"You're a wizard, Harry."
"I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."
All good stories begin somewhere. It's not always "once upon a time," either. Sometimes the best adventures begin in the places you wouldn't expect, such as a galaxy far, far away or a hole in the ground. All stories begin with an idea: a little spark of the imagination, a phrase, person, situation or image that flashes into an ordinary person's mind.
That's when your troubles begin. For once the bug has entered your mind, it will haunt you day and night, possessing your every thought; infiltrating your workplace, classrooms, dreams and every activity you will ever do. This is how all great books begin.
A character is made, a plot developed, a world saved. In theory, at least. Now is the time to write, write, write. Pushing past all obstacles, slugging through the Doldrums, chugging coffee. You must do everything you can to keep the ideas alive and flowing, fighting on through brilliant ideas and gaping plot holes in order to get your characters safely to the end.
Writing takes on many names in the process of creating a story. Difficult; boring; exhilarating; painful; genius; dead--all different phases of the writing journey. Ernest Hemingway said,
"There's nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." And he was right.
No epic has ever been made overnight, and it is the sheer determination and willpower that you own yourself that will get you to the end. So begin this journey understanding that you will bleed, cry, throw your hands up in frustration, take a break for coffee and then do the whole entire process over again.
Never give up, never get in. That story, that bug inside of you HAS to get out, and only you can set it free.
Get writing!
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