Diego Ramos's Blog

“Masterpieces spring from minds on fire.” – Forbes

I recently acquired a book written by the famous B.C. Forbes, called Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency, and it has reinvigorated me. It has grounded my ideals, my philosophy on enterprise and creativity – personal development and decency – willpower and drive. It’s a book with chapters that hover at four pages each, yet each sentence is  meticulous, precise, and honest.

It’s a way of writing that I hardly see online, in books, or even hear spoken in today’s day-and-age.

Forbes enthralls with a precision of thought, ideals, and morals that are stubbornly simple, yet uncommonly powerful.

It’s a form of communication that I never knew I craved, and after having just finished his chapter on Enthusiasm, I had to share it with you.

Creativity, drive, progress, innovation – in art and in life – can have an unrelenting force behind it that will ensure your success.

That force is called enthusiasm.

Be it in writing, business, or life, the principles are the same for success.

This book was written in 1918, so his business references may be dated, but no less valid. Any emphasis has been added by me.

Enthusiasm

Dirty ore wrought in white-heat enthusiasm can be transformed into shining steel.

Enthusiasm is the electric current which keeps the engine of life going at top speed.

The dull, indifferent mind never evolved a brilliant product.

Half-heartedness never attained whole success.

Enthusiasm is the very propeller of progress.

All great achievements have sprung from the fount of enthusiasm.

Mediocrity is the fruit of indifference.

Masterpieces spring from minds on fire.

“No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en,” wrote the all-wise Shakespeare.

Enthusiasm is the parent of enterprise.

Search and you will find that at the base and birth of every great business organization was an enthusiast, a man consumed with earnestness of purpose, with confidence in his powers, with faith in the worthwhileness of his endeavors.

Standard Oil, the greatest industrial organization ever evolved by the mind of man, is the product of enthusiasm, of John D. Rockefeller.

The only “Tobacco King” the world has ever known, James B. Duke, said to himself when an impecunious, unknown youth: “What Rockefeller has done in oil, I will do in tobacco.” And enthusiasm was the motive power that propelled him on towards success.

Henry ford was and is the quintessence of enthusiasm – as all the world knows. In the days of his difficulties and disappointments and discouragements, when he was wrestling with this balky motor engine – and wrestling likewise with poverty – only his inexhaustible enthusiasm saved him from defeat.

Such was the irresistible enthusiasm of Edward H. Harriman that he once declared: “All the opportunity I want is to be one of fifteen men round a directors’ table. I can do the rest.” He told a government prosecutor during a famous investigation: “I would buy up every railroad in the country if  you would let me.” In twelve years he rose from obscurity to the most powerful railroad throne in the world – and , incidentally, made almost a million dollars a month during the last ten years of his life.

John Hays Hammond, the great mining engineer, told me: “I would sooner cross a desert or climb a mountain to see a new mine than cross the street to see a new play or a new opera any day or night.”

It was Roosevelt, you will recall, who, when asked while he was in the White House how he contrived to get through so much work, replied: “I like my job.”

What has brought “Billy” Sunday his inordinate fame as a preacher?

What carried Peary to the North Pole?

What sustains Edison during his herculean day-and-night labors?

Are they not all radiant examples of enthusiasm?

The Greeks described enthusiasm as a God within us.

Does not history show that, given enthusiasm, tasks apparently superhuman can be accomplished?

Enthusiasm is as a dynamo generating power withing us.

The enthusiast pushes ahead, needing no “pull.” The sluggard lags behind.

Just as surely as indifference and ignorance spell Failure, enthusiasm and enlightenment spell Success.

Why do such progressive and aggressive concerns as the National Cash Register Co., the Ingersoll Watch Co., the Simmons Hardware Co., at great cost hold salesmen’s conventions? chiefly to arouse enthusiasm, to inspire redoubled effort, to kindle fresh ambition.

Employers to-day will not engage for any important post men lacking in enthusiasm.

To be able to muster up enthusiasm you must believe in what you are doing, believe in its legitimacy, believe in its efficacy, believe in its benefit to society.

George W. Perkins at first turned down J.P. Morgan’s offer of a partnership because, as he told me, “I believe in the worthwhileness of life insurance and was more enthusiastic about it than I was bout mere moneymaking.” And when, a year later, he did finally enter Morgan’s firm it was only on the condition that he be allowed to continue his insurance activities.

A little-known Sculptor once said to me: “I would rather create something beautiful than receive a million dollars.” He scarcely knew where his next month’s rent was coming from – but one of his works has since received the highest honor within the gift of the French Government and will be given a place in the Louvre for all time.

Enthusiasm quickens, illumines, enfires.

It can salt and season even the unpalatable work.

The man who loses his enthusiasm gives up the race.

The Elixir of Life is three parts enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm stirs the pulse, brightens the eye and quickens the step.

Indifference is twin brother of laziness.

And the Door of Success is too high up, too hard for the lazy to reach and open.

Only the enthusiast can hope to forge the right key and find the right combination to its lock.

If you enjoyed this post and got as much as I did out of reading Forbes, please share and tweet!

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Part 3: Writing Clearly

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” – Hemingway

 

Many see writing dialogue as one of the hardest things about creating a story, and hide behind mountains of internal monologue or descriptions to compensate. If you want to create a fast paced adventure (that might not be your cup of tea. That’s fine too.) you’re going to need snappy dialogue.

If you end up having issues writing dialogue, it might stem from not knowing your characters well enough. By knowing your characters, you can speak for them. The more deeply you understand them, the more rich your dialogue becomes. You have to be an actor. You have to get lost in each role and not think like an author or writer, but like a pirate, or sorceress, or assassin, or whatever characters you’ve dreamed up. Take a lesson from the Matrix:

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?

Spoon boy: Then you’ll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Listen to the spoon boy, my friends.

Dialogue, just as well as internal monologue or descriptions, can propel and illustrate a story in a reader’s mind, while ALSO actively engaging your reader. Readers can follow dialogue more quickly than long winded explanations. If you notice a lot of internal monologues in your writing, most often it can be turned into dialogue and greatly boost the pace of your novel.

When writing dialogue, don’t draw it out. Slash away as many tags as you can. Things like: “she shouted”, “he growled”, “she said angrily”, “he spat”, only serve to bog down the flow.

Typically all you will need are “said”, “asked” and “replied.” But even then, when it’s clear that there are only two characters talking, those tags could also be dropped. Here is an example:

Blubbering Version:

“So what do you want to do today? It’s really sunny and we should go to the beach! Or the lake!” She trilled.

“Oh, well, you know … I don’t know. I don’t really feel like it. Its really isn’t my thing to go to beaches and lakes.” He whined. “I really don’t want to go.” He groaned, “Don’t make me…”

“Oh come on! Don’t be so boring!” She exclaimed. “It’ll be fun! I promise.” she giggled, pushing him out the door.

“Sheesh. Really? You’re going to force me?” He cried.

“Yes! Now move it!” she laughed.

Tight Version:

“It’s so sunny!” She looked out the window. “We should go to the beach! Or the lake!”

“Ain’t my thing.” he replied.

“Don’t be so boring. It’ll be fun! I promise.” She pushed him out the door.

“Got no choice, do I?”

“Nope! Now move it!”

I hope this helped, now go get writing!

Part 4: Character Voices coming next week! Tweet, share, and bookmark!
Part 2: Writing with Honesty
Part 1: Writing with Strength

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Part 2: Writing Honestly.

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” — Hemingway

I quoted Hemingway again because it’s an incredible quote that should be burned into the folds of your labyrinthine brain or stitched to the inside of your eyelids. So, now on to the post.

 

“Write what you know.”

We’ve all heard that expression. It’s a time honored phrase repeated in writing classes the world over.

But it’s an incomplete phrase, and often times woefully misunderstood.

I believe whoever said it was on his/her death bed and died mid-sentence because a lot of new writers instantly choke on its possible meanings:

Only writing things based off of ACTUAL real life knowledge.
Writing, essentially, a replay of one’s daily life.

And the most tragic:

Never writing about imaginary things, because after all, they have never experienced them.

These assumptions attack many greenhorns, but is important to note all the same. The phrase “write what you know” can be SO such more powerful, potent, and clear if only that poor chap had taken a deeper breath before running out of life. If he had, he might have said this:

“Write what you know to be sincere .”

This is where honesty in your writing comes from. Honesty is a mine of emotional truths that you believe to be sincere, valuable, and worth sharing. Honesty is a color mixed into the palette of your story, unifying all the kaleidoscope dots of your characters, plot points, actions, and reactions in common shades — common shades of truths.

You might be thinking: “Ain’t that the theme of a book?” It isn’t. A theme is generally only ONE overarching idea that umbrella’s the entire book. Writing honestly spreads wider a net, while seeping into the nooks and crannies of each sentence, dialogue, and scene, rather than only at big plot points.

Writing honestly is about conveying whole heartily the predilections that you’ve imbued your characters with — to not shy away from being brutally honest about what needs to be said, or how it needs to be said. No matter if your character is a murderer or a saint, or if your story takes place in Nazi Germany or on a planet with blob creatures that are raging racists, writing honestly means being honest with your world.

Write what is true to you, and write what isn’t true to you, because that is also a truth! To be honest is to honestly approach each character’s beliefs (good or bad) and treat them as sacred — this is the chasm of sincerity, the intimidation of honesty. It can be scary, becoming so honest with the truths of your story that it feels as if it’s threatening to swallow your sanity.

It’s why many mediocre books read thinly — shallow. A flutter of pages as easily scattered as straw on a windy day. Teetering and flinching between the gaps of “going there,” and not.

In the following example, the hypothetical author is passionate about shedding a light on the brutality of living on a slave plantation:

Wishy-washy Version:

“I din’ take no coins! I swear masta! I swear!” John cowered before Hammit, the plantation owner. Hammit brandished a whip over his head.

“Don’t lie to me john!”

That night John’s back stung….

Honest Version:

“I din’ take no coins! I swear masta! I swear!” John cowered before Hammit, the plantation owner. John crawled on the ground, scratching at the dirt to get away from the pain that was to come. Hammit was livid, red-faced with drink, veins bulging. He brandished a whip over his head.

“YOU FUCKIN’ NIGGER! DON’ LIE TO ME!” Hammit stumbled after the slave. He unfurled his whip. “STOP MOVIN’ WHILE I WHIP YA!”

John stopped his crawling, Hammit’s words terrorized his will, ripped the hope from him like so many times before. Hammit’s leather cracked like lightning on his back. A seam of flesh sliced open. John screamed into the earth. More lightning. Blood mist popped tufts into the air. John’s shrill cries blanketed the plantation, peaking and dipping between strikes.

That night John slept on his stomach, his ratty mattress stained crimson from the red bark carved into his back.

Don’t betray your story because you’re unsure how the outside world might look upon it, and you. Indeed, writing can be one the greatest acts of honesty. You owe it to yourself, and your readers, to respect that. And it’s the most honest of writers that are the most beloved by their readers.

 

Part 3: Writing Dialogue coming next week! So bookmark, share, and tweet!
Follow me at @WritingfictionC

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Part 1: Writing Hard.

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” – Hemingway

Hemingway said it all. But like most things, its easier said than done. For many writers it can be scary putting down your first words on that white page — a white page that looms large, swallowing resolve. So when you start, you start with a nudge, then a scoot, then tiptoe and so on.

That isn’t writing. That’s insecurity.

BUT THAT’S OK….

At first.

When tackling a novel (or any writing), its natural to feel apprehensive; to tread lightly and write with some ounce of caution. But if you don’t recognize, diagnose, and correct that state of mind quickly, it will bite you in the ass later on. Believe me, I still have the teeth marks on my cheeks if you want to see.

Writing timidly is at first an instinct born from inexperience and anxiousness. Perfectly natural. CONTINUING to write passively is a habit born from fear. A fear of growing. A fear of learning. A fear of realizing that everything you had once thought was Midas-touched, was actually shit.

This fear penetrates deep and stems your mental fortitude to objectively pick apart your craft (and thus improve.) Ultimately, it will stunt you in a bog of personal mediocrity.

But maybe you’re fine with that. Maybe you’re content with were you are. That’s fine too. But not me, and hopefully, you neither.

As writers — storytellers — we should always strive to tell great stories, better. Indeed, this is the curve of all art. To do art harder, clearer, and more honestly.

Writing Hard: Creating prose that punches, not dodges.

So, you may be asking: “Diego, what the #$@# are you spitting on about? What constitutes passive writing? How do you fix it?” In this example I’m going to demonstrate how to tighten your prose. Doing so will harden it. Compact it. Sharpen it.

Soft Version:

“Eric started shuffling to the door. He could almost hear some muffled voices behind it. He was completely filled with fear, basically becoming a walking pee stain as he neared. The voices began to rise in strength. Virtually every wall in the house began to shake. His heart was beating so rapidly he almost keeled over. Then the door started opening. The voices were lowering in intensity. Eric gasped at the oily darkness beyond the door that was starting to creep towards him. He tried to scream, but his lungs weren’t working.”

Hard Version:

“Eric shuffled to the door. Muffled voices chattered behind it. Pee ran down his leg. The voices rose in strength. The house trembled, then shook, then roiled. He fell backwards, heart racing. The door crashed open. The voices quieted. The house stilled. Eric gasped. An oily darkness — squirming and alive, crept towards him. He screamed, but no sound came out. Only silence. Only black.”

I took out the passive words: started, starting, could, almost, some, completely, basically, began to, and also shortened sentences while adding transitive/intransitive verbs (I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the book The Word-Loss Diet by Rayne Hall, to learn more.) Doing so helps bring the reader closer to the action, suspense, and character…. This is called showing, rather then telling. Showing creates immediacy and tension. The life blood of any book that wants readers to keep turning pages.

Think of it as boxing. You want sharp, powerful jabs. Hits that flick out, tag the reader in the face, then reposition for the next hit. Your prose, like the barrage of a world class boxer, will be unrelenting.

Beat down that passive voice. Punch hard. Write harder.

Part 2: Writing Honestly coming next week! So bookmark, share, and tweet!
Follow me at @WritingfictionC

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Anyone can write. Writing itself, isn’t hard. What IS hard is telling a story. Learn the craft of story, the fluctuations of action and consequence, the hymns of character and conflict. Do that, and you’re golden. – Diego Ramos

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Chapter length, in general, comes naturally, but only after hard work in knowing why. So don’t flake out on it.

The story is the caller of everything long and short. That is, when you are creating a story, you need to take into account everything you will need to develop it into a flowing piece of narrative. This narrative, though, must be engaging, impactfull, with characters that grab the readers by the shoulders and wisk them away into your world.

The Chapter Summery:

A chapters length must be determined by what it is you intend for said chapter to achieve. Every chapter is an episode. Each episode must move the story along, or present a new dynamic or viewpoint that benifits the overall story.

Create a chapter arch on a piece of paper; go through the entire story, chapter by chapter, summarizing each. Once you have that summery, it will be you blueprint that guides you through the flow of the story. But take note to realize that the summery is not set in stone.

Like your creative energy, take into account for spontanious introductions to the story while you’re writing. When this happens, let it happen, and if the idea is deemed good enough for you, go back to the chapter summery and see if it needs drastic revising.

Story Purpose, in relation to length:

A key component to know what needs to be in each chapter, and thusly its length, is to know the purpose of the story. If you don’t know that, you won’t know the purpose of your characters, then you won’t know what they need to do, then you won’t know what each chapter should encompass in the chapter summery.

Keep the chapter summery fluid, but don’t abuse it.

The purpose of your story will be shadowed in each chapters ghosts of abstract images and general directions of ideas that you put into the summery. If you want the purpose of your story to have merrit once its done, its original ghost must be kept. Or else its form will not resemble your originally powerful purpose for writing it.

Is your storys purpose to give the reader a thrill ride? To move the reader to tears? To test the limits of love and friendship? To deconstruct a philosophical ideal and twist it on its head? To make people laugh? These things need to be figured out before the first word is written so you know later on how long to write about them.

Intuition, in relation to length:

A sense of intuition also comes into the equation; let the scene play itself out! Don’t stop it until that electricity running through your fingertips feels cold. Don’t stop it without letting the energy of it play out. When your body says stop, stop (not to be interpreted as tired.) Follow this guidance. Its abstract, I know, but I don’t know any other way to say it. Let the moment crescendo until IT is tired, not you.

Style, in relation to length:

Some authors like to describe everything; letting every shimmer and crease of folded velvet play out over two pages. There are authors who clap and snap with each action and each breath, jumping like a jackrabbit through the story in a fast paced ride. There are authors who ramble. There are authors who barely say a word; but they each must take into account thier writing style, and what a chapter will mean for them, thier style, and the pacing.

Find the way you like to write, wether it be detailed and epic, or short and quick, and know that the length of chapters, and what characters are able to accomplish will directly correlate with how long your style takes to read through. This can exponentially increase your page count, or lower it.

Last Thoughts:

I always like to adhere to the principle that when you have created a character, that character will start talking to you, THEY will determine when they have spoken to much or too little. Listen to them. They will tell you when a chapter has met it end, or when a chapter as gone on too long and is dragging.

Understand what your story’s purpose is. Understand characters. Understand what they need, what the story needs, and most importantly; UNDERSTAND WHAT THE STORY NEEDS TO GIVE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE, and the chapter lengths will fall into place.

Please Pin, tweet, like, and share this post!
If there is anything you might want to bounce off me, or ask a question about what I talked about in this post, hit me up on twitter: @WritingfictionC

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I’ve receantly stumbled upon this great series that just started on the GeekandSundry youtube channel. Its wonderful for anywriter looking to learn more about creating great stories and characters. This episodes hosts include Patrick Rothfuss, Amber Benson, Bradley Beaulieu, and Mary Robinette-Kowal who all talk about character creation and what qualities make for intriguing characters. I highly recomend watching both episodes! Enjoy!

 

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As a young writer myself, I am humbled by the constant flow of information and advice that many veteran novelists share throughout the web, and found myself very fortunate to have been shown a very important rule of writing that many young authors break; overusing cliche emotional discriptions.

There are many discriptions that new writers tend to subconsiously roll into, like: fist clenching, shiver runs up the spine, breathing in, took a deep breath, ect…

They are used and tired descriptions, they might fit the situation, but turning them on thier head, making them unique, or finding completely new ways to say something is the mark of a good writer, and alas, the journey of writing itself.

This extremely important lesson was brought to my attention by great authors, Rayne Hall and Lisa Janice Cohen. Writers of the incredible books Storm Dancer (Dark Epic Fantasy) and The Between respectively.

If you want a book that is refreshing to read, it stands to reason to chuck out the overused. Its up to you how much time you want to put into creating unique ways to show a characters reaction. Its more work, but it will pay off big time!

A book that Mrs. Cohen brought to my attention was The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.

This book will give you amazing ways to help spruce up your writing, and more importantly, start helping you to think more creatively when writing! I highly recommend it and hope you will check it out!

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I’m not sure if you have heard of micro-fiction on twitter before, but I just stumbled upon it and its a rather fascinating idea. The basic premise of micro-fiction is to string multiple tweets along to create a cohesive fiction story. Neat huh? I thought it would be a great idea to hook readers and actually get more followers.

Though I’ve never tried it, I could even see it becoming a thing where other people join in on the story! Here is an article from Macaroon on Litopia.com about micro-fiction tweeting:

My stories follow a 6-part framework, and are 6 lines long, and complete in 6 tweets.  The stories are tweeted in reverse order, so the story runs from its start down the page.

Makes sense.

I discovered the 6-part story framework here on Litopia.  It was in a post about how Pixar develop stories.  It works very well. The 6 parts to the story are: Once upon a time, Every day, One day, Because of that, Because of that, Until finally.

Then you need to use your imagination to build the story – that’s what writers do!

Here’s an example, and one of my favourites:

MARS

Once upon a time, there was an astronaut searching for water on Mars using a divining rod.

Every day, he criss-crossed the red plains with his hazel stick held ahead of him.

One day, the stick twitched, dipped and pointed straight down.

Because of that, the astronaut discovered stairs descending to a cellar inside the planet’s core.

Because of that, he discovered rooms cut into the rock and filled with blocks of ice.

Until finally, Mission Control landed, sampled the cellar and congratulated the astronaut. Then the real search began.

The tips on story structure are sound, but I would avoid using the actual “once upon a time, one day, because of that, because of that, until finally,” phrases.

Food for thought huh? Maybe the next brake-out novel will have come from a story you created on twitter!

To read the rest of his article on micro-fiction tweeting, click here.

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Getting over your procrastination and writing a novel is easier said then done!

What is Procrastination, REALLY.

When writing a novel, or undertaking the creation of a large complex story-line, having a strong sense of motivation is paramount. After a while of working on your new project, motivation can drop and turn into procrastination; and so the bane of writing is exposed.

I’ve found that procrastination comes from a creative space within ourselves that has fallen in love with the romantic image of working and succeeding in a project. This romantic image usually depicts the magical success that our novel will have for ourselves, and it is this image that we want to hold unto, and let live within our own minds for as long as possible.

Procrastination, using this romantic image, exists for the soul purpose of making sure that we don’t fail in our endeavor. After all, how can you fail if you never try? If our story is never finished, then our mind starts to say “oh, well it wasn’t going the way I wanted it. I could have finished it IF I WANTED TO.” This is the trap that our mind makes for ourselves so that we don’t face the reality of the situation; either the novel was more difficult to write than first thought, or the writing itself was crap.

In effect, procrastination is a protective reflex that kicks in when the reality of the romantic image starts to make itself apparent, so we end up getting distracted and eventually put it off.

Something else that I have noticed about procrastination is that those who do it a lot may actually have a subconscious fear of succeeding. By getting distracted and making excuses, the romance of being successful is never threatened by the reality of the situation.

But you may ask : “doesn’t everyone want to succeed? Especially when it comes to writing a novel?” Not necessarily. Many fear success as representing more pressure, more stress, more responsibility, and more shame/embarrassment if they fail. If you or anyone you know has been struggling with getting that big break, or even finding a little success, a good evaluation of what success means to you might be beneficial.

Overcoming it

It definitely is easier said then done. There is no easy step to overcome procrastination, in fact, it might not even be possible. But it IS possible to manage and dwindle its urge down to a point where it might not even be noticeable. Besides what I pointed out above, or through sheer strength of will, these tips below will give you a nice routine to rest back on. And help you get creative!

Raise your energy

One of the main causes for procrastination is lack of energy. After a long day, the last thing that many of us want to do is sit down and create; because after all, creating takes a serious amount of mental and emotional energy. It can be draining. So, one of the easiest way to remedy this is to physically raise your energy. Work out, ride a bike, go hiking, take a jog. Exercising raises your energy level, along with dopamine and endorphins.

It will make you feel pumped, and naturally “high” so to speak. After a good workout, you will have more juice to burn for your writing.

Inspiring Purpose

It might happen that that you lose motivation, for any number of reasons. Usually, the reason you may have become unmotivated is because you have drifted away from your inspiring purpose. The core inspiration that drove you to start your creative endeavor in the first place.

Find that purpose, and change whatever you need in your writing to realize that inspiration again.

The Double-Edged Sword of Perfectionism

Perfectionism, in our society, and for any work ethic that an artist might have, is seen as an admirable trait. And it most certainly is, yet, when it comes to writing a novel, perfectionism in the early stages can be a detriment.

If you’re too harsh on yourself in the beginning when all that matters is getting your story out on paper, it can add a heap of stress that will burden you to the point of procrastination, or worse, depression.

There is a time and a place for everything. Just like there is a time and place for criticism.

Like an olympic athlete, they strive for perfection in every competition they are in, but, they also know strategy. They wouldn’t blow all their energy on a preliminary match; they would only use the right amount to qualify for the finals, and then, give it thier all.

This is the same mentallity you need to have when writing. At the begining, take it easy. use it as a freeing, non-stress situation. Let the beginning be a way for you to playfully explore your world of words.

Then, when it comes to subsiquent drafts and edits, your perfectionsim can kick in.

Tame your critical mentality, and unleash it only when the time is right.

Now, go forth and create!

If you enjoyed this post, please ‘like’ it and tweet!

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