Monthly Archives: October 2016

The writer, a rare and unusual creature, sits at their desk. They stare at a blank page, the tip of their thumb on their lips. They’re ready to write, but something’s wrong. It’s as if the idea well, that magical place where stories come from, has dried. The void on the computer pulses a blinding white, sending the writer into a catatonic state. A few minutes later, the writer collapses and passes out on the floor from despair. In some cases, the writers will sing along to “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel (I like the Disturbed cover though). So, that dumb thing aside, I want to bring up the quote I used the other day and I’m going to twist it positively this time around. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work” – Stephen King (I’m going […]

The Writing Ritual

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I’m just going to put this out there: I’m afraid of writing a main character who happens to be a person of color. As a matter of fact, I’m afraid of writing anyone who is not a straight white dude. And no, it’s not because I’m afraid that the story is not going to be popular if it’s not about a white male. No, it’s not because I’m afraid people are going to hate on the story because of the main character. It’s a different issue. See, I’m pretty white, and I’m super pale too. In fact, if you put me next to Edward Cullen, he looks full of life and color. And then there’s this, a thought—one that grows with each passing day: only a person of color can write about a person of color. This kills me. But, I read the idea online all the time: “why aren’t […]

Author’s Rant – Who Can I Write About

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If I had to choose one of my favorite parts of writing, I would pick revision. No, I’m not being sarcastic. It that may sound surprising since writers usually hate revision, but it really is my favorite part of the process. And, I think, the main reason is because I separate revision from editing, which I think is essential in the process. Take any writing course and you’ll hear it: revision is not editing, and editing is not revision. And I really do mean any writing course. They say it in freshman composition courses in college, and they say it in graduate creative writing courses. The main idea is simple. Editing is fixing grammar and style, pretty much anything that does not change the story. That’s why you can pay people to edit work. They won’t actually change the story. At least, a good editor will not change the story. […]

The Writing Process – Revision

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Source: The Page Never Forgets – Revising a Story A few days ago I mentioned that I’ve been wanting to work on a web novel, but to get to it would depend on how fast I finish my current project(s). Well, I’m not going to talk about that web novel…But I wanted to talk a little about my current project… About two…or maybe three…years at this point, I wrote The Page Never Forgets, a short story about a stalker and the power they had over another person’s mind through a journal. I remember liking that story quite a bit. A few months after finishing it, I got accepted into a writing program. There, the professor announced that we could submit something up to 50 pages long. I decided to go with this one. Workshop…did not respond to well. And the teacher? Well let’s say that the teacher and I had our […]

The Page Never Forgets – Revising a Story

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“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King – A couple of years ago, I would have absolutely agreed with this quote. Back then, I wrote flash fiction every day without fail. In fact, thanks to that, I have many stories archived. But time changes people. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the quote. Stephen King is a prolific author and can justify the pedestal he stands on. I can also see where he’s coming from. Sometimes, there will be bad days, times when inspiration just isn’t there. The blank page will hurt the eyes more than usual and social media will be 10x more distracting. A professional should be able to overcome that and keep writing. I see his point, but I can’t agree with the connotations. The quote sets unrealistic expectations on writers and leads to the […]

Not Writing Advice – On Real Writers

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