Take Five: #10 of 30: Find your passion



Take Five
Five-minute reads about writing
Nov. 3 - Nov. 30, 2010

Courtesy: Sasha Soren (Random Magic)
Twitter: @RandomMagicTour

#10 of 30: Find your passion


Guest author: Bob Mayer
Visit Bob Mayer: Official site
Twitter: @Bob_Mayer
Find his books: Bob Mayer Central (Amazon)
Non-fiction: Who Dares Wins
Bob Mayer-Jennifer Crusie collab: Wild Ride (2010)  
Read an excerpt from Wild Ride 


Author Mark Twain said, *'Write what you know.' I think you should write what you want to know. 

For example, writer Elizabeth George, people think she's British. No. She was a school teacher in Orange County, California. She just liked England. And now the BBC has produced a show based on her characters.

Write what you read. You should be an expert in your genre, you should know everything that's out there.

I always get asked what's hot. Who cares? Write what you're passionate about. Writing about something you don't care about will show up in the writing, it really will, you'll feel it coming off the page.

You should care about what you're writing about, and you should be able to answer these questions for yourself:


Why is this idea important? 
What makes it necessary for me to write this story?

Author and essayist Virginia Woolfe said that if you don't tell the truth about yourself, you can't tell it about other people. No matter what you write, you're bleeding onto the page, but you have to give the reader a reason for wanting to read what you have to say. 


No one owes you a reading. You have to earn it. Will anyone else care? It's your job to make them care.

Note: You can watch the rest of this lecture (about three mins.) below:




From writing discussion segment by author Bob Mayer.

Used with permission.
*Attributed. Mark Twain, incidentally, puts in an appearance in Random Magic.

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