Chris Dietzel's Blog - Posts Tagged "inspiration"
Decision to follow a dream
Everyone has a time in their life when they look back on all the decisions they have made, when think about how their time was spent, when they analyze all the things they might have done differently over the years. This self-examination is the foundation for my debut novel, but it’s also what drives me to write in the first place.
We are raised to believe anything is possible, but somewhere along the way we lose the innocence behind that belief and begin to think that our childhood dreams are foolish. Writing novels was my dream. But for a while, after college, I didn’t even entertain the idea as a possibility, let alone consider it as something urgent I needed to be doing. I did what I thought I was supposed to do: I fell in line and worked long hours in a corporate job.
But a fear followed me. Would my life be spent doing something because I felt I had to do it or because it was my passion? Each time I was stuck in rush-hour traffic, a little voice would ask me how much I would regret it if I never tried to achieve my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: my fears are the same thoughts that plague the protagonist in THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, as he looks out of his home at a neighborhood of empty houses.
That was nine years ago. It’s been a long journey since then, but I’m happy in the knowledge that I’m doing what makes me feel fulfilled. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man at the end of his life, plagued by the decisions he has made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. It hasn’t been easy following my dream, but it’s been worth it.
originally posted at: http://bookinglyyours.blogspot.com/20...
We are raised to believe anything is possible, but somewhere along the way we lose the innocence behind that belief and begin to think that our childhood dreams are foolish. Writing novels was my dream. But for a while, after college, I didn’t even entertain the idea as a possibility, let alone consider it as something urgent I needed to be doing. I did what I thought I was supposed to do: I fell in line and worked long hours in a corporate job.
But a fear followed me. Would my life be spent doing something because I felt I had to do it or because it was my passion? Each time I was stuck in rush-hour traffic, a little voice would ask me how much I would regret it if I never tried to achieve my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: my fears are the same thoughts that plague the protagonist in THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, as he looks out of his home at a neighborhood of empty houses.
That was nine years ago. It’s been a long journey since then, but I’m happy in the knowledge that I’m doing what makes me feel fulfilled. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man at the end of his life, plagued by the decisions he has made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. It hasn’t been easy following my dream, but it’s been worth it.
originally posted at: http://bookinglyyours.blogspot.com/20...
Decision to follow a dream - Update
I was very new to GoodReads when I started this blog, and I had just started letting people know about my debut novel, THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END. Because I'm so much further along from where I started out, I thought I would re-post my first entry, along with some updates.
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Everyone has a time in their life when they look back on all the decisions they have made, when they think about how their time was spent, when they analyze all the things they might have done differently over the years. This self-examination is the foundation for my debut novel, but it’s also what drives me to write in the first place.
We are raised to believe anything is possible, but somewhere along the way we lose the innocence behind that belief and begin to think that our childhood dreams are foolish. Writing novels was my dream. But for a while, after college, I didn’t even entertain the idea as a possibility, let alone consider it as something urgent I needed to be doing. I did what I thought I was supposed to do: I fell in line and worked long hours in a corporate job.
But a fear followed me. Would my life be spent doing something because I felt I had to do it or because it was my passion? Each time I was stuck in rush-hour traffic, a little voice would ask me how much I would regret it if I never tried to achieve my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: my fears are the same thoughts that taunt the protagonist in THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, as he looks out of his home at a neighborhood of empty houses.
That was nine years ago. It’s been a long journey since then, but I’m happy in the knowledge that I’m doing what makes me feel fulfilled. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man at the end of his life, plagued by the decisions he made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. It hasn’t been easy following my dream, but it’s been worth it.
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In the months since I posted that, I feel even more strongly that I made the right decision to focus on achieving my dreams and to view them as not only realistic, but absolutely necessary. My book has made its way to audiences all over the world, to thousands of people who will hopefully be inspired or fascinated by it. Each and every day I'm grateful I decided to follow my dream and I thank all the people who validate it by reading my story. I'm approaching ten years of pursuing the life I want to live instead of the life I thought I had to live, and the good news is that I'm still at the very beginning of that quest. There are still many more goals to achieve and books to write. I look forward to each step of that journey.
---
Everyone has a time in their life when they look back on all the decisions they have made, when they think about how their time was spent, when they analyze all the things they might have done differently over the years. This self-examination is the foundation for my debut novel, but it’s also what drives me to write in the first place.
We are raised to believe anything is possible, but somewhere along the way we lose the innocence behind that belief and begin to think that our childhood dreams are foolish. Writing novels was my dream. But for a while, after college, I didn’t even entertain the idea as a possibility, let alone consider it as something urgent I needed to be doing. I did what I thought I was supposed to do: I fell in line and worked long hours in a corporate job.
But a fear followed me. Would my life be spent doing something because I felt I had to do it or because it was my passion? Each time I was stuck in rush-hour traffic, a little voice would ask me how much I would regret it if I never tried to achieve my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: my fears are the same thoughts that taunt the protagonist in THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, as he looks out of his home at a neighborhood of empty houses.
That was nine years ago. It’s been a long journey since then, but I’m happy in the knowledge that I’m doing what makes me feel fulfilled. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man at the end of his life, plagued by the decisions he made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. It hasn’t been easy following my dream, but it’s been worth it.
---
In the months since I posted that, I feel even more strongly that I made the right decision to focus on achieving my dreams and to view them as not only realistic, but absolutely necessary. My book has made its way to audiences all over the world, to thousands of people who will hopefully be inspired or fascinated by it. Each and every day I'm grateful I decided to follow my dream and I thank all the people who validate it by reading my story. I'm approaching ten years of pursuing the life I want to live instead of the life I thought I had to live, and the good news is that I'm still at the very beginning of that quest. There are still many more goals to achieve and books to write. I look forward to each step of that journey.
The Evolution of Inspiration
Rarely does the original inspiration for a story remain static as a book is written. More often, the first idea for a story evolves into something slightly different. A few examples:
- After having a son very late in life, Cormac McCarthy wanted to write a book about a boy who would have to grow up without his father. That idea transformed into The Road, the tale of a father and son who survived the apocalypse.
- Ray Bradbury was horrified by the idea of people becoming mindless zombies in front of TV sets. The thought morphed into Fahrenheit 451, a world of book burnings.
- Aldus Huxley was frightened by the mass consumerism and group mentality that was emerging in his time. That fear evolved into Brave New World, about an entire society that was drugged into a mindless existence.
- And my own example, that mankind’s end would be more interesting if the final people had to care for the afflicted masses rather than fight them or each other. That was the original inspiration for The Man Who Watched The World End, the story of a man reflecting on the life he could have had if mankind hadn’t faded away.
If you’re planning on starting your own book, don’t force yourself to write about any one specific idea. Instead, just sit back and write and embrace whatever story emerges. Some of the most powerful and impactful stories have taken that approach and it has worked out well for them. After all, no matter how good your original idea might seem, when you let it morph into something else, your true interests and passions sneak out onto the page and your writing sounds more honest.
- After having a son very late in life, Cormac McCarthy wanted to write a book about a boy who would have to grow up without his father. That idea transformed into The Road, the tale of a father and son who survived the apocalypse.
- Ray Bradbury was horrified by the idea of people becoming mindless zombies in front of TV sets. The thought morphed into Fahrenheit 451, a world of book burnings.
- Aldus Huxley was frightened by the mass consumerism and group mentality that was emerging in his time. That fear evolved into Brave New World, about an entire society that was drugged into a mindless existence.
- And my own example, that mankind’s end would be more interesting if the final people had to care for the afflicted masses rather than fight them or each other. That was the original inspiration for The Man Who Watched The World End, the story of a man reflecting on the life he could have had if mankind hadn’t faded away.
If you’re planning on starting your own book, don’t force yourself to write about any one specific idea. Instead, just sit back and write and embrace whatever story emerges. Some of the most powerful and impactful stories have taken that approach and it has worked out well for them. After all, no matter how good your original idea might seem, when you let it morph into something else, your true interests and passions sneak out onto the page and your writing sounds more honest.
How to Guarantee You Never Have Writer’s Block
I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I ever get writer’s block. The answer: Never.
I have way too many ideas floating around in my head. Because of that, I’ll never suffer from a lack of things to write about. The secret to never having writer’s block is simple: Combine two other things you like or that have made an impact on you. When I start out, I envision all of my books as a combination of two other stories. I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas of possible stories to tell based on combining two other books or movies I’ve enjoyed. If I suffer from any problem, it’s that I have too many things to write about and not enough time to write them all. For example,
The Man Who Watched The World End was my version of combining Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with The Diary of Anne Frank.
The Theta Timeline was what resulted when I combined ideas I liked from Orwell’s 1984 and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Green Knight came about from my love of Star Wars and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
This can be done an infinite amount of times, and because you’re adding your personal twist to each story and telling it the way you want, the end product never ends up resembling the two sources you used for inspiration. In fact, what you’ll find is that even if the initial premise starts off a combination of two stories you enjoyed, as your book progresses it moves further away from what inspired you to write it in the first place. The result is a story that winds up being something completely original and unique from the two stories you used as inspiration.
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for the idea for your first book, just think of two other books you love. If you’ve already written other books and are suffering from writer’s block, think of two stories that stuck with you after you read them. It’s that easy!
I have way too many ideas floating around in my head. Because of that, I’ll never suffer from a lack of things to write about. The secret to never having writer’s block is simple: Combine two other things you like or that have made an impact on you. When I start out, I envision all of my books as a combination of two other stories. I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas of possible stories to tell based on combining two other books or movies I’ve enjoyed. If I suffer from any problem, it’s that I have too many things to write about and not enough time to write them all. For example,
The Man Who Watched The World End was my version of combining Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with The Diary of Anne Frank.
The Theta Timeline was what resulted when I combined ideas I liked from Orwell’s 1984 and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Green Knight came about from my love of Star Wars and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
This can be done an infinite amount of times, and because you’re adding your personal twist to each story and telling it the way you want, the end product never ends up resembling the two sources you used for inspiration. In fact, what you’ll find is that even if the initial premise starts off a combination of two stories you enjoyed, as your book progresses it moves further away from what inspired you to write it in the first place. The result is a story that winds up being something completely original and unique from the two stories you used as inspiration.
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for the idea for your first book, just think of two other books you love. If you’ve already written other books and are suffering from writer’s block, think of two stories that stuck with you after you read them. It’s that easy!
