Which Skills should a Writer Learn —Apart from Writing?

Successful fiction and article writing requires a universal mind. Over the years I’ve developed multi interests in what’s going on in the World.

Be Open Minded — Like a Sponge

Apart from learning how to develop characters, understand where the story really comes from when writing, I read a lot about everything — and I do it with absolute focus and interest; the skill here, is to be an open minded person, not to push ideas away by telling yourself you don’t have time for something unrelated to writing.

Most successful artists and makers are open minded people. In other words, they are highly interested in all types of things that are happening around the World, and in their own world.

A good writer should have a keen focus on the main source of their topic. Something central to their themes and subjects that motivates them to write, will put meat into the writing.

Looking outwards instead of always inwards for material will help to avoid navel gazing. A writer must ask questions about the work, and be honest and brave about weighing up their abilities.

Study materials and Objectivity

Facing up to the task of going deep into a subject over a period of weeks and coming out the other side well informed, is a great way to build confidence in writing about people and characters — as an article writer or a fiction writer.

Studying a topic deeply gives a writer the objective attitude towards the subject material, and makes for a better piece of work.

A good fiction writer needs to take an interest in human nature, psychology, how people live their lives, why people are selfish, what people really seek in life — I think at the root of any pursuit there’s an enormous desire to be recognized and appreciated. This can be summed up as the need for human love.

Fiction is just a Reflection of Real Life

All characters in a story are doing what people do in real life, they are trying to obtain something important to them. That importance is what they have deemed meaningful in their own lives.

Don’t be Afraid of the Wolves

Politics is important to understand. To appreciate why politicians don’t do the obvious — like make everything sweet for everybody, and create policies that would create an atmosphere of positivity in society.

Think Deeply about everything you Look at

To think deeply about what they are trying to achieve and how they are mixed up in a churning wheel of fortune and misfortune; politicians don’t control things individually, they are part of the pack of people who can’t agree on what is meaningful to the party, so they take the low road, the best bet, and look for the trail of money.

This creates problems in society, politicians thrive on problems, it justifies their job — so, when they solve a problem that they created in the first place, they feel like they are doing a fine job. Madness, really.

All this is what a fiction writer should study and try and understand. Life beyond the page is where the best characters and stories come from, the weirdest, wildest and whackiest things of life are found among the power groups, and individuals who have an influence in society.

Politics, business, and people in general is rich with chaos. An author’s job is to make sense of this chaos and develop it into a great story.

For me, this desire to find out about something important motivates me to do research and read the best writers and commentators on the subject.

Our stories reflect the life we live, so a fiction writer should be able to understand the realities, the events in society, and shape them into a good story that has meaning to a reader.

Life beyond the Front Porch

Most writers suffer from living a lonely existence, and this leads to a feeling of living in a bubble. Living in a bubble of thoughts can create a feeling that you’re just expressing your own opinion about a major subject. This can be a work killer to an honest person.

Nobody wants to pretend at knowing about corporate business, or a major political event, but remember this, those involved in those events don’t know the half of it either, they are making it up as they go along.

The knowledge that we seek is often the moving target of changing opinions.

Movers and Shakers on the Hop

Politicians and movers and shakers in business are often caught on the hop, and have to improvise a tune to get through the mess that someone else created for them.

Writers are observers, we make as much sense of something that we can by looking, gathering, and summing up the facts.

Our basic skill is how to put those facts together.

We spend more time thinking and writing about the events of business and internet than others do. We observe, pull threads together and bind it all up best we can into a pretty good piece of writing. Then we hope that it helps others understand what’s really happening.

It’s all about Humans in the End

Having a keen interest in society and all its facets, will help a writer develop powerful skills in thinking accurately about why humans do what they do, and how those actions create conflicts that make stories enjoyable and meaningful to read.

Whatever subject floats your boat as a writer, get into it, dig deep and don’t feel intimidated by the fact that you’ll end up reading the big thinkers on your subject, read and learn from them.

Those writers are like us, they started somewhere and just kept plugging away at the whole kit and caboodle of being professional about their writing.