Pick Up That Pen!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I've been reflecting on what makes a good writer and I've been reading on writing. What seems to keep coming up is so elementary, but I think it bears repeating: Write.

I have met so many people through the years who told me that they had these great ideas for a story or a screenplay. Some of them told me that ONE DAY they would write it (they never did) or that if I wanted to, I could write it down.

Let me address both these issues: if you are someone with a "great story" that you've been throwing around your cranium for years, than write the freaking thing already! Stop being lazy. Stop blaming Father Time and your family and Global Warming.

Do you watch an hour of television a day? Spend an hour surfing the internet or posting ridiculous garbage on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter each day? Do you spend an hour on a bus or train to and/or fro work? Do your children take a nap? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then you can reprioritize your time and write ONE page a day. In six months you'll have a screenplay. In twelve months you'll have a novel. Don't backtalk me. Shut up and do it.

Item number two: if I want the story, I can write it down. Honestly, my gut reaction to this one is always, If you don't want it, why would I want it? But, that's just fresh. And, you may have an awesome idea and just may be lazy (If that's the case, see the paragraph above). But, in reality, I have my own ideas. Too many of them, in fact. YOU should cultivate your babies. If God gave you an idea, you should bring that inspiration to life. Only you can do justice to your idea as YOU see it. I will only write it as I see it. You may not like my vision at all.

So, just write. Remember, if you have a novel or screenplay already written, you are way ahead of HALF of the "writers" out there right now. So, get moving and join the ranks of creativity with the rest of us.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

The Fun of Research

I began some background research today into Criminal Profiling. I haven't read anything criminology based since I took Criminology many moons ago. Although I didn't find a lot that I could utilize directly in my spec script, I did learn a lot of very interesting information on the fathers of criminal profiling in America and Great Britain.

That's the fun of research. Learning something new and going off in a new direction. I did learn the basics of what profilers look for and what the four subtypes of serial killers are. Those items may be helpful at some point in my writing. Of course, there are also the four profiling phase questions that were interesting as well. . .

So, it wasn't a wasted research period. And, of course, I now have a long list of names and books to turn to of the real big boys of profiling. If you are ever interested in writing about Criminal Profiling, here are the top gentlemen I found to be the most interesting for my personal writing purposes: James A. Brussel who developed what we now know as Criminal profiling, Howard Teten, who helped form the famous BAU in Quantico while building off of Brussel's approach, and Richard Walter and Bob Keppel who interviewed 2,000 murderers, etc. in order to create the subtypes of serial killers. There are many more, but these stood out for me.

Peace!
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE