Getting to the Point

I’ve heard a lot about writing with purpose or making it meaningful. I have to agree to a point, but it’s not always so. As a old writer, but newly published, I have to say some of my best writing started from single word or phrase without purpose behind it at all. If anything the purpose of it was to simply write because the more I write the better I get at it. And believe me I needed to get better. A lot of those times a meaning arrived out of my writing as my words finally took shape formulating an idea, the idea gained focus, and in the end a point was made. In the beginning, however, none of that existed.

Even now, I’m writing two different stories. One story I’ve planned for several months and the other I started on a whim. Funny thing is the one I’ve planned has stagnated whereas the one without design is going balls-to-the-wall. On top of that I’m not sure where the next chapter, let alone paragraph, is going to take me. I simply let the words flow and sooner or later a purpose for them forms. And here is the one piece of advice I have about it, ACTION.

When I say action, I mean don’t let the story stagnate. Don’t get long winded on description. Don’t delve into mundane thoughts. Instead, create dialogue or controversy, but never splay it all out for your reader. Keep them guessing, which for me is easy because I’m usually trying to guess where the story is going next also. Beyond that, try not to focus everything on one character unless that is the single perspective you’re writing from.

Frankly, I prefer to have 2 or 3 characters I move between. This way if I get bored with one then I can start with another. In fact the current story has three characters I’m dealing with. Each has their purpose, yet one character dropped off the radar for a chapter so I wrote something about him. Needless to say it didn’t fit in the storyline when I finished writing, but I did figure out where it could go, though I haven’t gotten there yet. Writing those few pages, however, got me out of a rut and back into the story while providing a point I need to push my writing towards. Because of that small tangent into another character, I now have purpose to my writing and to the story.

So let your mind drift and be spontaneous. Even if your writing doesn’t mean anything now, there may be a time when you can use it for something else. Or it may even inspire you towards something new. And never give up, never stop writing no matter the subject.

See, I did it again. I started with a blank sheet and a thought. In the end I’ve given my words purpose (at least I hope so).