Guest Post: Christian Porter: The Art of the Start!

Today we welcome Christian Porter, author of Shadow Precinct!  Take it away, Christian!

If you are reading this right now, and you have an idea about writing a story, please stop here and start there.  That small idea that you had about zombie dinosaurs isn’t going to write itself and then turn itself into a romantic comedy.  I want to impart upon you a very valuable lesson that I learned while trying to write my first novel.  You have to commit yourself to the story.  It’s an opportunity for you to attempt to convey a vision.  You’re watching the story play out in your mind, and you’re trying to take the reader to the place that you’ve created for their imagination.  That’s a very cool responsibility to have.   

After I had amassed a good amount of background and research material, and created an outline, I started to connect the major plot points with the delicious meat of my story.  Mmm.  Taste like Soylent Green.   Spoiler Alert!  It really is a snowball effect when you begin to put idea to paper.  It becomes fun to see where the story goes, even more so because it’s fluid.  You are in control.  Like a lucid dream that actually makes sense.  I think you’re onto something when you are genuinely excited to see how the ideas progress and grow.   Sometimes it’s in ways that you wouldn’t have expected.  That’s the awesome thing about writing.

If you’re anything like me, when you have an idea it has a way of digging deep into your brain and taking root.  Embrace that.  I’m not saying go into the woods and grow a lumberjack beard in pursuit of inspiration.  No one needs you going crazy and asking a grizzly bear what his wi-fi password is (the one called I’z Eats People should have tipped you off).  Write a couple lines here and there, describe a setting, come up with some character names.  I bet at least one of those takes hold and you begin to write more.  And more.  And more.  And down the creativity rabbit hole we go.  

So if you have made it to the closing and aren’t writing the new epic series that tells the tale of robots trapped…in love, then what are you waiting for?  I can’t reach through the internet and write down a sentence for you.  No one can.  Maybe he can, but seriously no one else.  You’ve got to take the onus on yourself.  Also, use cool words like onus.  It’s always extremely beneficial to have a tight circle of folks that encourage you through your process, but never lose sight that this is your creation.  You should be excited to let the reader into your world of dreams.  Or nightmares.  The choice is yours, and that’s why it’s so great.    

Thanks, Christian.  If you want to buy Shadow Precinct, you can get it from the publisher for $2 off with this coupon code:  SPCP201209PROMO

                   

Back by no demand tomorrow is Two-Fer Tuesday!