Topic; what should you write about?

Whatever you’re passionate about. You could go from a politic blog to a sci-fi novel, there is no limit to creativity. The only rule is: to be a writer, you have to be a reader.

Through reading you learn the mistakes to avoid. Ever wondered why in the world you met a certain awful person? So you don’t become like them, suggests Gregory David Roberts in Shantaram. (Awesome book, by the way). Writing is the same. Do shallow characters bother you? Typos? Useless characters? Choices that make no sense? Lack of setting? You got the gist… 

Fear not, only a few authors have a very clear idea of what their next project is going to be about. If you don’t, it’s ok. I knew I wanted to write a book at 11 but I had no clue what to write about, so I didn’t. Life happened. Eventually I started writing a book when the story I wanted to tell was shouting so loud into my brain I couldn’t sleep at night (MANY years later). It might take time.

While waiting to come up with a project, just write. It’s a fun exercise. Take a piece of paper and vomit words on it, gibberish, anything that comes to mind. You’ll be surprised to see the pen take over, your thoughts coalescing into whatever is hurting just below the surface of your subconscious. You’ll feel better. You’ll get better. You might even integrate your word splurges into a short story later.

Don’t be a copycat. Don’t write about vampires or dystopian because it’s trendy. Write about your obsessions, the thorns in your side, the people you love and hate. A friend of mine is writing about being schizophrenic and PTSD (WOW!). 

Fun fact: characters have personalities of their own. So you might start writing a short story that turns into a novel. Your sweet princess might become an assassin, or you might fall for one your characters who might break your heart later. Yes, writing is as much fun as reading and more…because you can always change the ending ;)

In short…JUST WRITE! Even if you think you have nothing special to say, remember that you are special and no one sees the world like you do :)

Thanks for reading and feel free to reblog or to ask below for any topics you’d like me to add to this series. So far I’m planning to talk about: genres, length, how to write a novel, editing, and publishing (self vs traditional). Till the next!