"How to Write" For Dummies

Who am I? What's my story?

Once I met someone who was making a living as a writer. "Oh, l love your work! You should write a book!" I said. "I am skilled at writing but don't fool yourself, I am not an artist. You are." The back story was that we were both employees when we met for the first time. I was making a living as freelance writer who was writing whatever I was asked in sole purpose of becoming a viral thing posted online with a different name. I was a ghost writer. It was life's irony since everyone kept saying since I was young that writers starve to death yet my ability to write on demand was putting food on my table for over a year. She knew nothing about me as a writer but for what I was writing on demand yet I asked for what he was writing for his own pleasure apart from work. He gave me the links and I devoured everything within a couple of days. He still insisted that it was no good for a book. Years later I found out that he had tried to publish a book but it stoped just before going for print because of economic crisis. Being a success at his day job I can't really tell how much he misses of not having a paper book of his own that has nothing to do with his celebrated and awarded day job.

All those years of writing and reading (hey I am 40 years old, I 've outlasted forums, online communities, blogs, dialup internet and the world before social media), I 've met a lot of amazing amateur writers. None of them every became a published writer yet I concider myself lucky to have read their most crazy, personal thoughts and dived in their worlds. At the meantime I was searching for everything that had to do human expression even if I was awfull at it. I can assure you that I am an awfull singer yet I spent 9 years studying music really hard. Dance, painting, theatre, photography you name it. I have been there and worked my ass off to learn their rules even if I had no talent in it. So writing was actually only a small part of what I was doing. 

If you ask me I have no idea what an artist actually is. I can easily tell who's gonna be people's favorite, who should try something different (we can't master everything) and who has a spark that's unique and he/she sould trasure it like a beloved lover. Nevertheless I have found myself several times in deep furtstration with people who were unable to undrestand what I was really talking about. It was when my tribe showed up to stand by me. "You are an artist my dear, you don't have to be understood you just have to let them feel."

Each one of us has some core assets. Even writers are not just one tribe. There are more than genres describe and far from that there are more categories. e.g. entertainer, feel-good writers whatever you may think of. They have discovered their core truth and they built on that. On the other hand there are others who are still searching for their voice, their theme, that story that's worth of someone's time.

Several writers and artists have writing "how to" books. What they 've learned from their journey and they want to pass their knowledge to the next generation. I can tell for sure that a talented person is never insecure. He/she will come and help you if asked to become the best version of yourself. The true core is unique. Of course there are imitators but they can't go far even if they become best sellers authors. If your path is easy going then you are walking on someone else's path. You have to make your own as you keep going. 

  "Caminante, no hay camino se hace camino al andar"

So there is only one question and it's not if you are going to become a best seller author.

"Who am I? What's my story?"

If you have no idea of who you are, you will lose yourself in your stories and on the search of what's right and what's wrong.  If you don't know where have your been and where you intend to go then most of the times you can't break time and give to your story something to survive beyond a single reading.   I lack the cooking skill. If I was to write a cook book I would be a total disaster. I have no clue! On the other hand whenever I read scifi stories that have no actual science but just fiction I get so dissapointed that most of the times I give up on the story. 

You should know what you actually know and build on this other than believe in absolute talent and write crapy things. Another example of this is while creating your characters. Unless you are writing non-fiction you have to play God and creature a creature that's believable even if he/she is going to do absurdities or fight epic battles. If you try it based on your imagination you will end up with souless puppets. Characters that we have adored or hated are hybrids of real people. No writer is going to ever admit that this characteristic is based on a friend, a lover, a family member, a co worker but every believable character has stolen features from real people even is they are placed on fictional stories. Who that people may be? It doesn't matter even when readers persist on having answers.

My favorite artist is Tori Amos. Each song of hers is based on a real experience, an interaction with another human yet she never reveals the real story behind her conveyed retelling of that story. Some fans pointed out several different explanations for the same song and asked her is she was keeping telling lies to her fans just to keep the guessing going. She answered "I have my version of the background story. Each listener creates in his mind his own story, gives it his/her own meaning and decoding. All of them are equal to mine and just as important. I am not going to take that away by giving an answer".

So is there  something that can help us discover who we really are? It's not a single moment. This is our story. As a friend of mine once said " all those "yes" and all those "no" which I raised like flags on my battlefield that formed the paths I traveled". That's who we really are despite our intentions, our excuses and all those things that have happened to us. We has happened isn't what we are. How handled it on the other hand reveals our core.

We are nothing but mirrors. You see your reflection on me. You can recognise only what you already know, what you already are and I stare my reflection on you. The least we can do is keep our mirrors clain, free of stains, so that the reflection can be clear and our connection effortless. 

It's a journey. not a destination.