R.R. Virdi's Blog, page 15

Writing and the Lego Tower?

Building Something Out of Nothing*In Stan Lee's voice* Greetings true believers! I am back from my two day break due to the dreaded day job, but work is work and c'est la vie, no? But today I wanted to readdress something, (for my benefit not yours) and that is consistency! I keep hearing on the facebook about people having trouble with muses and scenes coming to them, and then they *gasps* take breaks from writing. It's all momentum, a body in motion stays in motion people! The more you write, even if it's a hundred words one day, is the closer you get! It's building your novel! Taking breaks does one thing, it guarantees your muse to take breaks too! You want it to show up, THEN YOU SHOW UP! You cannot come to the page lightly people! Go in expecting to write, creativity begets creativity, that's why I blog now i realize.

I know no one reads these, I have no comments, blah whatever. But I do write them! Get it? This is a warm up, if I can do this, then I can write. No excuses, this all might be crap, but it's something and that's better than nothing right?! You can have a crappy book done through many sluggish brain dead days, or you can have a whole lot of empty pages. But remember this, you can't edit and improve a novel that's not there, so write it! I'm dreading going back to my novel again, even knowing all this, Je suis hypocrite lol. But I know all I have to do is type the next word, any word when I start and....the rest will follow. Soon there will be paragraphs, pages being typed. I will hit the point where I'll be hungry but so in the zone I'll be furious to leave the keyboard.

All you have to do is start!!!!

Don't believe me, turn on your bathtub just to the point where it dribbles and leave a bucket there, drop after drop, it will eventually fill won't it. It ain't magic, it's persistence and hard work. The best authors are like the best of any medium, they aren't necessarily the best. They are the hardest working, there will always be better authors, actors, singers, dancers, painters and more out there. First of all don't compare or compete, second, most of them never make it because they quit. They can't keep going forwards, taking the hits, grinding away to do the work. It doesn't matter how bad you are now, the only way you'll move forwards, get better and succeed is by continuing to write. Negative people will grind you down, but only at the surface if you let them, they're toughening you up, chipping only your veneer. If you ignore them, keep writing, keep building your novels and word count, you'll simultaneously be polishing yourself up.

Drop. By. Drop.
That's how it's done!

Might not mean much from an indie nobody like me, but im only an indie at the moment! I refuse to let other people stop me from writing. I mean how dare they!? Theyre not the ones putting the sweat blood and tears into my novels, even if they are an author, they didnt write MY novels for me. they're opinions are worthless. they cant physically make me or you stop and they have no right! what happens if a caged dog barks at you? you keep on walking, just like a race. step after step is how you build and finish your novel

Take the first step if youre reading this. open up your novel and pop out that first and next word. the rest will come, i guarantee it. If thats too much. start a blog and ramble nonsense like i do here. itll warm you up!

its like building a tower out of legos, one brick at a time, stacking on top of each other. just pick one to start with, the next will stick to that and so on. just start, itll come and stick!

happy writing

Why I write urban fantasy

Making the urban less mundane. I'm back nonexistent readers! After a week away from the typing's, I'm back! New keyboard, mechanical gaming blue switch, it's oh so clicky and just makes me wanna type! Getting used to it is a feat, and obviously I've been slacking in the blogging, I can't honestly say why. A grim melancholy has befallen me, I've been tired for no good reason, depressed and become lazy. I hate it! So this, today, is an attempt to break out of it and return to penning my second fiction novel in: The Grave Report, series. Upon much reflecting, I thought I'd discuss, (more for my benefit than yours, since you lot don't exist) why I love/write urban fantasy so much.

I don't know where exactly to start but I figure any starting point is better than none, right? So I'll start here! With how much I love the genre and why. As for how much I love it, it's a lot! Duh. But why? Well, good question me. Maybe it's because I grew up on so much traditional fantasy and sci fi. As amazing as they were, they were never now! They were always in some far off long ago place way back when, or in a distant future that could barely be experienced. Imagined, yes. Experienced, no. Maybe it's different for other people, not for me. That's when urban fantasy entered my life, things like Narnia, Harry Potter, Neil Gaiman's Stardust and Neverwhere and of course, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Of course the locales and times differ, but they were/ are still close enough to modern times for me to truly be able to get lost in them!

These were books that took place in a time and environment much like my own! I could look out the window to the nearby park and imagine that that, that, was gateway to another world like a step into the never never! Or crossing over a long field I'd fall into Faerie like in Gaiman's Stardust. That all these worlds existed today, a stones throw away from our own. One step and I could be propelled into all those realms of fantasy I've loved for so long. Now I have a chance to do that for others! Whilst yes, I do write for myself, I love it, am in love with it and it's the cure for my depression. I want to share it, my writing that is, not the depression part. Had to make that clear. I want to give a piece of my imagination to others to be able to play with, delve into and explore. And I want to make the modern day, the urban, the all around us and mundane, a little less so. I want to make magic around us! I want people to re-explore and re-imagine their surroundings! 

Why I write urban fantasy is that it makes my own life feel a little better, a little more worthwhile and less dull. It tinges the normal with the super normal, it makes things less boring. My life gets a new vibrancy, and that's why I love urban fantasy and will hopefully be keep writing something in that genre until my last day. Whether I'm building intricate worlds and massive series, or just penning off one last one off novel. I will always love and write urban fantasy. Will always love and cherish, the works of Gaiman, Lewis, Butcher and more!

Now that I've warmed up, it's time to continue slogging away in the mud and grit on the rough draft of my own urban fantasy, the second novel in :The Grave Report.

if you haven't checked it out, please do so! the first novel is titled : Grave Beginnings! Tis on amazon, go find read and enjoy!

Dust to Stardust

Neil Gaiman's Stardust and my dusty brain.
So, I return now to what I call blarghing. My nonexistent readers must've missed me so! Why have I been gone? Well, family drama, depression, work (that evil day job) illness crept up on me and the foggy brains! Foggy brains, ugh, the most evil of the enemies of an author. But now, I am back! Sort of, to help get back into an authorly state of mind, I took a few days off writing to help heal my soul and I read, a lot! 

Most recently I finished Neil Gaiman's Stardust, asides from falling in love with another of his novels, my favorite so far being Neverwhere, I also learned a lot. On top of that, I learned it's okay to redo, use concepts that have already been done. Being an urban fantasy fan, my first intro to the world of faerie believe it or not was my hero, Jim Butcher's, Dresden Files. Because of that, I was always afraid of doing/writing my own version until I did research and found the inspirations for such things. Never land, Neverwhere, shakespeare and old mythology, and after reading stardust, I was feeling much better. I just feel freer and more anxious to write and create my own realm a stones throw away. A place in urban fantasy that we can all imagine and visit just as easily and just as wondrous as my heroes created worlds! so yeah, i know this isn't the most coherent of blogs but w.e im rusty, new and dont care. 

i do this for me, to warm up, collect my thoughts, musings, rationalize and so on. its to help me, not you, sorry you no longer feel oh so special but then again, you don't exist! im not famous muwahahaha so i dont have to worry about capitalizing things, irking readers and grammar mistakes! no one reads, shares or anything else....this stuffs so haha, jokes on you not there people! i am allowed to psycho babble whilst trying to get my brain...braining because right now, its on strike, no thoughts are being thunk nor any indication of thinking to happen! its all foggy!

but ima try to write anyways, but yeah, stardust, awesome, blargh ugh, tired, faeries awesome, ill try better tomorrow, maybe ill go take a nap then write, itll engergize the old noggin'. w.e im happy i wrote this garbage, will press publish and maybe thatll help my fears of publishing as a nobody too! yeah, lets do that. 

Stephen King and Consitency

The King on Muses, Consistency and My Stupid Headcold.
Greetings nonexistent readers! I have the colds, the sniffles, the respiratory buttmunchery. I debated not writing today but...........was reading more of King's lessons and remembered something. He has a daily word count to hit, so do I, it's my responsibility. If I don't do it, who will? Surely no one else will come by and do it for me? So here I am, ill and still raring to write, why? Because you need to be consistent, writing under the stupid impression of waiting for inspiration means this.

That you'll be waiting for a long time.

The only way you get inspiration is by getting up and doing it anyways, I've noticed it's rough to start, but once you do, the rest flows easily. Your muse shows up to help you write when you do! If you don't show up, why would they? For the record, my muse is an irritating, smug, teasing, mischievous sprite with the attitude of a cat.............I'm not the biggest fan of cats....

 
She shows up when I do and have actually bothered to start writing, showing commitment to the task at hand I guess. But by doing so, I am quickly rewarded with inspiration and the rest flows effortlessly. Writing isn't about "feeling it" or being in the "zone" to write. That's bs excuses not to write. If you love to write, then you'll write regardless! It's about being consistent! You know that word? If not, look it up! Writing becomes easier the more you do it! So try setting a daily word count, it doesn't have to be a kingly 2,000 words a day, start small, that ways it's easier. More doable and when you do complete it, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment. The whole reward thing, then maybe you'll ask yourself, "if i can do that many, can I do more?"

In a word, yes!

Muscle up, slowly increase and train yourself to write more, and you will. Practice makes perfect and all. It may be a tired cliche, but the thing about cliches are, that they're tired because they've been used sooo much. Why have they been used to much? Because there is some truth in them....duh! Otherwise, people wouldn't keep slinging them around! They're true, listen to 'em. You want to improve as an author, well write more, duh! Read more, duh!!!!!  Emulate! Practice practice PRACTICE!!!!

It's not rocket science, heck, it's not even science! It's that ever so rare and uncommon these days, common sense! Write more, when you think you've written enough, write more! More more MOAR!!!

Heck, that's why I write this even though nobody reads or comments. It's a warm up, if I can get my fingers to type up this garbage, then there's no excuse to move on and work on my novels and such! This is a warm up. If I can bother to write something (in all honesty I'm not that fond of, blogging or blarghing) then why can't I go write my novels!? Something by the way, I'm obsessed with. So try that, just write nonsense like this, it's something, and if you can bother to write that, then you can definitely get to work on your more important and beloved work! No excuses!

Stephen King and Love?

The King's Rules
Alrighty, after several days off from blogging, or blarghing as I say, I'm back! I'm still new to this and in all honestly haven't gotten a good routine down, nor the dedication to stay focused. I'm working on that, but enough about me, sort of. Today, I'm going to be talking about the King, Stephen King.

A while ago, in an attempt to improve my own writing abilities, I purchased Stephen King's: On Writing Novel. I haven't finished, but so far, it's been well worth it. And I wanted to start sharing the lessons I've learned from there as well as any tips I've gleaned. I might also be throwing in my own thoughts and experiences with these tidbits because, well why not? I am the filter through which these tips are going to be shared, well on this blog at least.

So I figured I'd start with this, something I've touched on a bit before, writing what YOU love. It's a common problem I've noticed in authors, myself included of course. Deciding between what you love to write, what you want to write as opposed to what you think will sell! Well in his book, Stephen King makes it pretty clear that you should write what YOU want! That's what's going to make it special, unique and maybe stand out. You're more likely to put your heart and soul, your all into something you love to write instead of something you think will make money. And plus, how do you honestly know what will sell? Well do you? Do you have a print sheet with a guarantee on it of what will sell in the years to come?

I didn't think so.

So if there's all this uncertainty around what will and what won't sell, why not write what you want and love? Makes sense to me. Plus, in my mind, the logic exists that if you love it, you'll be more willing to work harder on it, thus probably produce a better project. There will be long endless nights of burning the midnight oil but you will love doing it, it won't feel like work, it'll be a compulsion, an obsession.

Remember, this isn't just about writing a best seller or two, this is about your life and passion, unless you are solely writing just to make money, in which case, you're in the wrong profession. There are tons of jobs where you can make money, this is a career where you do something YOU love...........I hope. It's always going to be a struggle at first, King had a whole bunch of rejections but he never stopped writing what he wanted and look at him now! Proof enough? Over all the years of writing, since when has he changed his style or type of books he writes? They're all very...............Stephen King.....ish. That's what you can say about him, sure many of his books are horror-ish, but that's not all he writes. But, everything he does write, you instantly know it's him!

That's what this is about writing what you love to help better define yourself, your style and career and thus, establish your career. You are inherently unique, so writing what you love will help establish you as..........well you! You will become synonymous with your work which sort of makes sense. It's about being true to you, how can you honestly write a book if it comes from some notion outside yourself, a notion that if you write a certain genre or novel, it will sell better than what you want to write? It doesn't make sense, YOUR NAME is going to be on the cover, it might as well be your story and a story that you wanted to write! Get it yet?

So far, coming to grips with that notion has helped me tremendously, and now, well now I write what I want and for one, it's made me considerably happier. But also, it's helped me narrow my focus on learning from similar authors in that genre and thus, I've steadily been improving, see the connection yet? I'm loving reading their works, writing similar things, learning and thus getting better. It's an all around win! You can't do that if you're just trying to copy bestsellers you don't have any appreciation or love for. And for the record, there's nothing wrong with imitating an authors style, imitation and sincere flattery and all you know. Not to mention The King approves it, so why shouldn't we do it too!?

King talks a great deal about fossils and digging things up, unearthing them, when speaking about writing novels. He's right, that's the way it feels to me and so, how are you going to improve as an author if you're only copying or chasing after bestsellers? You need to write what you love, develop yourself, imitate a few authors, that's how you can find out (by experience, the best teacher) what works and what doesn't. It helps narrow things down, refine them and yourself! Your technique will develop the more you write, and that only happens if you love what you write, trying to write things you think will be bestsellers will just wear and force you to quit. If you don't enjoy it, how and why will you stick to it? So then how will you become better? If you don't become better, how will your works earn and push their way to the forefront and become bestsellers?

See what I mean?

Plus, like I mentioned before, it's so much more fun, just trust me. As authors, I'm sure you've all had millions of ideas floating around in your head, which ones excite you more, random bestsellers you would hate to write, or those more close to your heart? Novels much like your own favorites, akin to maybe some of your fav shows and the like? It's not about writing a bestseller because someone else did, or copying one to make money, it's about writing what you love and making THAT into a bestseller get it!?

Why can't your own work, your own labor of love make it onto headlines and bookshelves across the world?! Gaiman, King and more have done it, and they've done it that way, writing what they love. So.............if they did it that way, why shouldn't we, why shouldn't you? Why deviate from an obvious fool proof plan, and an enjoyable one at that. If ain't broke, don't fix it right? Well clearly it ain't broke, The King is still a bestseller and is writing what he wants how he wants, of course it's easy to say he's a bestseller because of his name. He can put that on anything and it will sell, but remember, there was a time where no one knew him. He EARNED that name and did so by again ahem *cough cough* writing what he wanted/loved. Building his name, you're going to have to do that to, so do it! Write what you want and people who love the same stuff will gravitate towards it, the more you write what you love, the more people who love the same stuff will flock towards you. So yeah. thoughts for the day. hope it helped!

The Writers Road

Long. Arduous. Uncertain.So the blarging continues as ever today. Honestly, I'm writing this to help sort out some thoughts that are floating around in my noggin' as well as maybe, just maybe, sort them into a clearer musing. I'm not a fan of leaving them as they are, chaotic wayward thoughts floating around in disarray. There's enough of that already in my head. MORE IS NOT WELCOME!

Also, truth be told, today is the day I am supposed to begin the official penning up/typing of the second novel in The Grave Report. But..........I'm scared.

I mean who wouldn't be?

I mean it's not as if I'm essentially putting in endless amounts of hours and hard work, my soul into something that might be torn apart by people. I AM very self conscious about that stuff. Sue me... I haven't yet learned how to get over it, I'm working on it, trying, and hoping. So this post is sort of like a much needed distraction/procrastination, it's making me write haha! Sneaky me, pulling one over....myself. I so sneaky!

Maybe it's just psychosomatic but it's helping already so yeah. But those thoughts, I almost forgot about them, those sneaky buttmunches! They thought they could avoid being written about? Avoid being marshaled into neat thoughts like normal people!? They thought they could trick me like I just tricked myself into....oh.... Maybe they're cleverer than I thought.

Anyways, I thought today would be a good day to delve into myself and why I started writing, because upon reflection, I learned the truth about why I began. And honestly, the truth is..........I don't know! Then I came across this and got me wondering and I'm fairly happy with the conclusion I came to.






That's it in a manner of speaking. This isn't like pokemon, I didn't CHOOSE writing, it choose me. I can't go back and definitively point out, YES, this is the moment in my life where I decided I'm going to cobble words together and make a living out of it. (For the record, still haven't made a living out of it, but I am cobbling!) So..... one out of two ain't so bad for right now lol.

But yeah, what really happened was, my best friend was over one day, some words were exchanged and.........We were suddenly sitting on the edge of my parents bed, (he was sitting there, I had claimed the office chair.........someone had to...) and we powered on the archaic Sony Vaio desktop. After it hummed to life and greeted us in its curmudgeony and elderly manner (that means it was hellishly slow and difficult to deal with) we clicked open Word! That fabled little program in which stories are forged.

Then...... more words were exchanged, first slowly then.....well not so slowly as you can imagine. Two 18 year olds on summer break, massive nerds coming up with a fantasy story? The tempo of our speech soon hit speeds reserved for high powered munitions. One of us clearly broke the light barrier (me, I think fast, talk fast, AM FAST!) my poor friend had to be content in only breaking the sound barrier. And... that was it, rapid, indiscernible chattering filled the room, our chests heaving from exertion, lungs worn from the effort of inhaling and regurgitating air as we spoke faster than the flash.

Then, my fingers moved. That changed everything. They began dancing across the keyboards with a familiarity I would have never expected, words came to me, they just came. I don't know from where! Muses, God, Myself? Who knows!? But they did and it was epic! I was possessed, ideas, ideas were just everywhere, floating around me in plain sight! All I had to do was reach out and grab them and plop them onto the white screen that was ever so quickly becoming dominated by black font!

I had just started my first story and I felt alive. Up to this point in my life I was mired in a deep melancholy, a depression and the desire for suicide. In that moment, I had something to live for, to create this story, to give it life and share it! I didn't care about publishing, it didn't cross my mind, neither did editing, agents or any of the stuff I now fear. It was pure, it was writing at it's best, an enjoyable, freeing and most noble thing. And now.... I want to get back to that, of course I'd love to be published, of course I'd love to pitch to an agent and be picked up, to be in bookstores, to have editors scour my novels for those wascally errors and purge them but.............. If I had to choose between writing without fear, for fun again, and being an Ny times bestseller, plagued by deadlines, worries, critics and more.

I'd choose fearless and fun (and probably broke) in a heart beat!

I cannot explain, science can't either, (I dare you science, try!) Why I write is a mystery, it's just a compulsion, even now, I just am. That's it, my fingers are skittering across keys because my brain says so, why does my brain say so........... I asked it, it didn't deign to respond...... My brain's a jerk.

It's just, it's like breathing, I have to do it, but I don't really do it consciously, it just happens of its own volition and it, feels, GREAT! I feel like I'm part of something larger, like I'm truly creating/adding something to the world, and what I'm adding is a world of its own! With people and problems and monsters (I like the paranormal....a lot okay!?) and I don't know but it just feels right, it feels right. That's not something I'm used to in my life, certainty, something feeling right, just knowing. Now, there isn't much certainty in the field/career of writing, but there is in the fact that I am certain I HAVE to write. That's enough for me, at the moment anyways. World literary domination comes later....

But, I've never really been sure of where my life's headed, what to do to get by, college and all that normal people stuff. I just know, that as long as I live, I have to write, even if I'm broke (check) and living in a cardboard box ( not check but I occasionally linger..........it's good for your imagination and they're ever so versatile!) I will write! So yeah. I think this was a good blarg for the day.

Jim Carrey On Dreams

Taking A Chance
So the blogging, blarging in my case, continues. I came across a photo recently that encouraged me more than I would've imagined to have been by some random photo on the web. One of my hero's, a person whose life story and hardships I'm aware and seeing their philosophy on the matter really helped me. Being an indie author is a hard yet fulfilling thing. It. Is. My. Dream!

END!

There's no substitute but there are still moments I falter in my resolution to pursue it. It comes from the outside, negativity, people reinforcing it's not safe or practical. Well to that, here you go.




There you have it, yes being an author is a risky profession but I love it. I can't stop writing, thinking about new stories I want to see, not others, but I want to see and write. At the end of the day, as arrogant as it sounds, it is about ME. The author, my hopes, dreams and visions. Of course the readers are big part of it but, that's what Stephen King accredits his success to. Writing what he loved and being good at it, thus drawing people of similar tastes to his work, not writing what he thought would sell. Now his name is synonymous with such a unique and individual style, why? Because it is HIS style. So yeah. 

I want to take the chance, the chance to write what I want, to write how want and just to write for a living. I may die never having made it, and.....dying is an inevitability so why not die doing something I love? Why not?

That word why is one of the most powerful I've ever heard. Why can't I make it as an indie? Why can't I go from an indie to a big trad published author? Why can't I make it one days a NY times best seller?

Why not?

I've seen, met and know people who have lost their "safe" jobs. When are we ever truly safe in life from anything? Living in some bubble, metaphorically and literally in the sense of being "safe" with a cushy boring job I hate, that isn't a life. Something about a brave man dies once, a coward everyday? I'm not a brave man, but I refuse to be a coward.

Yes I'm afraid of the uncertainty, but I'm tyring to learn how to purpose my fear, because I'll say this. I am infinitely more afraid of never having tried. Of making to the end of my life and realizing then, that I should've done it, that because I'm going to die anyways I should've risked it. Of realizing that not only should I have done it, but that I could've done it. I've already put in 6 years, that's nothing, I can put in 100 if it means that one day, I'll be able to make a living sharing my imagination with others. 

That's what I want, so share my thoughts, imaginations, wonders and marvels, every adventure that occurs in my vasty wayward mind. I want it all recorded and shared with people everywhere. Stories saved my life, they gave me something good to turn to, something better than drugs and alcohol, and I'm proud I've never used those things to cope with stress. I get to create things to deal with life and it's harshness.

I feel, if, like so many others, have endured hardships in doing/pursuing what we want, why not make life pay you back some dividends? I'm not saying I'm owed anything, quite the opposite, that I vehemently refuse to quit working/earning what I want! 

Why isn't the life i want possible? Authors have been conceiving more crazy ideas than that since always!? Rockets before they existed, going to the moon and more. It's part of the job, delusions of grandeur, maybe if I keep deluding myself, it'll eventually come true. 

Why not?

Introduction to myself and writing

Wednesday May 28th
Hey-o all, I'm new to blogging and thought I'd start with just an intro. I'm R.R Virdi, and aspiring author and currently the author of Grave Beginnings, a paranormal investigator novel set in NY. I've been writing now for about six years and have one published fiction work. Writing is life to me, about six years ago I was depressed and wanted to commit suicide, writing saved me from that and now its a compulsion. I in fact, well, there's no way for me to stop it. I can't turn off the idea switch as it were, what cemented my passion for writing was actually meeting my hero Jim Butcher at Tysons Corner Mall. After that, it just was, I didn't really have a choice, and it's the best decision I've made. Yes it's hard being an indie, very little way in terms of marketing support and having my name known but it's part of the hustle.

I grew up a fan of science fiction and fantasy however the genre I love the most is the paranormal, so that's what I write. I'm very new to blogging and the marketing aspect of writing, I'm an author, not necessarily a salesman, although it seems I now have to be one.

Blarg.

More about me, because I am clearly a narcissist. I'm an avid gamer, reader (duh) my fav authors are Jim Butcher, George RR Martin, Robert Jordan, Alexey Pehov, old RA Salvatore before he started killing everyone off in the Drizzit books. Im a fitness freak and martial arts nut, i love building restoring and modifying cars, and also love disregarding grammar the further i descend in the post as you mightve noticed. WHY? Because, its the internet, theres not place for that here!!!

So yeah, a bit about me, maybe ill add more later tonight about why im so deadset and why ill never quit, idk, like i said, new to this. so meh!