and it made me think about stories and how we write them, and why we write them. But more then that, it made me think of why we read what we read.

Which makes me wonder, if we only read what supports what we have preconceived to be true, and thus our mind never expands beyond the limits we have put upon it, aren’t we just prisoners to our own fear of being wrong?

Read Fearlessly! (if you dare)

Well, what are our choices? we can take the direct route when it comes to religion, and just have the “gods” in question be active, perhaps a bit spite-filled, smiting rotten sonnamabeouchs, because lets be real… nothing provides faith like seeing Doubting Thomas get blow to pieces right in front of you by an angry god. So, when it comes to writing fantasy or fictional stories.. that is ALWAYS an option, and in some cases a fun option!

What do you mean I made avacado pits too big! I'll show you!

On the other side, we can have an inactive god or gods&goddesses, or divinity that has chosen not to take part in the affairs of mortals, for example “And Eternity” by Piers Anthony, which is part of the Incarnates of Immortality Series.

or perhaps take a jab at a bit more active/inactive run like Percy Jackson, we have Gods that just exist around/outside the mortal realm and don’t deal with “everyday” people.

We as writers are given countless options on how to deal with religion in our WIP’s to see what works and maybe what does not work.

But if you ever stumble for ideas, head off down to any religious debate topic/forums and invariably you will be bound to hear someone with the audacity to say they could do a better job then God, or if you are lucky, they boast that they could make up a better religion then what is known today. Well, as a writer, if you are looking for ideas, tell them to Step up and Provide (if they are being jerks feel free to tell them -or shut up).

Who knows, it might even give you some idea… because when I am looking for ideas about gods and goddesses I like to dig up Greek and Roman religious images which,well, then modern religion comes knocking at my door while I am looking at porn…

Write Fearlessly!

“How stupid can someone be before it becomes unbelievable?”

Fortunately for non-fiction writers this is never a challenge or an issue as there are countless books, blogs and websites devoted to this very subject, and I enjoy most of them. But for fiction writers this can be brain wracking as they write and start to realize that one (or more) or perhaps an entire situation just seems too moronic to be believable, and they stumble upon the idea that people can’t be THAT stupid.

Don’t they realize?

Why don’t they just wake up?

No one could be that gullible?

These are issues I fight with all the time, because I keep falling over the problem that “It just does not make sense that people can be this stupid”

Well, I started to look into the issue and I have to admit I was rather amazed at what I found and in many ways, liberated.

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.“

Well, yes, but a simple quote does not answer all our questions, nor does it make anything true or not, but it does set the ground work for where we can go. Which is course, “Human’s being stupid”

However, this is beset by a problem, I am looking up human’s being stupid on a very complex and advanced tool called a computer, using a resource called the “Internet” to support my research, and would it seem that right out the gate, given what is self-evident before me that humans are in-fact, not stupid, they can’t be, or I would not typing this and posting it on something as truly amazing as the internet.

As quick stop in Youtube, and after digesting several videos of humans hurting themselves in the most painful ways I could not even imagine following that up with a bout of Fail.Blog set my situation at ease. While yes, Humans can be creative, constructive, and highly developed in technical means like mathematics, physics, and mechanical science, on the same token we tend to be surprisingly stupid in logic and rational, or sometimes dubbed “Common sense”

Let me start with one of the oldest “Logical” debates, and of course it will involve Religion (Religion tends to bring out the best and worst in people) But here it goes, one of the better known Atheist vs Theist topics.

The Problem of Evil: “If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving, they could make a world where evil does not exist”

This gets followed by a painful display of a warped and misguided series of what people might try to pass off a logical thought process, and normally ends with something along the lines of: “There is evil in the world – Ergo God (As set by the above requirement) does not exist”

Ok, now the problem of evil has been addressed and answered by countless other sites, so don’t have to address it. However, a soundly rational person would say “What part of all-powerful did you miss?”

On a purely logical level our ability to reason should tells us that all-powerful overrides every other component of the scenario because once placed into the equation means this entity can do anything: ergo – you can’t put a requirement on them as any/all other qualities are mutable as all-powerful would allow them to change said traits at their whim.

But that is never enough of an explanation for anyone, and this starts the downward spiral, as people argue back in and forth how something with said qualities could allow or not allow something to exist.

Ending with normally childish ranting like: If god is all powerful can god make a rock so big that god can’t lift it.

Well, again, Logic and Reason would tell us that something that possesses the all-powerful trait is equally immune to paradox, and thus can do things that defy the mental abilities of being that are limited, much the same way a limited being like a human would not be able to grasp how the world smells to a dog, because a human is far more limited then the dog is in that area. I don’t know how a dog can find the smell of excrement fascinating enough to pull against the leash to keep sniffing, but, they do, and I also realize that it is something I might never understand, but a s writer I can try to imagine, pontificate on, and even make an aspect of my next story, but that does not mean I truly grasp it.

But the fact that humans would use this outdated argument is not an issue so much as the people that do argue this think they are the “smart” ones. How does THAT one happen?

Well, when the herd mentality of humans kicks in and people get their information not from the direct source of what they believe they are arguing against, but from what “their” side says about what they are arguing against (The classic Us/Them Fortress Mentality),  what I means is Atheist go to Atheist sites to learn about Theism. Yes, I realize (and I am sure you also realize) that makes about as much sense as going to a Republican site to learn what the Democrats are about. Don’t laugh, that is not only done, it is done so much that it is not even remotely unexpected, in-fact it is so common place it is not only accepted, expected, but even encouraged, why do you think a republican site would bother to “Tell you the truth about those Demarcates” and vice-versa, if they did not want the people on “their side” to get be informed entirely by them.

The fact is however that this mentality spreads to all facets of our daily life is, from our religion right down to our diet choices, abet sad, but also just a fact of our existence.

This is why we live in a world with boundless amounts of info at our fingertips and legions of ignorant people. Because humans don’t want their preconceived notions challenged, they don’t want to entertain that they might be wrong, they want to be right, and they want to be correct,and they will be believe anything that tells them so.

This is why people hold on to ignorant ideas that Pit Bulls are vicious dogs, despite the fact that sites like AKC, UKC, BADRAP, and boundless other sites from vets to pet owners, from books to documentaries, repeatedly state that this is a lie, a bare faced lie, people still want to cling to their little pet ideas that Pit Bulls are vicious dogs, regardless of what the truth of the situation is.

Well with that mind, make your world as stupid as you want to, in-fact if you don’t throw in a few legions of truly moronic myopic people into your fictional world, it might not be believable, but as it stands there is not limit to the volume of idiocy you can add, just as there is no limit to the volume of idiocy in our everyday world, right here on the net.

Write Stupidity Fearlessly… they won’t get the joke anyway.

Yah. I suppose now is time for me to wake up and get real. But as odd as it may sound, no matter how many times I give myself a reality check about the feasibility that writing a book will even net me money, I still think somehow that it will make famous or something, The idea that this is better then anyone else stuff still slowly creeps back in my head. Then I go read another book and realize what i am writing is pure lard, but that only lasts so long and I get back into my dreams. Hope and Ego can be such a nasty combo sometimes, but I can’t be the only person subject to this self punishment. But in the end, I keep it close to the vest, worried that some one might take my baby, and all that. Blah, Blah, Blah.

In the end, however, it is still not written, it is just a story that is bouncing around in my head and forever trapped in La-La land. So this NaNo I am trying to write it, dang it. and if I do get it published I plan to give 80% of what I make off it to NaNo, (Boy that took a lot not to delete, to be honest, it’s a scary idea to toss away a dream like that in hopes to accomplish a reality.

As time beats down upon me, I realize that there are those out there that truly have a gift to write, like Moderan, who seems to be plowing though his novel, and yet does not seem to be clinging to ideas of fame or fortune. What is his secret, I suppose you an go to his blog and ask him. When I seek advice I go to those that accomplish and ask. Which is why I read books like the Power of Positive Thinking.

But I would rather write the story now, then hold these dreams. So be it. If I would have made a million bucks off this dream of mine then NaNo will be will set for the next series of authors. In the end, let me leave you with some words of wisdom from someone far more daring and accomplished then myself.

Write Fearlessly!

Charge!

We hear these lies, “The first line is the most important” and thus we quest off after some lost ideal of the perfect opening line. I say thee NAY! Do not run off on this fools errand, for it will end in naught but a hearty disappointment! Creative writing, wonderful stories, and epic tales do not depend on opening lines!

Never one in my life have I ever heard the line “The story was poor but the opening line saved it”

and I never will…. we all know this true. The opening line serves no other purpose then to get them to read the next line, and then the next. Each line leads to the next, so the first one is no more important then the last, or the one that follows it.

Why is this you ask?

Because my brother in arms against the hordes of misguided advice, there is only one thing that matters, and that is the story itself, with that put out, write it the way you feel it come to life for you. Your world, your tale, your story! Pen it down and bring it life,by your hand.

I have heard the highest praise of “From the first line to the last, it was a great story” and that is what matters.

With that said, my only advice to you is be consistent in what you do.

Write Fearlessly!

So I see this sign 20% off Twilight.

Yes I have not read the book, I have waited for the movie to come out and my budget to allow me to watch the movie before I decided to read the book. Why you might ask? Let me tell you.

Because this is the rule of how things work, if you read the book before the move and it is a good book, the movie will suck, if you read a book based on the movie before the movie, the book will suck, if you watch the movie and then read the book that the movie was based on, you have a good shot of enjoying both.

So that is what I do.

Anyway, back to Twilight, so I see that it is 20% off WITH a membership discount card. So I walk up to the front desk and ask for the card, because my Pet Smart, my Food Town, Food World, PAW’s and all my other “We want to track your purchasing habits” cards were free, I expected this to be no different.

Now, I have to give the guy at the counter gold marks for really being a great salesman, but when I heard that I needed to pay 20 bucks for a discount card, I almost spit the over priced cup of black with two sugars coffee on his counter.

Now, every time I turn around I see brick and mortar book stores having “it hard” thanks to Amazon, but apparently they don’t have it “Hard enough” to give a discount card away for free to people that.. I don’t know.. want to buy books from them.

because lets be real, if I am going to fill out the forum for a discount card, I am going to buy a book with it, perhaps, a few, and “In the long run” does not mean squat when I only have 10 – 20 bucks to spend on books per pay check (if I am lucky), going home with a “Discount card” for next time, just does not cut it.

see more Fail Blog

So, now I am at home, no book, no discount card, and wondering who’s brilliant idea it was to charge people to be your customer.

I mean, Ok if you offred me something I could not get someplace else, sure, membership and all that jazz, specialy books, hard to find out of print stuff and I need to pay to be a member, ok, you got me.. but seriously… when you sell books… along with everyone else… I have no idea what they are thinking.

Anyway. That is my bit… and why I have not read Twilight yet.

When I get around to buying the book, I’ll give a review of it.

Thanks for reading.

What amazed me however was that on a writing forum I was on, I was watching people give this movie a very bad review, saying things like “2 hours of crap” and the like.

I will say this now, if you ever  plan to write, go watch this movie, it will show you first hand what a chairacre  driven story is. Marely and Me is a story about the people, their lives and done in truly an amazing tale of love, growth and just some chaos in our everyday lives.

So sure, there was no Death Star to blow up, or some ring of power, but it was still none the less a very enjoyable story about people.

And if you plan to write, if you plan to develop people, watching this movie will be a great boon to you.

and it is an enjoyable movie to boot!

Nevermore however this affects writing and world building, as we constantly face everyone and anyone shouting, whining and complaing about what not to do.

so I am not going to tell you what not to do, I am going to say “Try this”

And here is my “Try this” idea: Tell “Them” to shove it, and do what you wanted to do to begin with.

Truly I tell you.

Write Fearlessly!

When I asked this question to many other writers I got vast array of answers but one seemed to be reoccurring, and was the mantra of published writers, both self and traditional.

Paraphrased, they said – “Endurance”

While each tried to explain it their own way, this is what I gleaned from their bits of wisdom and plan to pass it along to you.

Writing is like a sport, a race even, something you do with a goal at the end, it is not job, a job is something you do to make money to buy the stuff you want so you now have to go out and make more money, there is no goal in a job beyond remain the cycle of earn and spend.

But writing, that is like swimming the English Channel, or climbing Everest, you have a goal, and the difference between those that do and those that don’t is, well assuming they both have the same skills, talents and intelligence, is Endurance.

So yah, it is hard, like anything where you have a goal, you bolt out the starting gate and think you are going to finsih that marathon like it was nothing,and about 2 miles in, it hits you, this is a long run, then it begins to set in that this is work, now you are hitting an uphil climb and your mind is screaming this is hard.

Well, at this point, in the end, like a Maraton, or a any goal, there are those that push though that wall, and those that don’t.

Push Fearlessly!

Billy Mayes was one of them.

But I wonder if he told his parents he was going to become a legend from selling Oxy Clean (or countless other products he pitched for), would they all have laughed at him.

Sure he might become rich?

But Famous! Never!

A Legend has Passed.

And yet… Here is he.

The pitchman is a name that we all know better then the products he sold.

And I have to admit I have bought products only because Billy Mayes told me to, and I’ll be if I would accept anything but the fact they were the best things I ever used because Billy Mays told me they were the best things I’ll ever use. He was just that good.

So… if his passing and his life has taught me anything, it is that following your dreams no matter how you start or what you do, the limit to where you go with them, is entirely up to you.

Billy Mayes: July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009

Legendary Fearlessly!