The Writing Bug

Life right now is hard. We all know it. No matter where we are in this world, whether over in the United States, The United Kingdom, The Commonwealth or a developing nation, the past year has been a struggle for us all.

With this struggle comes the many obstacles that we have faced, from lockdowns, to our passions being closed, to feeling disconnected with the world, it has highlighted mental health and brought up the discussion in a more seen and public way than ever before.

At the start of the pandemic also known as Covid-19, I was struggling. I was self-employed and had no direction, the gyms had closed and I was putting on weight and no matter what I seemed to try to make some extra money, nothing seemed to work.

So I, like many other people during the various lockdowns in the United Kingdom, needed an escape, that we had to find in our own homes.

Staying locked indoors, scared to go out is nothing new for me, but being told I could not go out was something new and I did not know how to handle it.

So it was time to become creative. Now stress is something that I have very little of in my life and so being put in the stressful situation of being locked indoors with a cat and my girlfriend, with her working from home was a hard transition for us all, we made our spare bedroom into an office, bought a new desk and both began to work.

I sat for many hours of the day trying to find a passion, something that deep down I could stick to. Something that excited me. Throughout the first lockdown, I read the entire Harry Potter series for the first time and re-fell in love with a passion I had over a decade earlier. Writing.

So that is where this journey starts, with a spark and an idea.

Now for me, writing is an amazing escape, I am an overthinker, but not in the normal way. I don’t overthink about what I believe to be silly things like whether or not someone likes me. But I may see a person, or an event and start imagining how would I write that event in a story.

In my head, I picture scenes, characters, plots, and openings to books, that have never seen the light of day. In my introvert days, I could sit for hours writing the opening chapters of books, that came from my imagination.

Being able to take out all your problems, feelings, experiences and put them on a piece of paper and make a different story, or think about the ways that other people in that situation would or could react and the possible ramifications of this.

Story writing can take shape in so many different ways and is so inclusive that almost anyone can write a story or a novel.

Everyone has a story that is unique to them and that is a part of what I love about it.

But it is not just as simple as sitting down in front of a computer or laptop and spilling words onto a page and then making them into a story, there are so many different parts to the process (well at least my process) that writing a story or a novel or even a piece like this, which is not so much storytelling as it is an explanatory piece.

The process for everyone is different, there are people who will sit down and write down ideas and then turn those ideas into something that makes a story, but for me, I like using social media. Now I at this point there will be people who are reading this (hopefully) whose face and mind have just gone what? And have re-read this little paragraph.

So let me explain. Social media in my opinion is awful, we as millennials and Gen-Z are growing up with this first wave of social media, and only in the past two or three years have the negatives to this connectivity been discussed. But it can also inspire characters, so Instagram and Facebook as well as Snapchat become a Mecca of characters that I can use.

Then after deciding on a couple of characters, I will create a profile for each person, based firstly on characteristics of the person, but then I may add extra personality traits, that way than I already can start to form a picture of how these characters are going to act and how they are going to react to each other.

Afterward, I move on to figuring out a plot, now this can come from anywhere, a song that I heard, a newspaper article, an article on Facebook, a world event, literally anywhere. It could even be a book I have recently read.

Usually, I will use a spider diagram to put down all of my ideas, to me, this is a nice relaxing activity, I get to be creative, see my thoughts, experiences come to life in front of me. At this point, I then look at my characters and give them a scene that works for them and their characteristics.

Now, this is where I change from novel to novel, from short story to short story.

Sometimes, I will make a brief plot on a word document that I am going to follow this could be where the characters start, where they are going to finish and what the issues they are going to face are.

One part of a story that you cannot escape is the twelve stages of a novel or the heroes journey that every successful novel has they are:

1. The Ordinary World:

Where your main character starts, in his ordinary life.

2. The Call To Adventure:

Something happens and your main character has to go and do something or has to go somewhere.

3. Refusal of The Call:

Your main character will refuse to believe or will be skeptical of the call that has been put in front of them

4. Meeting the Mentor:

The main character meets someone who is going to help them navigate the path in front of them, usually, they will have some experience in what your main character needs.

5. Crossing The First Threshold:

The main character leaves what they know and are comfortable with and go into the unknown.

6. The Road Of Trials:

The main character will have a series of tests or obstacles.

7. Approach Of The Inner Most Cave:

The main character gets close to stopping the evil plan, or are willing to put themselves in danger to find out what the evil plan is.

8. The Ordeal:

The main character overcomes all the tests and obstacles to help foil the plan.

9. The Reward:

The main character gets to where the evil plan is.

10. The Road Block:

The evil villain is there to try and stop the plan or there is a fail-safe which the main character has to overcome.

11. The Resurrection:

The main character wakes up somewhere or leaves the area after filing the plan.

12. Return With The Elixir:

The main character returns home to their comfort zone.

Using the above formula I then begin to plot my novels, this is where I can be as creative as I want. I can sit either in silence or with some music and just let my mind leave the constraints of everyday life.

After about a week of this creative process, I move on to research, this could be places I plan to use, the colours building smells that are associated with the place(s). Now with the use of Google, and social media and during lockdown this research can be done from the comfort of your own home.

Now I have a notepad/ word document with everything I need to start typing a story. But that is not the end of it there. It is easy to just think “oh I can now just write and it will be great.” It does not work like that, because as you write and you allow your creativeness to overtake you, your story can easily venture off somewhere else, you may introduce new and exciting characters which make sense, the plot may change the evil villain may become smarter as the story progresses, or more powerful (as in the case of Harry Potter).

This process frees your mind, it frees you from your everyday life. In a story, there are no limits or boundaries and that is what I find most relaxing.

Day to day life is stressful, there are so many rules both legal and social that we as social creatures abide by. It can be exhausting having to follow all of them all of the time, but when writing, I don’t have to worry about those social conventions.

I sit at my desk, I plan, and then I get to decide. Decide what happens to the characters, to the story, I get to decide who lives and who is killed.

Whether you believe in a divine being above or not you have that much control, then you get to go through the editing process.

Re-reading your work, changing parts. Editing can take me months to do as I try to read like I had picked this book off the shelf in a store.

We as human beings want to make a difference in this world, we want to be remembered after we are gone, some actions are remembered but a book will always be there. The best books are timeless, and that I what I hope for in the future.

Why is writing a book my stress reliever I get asked a lot. Well quite simply, it is how I escape, how I am truly free, how I can inspire others, and most importantly how I can be the real me.

Writing books, short stories as I do on here, and writing long novels, it makes no difference to me. Writing is in my blood, it is my passion and I hope to be doing it for a long time to come. Hopefully, some of you who read this may come along with me on this journey.