrounding world.

They do not share them, afraid they would be stollen and maybe done better by other creator. (Ego scam right here, isn’t it?)Even if it’s not in their best interest to keep them secluded.

Yes, plagiarism happens. And there is a big fish pond out there, just waiting to take advantage of any crumb tossed into it. Mainly in some quick and easy scheme. More usual than not, it get’s eaten pretty quickly and disappears for never to be seen again.

But for the bigger part of my experience, a good idea isn’t fundamentally new. Somewhere, somehow, it had been imagined before. Even if it is a quite clever idea. Clever ideas do not mean successful art pieces.

The idea per se isn’t worth much if it’s not masterly executed.

More, it might be fairly new, and interesting, and well executed, and still end up in the trash can of humanity (of our fellow readers), for a multitude of possible factors.

A fenomenal idea isn’t any guarantee of a well accomplished art work. But it’s a start. And backing up that start with good working skills, a personal style, and some natural tendencies to network, and sell, it might be a success as any other with the same characteristics.

Is it special? Hell, yeah! For the creator, it’s always special.

For the world? Maybe not so much. Not at first and maybe not ever.

But with time, effort, and a grain of magic, it could transform itself into a worldly special.

Having great art concepts, interesting ways of exploring the idea, different backgrounds and experiences to support sources of inspiration, and contributing references, being moved by the need to create good work and devote ourselves to it, is as important as having a great idea.

An example of a frequent failed experience: to successfully transpose an art work into a different means of presenting it.

I was at the movies the past weekend, as I took my daughter to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

We loved it.

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Let me be clear, so you know where I come from in this subject: I dislike playing highly stressful games. And to me, they’re all that: highly stressful.

They make me lose my calmness, and get me riled up, when there is no logical reason for it. I just don’t handle stress well.

So I do not play video/computer/phone games EVER.

Exceptions were made, occasionally – after I experimented some games and got myself hating the activity, – to Tetris when I was a pre-teen, and the recent Words Of Wonder game, that I enjoy moderately, but rarely play on my phone.

I do like board games, and again, Scrabble is my favorite, even though I rarely play it.

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I enjoyed The Super Mario Bros. Movie immensely. It has color, action, plot, strong and evolving characters and I know it had a lot of game references that were kind of lost on me (even if my daughter was giving me some tidbits on that).

I specially loved Princess Peach, doing all kinds of fighting exercises in her gown, riding a motorcycle, and basically leading the way. That’s a badass Princess over there!

Also, loved the depressed star, Lumalee:

“In an Insane World, the Sane are called Insane.” – Lumalee

Lumalee…

But how many good ideas like this end up falling short?

Inspired in great works, how many films (reiterations of some art form or another) end up frustrating people’s expectations, for a lack of something in the making process?

It isn’t just the idea behind it. Because the initial idea is known to have had success previously under some other form. It’s something in the current work, in its process, in this particular project, in the people infusing it with a new life.

It’s this specific vision, for this particular iteration of the work, that doesn’t work.

For The Super Mario Bros. Movie it did work beautifully. Game to movie resulted in a very good entertainment moment.

But just look at how many Spider Man movies have been made, to finally achieve some measure of success – even if, to me, it still seems very far from my best experience from those comic books. (Nop. For me, they still haven’t nailed it.)

While working on our special kind of art-poison, listening to our instincts is paramount.

It’s not just having an idea but expanding upon it. It’s working in finding our personal style. It’s knowing what we love and let it lead us to a good iteration of the idea. It’s devoting ourselves to our process. It’s never giving up as long as we see the magic in it.

And having compassion for ourselves as creators. Find common ground between what we know about ourselves as artists, and what we need to be and do.

Ideas are great. Developing the mastery is a messy trip.

But we are here for the long haul. True?

So let’s keep having creative ideas and working on them.

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

 

Meanings in our writings and please our readers intensely

subtext and symbols

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

A clock isn’t just a clock. It’s a symbol of other things that permeate the story. 

Mentioning a season isn’t just how’a the weather or to place a story in time. It has meanings, and connotations with life itself, human life spans, among other things.

Our references, all the things we read and watch, live and learn, bring us to the threshold of deeper meaning and purpose in the stories we write.

This reminded me of a personal story…

In my high school senior year, one of our Portuguese Language class assignments was the reading, and study, of a particular theme in a Portuguese Classic work. We had to write a paper, and present it, in front of the whole class.

The book contained a lot of themes from which to choose from: plot, characters, places, symbols, and other sorts of fundamental pillars, that served as building blocks for that particular story.

I admit, it was rich in possibilities.

But, truth be told, I hated that book.

It was long and boring, I couldn’t understand half of it, and so dull that I kept falling asleep before the first twenty pages were up. It was a painful read for the time… and I took the class a second time, to improve my grade and have the chance of a better access to college. So, I suffered the boringness twice.

I guess it doesn’t matter which book it was, but for this story intents, I’ll leave the link here:

Aparição by Vergílio Ferreira and the youtube movie trailer. ‘Apparition’ as a direct translation.

I don’t believe it was ever translated to english. It didn’t made it to the worldly stage, like Saramago’s work, for example.

And the shock I felt as I discovered it was made into a film!

The book blurb goes as follow:

Aparição is a novel by Vergílio Ferreira in which he discusses philosophical theories connected to existentialism, written in the first person.

Need I say more?

The movie trailer got me curious to see which parts of Évora I do know… and that’s about it for the current me book reader.

But, back to the subject at hand.

Can you guess what I chose to study and present a paper about?

Symbolism, of course! In both years. And, no, I didn’t cheat on the second paper.

I will not pretend to have been interested in it so much that I went back to the existentialism theories and construct upon those. No. I wasn’t so great at philosophy either but, I was good at the Creative Writing part of it though.

So, I stuck to the more immediate symbolism of the different objects, ambiances, and words used in the text. Grouping them into different types of symbolic representations and delivering a multitude of possible meanings, and how those served the text in itself.

Looking at it from the symbolic perspective was fun. And it was the only theme I could have dealt with at the time.

But still, I didn’t go too deep, alluding more than actually stating through text. Yes, the animosity between me and that book got me little to nothing invested in studying it. I was sixteen at the time so…

But this experience with symbols, symbolism and layers upon layers of deeper meaning, got me hooked.

I have read books on it, and watched college lectures about it, and pinpointed examples of good, not so good, and poorly written symbolisms, always sharing the opinion of those who favor symbolism as part of a more meaningful construct, rooting fictional stories into deeper meaning.

[For years that I have been eyeing a Dictionary of Symbols that costs a small fortune]

We write to connect people. We write stories bringing our experiences and personal reflections to the plots.

Symbols and working with other levels of meaning, gives meat to the bone structure of these stories.

Understanding how certain words may allude to particular themes gives dept, and some complexity to our stories, and to every other artistic representation.

It’s not just listening to a catchy tune, but understanding the lyrics. Not just watching a movie, but capturing the ambience and the mood intended. It’s looking at a face, in a painting, and recognising the expression in the eyes. It’s not just quoting a phrase of some random book, but scrape the fluff, and connect with a representative meaning.

A clock, a meal, a particular time of the day or night, the season of the year, a facial expression, an action, a lack of action, a physical place… all have meanings, and can be worked into our story as representative details that help compose a really great piece of storytelling.

And it’s fun to locate those pieces of deep meaning in our stories, and make them work for the success of the plot, and for the possibility of bringing our art to a new level of mastery.

Intelligent people connect through meaning. And readers are in the intelligent game, aren’t they?

I believe they are. 

And so should we, the writers, be.

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

Beautiful Imagery and our best work

images

Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.

Imagination and Imagery are intimately connected. It’s the power of combining images, transforming them into our particular reality, and even going beyond that.

Writing is constructing images in our heads and in our readers minds.

While building a story we recur to different strategies to visualise how characters, locations, and objects, will appear to our readers.

I do believe that, all that we can see in our minds will translate into a page in the most effective way we can imagine, if we just put the work behind it.

I also believe that usually this happens in ways we can’t perceive objectively. It’s kind of a shadow work that occurs inside our minds, fuelled by all the collected inspirations.

The act of describing what we are envisioning, letting what we absorb come through, will make reading a lively experience.

This means building ideas about how the elements will be, and master its materialisation on the page. Whatever the story, in whichever genre we fancy.

How we find imaginative inspiration?

Some of us, writers and imagery builders of sorts, have a fondness for reading and imagine things in our own way.

Sometimes, this ability gets us to have a book turned into a movie just because the imagery used was totally wrong from what we had envisioned.

Others, find it useful to look at correlated art works and give our imagination a hand at picturing worlds, creatures and even human faces.

There are a few theories about this brain ability of ours, categorising people into types of learners, just by figuring out our abilities to retain information and, therefore, use it in creative ways, accordingly to our main senses of vision, hearing and touching.

I found that, for me a mix and match of all of these, work in different projects and situations. So I learned to use visual aids, and well as hearing and touching.

In some projects I use music. In others, drawings and pictures. With more, or less, emphasis on each aid, according to what I feel is most needed for me to capture the full experience I need.

Because to learn about these characters, and this world, and these objects and locations, I need to attune myself to their particularities. And this is only possible if I keep my sources of inspiration in an expanded mode. Always looking, always alert, always integrating fun little snippets of information that might seem to be just there for the taking. Just so I have some places from which to draw inspiration from.

Where do I find some inspirational imagery?

Just looking at other people’s rendition of something, a picture, a drawing, a digital art work, a description, a capture of some sort of inspirational material, allows me to let me own imagination guide me into my own world building, with all it entails. Browsing through Pinterest, DeviantArt, a Google search on Images tab, can get me some much needed help on figuring out some writerly things.

How do I use it in my writing process?

I use it for inspiration, to build up my mental muscles on the much needed imagery.

Exposing myself to beautifully composed images, to gruesome battle outcomes, to twirls of abstract imagination, will get me content enough to start thinking about my own creative processes in my stories.

Also, I use it for writing exercises.

To have a prompt, and to build upon that little morsel of imagery is a pleasure, and alleviates me from having to start with the dreaded blank page feeling.

Just like painting uses references, the  writing practice also can, and should, do it. Imagery serves us as guides in this unthreaded wordy land.

Is it beneficial to my writings?

Yes. It is indeed. My imagination needs all the aid she can get. My writing efforts benefit from everything I throw at them. All the little unsuspected efforts we can make to help us write more and better are welcome.

If we find a notebook full of clippings is the way to go, we should try it out; or a mood board hanging on the wall; a Pinterest album full of scary pictures; a reference book on imagery; a subscription to a travel magazine; or any other way of collect those images we will be recurring to intentionally, in order to make our writing process smoother and more inspired.

Standing in the shoulders of giants has its downside?

Do not copy. Do not steal. Do not use without permission. Do not go into that unimaginative, hurtful, dishonourable lane.

Reconnect the dots of all you have learned and add to the work already done. Be inventive, resourceful, creative in your own right. You can do the most beautiful, your own, work. And it will feel good to do so.

Be careful of the difference between gathering inspiration, to work out added value, and the already mentioned problem above.

Gather from all types of different sources and think: I am the sieve through which all comes in, and only a small combined part of it mesh and comes out.

Allow myself to be the changing factor, the added value, the combinatory and creative force behind whatever I create.

Will it be easy?

Is anything worthwhile easy? I don’t think so.

Was any of those drawings easy to make? Any of those books we read? Any of those creative breakthroughs?

Easy and Worthwhile are opposites, aren’t they? 

Having these processes available to tap into, allowing new inspiring imagery and information to come through, working out the effective ways they can serve my writing efforts, trying to be receptive to all inspiring tendrils is part of the fun.

All we can do is allow our minds to translate into our work the images we had envisioned. All we must do is ensure that the reading experience will be the best we can make it. And that all these inspirational processes work out for the best in each page we write.

So that our reader truly gets what we were aiming for: the best story possible. 

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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼

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