…Authors, write about what you feel…

…when Master Gallacher first tumbled into this scribbling thing-y in a more serious vein, there was so much ‘new-stuff-to-learn’… whether it be in the self-publishing idiom, or as a ‘housed’ author… it has been all of ten years since the first paragraph of THE VIOLIN MAN’S LEGACY crept into life… and things have never been the same since… I’ve discovered, at least for this ol’ Jurassic Scot, the ‘learning’ never stops… basic tenets were thrown my way at the start… cool buzz-phrases, like ‘find yer Author’s’ Voice’… and ‘character arcs’, ‘plot development’, ‘pace’, ‘build the platform’ (i.e. ‘generate a readership following’)… other neat novelties were discoveries about cover-artwork, editing, proofreading, ‘weasel words’ (the nonsense that keeps repeating in the novice writing, such as the overuse of ‘that’,’very’, and ‘so’… wasteful proliferation of adverbs, (the newish writer’s crutch)… ‘padding out’ passages in order to gain word count (the most soporific mechanism as far as your readers are concerned)… and thankfully, that education continues non-stop… however, let me point to another wee piece of advice, which is ‘write about what you know’…

…common sense, yes, but I think there’s another more compelling directive I would offer to new writers (and even to established authors), which is ‘write about what you feel’… here’s why… a long time ago, I heard sum’thing that has stuck with me ever since, ‘people may not remember precisely what you said, or how you said it, or even where you said it, but they’ll remember HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL when they heard you speak’… now, I’m basically a crime thriller author, but I am conscious of feedback from my readers when they refer to passages where sensitive emotions of the characters are centre-stage on the pages… it’s okay, in my not-so-‘umble opinion, to lay bare the human anxieties and angst that affect most people, including the good and bad characters in my books… then, and only then for me, is the genre of ‘crime thriller’ enhanced in the thinking readers’ minds… how’s that for ‘armchair/laptop’ writer philosophy, Mabel?… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

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