One Day I Got Inspired To Write
Becoming a writer
Let me start by telling you I am a man, 45 years of age, and have never read a novel, the first book I picked was a Ulrika Jonsson autobiography, it took me nearly three years to read, however, I did look at the pictures most weeks.
She was my crush growing up, I so longed to be Hunter the gladiator, I remember how jealous I was that they were dating and wanting him to lose every battle, sad really, but that was how I felt.
I guess, like most people, I think I can write, confidence is everything in life, and I have bags of it, being thick-skinned is another trait of mine, and I guess on my journey of attempting to write this will come in pretty handy.
Failures
A friend of mine, who I will not mention has written two books, although I have not read them myself, I am told they are pretty good, another friend of mine, who is maybe more established has written around 10–12 novels, mostly in three-part series.
This was the person who inspires me to write, I worked with her for a short period of time and found her to be truly wonderful, I have bought some of her paperback books, and my wife loved them.
I started to write two novels, why I am not sure, neither novel got past 3,000 words, a sad failure from a novice who run out of ideas.
Determination
I was determined, although I did not start writing for about another 18 months, one day whilst on YouTube, I stumbled across a platform called Medium, I watched a few people talking about this and found another person I could relate to.
Zulie Rane, her YouTube videos are great, clear precise and from what I can tell she is very honest, the advice I have taken from her has helped me to start writing again, (please check her out you will not be sorry).
As a person I am normally very determined and take pride in finishing a job that I have started, a trait that was ingrained into me by my late parents, very different people in their own right, and each having their own strengths, I am still able to draw from their legacy each day, and whenever they are in my thoughts.
What to write about?
My first failed novel was about a boy called Jack, he told a story of the world as he saw it and asked some interesting questions along the way.
Why is an orange called Orange, however, a Banana is not called Yellow? Who had the power to name the days of the week? How much salt is in the sea? What color is a mirror? And why does raindrop, but snowfall?
Some great questions, and although the people that read the first chapter absolutely loved it, I found that I was bored writing it, so I just stopped.
My second attempt was about a boy who found a green spirit, and it was able to give him abilities, however, it was not always present in his real-time of need, which is something he questioned and struggled to cope with. Once again, I started to find the direction I wanted to take it in was too hard to write.
Passion
I was sat at home one day thinking about what I could write about, what was my passion, I love sport, Rugby, Football, Boxing, etc, but did I really have the knowledge to speak about these things?
My dad was a funny man and I have always liked comedy, especially people a bit close to the mark like Jimmy Carr, he is marmite, you love him or hate him, well I like marmite!
Then another person inspired me, my wife, she walked into the room with very little on and I thought…. I could write sex scenes.
Without going into too much detail, I have a lot of experience, and there is almost nothing I would not try, so how could I write a novel about sex scenes?
My wife had recently read Fifty Shades of Grey, asking her about it, she thought the book was good but became predictable.
Now it has been a worldwide sensation, even though I have not read it I am sure people up and down the country felt the book was spot on.
As a kid growing up, I found it very funny to shock people with the words I use, so my thought process was to write a book about shocking sex scenes, which a few comical lines along the way.
Before I started writing, I also wanted to give this medium thingy a go, as I work in the hot tub industry, I found it very easy to write a few articles about them, this helped me in a few different ways and I was confident about the content.
The novel has started
Ok, so you will be pleased to know I am past 3,000 words, I am in fact five captures in and just over 20,000 words, this has taken me around five weeks to complete. My intention is to write around 80,000 words in total, which I have been told would be the correct number for my first attempt
I have found writing this very enjoyable and actually a bit on a turn on too, so in my eyes this is a win, win situation.
My wife has been very supportive along with my oldest son, who both read books & novels regularly. They have given me regular feedback 80% of which I have taken on board using their experience compared to my sometimes-amateurish approach.
I am now on the lookout for feedback on my first five chapters from experienced writers, if you would like to help with that please comment below and I will be in touch. I will warn you; some scenes are extremely graphic and this novel could easily offend people, due to this please do not get offended if I decline your offer, it is my way of protecting your delicate ears. If I can put this another way, my mother would not approve of my writing, enough said!
My conclusion
The moment you start writing, you are a writer, as soon as you publish something you are a publisher, and when you write and publish your first novel, you are a novelist.
Write something you are passionate about or someone who inspires you, that way, you will never be stuck for content.
After a (Zulie Rane) Youtube video I guess my writing is one of a “Pantzer” which means I write by the seat of my pants; I do not plan a story I just write and see where it takes me.
The other type of writer will plan each character, the world in which it is set, then decide on the end of the story, once that is established, they will then write the start of it and have some sort of idea what the middle of the story will be about.
Once all that is done, they will join the dots together, in my story, I have still to decide, who is good and who is bad, I still don’t know who the murderer is and how I’m going to conclude the novel, although I would like to leave it open for a sequel.
Thank you for taking tie out of your day to read this article, and I hope you come back soon.
Written by Robert Ralph
Written by Robert Ralph
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