Asimov

It was perhaps Asmiov who first got the idea that aliens would be more advanced than us and his idea is the one that prevails today. Asimov is no longer with us but he left a lot of books being one of the most prolific authors ever. He has a PHD in Chemistry but I guess he is known best for his robot books. He makes writing seem simple. He has said that the only thing he asks of his writing is that it be clear. His autobiography is not one but two books, "In Memory Yet Green" and "In Joy Still Felt". I read these books very fast, there is nothing to slow you down when you read Asimov because he does make himself so clear. He is so clear in fact that people think writing like he did is easy, that is until they try to do it. It is this that makes a struggling writer so frustrated, that everyone thinks it is easy. They don't think that way about other professions, I guess because everyone can put words on paper they think that anyone can do it. Writing has infinite paths and I think that is what confuses new writers so badly, how does one know what one wants to write about? You don't. Stephen King wrote 3 books before Carrie, it's like these first books are your education. It's an investment in time and it is working for nothing. What one does write is making future writing easier, as hard as that is for me to understand. I thought that if I had talent I could write a book quickly, and that it would be right the first time I wrote it. Where does one get these ideas? Why is it I was so convinced of all the wrong things about writing?

Writers want to be understood so they make it easy for us. They gently remind us along the way of things we might have forgotten that is important to the story, they tell us what someone is thinking when they do something. It is like a window into another person's mind because really and truly writing begins and ends with oneself. Yourself is all you know really. Intuition can take you a long way to understanding but it must have some sort of similiar thing going on in your own head, if you get my meaning. It was C.P. Snow who said we are alone, totally alone. I can't get my mind around it, but I just intuitively know it is true. That isn't something I want to feel anyway, alone. Writing joins us to a larger community because in writing we are putting forth a lot of ideas in a compact form. A first time writer is trying to express a lot, with a lot of hope and with a lot of hard work behind it, all the time making it appear easy, if they are any good as a writer that is. Then there is the entertainment value, when maybe you're writing some heavy stuff too. This is tricky to me, what entertains? Why do people read tragedy and horror? How can I know what other people think? How is the unspoken spoken to you?

I am a fan of Star Trek. What impressed you always was the love these people had for one another, their broadmindedness. They had made a world I wanted to live in very much when I was growing up. When I thought of things unspoken I thought of Star Trek. Here we have this Vulcan, this alien who is struggling with his human half. There is this feeling of so much love with these characters, who help each other and at the same time maintain space for each other to grow. This is evident clearly in how they handle Spock, telling him it is okay to feel emotions when his emotions get the better of him. When Spock is under the influence of a drug and turns human suddenly, Kirk is so funny trying to think of the right way to handle Spock as he is so changed. I don't watch the new Star Trek in it's many forms, being so impressed when young with the original. There was nothing like it on television. My twelve year old mind understood it perfectly though these concepts were adult concepts some of them, to love and lose, to face death bravely, to try to understand aliens who could care less and make them care. I think sometimes that my mind has been "programmed" by Star Trek, that this is what I want out of my writing, that this is the template by which I write. Okay, so many writers may have a book that started them out and charted their course, I have a television show. The guy who wrote Lonesome Dove was heavily influenced by "Don Quixoite" so it is interesting that such things happen, that one book influences an entire career.

The best advice may be simply to write every day and do it anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours. Many writers only write 2 hours a day I was suprised to find out. Your mind already has a template, you just don't know it yet. Deep inside, you already know how you want to write.