28 Blogs Later - A Retrospective
Here's a little irony for you; I sat down to write a blog celebrating the fact that I had made it this far ...and I got writer's block. I wanted to reflect on what, if anything, my blog had accomplished and it landed me in a surprisingly abstract state of mind.
Summarising the success of anything requires an understanding of what you were trying to achieve in the first place and, in that sense, my goal was a modest one. I wanted to offer all of you lovely people some free words so that you could assess my writing ability. A bewildering array of fresh talent has been produced by the expanding frontier of e-publishing and I needed a way to intrigue people about my more substantial works, known by some literary types as; 'Books' ;-)
Over the course of writing my blog, I have found myself engaged with something more, though. I had great trepidation about becoming 'a blogger' because I wasn't a fan of the mediums' early history. When the popularity of the internet erupted, a great many people felt that writing an online diary, for the world to share, was a worthy use of their time. Though it is nice that people can share their day to day happenings with the world, much of this material is self-indulgent to the point of offering nothing to the reader. Needless to say, that isn't what I've been trying to achieve.
Luckily, once I realised the necessity of writing a blog for promotional purposes, I found that it had an evolutionary effect on many aspects of my craft and opened doors to expressing ideas which don't really fit in else where. Maybe the shorter word count just allowed me to indulge my inner columnist but whatever the case, I have learned a great deal from the experience and would encourage others to blog about their interests, whether they are related to writing or not.
Over the course of the past year, I have found that my goal has changed into something more than that of self-promotion. Above my own interests, I want to promote the importance of the written word and encourage others to express themselves. Writing is an extremely subjective thing, as are most of the things which stem from creativity but we can all learn from each others journeys.
Now, I wish that I could lay down some rules that I've learned along the way but I can't. Any advice that I have is spread throughout my blogs and doesn't ever produce a; 'this must be done that way', type of thing. Nor can I offer any particular scene structure or method for dealing with the dramatic resolution of your work. Nope, all I can offer is slithers of advice about how to truly express yourself and produce something which, even if greeted with indifference by the buying public, will satisfy you, as its author. Something that will leave you with the feeling of a vision realised, rather than a crafty grab for cash which can be considered a failure until the revenue stream turns up to save your sanity.
Now, to the retrospective. I've gone through all of my past blogs and presented the title along with one or two of my favourite quotes. In some cases I have also added an explanatory note.
Enjoy, and if something sparks your interest, please go back and read it, even if you have already. Although these offerings come weekly, monthly or (in this case) bi-monthly, they aren't supposed to be a thing of the moment but some earnest philosophy from a life spent obsessed with writing.
1) 'A Bad Book?'
Authored after my electronic publishing career had just begun, I wasn't too sure about it, if I'm honest but then the start is generally an uncomfortable thing for me. I still stand by much of what I said though.
Quote;
'Ignoring the true desires of your creative being is the surest path to failure.'
2) 'Writing and morality'
Here I began to expand on my philosophical questioning of life and writing in a more direct way.
Quotes;
'As authors we must be wary of our own moral attachments because we create worlds of personal perspective.'
'Most moral codes contain such sweeping judgements that they invariably clash with most others.'
3) 'Keeping Track of Characters, Attaining the Full Scope of a Novel and the Horrible Realisation That the World Is Far Too Complicated For Mortals To Apprehend'
Quote;
'I see my characters as mischievous minions.'
4) 'Social Criticism and Dictatorial Regimes'
Quote;
'Social criticism has become conspicuous in its absence in the modern age.'
(Read; 'Citizen Class 5' for a good, well delivered, dose of social criticism.)
5) 'Understanding and Explanation In Literature (Coming Soon)'
Quote;
'Understanding isn't a polar state but a brief respite in a storm of knowledge.'
6) 'Creativity, Originality and the Problems With Advertising'
Quote;
'A very fundamental level of success comes from offering something new.'
7) 'To Swear Or Not To Swear?'
Quote;
'I want to explain the validity of swearing to those who find it pointless and offensive.'
8) 'Say Something. Say It All. Say It Today'
Quotes;
'...without an increase in the variety of content, all of this new media just equals a louder megaphone for the same people to shout at us through.'
'We need to value self-expression more or risk reaching saturation point of formulas and repetition.'
Final thought;
Give men words and they will give you civilisation. Give them power and they will destroy it.
9) 'Zeitgeist Writing, Catching a Genie In a Bottle and the Quest For the Holy Grail'
Quotes;
'It is easy to confuse an aspect of the spirit of man with its entirety.'
'To capture the spirit of an age we must appreciate not only what people want but how they feel about those wants which are left unfulfilled.'
10) 'Does Writing About God Count As Science-Fiction?'
This blog was a teaser about; 'Beige Soup'
11 & 12) Humour, Happiness, Peace and Love; x X x (part 1 & 2)
This was an interesting experiment which I conducted for the benefit of anyone who may care. Now, I would suggest that to learn anything from it you should carry out research on the control which is my default literature (...hint, hint, buy my fiction please).
Quotes;
'Happily ever after, in love, means endless satisfaction with the minor niceties of life because you have found your light.'
Disclaimer; The story was written hastily, in a couple of hours, because I didn't want to get involved in the usual rigorous redrafting and recasting.
13) 'Nordic-walking, Frontal Lobotomies and a General Dread of Self-promotion Which Could Make a Person's Brain Sprout legs and Run Away.'
Quote;
'I want to convey the substance of who I am through my fiction, rather than a skeleton of my history through experience and qualification.'
14) 'Fluffy Kittens, Prestigious Works and a Talent For Postulating the Preposterous'
Explains the genesis of; 'The Fifth Descendant'.
15) 'Thinking Without Language, Why Ants Should Rule the World and Tomorrow's Words'
Here I considered the many virtues of ant society and the achievements of animals that think without language.
Quote;
'Without words, we lose the ability to communicate things which are beyond the immediate moment.'
16) 'Production Lines of the Mind, Infobesity and Going On An Information Diet'
Quote;
'People today consume information at an unprecedented rate but is there a point at which saturation of information impedes our ability to understand?'
17) 'Updating Attitudes and the Rock'N'Roll Sci-Fi Revolution'
Quotes;
'In all of my novels, I try to incorporate themes which are relevant to the culture and attitudes of today.'
'So, that's my ambition. To start a revolution in sci-fi and explore how the people of today might meet the future of tomorrow, not just what the future of tomorrow might look like.'
18) 'Is There A Line To Be Crossed In Using A Pseudonym Or Can An Author Make Whatever False Claims They Like?'
Quote;
'If I get to write my own back-story, conscience free, then; HOORAY. I'm an astronaut from the future who has met God.'
19) 'Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But ...Words Will Only Help Me Commit Social Media Suicide?'
Quotes;
'I think my fictional characters seem to have greater freedoms of speech than I do in the real world'.
'Restrict people's ability to openly consider what thoughts are in their head and you will end up with a pent-up population, who snap instead of chat.'
20) 'Creativity's Quest For Unobtainable Excellence and Its Ongoing Argument With Productivity In the Form Of Deadlines'
Quote;
'I missed the deadline for the release of my latest novella. My only excuse is the ...ahem ...continued pursuit of unobtainable excellence.'
21) 'The End'
This blog was about ...erm ...endings ...so, if you're struggling there, it might be worth checking out.
22) 'If You Think About That You'll Go Mad and Other Arguments For Ignorance'
Quotes;
'One aspect of why we refuse to consider certain subjects is a fear of challenge to our own identity.'
'Most of us don't want to be considered bad, or strange, people and so we concern ourselves with ideas which are most fitting to our position within society'.
23 & 24) 'Kobo's Questions of Content, Trust and Intent (Parts 1 & 2)'
When my works were taken down from Kobo, along with those of all other indie authors, I became quite fixated on the matter, as you may well expect. Obviously my works' only crime was that of being the highest quality fiction but one bad apple and all that. Publication of obscene materials, bereft of proper labelling, was the cause but many questions were raised.
Quote;
'I thought I'd take the opportunity to offer the world at least one indie author's point of view on this situation ...and try not to crush any of the egg shells which now rest under my feet.'
25) 'Vicarious Life Experience, Transposing Themes and the Importance of Empathy'
Quotes;
'Very little is literal in literature,
Even if literally little the literature be' - A bonus tongue twister :-)
'When writing from experience, our perception of the experience is often of greater import than the experience itself.'
26) 'Defeating the Ogres of the Establishment With Made Up Words and Brainbows'
Quotes;
'Almost every philosopher, be they literary or purist, finds a need to invent words in order to put across new concepts.'
'If words don't exist, make them. If rules tie your hands away from expression, then break them. Speak freely and unimpeded because language belongs to everyone, rules and all.'
27) 'Emotional Gateaux, Waterfalls of Words and a Dreaming In Depression'
Quotes;
'Is the such a thing as; 'Good Emotional Content?'
'Disappointment can be born from happy fantasy just as easily as madness can be born from misery.'
Thanks for reading and for more information just search; Loron-Jon Stokes.
Endlessly, Perpetually, Something,
L-J
Final thought;
'A given set of inferences are only true, or relevant, for as long as their environment sustains them.'