How to Have Fun Writing Fiction

Be a geek. Really, it's the only way.

I've seen many aspiring writers complain about the more technical side of creative writing. I freely admit I also feel worn out by being so conscience about grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting. It's all very tiring and downright overwhelming.

Many of the complaints I've seen and heard pertains to a rhetorical question, why do I have to bother with all this tedious work? Readers don't even care as long as it's a great book!

Well, it's a two-part answer. One, all those technical details are half the fun of creative writing. And yes, it is supposed to be hard work. If it were easy, we'd all be international best-sellers living in mansions. So of course there's hard work involved.

Two, communication. From an artistic perspective, technical details such as proper grammar are communication tools. Unless these tools are used in the right way that's appropriate for the story, the story itself with never be communicated. It will never matter how brilliant and original the story idea might be, without those communication tools the story will seem like bad writing and not worth the effort of reading.

It was Thomas Edison who said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

For writers of fiction, the technical side is the 99%. There aren't any shortcuts, no easier way of jumping to the end and reaping the rewards. That's life.

There is such thing as taking the technical a little too far, but that depends on the type of author and also the type of fiction. I write emotionally-driven stories. If someone who saw my writing said, wrong modifier or too many filters, they might as well speak gibberish to me. Yes, I know what these technical terms mean, but because my stories are founded on emotional connections, any feedback I might receive also has to provide, at least in a small way, an emotional connection. That's my chosen language for writing.

Now back to the title of this article. How do you have fun writing? I memorize the things needed for the 99% so I can sit back and enjoy the 1%.

And that's more than enough for me.

How to be a Professional

In recent months, I've confronted a number of authors who, well, I'm going to be brutally honest, reeks of an unprofessional. While I've noticed that since I first started to be an active author online, I chalked it up to the same reasons everyone says. Not hearing tone of voice, bad communication, inexperience, etc, etc. There are always unprofessional people just about anywhere, whether it's online or an office. But, on the internet, it's gotten out of hand.

This lack of professionalism isn't exclusive to genre. I've met just as many romance writers who are just as bad as horror writers. It's the internet culture itself that has taken on a whole new life and rearing it's ugly head, making a very bad name for the rest of us who actually have a clue.

For awhile, I shrugged it off. It's only a small handful of people behaving like trolls, right? But the numbers have increased. A lot. People aren't behaving like trolls only. Schoolyard bullies, self-appointed authorities when they have no authority, aggressive popularity games, threats and bashing, borderline fascism. It's getting downright scary in cyberspace.

I'm 34 years old. High school was a long time ago. I have zero interest in being involved with petty high school games. I know I'm not the only one who has confronted this... attitude. And I know for a fact it's not coming from kids. Full grown adults, behaving with less maturity than a daycare, in their 40's, 50's and 60's. It's quite sad.

I've thought about writing a guide to professionalism, using my ten years of working experience in publishing, advertising and marketing. I love helping to build and maintain a community, which I feel is sorely lacking in today's world. But you know what? It doesn't matter. Real professionals already know.

Professionals know there are no shortcuts in life and the internet isn't an exception. We already know that the rank system on online book retailers isn't reflective of sale numbers, it's reflective of the number of clicks because that's how computer language works. We know the real money isn't in book sales, it comes from selling rights for movies and TV shows, and for that, an agent is needed. We all know this and more, because professionals have common sense.

So as much as it frustrates me to see writers behaving badly when I'll think, if they just knew what I know about being professional... I've realized that at the end of the day, it makes no difference. I can only be myself, take full responsibility for myself, and devote my time to my own projects. Because that's being a professional.