The Writing Process (Part One) - Environment
Winter in the United Kingdom to me always assumes itself as one of the colder atmospheres of the year among people as well as the weather of course. The minus temperatures are a commonality and everyone, from your grandparents, children and even friends would much rather stay inside and binge on the latest series of whatever entertainment programme is advertised the best.
As a storyteller, I use whatever experience necessary as material for the next project; whether it be a line of clothing or material for a new book, character or plot device. I tend to use the atmosphere of the moment whether it’s winter, summer or spring to assist in manifesting the story page by page. For example, as alluded to above, winter is a period where there isn’t much enthusiasm in spending time outdoors, as it would be for summer (in general terms). So, I use that time to intensely write as much as I can while immersing myself in the imaginary universe in my mind. Time doesn’t exist in this realm when you’re creating. Work, relationships, these are all concerns that can be solved at another time. It is this creative process that I think has helped in motivation for keeping Blaque Falcon active and relevant at present.
An essential element to appreciate as a member of the human community, but in our case as Falconites - a member of the Falcon Family, is to deepen our relationship with our reality. Wherever you are regardless of your background, you have the ability to use everything around you at your disposal to assist in pushing you to the next level. As time never waits for anyone and advancing your mind in a forward motion, keeping a holistic relationship with your environment will help keep you in tune with your surroundings.
The writing process itself moves in this motion as well. While I was writing DRAX, I was very much in a different realm of reality compared to now. I felt a deep need to get my story out, and I had plenty of time to execute this goal as I was unemployed during this period. [For more on how I wrote DRAX check out the video here]. The characters in the book stemmed from a dimension in my mind that I had no idea I was able to tap into – the protagonist being an average young male university graduate who gets into extenuating circumstance. While observing plot devices used in some popular coming of age tales, this is a similar dynamic that is used in movies – particularly in Hollywood. [Check out my original post back in 2017 about publishing DRAX here].
What made the DRAX story unique however was developing the story for the present millennial generation. Let it be known that I wasn’t conscious of any of this while writing, again I simply had the desire to write and tell my story for the world to read and particularly identify themselves with the characters. This not only does the plot the keep you engaged, but you also feel that the characters seem very realistic while immersing yourself in my mind. Had I not been in tune and in harmony with my environment (observing the everyday behaviours of my peers, friends, colleagues and previous relationships), the characters may not have appeared as authentic. As each day went by notes and brainstorms turned into paragraphs, which eventually turned into pages, then chapters and the book was formed.
I can go much deeper into this whole process, but I’ll leave that for another post.