Never Piss Off An Author (You Will End Up in Our Next Work!)

A cliché statement, yes, but true, nonetheless. It comes with the territory of watching this world turn (and burn) before my very eyes as well as your own, I’m sure of it. In my own case, I have felt story upon story begging me to be written as more events unfold, not merely in current events globally, but in the behind the scenes of said events. Never mind how such events may impact my own life—bigger things are at play and must be called out!

We are living in yet another era where what transpires in our current events ends up being formative points of history, which then creates a breeding ground for new great classics, not merely for the fame of it, but because such classics prove great commentaries no matter the genre on the human condition.

This has created an enormous burden in myself to finally sit down and write—without distractions of daily work that have always gotten in the way before, and without fear of the blank page. At least, that would be preferred. However, I (like everyone else who writes and creates) must live in the realm of reality and must come up with a plan that will allow me to meet this major goal despite daily life doing everything possible to get in the way.

Before I talk further about plans to write more often than I’ve done in the past, I must first as a reminder to myself list out the many reasons why I need to sit down and write:

1. I have a lot of stories started, but nowhere near complete. This is the year in which I’ll hopefully get back on track to completing some of those works.

2. I watch a lot of documentaries that are inspiring many fictional works of my own, in everything from short stories to full-length novels.

3. I am making a point to read many of the great classics of the past and present this year for further inspiration.

4. I have a strong desire to make writing stories and articles a full-time paid gig to have freedom of finances and time.

5. My mind cannot allow me to truly rest until some of these works are done, especially major novel works.

6. There’s a lot of historical and impactful events happening before our eyes now as well as new information released about past events that changes the game of life as we know it. These moments need to be explored and looked at in order to be best understood, and that is often what makes a great work as opposed to something published strictly for monetary gain.

Now, as far as my writing style and schedule are concerned, this will largely depend on time available to be inspired as well as to write. My writing style varies when it comes to what type of work I am on at the moment; if it’s a piece of poetry, I tend to bring that out rather quick because those pieces are often really short. If it is a short story or a chapter of a novel, that can take months to flesh out. If it is an article like the piece you’re reading now, it depends on the topic and length of the work. In this past year, I’ve found that I am inspired by the contests and come up with a strong idea rather quickly, but it is rare when that idea can be fully fleshed out by the deadline, especially for short stories and novels or novel chapters. I’ve made it for a few, but it is not consistent, and the work ends up not being as fleshed out as I would like because of time constraints and daily life situations. I also want to make sure that the story is truly being told, and in a way that isn’t dry and feeling like a lecture.

So, with that in mind, I will start this new year in writing by simply honing my skills and working on a select few larger projects to the best of my ability and develop the ability to write a true short story from beginning to end. I will also continue to write articles and poetry as time allows, but the focus will be to work on projects that were already begun in the last few years, and to develop those further. Some of the best short stories still have poignant takes on life in the now and are memorable because of the emotional impact they have on the reader, as well as thought-provoking lessons and takeaways. I want to be able to do that first, as this will help with novel writing, especially with making sure an actual story is told instead of, again, a news bulletin or a bland lecture.

I will also make it a point to write works that meet the deadline of the challenges to the best of my ability, but I know that there will likely be at least a few challenges that end up becoming future major works instead, depending on what the challenges inspire. I may not be able to write every single day, but I will be writing as often as I can and completing works to the best of my ability, particularly those that call to me the most. Some works may still take months or years to complete, to be perfectly honest—with subject matter such as the dark inner workings of this world system and how it is destined to crumble, there’s always something that has to be learned about and potentially incorporated into the story, be it as allegory or otherwise.

With that, I aim to be continually learning, reading, and watching a wide variety of resources for inspiration and taking notes as I go. Some of that may also include other creators’ works from time to time just to see what people come up with. Mostly, though, I’ll be watching documentaries and narrative films that are classics for their genres, and doing the same when it comes to reading classical books and short stories.

Now that all the technical stuff is out of the way, my ultimate goal in writing this year is to write works that make people think on a deep level. Again, the more truth that comes out in the nonsense of how this world has worked and is now nearing ruin, the more certain works in progress call out to me to complete. It’s a decidedly unique age we all live in now and has been so for a long time—it is time to take advantage of this moment and, as writers, create works that shine a light on all of it in ways that will stick with readers all their lives. It is prime time for sure! All that has to happen now is to get started, stay inspired, and make it work no matter how the schedule gets in the way.