Influences and Inspiration

Real life experience is key to my works - it is what inspires many writers, not just from poetry, short stories or novels but every field of creative writing. Dickinson and Cheever are obvious examples. Cheever's stories are known for featuring alcohol, as he was himself an alcoholic. Christopher Wolstenholme, the bassist for the band, Muse, wrote and sang two songs, Save Me and Liquid State, for the album, The Second Law. It was based on his experience as an alcoholic ' 'Liquid State' was written about the person you become when you're intoxicated ... 'Save Me' was about having the family, the wife and kids, and ... at the end of it, you realise that they're still there and the ones who pulled you through.' (2012, Muse's Chris Wolstenholme on Alcohol Battle: 'I had to stop or die' [online] available at: http://www.nme.com/news/muse/65148 [accessed 21/2/13])

I've been writing horror and fantasy for years that are mostly violent and graphic. I can admit, I am capable at writing disturbing content - this is because of personal experience. I've been jabbed many times with a needle, bled profusely from blood tests, and even witnessed an inserted tube coil up inside my vein! Because of this, I am unaffected by the horrors that i write as I have already experienced my own. Slasher films doesn't affect me, hence why watching a victim getting mutilated or butchered does nothing but make me laugh because it borders stupidity.

Poem based on text message

The gathering -
The storm -
Men and women -
The crossing of blades

To battle dear friends -
Until one remains -
Gonna kick arse -
And respect I shall earn!

Bruises, welts - injuries are yours -
Responsibility belongs -
Carnage - fun for all -
A good - a glorious day -

Victory - the horizon it stands -
Beer belly - cider unto it -
To the pub dear friends -
A joyous day to remember

The Search of the Invisible Writer!

A writer should be invisible: agree or disagree?

You cannot run, you cannot hide ... the fame monster is under your bed. Once you've, or somebody else for that matter, published that first story, your name is out there for the audience to see. Even if you're long gone, dead and buried, your works will be wrested and displayed in front of the eyes of frenzied readers and the predatory paparazzi. Your writings will sit upon the shelves in the libraries and schools for educational purposes (if they're that good that is). If it's possible to contact the supernatural, ask Emily Dickinson about what she thinks of her poems being displayed to the public.

'Whoever has read one must have the other, and the world will not rest satisfied till every scrap of her writings, letters as well as literature, has been published.' Buckingham, W.J. (1989: 295) Emily Dickinson's Reception in the 1890s: A Documentary History. U.S.A. University of Pittsburgh Press.

Be honest with me, if you had a dying loved one who told you about his/her works but did not want you to publish them, would you respect the request, or succumb to the greed, the fame ... the fact that yours and your loved one's surname are in the history books? The point I'm making is that a writer should be invisible if he/she chooses to do so - they should not be forced into the limelight. If you think you can handle the fame monster, then get out there and meet your audience.

I neither agree nor disagree with the question.

The Policy of a Writer

It's within everyone's choice whether they write about a social or political subject within stories, songs or films. However, anyone who writes about this requires a good quality of writing in order to help the reader understand.

Cheever and Dickinson use political context in their works, however, their quality of writing is contradictory. In my opinion, Dickinson writes too little for me to understand the political subject she is trying to get across, and I only understood it when we discussed about her in class.

'One need not be a Chamber - to be haunted -
One need not be a house -
The Brain has Corridors - surpassing
Material Place -'

(extract of poem 670. Dickinson, E (1997: 66) Emily Dickinson. UK. Everyman Paperbacks) From this poem, I didn't know what was going on ... even after reading it several times over again.

In music, social and political subjects maybe ignored by fans, as they maybe more focused on the music than the theme. Because the writing doesn't help, bands may resort to their music videos to get the subject across.  The band, Muse, are a great example. Several songs from the albums Resistance (2009) represented political corruption and revolution. 'The Uprising' is a great example.

Quality of writing is essential when talking about a social or/and political subject

Process of Writing Exercise

'The most remarkable thing about John Cheever was his capacity for invention. You could not be with him for fifteen minutes before he would look across the street or the restaurant, spy an interesting face, and the story will begin.' Donaldson, S (2002) John Cheever: A Biography. iUniverse, Inc.

This was my feeling when it came to the exercise (despite not being on the street). Along with the instructions in the beginning of this exercise, I recalled a diary I wrote years ago to help inspire me with the key aspects of the opening sentence that had to involve, seeing, hearing and smelling. The setting I used was based on a community centre I visited in February 2009 where I auditioned for an extra's role in a film. I remembered the air, weather, sound and everything that was in front of me that day. In his works, Cheever used a similar technique in the form of unedited diaries that were published soon after his death.

'The Journals were not initiated with publication in mind. They were the workbooks for his fiction. They were the workbooks for his life.' Dyer, G (2010: vii) The Journals - John Cheever. Vintage.

When writing, I found myself drifting, as my mind always had the habit of playing music to drown out all other sound. Daydreaming is a problem I have, however, I used it to my advantage. This goes back to the reference of Cheever using scraps of himself for his stories.

'I don't work with plots. I work with intuition, apprehension, dreams, concepts.' Kureishi, H (2009) Collected Stories. Vintage.

Writing Exercise

'When the taxi drove away, gone was the smell of fags, rotten food and blazing music. Warmth died and dispersed into the freezing air. Breezes stroked the skin of the passenger ... it was so cold. The man, well, teenager, was tall, burly and had blonde hair and stubble of many warm colours. His clothes - cheap and old. There was no sound, except for birds chirping and distant cars driving, but it was all drowned out by the music of the man's daydreams!'

Metaphor Writing Exercise

Earth - humanity's prison
A relentless obstacle
Challenges endless - 
Booby traps always ripe -

How does one escape -
How does armour protect - 
Death strikes anywhere - 
Even from the inside

Body - a soul's cell
No keys to escape
Emotions agony -
Injuries terror -

A rebel I am -
I am no machine -
But a prisoner - 
In the world of God

the room for truth

Is there a place for the truth in writing?

 'Oddly, Cheever never created a character as talented, intelligent or cultured as himself; these are all smaller people than he seemed to be, but they are scraps of him.'  (Kureishi, H. Cheever Collected Stories 2009: xi)

If you're thinking about fiction, then yes, there could be a place for the truth ... but it depends on what type of truth you're talking about and where it comes from. As Cheever demonstrates, he cannot keep himself away from his stories. In my opinion, it wouldn't be surprising that many other people may have written stories that contains scraps of the author - I for one, in my early works, started off by basing my character's facial appearance on myself. It is quite easily done.

Truth can also inspire the author within their works based on events that they have seen and experienced in their lives. J.R.R. Tolkien is the perfect example. His experiences in World War I and religious views influenced his writing in Lord of the Rings. 'The rhythm of war flows through his writings, but his own interpretation of the themes, symbols, and motifs of war were influenced by his religious views and his interest in fantasy, which ass another layer of meaning and a sense of timelessness to his writing.' (Croft, J. <http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/C/Janet.B.Croft-1/war_and_works_jrrt.htm#Where%20to%20Order> 2004)

Adventures of Writing

How is it I became a writer?

I started writing at fourteen. I don't know exactly why I started writing, except that I became lost in my imagination. You look at humanity day by day and see people wake up, work, eat and sleep in a repetitive cycle until they have served their purpose ... all in the name of progressive growth for our country. Where is the adventure in that? That is what I lust for and that is adventure. I guess that I became a writer to escape from the tyranny of life. My goal is for a successful career in which I decide when I retire, the pace of how much I write, and whether I want to seek out a publisher or risk self-publishing my story.

'Life is a box of chocolates' - Forrest Gump (1994)

That, in my opinion, is what being a writer is like. As a writer, you never know where you're going to be swept off to. Each flavour is an adventure waiting to happen - a door to a mysterious room waiting to be unlocked. You are forever exploring ... and chasing. As a writer, you're chasing a goal that will be very difficult to catch, one that you will never know when you achieve it. Even though that there will be difficult times in chasing this goal, when you do catch it, you will then realise that the chase is what made this career fun.