Writing advice

Get out of your mind

   The first type of advice that I can give to someone who is hoping to write a story is to get out of your mind. Writing, especially storytelling, in my opinion, is all a matter of perspective. If you are writing a story solely from your perspective that is wonderful, but it won't seem true to your character if you are only connecting to the world the same way you do in your every day life. Because that's you and not the character that you are writing about! It is important to remember when you are writing your story that you are merely a medium for the story to come into the world. 

   You may be the one who is writing the story, but in the end you are not telling your own story. You didn't go through the dangers or trials that were present in the tale. You were safe and sound behind your keyboard and computer screen. The character and you are completely separate beings and have two completely different mentalities and perspectives on the world around them. 

   I know that it sounds impossible when I say to take a step outside of the mentality that you know. Many of you are probably wondering if that is even possible for a human being to be capable of doing. There are two ways that I can possibly describe this process to you. The first would be to tap into the part of your brain that contains all of your empathy. Take all of that empathy and channel it towards your character. Reimagine everything that your character had just experienced and how you believe those circumstances would have affected you.

   For example, if a character loses someone they love rather tragically in your story it is time for their creator to tap into their similar memories and convey the emotions they felt in that time. It will create an emotional depth to your character that will allow your readers to connect and relate to the character on a more personal level. If the reader cannot relate to the character in even the most basic of ways they are going to lose interest and eventually just stop reading. 

   The second way that you can step out of your own head is to step into the head of your character. Imagine that you no longer exist, there is only the character and you are experiencing everything that they are going through directly. Every emotional strike or physical pain that they experience you feel it as well. It is your responsibility to record what their next step would be in that situation, whether they run to hide or they stand up and fight. You are recording the life history of your character and experiencing their life alongside them.

   When I am writing I try to look at the world through the eyes of the character. Perspective is very subjective, every single person that you are going to meet is going to have a differing perspective from you on something or other. Your character should be exactly the same. Before I even start writing a story about a particular set of characters I always take the time to think about what their opinions on certain public matters would be, or what they would say if someone broached a specific topic on them, so on and so forth. Once you are able to fully understand a character's perspective on the world and the circumstances going on in their world you have already created a pretty solid foundation on who your character is and who they may become. 

   You pretty much just created the first spark of light in your new universe. Now it all depends on how your character chooses to view and use that light that you gifted to them.