The Cat’s Out of the Bag: The Truth About Writing.

Writing gives you something that people are still fighting over: Freedom of Speech. What’s allowed to be spoken and what should never be said. The amazing thing about writing a fictional story is that your characters can say whatever you want them to. I only suggest you don’t use a real situation without changing names or appearances and without permission of the person. That’s a great way to get slapped or sued! Maybe both.

With that said, as far as writing goes, I’m about to reveal something that is going to relieve stress among many of you. Are you ready for it? There is no wrong way to write a story. Say what?! I know, mind blowing! Unless you’re writing in a specific format, such as a research paper or an essay, there are no rules on how you write your stories. We’ll get into different forms of writing later. For now, let’s talk about storytelling in general.

As I said, it’s your story, write it however you want to. This is not to say to throw all guidelines out the window and go willy nilly. There are formats that are easier to read, ways to avoid confusion on the reader, and so on. Do you ‘have’ to use these guidelines? No, absolutely not. But these future tips that I'll be writing about might help you go from a novice to “New York’s Best Seller!” So I’ve been told by book agents, publishers, and best-selling authors that is. I’m just happy to teach all of you what I have spent years learning. After all, we’re in this together as a society of writers.

The best thing you can do as a writer is to read. Reading another book that has the same genre as what you want, and in the same point of view, will increase your creativity and help you to become a better author. A course or two in creative writing wouldn't hurt either, but not everyone can afford that. However, there are websites and places that give away free books and/or discounted books. With a little research, you can find your next favorite author and increase your knowledge.

With that said, please don’t take someone else’s ideas, that’s not cool and the law will agree. I mean this in the sense of someone telling you their book idea and you take their idea and run with it. Come up with your own stories. My best friend, Dominique, gave me some wise advice and I’ll always use it: every topic has been written, but no one has heard your version of that topic. Don’t feel defeated if you want to write about something that’s been used a million times, such as vampires and werewolves. You can still write your own version without copywrite infringement because it's a basic topic.

I hope you enjoyed this and will continue to enjoy the many posts coming your way.