New Age Storytelling

What you don't know.

Before you can know the new age method of writing, you must familiarize yourself with the old age method of writing. Before you can familiarize yourself with the old age method of writing, you must understand why the old age method was devised, and why it was changed.

As we progress, (pick a way. technologically, morally, socially, whatever) we constantly digress. Technologically speaking, paragraph indentations are old school and now, mostly ignored, replaced with a single line separating paragraphs, so those reading on electronic devices can regress as quickly as they progress.

Why were paragraph indentations created? I assume to allow for the maximum number of words on a single page, just as the use of a hyphen to break whole words into two fragments of a word, are all but forgotten.

Figuring it out.

An eye opening experience is reading about another author's writing capabilities. I read about a well known actor and author who uses an old school typewriter to type out his books. He doesn't make changes, he doesn't go back to correct his many-way-too-many grammatical errors. And why should he? He can pay someone who's livelihood depends on it, to do it for him, and in doing so, provides a job that his own negligence has afforded someone else.

Another author doesn't type or "write" anything. He dictates. He just walks around speaking into a recorder, his phone most likely, although I really don't know. He then hands off his recordings to someone else who painstakingly listens and types what he spoke. Maybe a computer does it, and then a proof reader fixes all the grammatical errors, and computer generated flubs.

The point is, even the most prominent and paid authors of our time, have abandoned the traditional ways of writing, and have moved on to quicker, easier, and more modern ways of writing.

Starting from scratch.

Those of us, whom I consider myself included of course, that honor, if not respect, the old ways of writing (even though we are typing instead of putting pen or pencil to paper) endure. We continually re-read our work, make sure there are none of those annoying red underlines in our previous paragraphs... you know... stupid stuff like that.

Writing is much like playing the guitar, only your fingers don't hurt once you're done playing a 30 minute solo... no, never mind. Those who don't play will be fascinated by the fact that you do. They may take an interest, or fawn over your ability, but they might not ever really "get" what you do. And that brings me to my next point.

Creation or Fandom?

A person once told me, they played the guitar. I asked what songs they wrote, and they told me, "none". I almost smirked. So... you're a repeater then? Nothing more than a replicator of someone else's words and tunes? It's a bit harder to belt out a melody, sing a tune, or replicate anything, to a specific degree. My initial thought was ignorantly ill conceived. Replicating someone else's work, to the same degree as they have produced, is often the hardest thing to do.

Replication.

Think of this; It's easiest to draw a straight line, but harder to draw that same straight line, again, without a single deviation. Oh, you're thinking we're just using a ruler huh? Then replicate the exact same length, the same angle of the pen, the same pressure to the paper. Not so easy.

Creation.

Creating something from nothing. It's the one universal constant, that until recently, was thought to bind everything in the universe. Matter/Energy can never be created or destroyed. It can only be converted. We also know (theoretically) that we cannot accelerate matter to the speed of light because the amount of energy required to do so, becomes infinite as you approach the speed of light. This thinking is what holds us back.

Conversion.

Thoughts, a creation of something, from nothing, occur constantly. I know, that's not what the scientists are talking about, but I always enjoyed that thought in class, when my teacher made the age old statement of factual hypothesis. Creating something from nothing. Can't be done. Matter exceeding the speed of light... Can't be done... can it?

True Conversion.

"If you hold yourself to tried and true standards, you'll never break their boundaries." - Kerry Williams.

Consider the Sun. It's our star, as if we own such a thing. Our sun likes to throw temper tantrums every once in a while. Solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) happen all the time. Oh shoot. I said that word. The "T" word. I'll get back to that in a second. Oh the puns!

During a CME, MATTER is ejected from the sun, and shot into space. This seems like a huge thing, and in reality, it's a false statement. Widely accepted, false statements are a bitch. For matter to be ejected into "space" it should exceed the boundaries of that objects atmosphere, right? Well, the sun's atmosphere extends well beyond the solar system, much like the Earth's extends well beyond our clouds. Our atmosphere is in the sun's atmos0hpere. It's still space though. We're deviating from the point, but with good reason.

The distance a CME travels, in the blink of an eye, is incredibly far. We know light travels at 300,000 kilometers per second. That's 186,000 Miles per second. The Sun is 432,450 miles wide. That means, light... if shot from one side of the Sun, to the other, would take about three seconds to travel the distance. Just a fun fact. Coronal Mass Ejections travel at about 3000 km/s. Not exactly the speed of light, right? Hold on to your seats.

Due to the vast size, and gravity, of the Sun... most material ejected from the Sun, Matter specifically, is drawn back to the sun and consumed. The distance the matter travels, being expelled and then sucked back in, is tremendous. Wider than the Earth? Of course. Most certainly, given Earth's puny size compared to the Sun.

Now, most CME's and corresponding Solar Flares, are nothing to squawk about. Most Solar Flares are small and non-destructive. Most CME's don't get shot out into space. They appear as huge bows of lit up matter, extending from the Sun's surface, into "space" and then back to the Sun's surface. In some cases, they extend a third of the Sun's width (approximate measure). Now think about what I just typed.

A third of the Sun's width. Light travels approx. 1/3 the sun's width, in a second. Matter travels a third of the Sun's width, and back, in a fraction of a second. Matter, has just exceeded the speed of light, by more than double, every day. E=MC2 has always been a governing constant, except when it isn't. The speed of light is constant, except when it isn't. Gravity is universal, except when it isn't. Everything is exactly as it should be, except when it isn't.

Old Age Writing.

Whether you're writing to archive, or just regurgitate historical events in a different light, put your own spin on someone's life and accomplishments (or failures) or just trying to draw a straight line, for the first or last time, if you live by the standards, you'll always be bound by the standards. Make sure you use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation. Make sure you know your past presence participles and those action adverbs! Make sure you make proper use of the word I...

Many "rules" created by others, were done so for nefarious reasons. They royalty and elite were not worried that the peasants wouldn't be able to communicate without such knowledge. The written language was made as a form of recording knowledge because too many elders who contained this knowledge, died before passing it on. From ancient Viking runes to Egyptian hieroglyphs, the written word was made to record, and pass on, knowledge. So why all the rules?

One might say, if the Egyptians who created the pyramids, had been better at publishing the rules for their own written language, we would all better understand everything they had to say. It goes for every mysterious text. If you don't understand what it says, you can't understand what it says! Simple enough. But i before e, except after c, and in some cases, y? It's nothing more than a big giant LIE.

NEW AGE WRITING.

First things first. Get over yourself. Done? Okay, second things second. Get full of yourself. Your success is going to largely depend on what audience you can draw to your work. Whether you can connect on some level. And more importantly, whether your work looks like it was written by someone who has a flare for independent style, or, like someone who barely made it past the third grade. Not shaming you pioneers and frontiers-people. My grandfather graduated the third grade before going to work to provide for his family. Vietnam came soon after. He wasn't a writer. He never could be. He was a masterful Storyteller though.

Masterful Storytelling.

I'm going to give you a quick run down of what it takes. This comes from someone who has never published anything, so ignore me if you feel my suggestions are unfounded. I have multiple books in the works, one of which I am working on, all the time. Oh that T word again.

Make the T word happen. Make it happen. Create something from nothing.

Connect. Connect on a level you need. I need more. I always need more. You can't give them everything, but give them yourself. I will say this, if you're a shallow person, you might want to give them more than what you have to offer. Give them what they don't deserve... they'll love it.

Get gritty. You might think it's over the top, but that's what you need your work to be. Example; He sniffed the rose and it smelled just like her perfume. Ugh. I can feel the tween forbidden romance pouring off that. Sure it's enough, but is it enough?

He noticed the tiny white veins in the heart of the red petals. He brought it closer to inspect, hoping Amy didn't see him geeking out, while waiting for her to get ready. The scent caught him unaware, and he turned, thinking for a split second, she was there. He smirked, sucked in a deep breath and let it out. He brought the rose to his lips and touched it to them, inhaled just a bit, thinking... about her lips. The touch, the feel of the petals reminded him of her tender flesh, the scent, like her perfume. She was delicate, beautiful... but she could be strong, when she wanted to.

That seems like it's enough. To me anyways. Remember, get gritty. Smells, touches, tastes, and sounds all describe something. Life is not a "See and Say" toy. God I loved those.

Your own way, or the highway. If you want to preserve yourself, develop your own sense of writing. Make it masterful. Make it great. Sure you might not make a lot of money, cranking out book after book about other's back door dealings and how corrupt everything is in life, but you can make the distinction. Better yet, combine the two.

The Last Word.

This will not be my last word. But it is a piece of good advice. Don't lie to people. You can make things happen that shouldn't. You can be God, it's your creation from nothing, but Gods who lie become Devils. Make your work as strange and as twisted as real life, or whatever you choose. Just make sure you stick with it. I once read a book where the author became a devoutly religious person half way through, and it became apparent in the writing. Profanity disappeared, by the end of the book, the rivalry of two families, wrought with horrors, and deceit, turned into a hug it out feel good story that was so unbelievable, I felt like I was reading the ending just to punish myself for enjoying the first half of the book.

Loop it. I'm a big fan of looping it. Not the part where the last ten percent of the story is rattled off and then the other 90 percent is explained and all the reasoning becomes apparent. Some movies work like this. Ugh. Books... books are so much more than movies. You can make a movie out of a short story. Harry Potter could have been 12 movies easily. Easily. I can hardly wait for the remake. I'm getting off topic.

Loop it, don't just hack it. There's enough conspiracy theorists out there, who started off trying to explain plot holes and twists that happened when bad authors decided to lie about shit, we don't need more. Loki died. Or did he? An alternate time line? Time travel? Who? Didn't he.... Remember the part where I said, E=MC2 is the governing constant, until it isn't? It's okay to use this excuse ONCE. Doing it repeatedly, or ever other page, should not be looked at as clever. It's just bad writing. Or bad Storytelling. Or bad Lying.

That's it... until there's more!