The 'Apple Person' Returns...Sort Of

If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you’ll remember the “Apple Person”.

For you newcomers, I assigned my readers to begin writing a story by giving them a sentence to finish.  It began with an apple.  Those entries are archived here somewhere, so look them up.

I’m hoping that readers from long ago remember about that person, because I’ve been trying it again on Twitter.

I’m a firm believer that almost everyone can write, if they put their minds to it…and here’s how you do it.

Have you ever told a joke…or a story?  Guess what!  All fiction writers are nothing more than storytellers!

Have you ever told someone the steps needed to do something, like change a tire or cook a certain casserole?  That’s all that most how-to authors are doing!

Have you ever told your children all you can remember about your grandparents?  Then, you’re sharing history, just like history or biographical writers do!

I’d like you to try something.  Open your word processor, or get a pen and paper.  Got it?  Great!  Now, think of your favorite joke, and say the first sentence out loud.  Done?  Okay, now…write that sentence down.  Do that again with the second sentence.  And the third.  And the fourth.  Keep going until you finish with the story.

Now, read it to yourself.

Go a little further, and congratulate yourself.  You just wrote your first story.

The same thing goes for how-to or nonfiction.  Start with saying your first how-to step out loud, then write it down.  Speak, write, repeat.

Writing isn’t that difficult.  Really.  Coming up with ideas and characters?  Different thing altogether, and a topic for another day.

 

I’ve heard so many people say, “I wish I was a writer!”  To that I say, then what’s keeping you from writing?  The longest book in the world begins with a single sentence.  Just one.  If you get that sentence written, you’re on your way to actually being a writer.

Anyway, tomorrow begins your assignment.  You'll have a long weekend to complete it. 

It takes some discipline.  You have to make yourself write every day, even if it’s only a sentence…or rewording one you’ve already written.

And the basics to writing are all inside you, and there’s lots of help available.  Vocabulary can be enhanced with a thesaurus and a dictionary.  Usage comes from practice.

The excitement comes from you.  Transfer it to your written words.  Make them come alive!  And, you know what?  Maybe people will come along, and…

Keep reading!

Michael (T. M. Bilderback)