Writing tips
How To Go About Writing
It's all about sex, apparently
People sometimes ask me what my approach to writing is, how exactly do I go about it? I wish I had a pat answer I really do. The problem is I constantly change from day to day, from hour to hour.
(I could see from the look in her eyes that she was game for it....)
I almost never make any detailed plans, being a firm believer that life is what happens while your busy making other plans. Writing too is something that just happens whilst I am busy making other plans or doing other things.
For example take this piece. It has only just occurred to me between watching videos on American police violence, editing some of my favourite writers I saw by chance in my feed (Aldric Chen and Stuart Englander) pitching in on slack on an editorial debate and planning to go for a KFC and a long walk. I was at my front door, picking up my shoes to go out for that chicken burger and walk down the lanes near my house in semi-rural Japan, and suddenly 'PING' this piece came into my head. So I put down my shoes, returned to my desk and started typing. And here I am. At the same time I had yet another idea for a short story which I will give some further thought and work on this afternoon.
Once I get the initial idea I just get my head down and make it up as I type. There is no plan to follow. I just follow my heart and my mind. I write about things that interest me, about things I am curious about, things that I want to get off my chest and out of my head. I suppose it's what is called a stream of consciousness. I just open the mind tap and out flow the words and sentences, the ideas and feelings. Sometimes I can get all the way to the end, and other times I have to leave the idea in draft to work on later.
(She deftly pulled back the silk sheets, to reveal.....)
I hear many times that you have to write for your audience, but seriously, I think like all writers I write for myself and hope that it is of interest for some sort of audience. And, if I am honest, I hope that it is of sufficient interest to fulfil one or two objectives, not the least of which is to make some money. If I can do that and at the same time help other writers to up their game and be a better writer then I see that as a win-win situation.
(I lay next to her, skin to skin.....)
Sometimes I write to highlight something which I feel is worthy of wider attention. I did this the other day when I caught sight of a story about a man called Charles John Joughin, a man who saved a great many lives from the Titanic as she slowly sunk beneath the icy cold waves of the North Atlantic. I did not write that with the objective of earning money from it or to help other writers. I wrote it because I felt that in this all too often selfish world in which we live this man's unselfish bravery and lack of concern for his own life was worthy of whatever attention I could garner for it. We need a lot more people like Charles in these harrowing days of what passes for modern humanity. Give me good old fashioned heroism and courage any day of the week.
(I saw her silent acquiescence as a green light to proceed.....)
Above all, I write for my own entertainment, things that distract me from the horrors of our world, that take my attention away from any maudlin thoughts to do with my own personal challenges, things that may choose to spontaneously invade my mind any time I am off my guard.
I like to write things that make me smile or laugh out loud at my own conceit or that of my fellow mankind, or even impress myself with my own little plays on words.
(The natural scent of her womanhood inveigled me into her intimacy.....)
In not a few articles I have tried to help other writers with tips on how to go about writing, but truth be told, what works for me may not work for others. The best I can say is, I do it my way and you have to do it your way. I be me and you be you. If sitting down and making meticulous plans works best for you, go for it. There really is no right nor wrong way, we are all different, not better nor worse, just different.
So, is there a takeaway from this piece? You know what? I am not actually going to openly state what I think are the worthwhile takeaways. You see, I firmly believe in the pluralism of reading perceptions, as well as those of the writing experience. In other words, you can take from this piece what ever you want depending on your own life experience, thoughts and feelings. Who knows, You may even take something from it I could never ever have imagined in my wildest dreams.
(Like a man possessed of a single track mind, I stroked her lucid lips....)
Way, way back in 1981 I was at University doing a degree in English. One of my tutors, Sue Furness, a sort of English Mama Cass like figure, declared a novel we were studying as being all about sex. I swear there was not a single word, not even a full stop, that had the slightest sexual connotation, which we smart ass students were only too eager to point out to Sue.
Sue replied, "Yes, you're right, there isn't any mention of sex at all in that book. And that is why it is all about sex. In a word, it is all about sexual repression. The author reveals more about himself by what he doesn't mention than what he does."
So, if anybody wants to read this and think it is all about sex and decides that that is their takeaway, that's fine by me. Regardless of what I write, you have my permission to take from it whatever you want. Whatever turns you on baby.
PS: So as to avoid any accusations of writing clickbait and not to disappoint anybody looking for some titillating sex element....
"And as the sun gently shone through the delicate lace curtains, I ran the whorls of my fingertips across her soft silky thighs towards her heavenly secret garden of sublime, tactile pleasure. She moaned from a place of erogenous sanctity deep within her highly erotic pleasure palace......."
It is time I went for that chicken burger and a stroll. No takeaway, today I'm eating in, a juicy, succulent, piece of prime chicken fillet. Make of that what you will.
