Self-publishing?

There has been a shift in the way self-publishing is viewed in recent years.

Once upon a time, a writer would be mocked and largely unread if s/he were to self-publish their story. Back in those days, if you weren't traditionally published it meant the quality of your writing was simply not good enough.
But not anymore.
Self-publishing has emerged as a realistic way to get yourself out there and there are currently around 250,000 books self-published every year. Writers are no longer afraid to go this route and for good reason too. With enough monetary funds and a little bit of confidence, it is possible to market your novel just as well as traditional publishers, and there are many cases where publishers who turned a blind eye to an author's work, offering them big money when their novel sells in the thousands.
If you believe in the quality of your work, then don't be afraid to go ahead and put it out there. Most of the time publishers deny a writer not because of the quality of the work, but because of the writers lack of a "name" to sell copies. However with one or two successful self-published books, you can acquire that "name". Don't be afraid to self-publish if you believe in your work, chances are you might be the next big thing!

Good luck

Be different!

The best way to end up finding yourself published?

Be unique.

It sounds really simple doesn't it? But with thousands of stories written every single day, how is it even possible to make yours really special? Pretty much every story we read or come up with ourselves has been rehashed a hundred times already, so in that case the only way you can make the story special, is by making your writing special. When you put our own voice to a certain story, it instantly sounds different. You could write a story about Hercules, about Jesus, about Buddha, about Odysseus, about Mohammed, about whoever and whatever, and even though there have already been a million stories told and written about this lot, no story has ever been written the same.

How do you make it so different that it'll pique the interest of major publishers though?
Add a completely different twist to it. Tell the story through the villains perspective...and make the villain seem like a prick or a hero himself or whatever. Use a bit of poetry here and there to break up the usual prose.
Above all use your own experiences to write the story, to truly make it your own. Imagine the story of Buddha, yet similar to the annoying brother you were as a child, you could write the comedic story of Buddha through the eyes of his little brother who annoyed the hell out of him (and if he didn't apparently have a little brother...then whatever make it up! Fiction people fiction!)

Good luck with it guys.

You learn something new everyday!

Honestly I just learnt that you can't really make a new page on a blog. So my most recent blog post in regards to a new page...is in fact redundant. But in saying that it is still maintained in a metaphorical sense. I have "metaphorically" made a new page on this blog by adding short stories and poems every once in a while aside from my regular (and slightly annoying) blog posts.

Now to make this somewhat pointless blog post somewhat meaningful, and relevant to writing and my title, go learn something everyday! So yeah, learning stuff is definitely a positive, and should be done on a regular basis....

It'd be safe to say reading this particular blog post of mine was a complete and utter waste of your time. Take care guys. Won't do it again I swear.

A New Page

So I have decided to add a new page to this blog. The page will feature poetry and short stories that I have written, and of course you too can feel free to share something you've written. Every week or so I will write a new poem or a new short story and add it to the page.

Finally the readers of this blog won't just have to put up with mindless ramblings from a young man, but they will have to put up with mindless writing from that young man too. I hope you all enjoy of course, I expect you won't but it never hurts to hope for the best. Just one of those things you'll have to put up with I'm afraid...not really actually, this is the internet, you can leave whenever the hell you want and read something else.

Why Bother?

This is a question which has plagued the majority of us by naysayers for generations upon generations.

Why bother?

Why bother writing? Why not just live a comfortable life as an office worker/a doctor/a teacher/a whatever whatever.

Well to this question I have to ask another question...
why did Thomas Edison bother inventing the light-bulb?

As human beings we have so much potential. Some of us are gifted in inventing, some of us are gifted in story-writing and some of us are gifted at athletics.
Story-writing has always played a major influence throughout history. Texts like The Odyssey, the Bible, The Lord of the Rings, One Thousand and One Nights are all some of the most incredible stories which humans were able to create from all around the world during different eras. Religions and myths and legends and even more stories stemming from them.

There is nothing better than a good story. And a good story-teller today could have a shrine made for him one day, or heck who knows, maybe even a cult to believe the stories he fabricated, (look at the obsession some women have with 50 Shades of Grey, no reason why they can't one day see the novel as divine).

I know I already believe A Song of Ice and Fire by George R Martin is pretty divine. Those books are the best I've ever read, perhaps even a better read than the Bible.
If you're still asking yourself: why bother writing at all? Then let me summarise why right now.
So you could maybe have your name one day immortalised and revered by your work. To have myths and legends and religions centred around the fiction you wrote. To place your mark in history. No biggie. Definitely not even a proper reason to bother writing....(it is).

Take care!

Brainstorming

Unless you're an absolute writing genius who can think up of everything on the spot, chances are at the start of your writing journey you're going to have to do a crapload of brainstorming.

A few pieces of advice for brainstorming can be seen right below.

1) While writing a story is usually a solo mission, brainstorming for a genius idea doesn't have to be. Gather a close group of friends, or family members, or if you're really bothered, even pick out some randoms on the street. Say hey, what do you think about this idea for a story or would you buy a book with this story-line? Either you'd get positive feedback, negative feedback, constructive criticism or if you picked the last option with randoms on the street, probably a few blank stares/being ignored/running for your life, all depending on which street you live in.

2) Now you've received a lot of feedback from people all around you. It's time to pick and choose what ideas you'd actually want to use in your story. After this a good follow up would be to research your heart out. You do NOT want to write a story about a terrorist led by Osama Bin Laden fighting America in Venezuela. Nor will you want to write a story set in Morocco where the people there are eating rib-eye steaks with mashed potato and gravy. Research the food, the places and every tidbit you can so you're well-versed about what you're going to write on.

3) Now it's time to make a character outline and a plot outline. Group all the ideas together and organise them into chapters (this can obviously be changed as you're writing if you come up with a new idea which would definitely improve the story) as well as starting a character profile on all the different characters you will have in the story. What makes them different, makes them unique, their place in this world you're creating and so on.

And there's your brainstorm done, time to get cracking on some writing! Good luck!

Feeling unmotivated?

You've got to the part in your story where the honey-moon period has faded away, and the finish line is still far off (usually when you've hit the middle especially when the part your writing seems like one of the less exciting parts).
Now you feel unmotivated and this could just be your next unfinished project.
STOP.

That's my advice to you. Stop writing. Take a break. Travel to the Bahamas. Sip on a cocktail martini. Get a foot massage. Watch some dolphins do some flips and shit (The Lonely Island reference). Or if you don't have 20,000 dollars just lying around somewhere, then taking a break could include playing video games or taking your dog for a walk, whatever the hell you enjoy.
Basically take your mind off writing for a month or two. Hopefully after that, you'll feel refreshed and looking forward to writing the rest of your story.

Writing a story isn't a race. You shouldn't treat it like one. Take your time and enjoy your writing experience. If after writing 30,000 words you lose the feeling you had when you first started scribbling away...you know where you were really excited about all the characters and all the subplots and all the potential avenues the story could lead, take a break until you feel that love and excitement for your story once again.