A Call to the Writers

Writing is lonely.
We spend hours upon hours locked up in offices and bedrooms and basements, writing words we hope will somehow mean something. It's a lot of work and it's not the kind of work that is going to make you a lot of friends. You'll miss out on a lot of opportunities to meet new people and mingle, etc, etc.
So why do we do it?
Writing is a duty.
It has been said that the job of the writer is to reveal the faults of mankind, give them a reason and a way to change.
That's some pretty deep stuff. We, as writers, are charged with the duty that doesn't make friends. Either you don't have time for a social life, or your writing doesn't make you any friends.
It's a brave work. We are charged to show the world what is wrong with it. A great many people don't want to know that.
A great many people believe writing is only entertainment. And, while it does entertain often, that is not it's true purpose.
And so, dear followers, darling writers, you must be brave and be bold. You must write what you believe. You must write the hard truth. And above all else, you must not be afraid to stay true to the story you are telling.
Many writers think it is all just entertainment. That the point is to give readers a "good ride". To you, I say no. Because writing  has never been about joy rides. Because stories have never been about the fun.
We write to discover the truth. We write to reveal the truth. We write because we have something to give the world.
Do not compromise your story with your fear of others' reactions.
This is my call to you.

Using Spotify to Your Advantage

So today the plan was to actually talk about making a killer character profile today. However, I've been browsing through Spotify this evening and HOLY COW COOLNESS! 

Spotify users, did you know how much you can do with the browsing option?! (Very excited here)

If you browse through music, you can find all kinds of cool playlists, premade and full of awesome songs. 

Here are some of my favorites:

1. "Who Runs the World? Girls."
2. "Sleep"
3. "Creativity Boost"
4. "Nature Noise"
5. "Guided Meditation" 
6. "Audiobooks"

What really surprised me is that you can get audiobooks like The Great Gatsby or Great Expectations on Spotify. I mean, how awesome is that?

So with this in mind, I would like to point out a couple ways writers can use Spotify to their advantage.

1. You can listen to books and grow your writing vocabulary. For free.

Need I say more? Audiobooks aren't cheap. The fact that Spotify has some good classics for free is pretty darn incredible.

2. You can find a playlist for basically anything.

And I mean ANYTHING. For absolutely anything you'd do. Write, sleep, meditate, shower, you name it.

3. They have playlists for every mood, too.

Doesn't matter how you're feeling. Angry? Sad? Angry and sad? You got it.

Alright, so that's all I've got to say on the matter. Point is, Spotify is a great option. A great free option. And at the end of the day, what could be better?

Questions? Comments? 

Developing Story Ideas

So today I want to take a moment to talk about story ideas and how to develop them, in honor of the five year anniversary of the day I came up with Segolia. That's right, it's been five years since I thought up the world of Segolia (YAY!).
With that in mind, this is how I develop my ideas:
1. I start off by taking a basic note. Usually this is only one sentence long and, for me, it is often just a "what if" question. For example, what if everything we knew about vampires was false? (that's from Forbidden).
2. I take the basic note and develop it into a complex web. I just start writing down everything I know about the story. And I mean EVERYTHING. How the plot goes, background, etc.
3. You turn that into a basic outline describing each chapter in detail.
4. Tada! You have an outlined story now.
That's my process. Of course, it's not the only way to do it. If you have a way that works better for you, do it! This is just something to get you started.
Write on!