Girl With Headphones

I have seen in written many times that “ideas are cheap” and they were right. You can sit down with anyone and in half an hour they could come up with a halfway decent idea for a story. The idea is still important, but the art of being a writer begins not with coming up with an idea but rather in deciding which idea is worth pursuing. Many factors are involved in this process, the writer’s writing style, the purpose the writer has for writing, if the writer is a professional writer they also need to take into account the marketability of the idea.

So how does someone decide what is not only a good idea, but also the right idea. This secret is that the writer will usually pick a number of bad ideas first, they will spend most of their early career writing about bad ideas. It is through practice and luck that a writer will eventually find an idea worth writing about, and an idea they can write about. However a beginning author shouldn’t take this to mean they should just start using any random idea that comes into their head, but should spend some time thinking about why they want to write.

The beginning of the writing of course is the idea, and it will determine much about how the novel unfolds, because it is the idea. So how does a writer decide on an idea, well I assume it is different for every author but I think there are a few things that writers who are just starting out can keep in mind. We all have different reasons that we want to write, some of us have a story we need to tell, some just love stories, others have a message, and others feel drawn to the medium. So figure out why you are writing and use this to help weed out what sort of ideas fit with your motives, and which simply don’t.

Another thing to consider is what sort of genre’s you enjoy. If you have always love fantasy, then there is a good chance you will enjoy writing fantasy. If you hate science fiction, then you probably won’t be writing a science fiction book. It is good to see what genre’s you like, and then immerse yourself in these stories. They can teach you the techniques that work, and the ones that don’t. They will often give you inspiration that you can then take and experiment with.

The key here is experimentation, don’t be afraid of an idea, play with it and see what sort of mileage you can get out of it. You will fail a thousand times, we all do, and I am still in the process of failing. However eventually we’re going to get it right, as long as we haven’t given up before we have a chance to succeed.

(Introduction: I begin with this introduction so I can explain a few things to you before I get into the rest of my essay. I wish to be a writer, a professional writer at that. However as of yet I am mostly a would-be writer, a faux writer, which I will explain in my essay. I have decided as a part of my attempt at transitioning from would-be writer to a real writer I have decided to use this blog to help me work through my thoughts and the process of writing a novel. So I am beginning a set of blogs that will revolve around the writing process. I know that at the time of me writing this and posting it that know one is reading my blog yet. Perhaps no one ever shall, however I believe it will help me stretch myself as a writer and that in itself is worthwhile. I do hope however that someday that these essays may help some other hopeful become a writer. I will still be writing my essays and posting them so all of my posts on this topic will be tagged with ‘Writing Process.’)

The question ‘Are you a writer?’ is not really a difficult question to answer. The only thing once needs to know if someone is a writer is do they write. A writer is someone who writes, so anyone who writes is a writer. There are some who would object to this saying that writing is an art, and that “writers” are artistes who are professionals at their trade. I would like to point out that I am not saying that all someone needs to do to be a good writer is to write, but that even bad writers are still writers. I would like to point out that I probably have always known this fact on some levels, the same as most, however it has been hammered into me by the brilliant Mur Lafferty who is the host of the podcast “I Should Be Writing.” I am not going to go over this in great detail because Mrs. Lafferty has covered this in great detail on her site and in her podcast. This particular blog is to highlight the difference between would-be writers, writers, and professional writers.

If becoming a writer is so easy why is there a class called would-be writers? I also like to call those within this class faux writers. These are people, who may at one time have been writers, but now have simply wish they were writers. Often these people don’t really want to be writers, they really want to have written. They wish they had produced some content, that they had already produced something brilliant. They love the image of the writer more than they love the actual act of writing. Not everyone however in this class of people actually are like this. Some truly do want to write, they enjoy writing, however these are people who for whatever reason do not actually write anything, or at least finish any of it. These are people who spend more time talking about writing than actually writing.

I have for the last number of years fallen into this class of person. I could talk for hours about how much I enjoy writing and how much I want to write, however I have never taken those hours to simply sit down and write. The transition from this to actually becoming a writer is not always a easy process and I know many will never accomplish this task. However my advice to anyone who actually falls into this category is that all you need to do to escape this trap is to force yourself to write.

A writer is simply someone who writes, their work doesn’t need to be good, though hopefully they are attempting to get better with every word that escapes their mind. A writer may produce works for a huge audience, either through publishing books or simply releasing them in podcast format, or they may simply pass around their manuscript to friends and family. However they surpass the faux writer by actually putting money (or ink) where their mouth is (though it might turn out to be a messy affair). It is something that cannot be taken away from them, an accomplishment they will always have.

The difference between a writer and a professional writer is that a professional writer is someone who has achieved that dream of making money from what they have written. This is not to say they have actually become a good writer, but they have discovered how to publish works on at least a somewhat regular basis, enough so that they can make a living (or at least supplement their living) on what they produce.

I think that the importance in recognizing these differences is in that I wish to set a goal. There are some who are content in just being writers and never becoming professional writers, its enough that they were able to write. There are many who are content in never becoming anything more than faux writers. However this is not something I want for my life, I want to be a professional writer. I know that it will take a lot of hard work, and probably a bit of luck, but I think it is a path worth taking and I invite you to join me through this process.

(Note: http://murverse.com/ This is a link to Mur Lafferty’s site so you can check out her writing and find her podcast. I will not go in depth here describing why the woman is brilliant and you should check her out, just trust me.)

Ted: Do you think ignorance is truly bliss?

Bob: Yep

Ted: So you think the dumber you are the happier you are?

Bob: Yep

Ted: That sucks.

Bob: Welcome to my life.

After viewing Apple’s newest gadget the iPad I realized that we have once again surpassed a technology predicted on Star Trek. Any of you who ever saw this show, particularly Star Trek: The Next Generation should recognize both the Kindle and iPad from this show. I remember a number of scenes where Captain Picard was sitting reading a book from a digital pad. Looking at the functionality of the iPad, this new device seems more advanced than even what Star Trek predicted.

This got me thinking about all the advances in technology that were either predicted or inspired by science fiction. Our modern information age would seem to a person living only thirty or twenty years ago to be something out of a science fiction novel. However it seems that only certain sorts of science fiction technology has come to pass so far, and others either have fallen by the wayside or are still a long ways off.

How shows such as Star Trek showed that future generations would share information and how we would connect with each other seems very prescient, though some argue that it was not prescient at all, but rather it was shows like these that shaped our modern era into how it looks today. Cell phone, computers, the Internet, and now digital reading technology have all not only caught up to what many predicted, but has surpassed it in many ways.

There is a side to science fiction however where our modern era is noticeably lacking, and this is transportation technology. Our cars look fancier than they did twenty years ago, however the basic form of transportation, being the internal combustion engine in cars, and even other forms of transportation such as airplanes, has not changed. We have refined the technology and incorporated advances in computer technology, however the basic idea is still the same. In the area of information exchange advances have radically changed how the world is connected to information and to itself, however we still get around using the same basic methods.

There has not been many radical changes in the transportation industry in decades. One could ask, where are the flying cars, where are the cars that drive themselves, where are the teleporters, and I think that they are right to ask these questions. Why has transportation technology been so slow to advance in this age of rapid technological advance? Except for the teleporter idea, flying cars and cars that drive themselves are certainly not impossibilities even with today’s technology. There are other advances that have been proven to work, such a maglev trains, so why has their not been another railroad boom like that of the 1800s? Why have we been so slow to jump on board these technologies that have the potential to change the face of our society?

Perhaps it is because our government and corporations are no longer at the top of their games, the giants in transportation are fine with how they do business now and don’t want to change. Companies making advancements in information technologies are still young and because of the nature of the market need to be always coming out with the next big thing. So the question I pose is how do we revitalize and bring true innovation back into the field of transportation?

Ted: Hey Bob you ever think about whether or not God exists?

Bob: Sure.

Ted: So what do you think?

Bob: I think if he is real then Nietzsche f***ed up.

Nice wallpaper for your consumption

I have long had a love for mythology, I think it stems from my general passion for stories. Mythology is story of a society, it surpasses other stories because mythological stories are stories which a people take as truth. When you talk about mythological stories such as Zeus, Ra, Morrigan, or Thor, you are talking about figures that were once believed to be beings to be real. The importance I believe lies not in the ridiculousness that people once believed that such things were real, but that the symbols that these figures are avatars for were though to be of such importance that they had to have some basis in the physical world. The importance is that these symbols were so important that they transcended the status of other unrepresented symbols.

After reaching such a conclusion I took a look at the beliefs and stories within American culture. My real epiphany was reached when I studied the truth of the American Revolution and the story commonly accepted by the general American public. The truth of the American Revolution, and the Founding Fathers is that they were a bunch of people who simply didn’t want to pay their taxes. Britain was not really the tyrant that they were portrayed as, they had just defended these same Founding Fathers from the French in the French-American War, and the British believed they were due some recompense for the enormous amount of money they had expended in the effort. In this light it seems petty of the American revolutionaries who so adamantly objected to the relatively modest tax increase that Britain had imposed. However this is not the story that is told to the modern American populace.

The story that is now portrayed of the American Revolution is much simpler and relies heavily on accepted archetypes. Britain was a tyrannical leader and the Founding Fathers, and the other revolutionaries, were attempting to not only trying to fight tyranny, but that they were also fighting for justice and liberty, and let us not forget that they were fighting for democracy. I believe this is why we all have seemed to forget the Articles of Confederation, the first document to govern our national government before our beloved Constitution. It was a massive failure, a failure of many of the ideals of the revolutionaries that helped secure American independence. Instead the story has been morphed into something that is more fit for entering into Grimm’s fairytales than history. Many do not know that many luminaries of the time period such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry (the source of such quotes as “Give me liberty or give me death”) were not involved in the creation of our Constitution.

The Founding Fathers as a whole, and many of the members of this elite brotherhood such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin have transcended the lives they actually lived to the lives that the modern world needs them to have lived. They have become avatars for the symbols at the center of our society. We need them represent democracy, liberty, and justice because we need to believe that these ideas are more than simple ideas, we need to believe that they have some manifestation in the physical world. I do not say this to begrudge these men their accomplishments because I do believe they were great men who accomplished great things, however often we do not acknowledge them for their accomplishments, but rather we acknowledge them for the ideals they represent. They are the gods of America, as we revere them as such.

They are not the only members of this pantheon, men and women such as the outlaws, cowboys and lawmen of the Wild West and the known figures from various wars including the Civil War, World War II, Vietnam War, and a dozen other sources add to the cast of figures representing the modern American values. There are heroes and villains within this pantheon like all the other pantheons throughout history. Those that represent ideals of good and evil as defined by today’s public. However we often find out the stories that we have been told since childhood are wrong, or at least exaggerated.

The American pantheon is not only dominated by figures from our past that we have changed to fit the archetypes we need filled, there are also figures generally accepted as never being living people, yet they still are revered. Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty, and Lady Justice are only a few who are known almost universally to be nothing more than symbols, yet are spoken of as if they are something more than statues or metaphors.

What I find important about this topic is that many people when they talk about the stories of our past, the stories that are still alive and passed from parent to child, are important but not for the reasons we think they are. Remembering and discussing these stories are not important because they remind us about our past, but because they inform us about the present. They have the unique ability to inform us about what we believe today to be the ideals of our society, the ideas that we think have weight.

My father was in management and when growing up he would tell me what he would tell those that worked under him. “Do the job you were hired to do, do your job and we will get along fine, but if you won’t do your job then it is my job to find someone who will.” This is not the friendliest truism, but it is something that is true for any workplace. If you are hired to do a job, then do your job. It would be irresponsible and irrational for an employer not to find those who will do the job they are hired to do. This is true in any workplace, and is accepted in any conventional job, however some forget this fact when it comes to more unconventional jobs.

What do I mean by unconventional jobs? I mean jobs that we as Americans, and many others throughout the world, simply forget or don’t perceive as jobs. There are many examples of such jobs, but I wish to focus on two particular types of unconventional jobs, the job of the government and the job of the citizen. By the job of the government I mean the job of the government as a whole and all those positions held within the government, and by the job of the citizen I mean the job of every American as citizens of this nation.

There have been times in history when the job of government has not been seen as a job at all. Many kings, emperors, and some would argue even presidents that view the land and people under their lead as their property, as the owners of their kingdom, empire, or country. However these leaders, and all other leaders are more like managers than owners. They are the administrative bodies, not the board of investors. No matter the perspective and beliefs about government any culture or civilization might hold, the power of government stems from the power the people under the purview of this government give up to the government. Like when an owner of a company hires a CEO to run that company because the owner simply lacks the skill or time to personally run the company, the government is brought about by the people to run that kingdom, empire, or country.

We can see the above is true if we look at what happens in history when the management, or government, doesn’t do its job, or the owners (i.e. the citizens) grow unhappy with the government’s performance. Throughout we see the fall of empires, the beheading of kings, and radical revolutions, which can be seen as the replacement of the current management team in favor of an entirely new direction within the management.

The lie perpetrated by the American government, and almost every other government, upon the people is that the government is the boss, and the citizen is the underling working for the governments benefit. However I will emphasize that this is a lie. The American citizen is the boss, and the government is simply an administrator. This might mean a radical shift in thinking for many Americans, to think of themselves in charge and the government working for them. It also means a shift in responsibility from what is commonly thought. The government is responsible for running the country, and the citizen is responsible, as every boss is, for making sure the government is doing its job.

Now the question is, is the government doing its job? As I see unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcy and general desperation skyrocket, while the economy, education, health benefits, retirement benefits all plummet it I hard to believe that the government is doing anything besides running this nation into the ground. Reform is slow where reform is even discussed. Does this seem like the government is doing its job?

The government’s job is to run the country, to make it profitable for the owners, and those owners are the citizens. So where is the boss while this company is run into the ground. I see apathy, desperation, and confusion across the country, and this is irrational and irresponsible. As my father said, “if you won’t do your job, then it is my job to find someone who will.” So citizens, why aren’t you doing your jobs? The job of the citizen is like any other owner, to make sure the government is running the country for the benefit and profit of citizen. If the government cannot do this, then we need to find someone else who will.

America is unique in history in that it would not require, at least not yet, the fall of empire, beheading of the king, or a radical revolution. The Constitution allows for a quiet and peaceful revolution, and these bloodless revolutions need to be used to ensure the government knows that they are not the bosses. Both citizens and government need to do their jobs.

More coffee shop stuff.