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For the life of me, I will never understand how people are able to publish books with the title: "How to Become a Writer." It puzzles me exceedingly, and probably will until my dying day.
My favourite poet of all time, John Keats, once said "If poetry comes not as naturally as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all." In my opinion, you cannot teach a person how to write. They simply are a writer! The act of writing is like walking or swimming, yes you can teach a person how to do it, but some will develop it more naturally than others, perhaps even excel at it enough to make a living. Writing comes naturally to me, it is a form of art that I have nurtured ever since I was a child. My mind was filled with endless daydreams. For hours I would sit at home, stare at the sky, and see a world of imagination before me. To this day, even if I find myself waiting at the doctor's office or for the next train, I can feel my mind developing a new plot-line to keep me entertained. But we should return to the title of this blog post "How to Master Intuitive Writing." Firstly, to be an intuitive writer you must learn how to listen to the inner voice. We all have a voice inside of us, mostly represented by the media as an angel and devil on our shoulder, but I am not referring to the inner voice of our conscious mind. No, it is a far more elusive one! It is the voice that suggests decisions on a daily basis. The one that decides whether you should save your money this morning or drive over to Starbucks for a nice pastry and an iced caramel macchiato. It is that voice that I use when writing a story, except I rely on it so heavily that I never plot it out from beginning to end. I listen to the voice as it naturally whispers over my shoulder, suggesting a sudden plot-twist or to suddenly kill off the character. It is the voice of the unexpected, of pure creativity, of madness! Henceforth, to master this style of writing you need two things: a strong sense of intuitive thinking and a wild imagination. They act as a sort of yin and yang, a perfect balance of harmony that will allow you to craft a story. To become efficient at this style of writing may I suggest you practice writing prompts. There are tons of them out there on the internet, a simple Google search and you will have a list to last you the year. For example, "The custodian walked into the classroom, alarmed at the sound of..." Wait a second. Let your imagination give way and fly to new heights. What was the sound that the custodian heard? A chilling laugh of madness, a painful scream, the painfully familiar voice of his ex-wife? Can't you see the endless worlds of possibilities? So, to master this style of writing, I suggest you practice using writing prompts until you develop the natural ability to story-tell without a detailed plot-line placed in front of you. One final piece of advice I will leave with you is to develop a visual board. My preference is Pinterest, as you can see by the screenshot image above. On a weekly basis, I choose images that stimulate my creative mind and pin it there, continually referencing to them as I write a story. Keep the ball rolling, everyone! Always search for inspiration! Take up a pen, scribble on paper, and with some hard work and a little bit of luck you will create a masterpiece. QOTD: Would you be interested if I created a "Peter Gray" Pinterest account for you to follow?
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Victoria is the eldest daughter of a powerful politician with a blind ambitions to marry off his daughter to the former Prime Minister's son. Fearful of an impending marriage, it creates an even greater friction in the Reeds household. One day when walking home, Victoria meets a stranger at Brownhurt's Park, a short distance from her estate, and it is there that she speaks for the first time to a mysterious man with a strong Irish brogue. She knows that speaking to him is beneath her, especially if he is not a part of London's high society, but there is something alluring about this stranger with his dazzling "azure blue" eyes.
Returning to the main point of this blog post, the inspiration behind this story was based off a few Gothic novels that I have read and loved. To name a few popular reads that inspired me were: The Vampyre, Dracula, and Arthur Conan Doyle's detective series "Sherlock Holmes." Gothic literature is my favourite genre to date, mostly because it combines suspense, horror, and dark romance. A rather apt description for "Far from Home" series, if I may say so myself. Victoria Reeds at the beginning of the novel resembles the stereotypical naive character that is regularly featured in Gothic literature, but suddenly her personality shifts, it is a dark, twisted form, barely recognizable to the one that was once worshipped in London high society. What influence does McVeigh have on this young girl? Why was she so desperate to run away from home, and where could she possibly go next? *A copy for "Far from Home: Book One" is free on Google Play. You can purchase a copy for 99 cents on Kindle, if you prefer Amazon Kindle.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did with it was to turn to the word “impossible,” and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do. Success comes to those who become success conscious. - Napolean Hill Wise words from an exceptionally wise man. "Think and Grow Rich" has been circulating around my TBR list for a while now, so for the month of June I decided to pick it up and force myself to become more money conscious. The problem with today's society is that it does not teach you about managing finances. There was no point in high school where I was given a practical lesson about it in math or economics class, rather the lessons were theoretical and more importantly did NOT help me to make money. Hill's book teaches you how to make money by simply altering your mindset. Those people that are poor have a fixed mindset. It is true that rich people think differently about money. They have a positive outlook on it, and therefore naturally attract it. Napolean Hill explains this concept by stating the following: The subconscious mind is the "sending station” of the brain, through which vibrations of thought are broadcast. The Creative Imagination is the “receiving set,” through which the vibrations of thought are picked up from the ether. If we train our mind to think positively about money and fixate on it morning and night, it will naturally penetrate into our subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is like a radio, which receives information, sends it out into the ether and consequently brings about new ideas for the individual to make money. I have heard of this theory before, more often described as "The Law of Attraction." As a matter of fact, I have watched several videos on YouTube about this theory and can confidently state that this is true. The Law of Attraction is similar to telepathy, except instead of a joined unison where two people can effortlessly read each other's minds, the Law of Attraction allows a person to transmit their subconscious thoughts into the universe and it responds in kind. It is still early days, but already I am seeing some progress. My viewpoint on money has drastically changed. As a child I was taught that money was "evil" and that a person should not worship it. I was content with the middle class life, but after reading Hill's book I desire more. If a person wants a $100, 000 then they will get that amount. If they want a million they will get a million. If you want ten million, I can assure you that the human mind is more than capable of generating a way to accumulate that amount. One important thing I learned from this book is the power of imagination. As a writer, I am already a highly creative imaginative being but I never thought I can use this special talent to increase my financial wealth. Hill explains that we must close our eyes at night, meditate and imagine the accumulation of wealth that we desire. He expressed the uttermost importance that we should write these goals down and repeat them nightly. It penetrates into the subconscious mind, and allows our thoughts to travel to the other realm of that unseen ether. Thoughts have power! If I think negatively then I will generate negative outcomes in my life. In the same way, if I wake up in the morning with a positive outlook on life and proclaim my goals aloud, it will motivate me to procure them. There is this one quote by Napolean Hill, which I particularly fancy: Do not wait for a definite plan, through which you intend to exchange services or merchandise in return for the money you are visualizing, but begin at once to see yourself in possession of the money, demanding and expecting meanwhile, that your subconscious mind will hand over the plan, or plans you need. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to get rich. If you are looking to evaluate your finances, it would be an excellent read too. I only wish this was a required read in high school, it would have benefited me so much if I had obtained this knowledge ten years ago. My own fault with this book is the repetition, but I suppose that Hill wanted to stress his ideas onto the reader until they really began to believe his ideas in full. I am glad I picked up this book. Happy reading everyone! View all my reviews Sela is all sunshine and flowers.
A blue sky and a sunlit sea. She represents the beauty of nature, and perhaps even our wildest dreams. - Peter Gray Sela is by far my most favourite character! When I was writing the novel "The Tragic Tale of Teddy Woven," I wanted the main characters relationship to replicate Hades and Persephone. For Teddy to revel in the darkness until Sela steps under the doorway of his house and lets the sunshine in. I have heard complaints that "The Tragic Tale of Teddy Woven," isn't a tragedy and that I am leading the readers astray. To me this story is a tragedy, but once Sela enters the picture it changes Teddy's life for the better. That is the moral of the story! That love can conquer all! Love can shine through the darkest caverns and rejuvenate the heart so that it can beat once more. Teddy described Sela as a "breath of fresh air." He finds a sense of relief when in her presence, it is more than just a physical attraction towards her, but a deep feeling of finding something akin to a soul mate. Sela is emphatic, caring and has a natural positive air about her. Does she have faults? Yes, of course! At times she lets Teddy walk all over her, but at the same time she knows when to draw the line. She ignores his ill temper because she knows that she is not the true cause of it, rather it has something to do with the house that holds all of these dark secrets. Teddy is caring around wounds, a world of heartache that he is reluctant to share with others. He bottles up his emotions, locks himself in his house, pretends that the past still does not haunt him. When Sela stepped into his life he had to face his demons, but he did it willingly because he wanted to begin a relationship with her. Teddy wants to share his life with her, even though he is not entirely aware of it until the end of the novel. Teddy loves Sela, it just takes time for him to wrap his head around the idea of letting someone close to his heart. "The Tragic Tale of Teddy Woven" is a love story, it is just not a typical one. It has an air of mystery and suspense, but at the very core of the story it is easy to see that it is a love story between two characters that desperately need each other. I am proud of my accomplishment of writing and publishing this story, but more importantly sharing it with all of you. What are your thoughts on Sela? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below or shooting a quick message with me through Instagram. For those that are interested in reading the Gothic novel, I will leave the link here. |
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