How to Write Like a Rock Star

On CNN there was an article that caught my eye and I think it is informative and can be applied to our topic - - how to write.  The article specifically addresses what rock stars can teach us about making a career last.  These pearls of wisdom can also be analogized to learning how to write.  This Rock Star Wisdom is divided into three major points.

• Don't Be A One Hit Wonder
• Aim for the Arena
• Build Your Fan Base

This post will address the first point, later this week I will address the other items.  Hopefully these will help you learn more about how to write.  Learning how to write must be done consistently.  To learn how to write a person must write regularly for days, weeks and years.   This is especially important when a person is learning how to write a blog.  I read the other day that a "blog is a broadcast" and when you stop broadcasting, the blog dies.

Additionally, when considering a person's writing, agents like to know that the writer is capable of writing several books and also is not a one-hit wonder.  As I have said in early posts, you want to learn how to write. . . then write, write often.  Don't be a one-hit wonder.  Who knew that Rock Stars have so much to teach writers.

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How to Write - 100,016 words

This morning I passed a certain milestone in my own journey discovering how to write.  I set a goal in March of 2010 to complete 100,000 words of my current novel by December.  While I did not achieve my goal by December, I did early this morning.  I knew last night as I wrote to word 99,104 that tomorrow could be the day.  I got up early and around 7:00 am passed the 100,000 word mark.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I probably have 25,000 words that need to be rewritten out of the book, 25,000 words that need to be added to complete the story, and several rewrites left.  But I am thrilled about the micro-achievement of simply getting 100,000 words into one story.  With every 100,000 words, I hope I will get closer and closer to knowing how to write a novel that is both compelling and universally appreciated.  Not too much to ask, I think.

How to Write - Book Idea

 I majored in Economics and while they didn't really teach me how to write, it did teach me about "zero-sum games."  In game theory (not as fun as it sounds) a zero-sum game is one where a person's victories are offset by another's losses.  Many writers consider book ideas a "zero-sum game," and as a result they have top-secret file cabinets filled with folders with the ideas for the next great novel.   A writer with this attitude feels like sharing book ideas hurts their ability to publish in the future.  To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not this is true.  It seems to me that there is an infinite source of ideas for books.  And even if two people write the same book born from the same idea, their style, voice, writing ability and rewrite might result in two completely different books.  So, should writer's share book ideas with other writers with the altruistic intent that at least someone should write the book, even if I can't and thereby helping others know how to write.  If one of the biggest challenges of knowing "how to write" is knowing what to write about, wouldn't the writing community as a whole benefit from the sharing of hundreds of book ideas?  Or are book ideas truly a writer's life blood with any transfusion resulting in depletion and possible death to the writer.  Can you legally use another writer's book idea?  Maybe writers would be less prone to procrastination if they knew that everyone out there knew their book idea and might be working on it this very minute.  Maybe that is the solution to procrastination.  Tell everyone your book idea in great detail.  It will inspire you to finish it before anyone else can.

 I think there could be a lot of opinions about sharing book ideas with other writers.  As I am currently a believer in the infinite nature of book ideas and with the confidence that more ideas would come, I had the idea for the seed of a novel in the form of a character.  On the cover of Friday's Wall Street Journal, there is an article about real world Superheros who walk through the city fighting crime.  Read more about that story here.  By day, the superhero is a daycare worker, by night, Pheonix Jones.  Apparently these superheros have gone high-tech and come equipped with video equipment, cell phones and even body-armor.  This could be written as a mid-grade or young adult book with the character being a kid picked on in school who takes to the streets at night channeling the kid's inner superhero.  No promises that this is a great idea, or a publishable idea.  It is simply an idea, hopefully it inspires your own ideas about how to write.

Now, the world knows about my idea.  How do I feel?  Is that the warm feeling of happiness that comes from sharing, or impending nausea knowing that I just gave someone else the key to publication and lost the opportunity myself.

How to Write - - Topics

Initially writers may not even arrive at the question "how to write."  Instead they get stuck not knowing what to write.  Knowing how to write starts with discovering topics that intrigue you as a writer.  Once you discover the art of finding these topics, the how to write part will come more naturally.

The first key to developing topics for writing is to realize that the ideas will not come as a fully formed novel, a perfect essay or a streamlined article.  The idea will arrive as a seed.   You may hear something while walking in the mall, at school, work or a particular song on the radio that triggers a thought.  Allowing yourself to linger on that thought distills into an idea for a certain character, a particular scene or a perfect setting.  Let this process continue and flesh wraps around the skeleton of your initial thought.  During the course of your day, during the time you aren't thinking about how to write, by being aware of your surroundings you will find hundreds, maybe even thousands of topics to write about - - then you can worry about how to write.

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” ~ Orson Scott Card.

How to Write - - Who vs. Whom

Above: The Whos Battle the Whoms

It is commonly known in the "how to write" world as one of the greatest grammatical battles of all time.   Everyone has friends who think they know how to write, so they spend their time correcting everyone else.  If you want to be that person, or more likely, the person correcting that person's grammar.  Here is the basic rule of who vs. whom.  It will make you a better writer, speaker, and popular with all your friends.


According to the NY Times - - who always knows how to write - - here is the rule:

"Use “who” when it’s the subject of the verb in a relative clause, “whom” when it’s the object."

To think a little "m" could cause so much pain; friendships eviscerated, alliances annulled, and nations nullified. Click Here To Read More

How to Write - - Nicholas Sparks Interview

Writer's Digest recently did an interview with best selling author, Nicholas Sparks. He is the author of numerous best sellers and definitely knows how to write. He is the author of books such as Message in the Bottle, the Notebook, and Dear John. I am always curious when author's first book was published. His first book was the Notebook and it was published when he was 29.

In his interview, the Interviewer asked him what has been his biggest learning experience. He said as follows:

"I suppose I've learned that writing a novel is never easy. That's been a learning experience—one I would have rather not had to learn."

In the same vein, he said, "Writing is hard. Writing well is hard. Writing under deadline is just misery at its most horrible."

I appreciate these sentiments and it teaches me something about how to write. Writing is hard even for an author that has had a great degree of success. Try to remember that writing is hard for everyone, especially on those days where the words, the scenes, the essay, the screenplay or the term paper (on the deadline) is not going well. At those times, however, it makes it easier if you know how to write.

Click here to read more of the interview.


Click here for Nicholas Sparks' Website

How to Write? - - Write!

I am frequently asked the question "How to Write?" The simplest answer to that question is - - Write! The more you write, the more you will know how to write. In the book "Outliers," Malcom Gladwell consistently refers to the "10,000 Hour Rule." This concept applies to writing, no matter what type of writer you are, and is the most basic answer to the question "how to write." The more you write, the better you will become at writing. On some level, it is definitely not rocket science. However people who ask "how to write" basically understand that they need to write. They are actually asking a much more complicated question that deals with all the challenges writers face. These challenges include finding time to write, finding topics to write about, editing and reediting what you write. This question "how to write?" really ecompasses all of what it means to be a writer. This blog is an effort to answer that question. So, despite the complexity of the issue, the answer begins with - - writing.