What Makes You Tick as a Writer?
What makes you tick as a writer? As I sat down to write this blog I thought about that. To answer that question requires a little bit of retrospection.
Often when I talk about becoming a writer I start with my first book, Refuge: The Genesis Chronicles, and what inspired that book. But the truth is that I wanted to write long before that book was ever started. You have to go all the way back to my childhood.
It seems that I had an early interest in books. When I was a child, my father later said that I read War and Peace. In fact, I read it more than once and, according to him, my comprehension of plot and characters was excellent.
So that brings up what we will call my first interest: reading books. I love to read. It's a fact. I have read historical novels, westerns, romances (usually recommended by my wife), detective, war, and futuristic (novels based on prophecy, last days, and SciFi). I have also read non-fiction books such as biographies, politics, and more.
The second interest is writing. In my childhood, I was kind of sickly and didn't play like most boys. I did play Little League baseball, but not much else. When I wasn't reading I was daydreaming. I would weave a story usually involving myself as the hero and usually based on popular movie characters like Buck Rogers.
By the time I was a teenager my daydreaming led to rather coarse writing. It was not good, but it did fuel a desire to write. As I aged over the years that desire sharpened. I even took a writing course for awhile, in which I was doing well. But lack of money and a crowded schedule caused me to drop out. Yet I never lost that desire to write, and instead wrote poems and computer programs. One lady said I wasn't very good with poetry and another lady married me; so you decide. As for the computer programs I became self taught and actually wrote a small program for where I worked. But none of this fulfilled me.
But when I got saved (received Christ as my Savior) things began to change and the third interest began. This was my interest in sharing the gospel. I knew how God had saved me and wanted others to have the same life-changing experience.
So now I had three Interests: 1 - reading, 2 - writing, and 3 - sharing. But I still had not found the right formula or inspiration that would empower me to write good novels. Not that I didn't try. I would start developing plots and characters. The story would begin to grow, but I would end up scraping it simply because it wasn't connecting with me (I am my most critical judge).
The fourth Interest took place in the year 2000. I had just junked my latest attempt at writing. On this particular morning I was reading the Genesis account of Noah and the Flood as part of my devotions. It suddenly hit me that here was a story behind the story. With that my fourth Interest began: Bible inspired stories.
This does not mean that they have to be stories from the Bible, but stories that demonstrate Biblical truths. My book Dead Eye Will is about American history, but there are Biblical truths found within the text.
So what makes me tick as an author? My Four Interests:
1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Sharing
4. Bible inspired
That brings me to you? What makes you tick as an author? Or, put another way, what turns your writing juices on?
There is no right or wrong here. The answer is uniquely you. And knowing what turns you on can help you in writing and in marketing.
Often when I talk about becoming a writer I start with my first book, Refuge: The Genesis Chronicles, and what inspired that book. But the truth is that I wanted to write long before that book was ever started. You have to go all the way back to my childhood.
It seems that I had an early interest in books. When I was a child, my father later said that I read War and Peace. In fact, I read it more than once and, according to him, my comprehension of plot and characters was excellent.
So that brings up what we will call my first interest: reading books. I love to read. It's a fact. I have read historical novels, westerns, romances (usually recommended by my wife), detective, war, and futuristic (novels based on prophecy, last days, and SciFi). I have also read non-fiction books such as biographies, politics, and more.
The second interest is writing. In my childhood, I was kind of sickly and didn't play like most boys. I did play Little League baseball, but not much else. When I wasn't reading I was daydreaming. I would weave a story usually involving myself as the hero and usually based on popular movie characters like Buck Rogers.
By the time I was a teenager my daydreaming led to rather coarse writing. It was not good, but it did fuel a desire to write. As I aged over the years that desire sharpened. I even took a writing course for awhile, in which I was doing well. But lack of money and a crowded schedule caused me to drop out. Yet I never lost that desire to write, and instead wrote poems and computer programs. One lady said I wasn't very good with poetry and another lady married me; so you decide. As for the computer programs I became self taught and actually wrote a small program for where I worked. But none of this fulfilled me.
But when I got saved (received Christ as my Savior) things began to change and the third interest began. This was my interest in sharing the gospel. I knew how God had saved me and wanted others to have the same life-changing experience.
So now I had three Interests: 1 - reading, 2 - writing, and 3 - sharing. But I still had not found the right formula or inspiration that would empower me to write good novels. Not that I didn't try. I would start developing plots and characters. The story would begin to grow, but I would end up scraping it simply because it wasn't connecting with me (I am my most critical judge).
The fourth Interest took place in the year 2000. I had just junked my latest attempt at writing. On this particular morning I was reading the Genesis account of Noah and the Flood as part of my devotions. It suddenly hit me that here was a story behind the story. With that my fourth Interest began: Bible inspired stories.
This does not mean that they have to be stories from the Bible, but stories that demonstrate Biblical truths. My book Dead Eye Will is about American history, but there are Biblical truths found within the text.
So what makes me tick as an author? My Four Interests:
1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Sharing
4. Bible inspired
That brings me to you? What makes you tick as an author? Or, put another way, what turns your writing juices on?
There is no right or wrong here. The answer is uniquely you. And knowing what turns you on can help you in writing and in marketing.
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