Learning as I go....

From the beginning of my 'writers journey' I have openly admitted that I may not be that familiar with some/most/all of the tricks of the trade. I've never studied writing in any way, shape or form and some may say that this is apparent, others may disagree. I think this is the real beauty of writing; what works for one person definitely does not work for the other. From a commercial perspective, I suppose an Author makes a very conscious decision at a given point in time - do I write for money, or do I write because...... ?

Some Authors (cleverly) cover off both by using alias's; they'll write commercial stuff to pay the bills and develop their personal writing preferences behind a veil of anonymity.  I wonder which one they actually prefer?

Anyway, that's not the topic of this post so I'll get back on track:

I'd heard lots of references to writing with 'Arcs', and arcs within arcs and so on but had no real understanding of what that all meant. So, in typical Wilson fashion, I did some research AFTER the fact. The thing is that somehow, both Russian Redemption and Fated Encounters kind of followed the whole 'Arc' thing without me knowing any different. I'm not condoning my methodology, but at the same time it demonstrates that I had an understanding of what makes a good story even though I hadn't learnt it through formal education - I think this is the result of reading a lot, subliminally understanding the writing formula so to speak. 

This is a great article from Daily Writing Tips http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/ which explains all about the 'Arcs', but does so in a manner that is easy to understand. I would have to say that it all seems like common sense but then again so does World Peace, and look where that is right now. I would recommend a visit to this page, if nothing else it could prove a valuable refresher for the more seasoned Author. 

There are loads of sites offering tips, advice and 'must do' type instruction for budding Authors. Each Author must find their own way to write the stories they want to write, and in a manner they want to write it but it all comes back to that questions: Why Do I Write, what is my motivation?

Russian Redemption has recently received another five star review, which is great for the book, but it also highlights the fact that one persons poison is another persons pleasure! Those 'gory' and unsavoury scenes that prevented some judges from finishing the book, were the same scenes that other readers have found to be 'well handled' and 'not too disturbing'. The point being that people are different on so many levels, and you just can't please everyone so don't try. Another example of this is '50 Shades of Grey' - It is a shocker, an awful book (in my opinion) that targets the viewer demographics of the Jeremy Kyle show, daytime tv garbage. BUT hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have bought it and will no doubt watch the film once it's out next year - it's a cash cow. The marketing strategy behind it reminds me greatly of the story about the Emperors Cloths, you know the one, only stupid people can't see the Emperor's nice new outfit when in fact there is no new outfit, but people are too concerned about what others think of them so, not wanting to be branded 'stupid' they went along with it. The clever people in that story were the 'tailors' that made the imaginary suit and charged a shed load - clever marketing, playing on peoples vanity.

I'm still finding my feet as an author and I am loving the journey - it doesn't matter that some people don't like my books, what matters is the books I write get better. One of my biggest influences in my own personal development is a guy called Dinni Jain, a guy I used to affectionately describe as a short arsed ethnic from New York - "Andy, you can learn just as much from the cleaner as you can from the Managing Director, in fact sometimes more" and is absolutely right. In this instance I can learn as much from those that don't like my books as I can from those that do. I learn more about my strengths and weaknesses, and get to make informed decisions. That, to me, is how I am going to achieve whatever it is that I go onto achieve, because when I started this writing lark all I wanted to 'achieve' was to get a good book published, now I've already got two and there's more coming people :-)

Isn't it great to be an Author!