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Interesting article on writing myths….

Kawanee Hamilton

http://jamigold.com/2017/08/dont-believe-these-writing-myths-part-one-guest-jeff-lyons/

Myth 10: Show don’t Tell…

I’ve been guilty of using repeating this myth…. but clearly, anyone with enough creative juices to write a story/book/etc. would know that there are times and places that you absolutely have to tell something. I don’t think anyone really buys into this one. If someone is pregnant in a story, detailing every month of pregnancy would become monotonous to the reader. Even in books about pregnancy, they don’t do it.

Myth 9: A blank page is the enemy…

I can’t relate to this. A blank page to me; it doesn’t stay blank for very long. The only way I can address this myth is simply this: A blank page is an enemy because you aren’t filling it… my husband used to say: Do something Hamilton, even if it’s wrong! Do something. He also used to say that more squirrels die from indecision than anything else. Because they dart different ways and don’t commit.

You can always correct or change something later… you cannot change or correct something that doesn’t exist. Write! Write! Write, edit later. Fill the empty page!

Myth 8: Write what you know…

Eh, never really held to this one either. I research, research (and get distracted a lot) and research new things. That’s not to say don’t write about a town you know… knowing the geography and basing a story off of that is fine.

No one “knows” a killer clown/alien that lives in a sewer or a vampire/werewolf for that matter. You don’t have to know someone with Alzheimers to cry at the end of “The Notebook”, you don’t have to have been attacked by a shark to write Jaws.

What we know about these things is how to pluck someone’s strings. We do that by playing on our own fears, thrills, happiness or sadness by what makes us angry. Stick with that, and you can write anything.

Myth 7: Writers write everyday…

Ummm I don’t, and yes I’ve fallen for this one. Taking a day off, or not feeling up to writing doesn’t make you any less of a writer. I have felt bad about it, or questioned my “writer-ness” but I also put on my big girl panties and realized that… sh*t happens. The only thing that affects my “writer-ness” is my ability to touch people with my writing. (when I do it) Ideas come to me every day, but I usually file them away for future stories… that will probably die with me. 😦 But I constantly find source for stories.

Myth 6: Storytelling and writing are the same thing 

Never heard this one.. I think I can tell a great story, but writing… ermmm I haz issues. So I have the opposite problem than the one described in the article.

 

Kaw~
Apparently, this is a 2 part article, I look forward to expressing my thoughts on the rest of them and hope I find the rest of it. 

Published by Kawanee Hamilton

Kawanee was born in Alexandria Louisiana but her first real memories are of Russellville Arkansas. She's always loved to read, and has always had an vivid imagination. She grew up in a house where almost everyone read, they didn't need a TV although she could still be found planted on her butt in front of her grandma's TV watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. She made up her first story with her mother when her cat died; it was about where pets go when they die. She continued to create stories from bad dreams she had and her dad would help her change nightmares to stories. They would sit up in a chair until the scary went away. He told her that: "Dreams, good or bad, are just stories your mind makes up. You are the author of your dreams; if you don't like them rewrite them. " She was hooked and has continued to read and write stories drawing from dreams, sights and just pure imagination. She just recently decided she'd like to try and get published and fail than wonder what if. Her story continues but where it goes from here is up to you, the Reader... She hopes you'll join her in finding out where her journey goes from here!

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