Robbie Vorhaus
Ask yourself these questions:
1. What's my unique truth? What's my point of view? To the core, what's the moral, the theme, of my story? Why is this story (doesn't matter the genre, structure, or fiction or non-fiction), important to me?
2. Who is my audience and how do they want to hear stories and/or receive informative or entertaining information? Are you writing to children? What age? Business people? On what level? Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, MBA's, small business owners? Are you writing to woman? Moms? Parents? Christians or Jews? Self-help enthusiasts, the spiritual, seekers? Become so knowledgable about your audience, who they are and what they want, that whatever you write you feel as though you are writing directly to your audience.
3. Storytelling. Know your media. Know the rules. If you're writing a movie, you need to know that on the average, every script is approx. 120-pages long. If you're writing a TV sitcom, you need to know that you're essentially writing a three-act play for approx. 22 mins, with a plot, sub-plot and a "runner," a running gag that shows up in all three acts and resolves at the end. Writing a novel, blog article, or biography? Each literature form has very specific rules, and as tempted as you may want to break the rules, don't try. Become proficient, original, articulate, compelling, and unique in your writing. That's what will distinguish your work.
4. Establish a feedback system. If you're audience laughs when you want them to cry, you need to a change something. If you're attempting to tell the story that true love never dies, and the feedback you receive is that your work makes people feel hopeless, you need to change something. Don't get caught in the amateur trap of not showing your work because you're afraid someone's going to steal it. And, at the same time, don't get caught in the other amateur trap of showing your work in little bits to everyone. Know what you want to say, know your audience, know the genre and media in which you want to tell your story, and then get enough feedback to tell you if you're on track for the story you want to tell.
And, one more thing: If you really, truly, honestly, want to be a writer, then write. Ask any book author and they will tell you how many people say, "My story is fascinating and I'm going to write a book!" Write, write and write. Most of it will be crap. Throw that away, and then build off the jewels.
I know you can do it. You just have to write, and keep writing. Good luck and keep in touch.
1. What's my unique truth? What's my point of view? To the core, what's the moral, the theme, of my story? Why is this story (doesn't matter the genre, structure, or fiction or non-fiction), important to me?
2. Who is my audience and how do they want to hear stories and/or receive informative or entertaining information? Are you writing to children? What age? Business people? On what level? Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, MBA's, small business owners? Are you writing to woman? Moms? Parents? Christians or Jews? Self-help enthusiasts, the spiritual, seekers? Become so knowledgable about your audience, who they are and what they want, that whatever you write you feel as though you are writing directly to your audience.
3. Storytelling. Know your media. Know the rules. If you're writing a movie, you need to know that on the average, every script is approx. 120-pages long. If you're writing a TV sitcom, you need to know that you're essentially writing a three-act play for approx. 22 mins, with a plot, sub-plot and a "runner," a running gag that shows up in all three acts and resolves at the end. Writing a novel, blog article, or biography? Each literature form has very specific rules, and as tempted as you may want to break the rules, don't try. Become proficient, original, articulate, compelling, and unique in your writing. That's what will distinguish your work.
4. Establish a feedback system. If you're audience laughs when you want them to cry, you need to a change something. If you're attempting to tell the story that true love never dies, and the feedback you receive is that your work makes people feel hopeless, you need to change something. Don't get caught in the amateur trap of not showing your work because you're afraid someone's going to steal it. And, at the same time, don't get caught in the other amateur trap of showing your work in little bits to everyone. Know what you want to say, know your audience, know the genre and media in which you want to tell your story, and then get enough feedback to tell you if you're on track for the story you want to tell.
And, one more thing: If you really, truly, honestly, want to be a writer, then write. Ask any book author and they will tell you how many people say, "My story is fascinating and I'm going to write a book!" Write, write and write. Most of it will be crap. Throw that away, and then build off the jewels.
I know you can do it. You just have to write, and keep writing. Good luck and keep in touch.
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