Skip to main content

Writing is Listening


In many social situations, I'm a talker. I like to think of myself as a raconteur, but it's more just like I don't know how to shut up. At least in the right situation. I've done a lot and know just a little bit about so many different things, it's easy for me to find something to talk about with people. When I can come out of my social anxiety shell, I actually like talking to people. But there are times when I can't really talk, I don't have the energy, emotional or physical, to do it. Instead, I just drink in the surroundings.

I like to listen. I like to observe.

It's something we writers have to do. We have to take in all the input we can. And sometimes that means shutting the hell up and just listening. Listen to your friends tell their stories. Listen to how they talk about other people and describe them. Listen to the words they use. Listen to the emotion in people's voices as they're talking. Watch how they talk. What sorts of things they like to talk about. Listen to them tell the stories of others.

It's the same thing you need to do when you're reading. Take in every bit of data and store it. These are the sorts of things you can draw on when you're writing. Every bit of experience, information, data, they're all used to tell better stories the next time you're working on one.

I've learned a lot of how to listen in doing interviews. Interviews force you to search for questions that will get your subject to tell the best story possible. And they force you to listen to your subjects deeply, searching for follow up questions. It's almost never about the input you have to offer. That is something that teaches writers a great skill. Have a natural curiosity when you're talking to people and throw your ego out of the equation: don't worry so much about expressing your point of view, worry about hearing the best story you can.

To that end, I'm interested in hearing from any of you. Email me. Tell me about what you're writing. Tell me what you're working on. I want to listen.

I've noticed that just by listening, you can help people work through their stories. Just today, a friend was telling me that he was blocked on his story and I was asking him about the problems. Just by explaining to me what was wrong, he was able to pinpoint the issue and I didn't have to suggest anything, he'd solved the issue on his own.

There's a power in listening.

Learn to harness it for your craft.

You won't regret it.

--
I've written quite a bit lately. First, I have a piece that came out for Salt Lake City Weekly that they titled "Emperor Trumpatine."

StarWars.Com put out a piece I wrote about everything we know about Rogue One.

I've been busy writing other stuff as well, so look for it soon.

I also got to go to Skywalker Ranch and ILM over the weekend and that wasn't a small thing. I'll be writing about it more. But I'll probably tie it all up in my coverage of going to the premiere of Rogue One this weekend.

--

As a reminder: Please join my short story Patreon here.  Your contributions to the Patreon help me write more like this.

The Aeronaut and Escape Vector are still out and still need your purchases and reviews. If nothing else, they can use you telling people about them. If you want signed copies, visit the shop here on this page.

As far as my work outside of all this: There's a lot of great stuff on Big Shiny Robot! and Full of Sith for you. 

And please, please, please don't forget to check out any of my books, drop reviews of them on Amazon or Goodreads, and follow me on twitter and Facebook!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Way It Is

            The whistle signaling quitting time was always his favorite time.  It was the high water mark for the rest of the day, representing that first moment of freedom matched with the highest level of energy he’d have for the rest of the night.  He turned his dirty earth-moving machine off, ceasing the rumble in his seat and in the engine.  Quietly, he pulled the earplugs from his ears, and collected his gloves and cooler.  The cooler held remnants of his lunch which had consisted of two ham and cheese sandwiches, a dill pickle, a bag of chips, and an apple.             Each step back to his truck, parked four blocks away, ached down into his core.  Shifting his weight right, he could feel the burn on his ankle and knee.  Shifting his weight left provided the same effect on the other side.         ...
16 comments
Read more

The Scoop

So, I've decided to save the below "About Me" in amber, trapped in time, as it were and sort of start over from scratch since the mission of the site is a little different now. I'm making a go of earning money for all of my writing. I'm working to convert my body of work here into something that will provide me some means of income that will justify how much time I spend writing in a day. I would really appreciate if you'd consider buying some of my stories and spreading the word. So, enjoy the slightly outdated bio about myself below, I'll start a new one up in its entirety soon. 03/2010 Me, circa February 2009. I'm posting short stories up on this blog. At least once a month I'll do so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I used to write short stories quite often, but my prose petered out after I became a screenwriter. This is my way of relearning prose. If I didn't publish it here I probably wouldn't publish it anywhere. If I didn't p...
12 comments
Read more

The Hope of Humanity

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection  Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook. The year was 2081 and so many of the social problems humans had faced over the last hundred years were still a pretty big problem. Most people were still poor, corporations still ran the government, and politicians were constantly caught with prostitutes of both sexes, living and dead. When politicians weren't blowing each other's personal lives completely out of proportion for political gain, they were starting wars with other countries. Sometimes, they would even start wars with people inside their own country, but those were usually ideological. Perhaps the biggest and worst change was that the polar ice caps had melted and much of the Mojave Desert was now prime beachfront property, and the air across the globe tasted like you were sucking on a tailpipe. As pressi...
11 comments
Read more