Though it’s completely true that anyone with a pen and paper can be a writer, this post is more about how to do it better – without repeating the mistakes of others. We don’t want to waste time (In the case of writing Sci-Fi), and we definitely don’t want to lose money. So this is more for you aspiring writers who want to write something good, without making a mess of things.
Step #1 – Motivation
If you read the animated text above a few times you might be feeling unusually motivated. That’s good. Writing is all about self-motivation, so you’re off to a very good start. If you are more difficult to motivate like me, then you might need something a bit more industrial. What do I mean by Industrial? It’s Reverse Psychology that I’m talking about.
It’s for us who are more complicated than others. Traditional minds can be offended by Reverse Psychology, but it’s just the thing for us complicated types, and in some cases, just enough to get us going.
The following Link is one of my favorite places to go, and I have been a fan for Many Years. At first I thought it was just funny stuff to read. That was until I started writing again, and then I discovered the true power of Reverse Psychology.
Despair.com
I’m more than certain that there are those who would disagree about Reverse Psychology being a useful tool for Sci-Fi writers, or any writer for that matter. No problem.. let’s analyze this a little more then.
A Sci-Fi story has problems in it, right? How are those problems revealed or even hinted at? A writer has to do this very artistically, or else they will have a very bad story. A story without problems is not a story, so you need to choose your problems carefully.
So what is Demotivation then? It would seem as if the problem parts of your story are related to this Demotivational Mentality. I might be stepping all over a few traditional toes by saying this, but Traditional hasn’t been doing so good lately, has it? So it might be time we changed gears.
Anyways, Despiar.com has been an invaluable tool for me, so I would like to pass it on to other deserving, and hopefully, Independent Writers out there.
Step #2 – A Clear Mind
Ok, so we’ve managed to get some motivation, even though it might not be the kind most of you were hoping for.
The next step for me was getting a clear mind. This sounds easy enough, but for those who are already writing something- you know exactly how hard this part can be.
This is the part nobody wants to talk about, and in reality, even I thought about it a few times. I’m already beating around the bush, but what I’m eventually going to get to is how to harmonize your state of mind.
(The voice in the back of your head)
Hardly ever heard of in the writing community – this mind harmonizing stuff; wondering why? Well we won’t be getting into that since we need to get our focus back on our own minds, or more importantly, the obscure parts of our mind. We need to start cleaning out whatever could be lingering in the back of our heads, way before we start to write in a more serious way. The way needs to be clear, or else we’re going to be tripping over all the buried emotional episodes that we thought had been forgotten about.
Remember that science fiction writers rely heavily on our subconscious minds. Creativity comes from a deep dark down place that most don’t even know exists.
I personally like the iceberg photo shown above. For a sci-fi writer, well this petty much represents our minds, in a crude way of course. Above the water is what we are conscious of, and below… well you get the picture.
If you haven’t written yet then you may think that all of this conscious – subconscious stuff is rubbish. Well try it then. Dig deep, deep down into the darkest recesses of your mind to find your hidden creativity- you are more than likely going to find some skeletons down there.
As for the solution to all of this… Well in my case it was spiritual, though I will leave that part up to you, since that’s a very complicated topic. Here’s a hint though: Forgiveness is a very powerful tool.
-Forgiveness-
Powerful it is – Easy it is not.
In the end, your mind needs to find a very stable and very solid balance, way before you can take advantage of the hidden resources of the subconscious mind.
Step #3 – Organization
It Gets Easier From Here..
So where is it that your notes end up? For most the trash can is the most common destination, and for others it’s a pile of notebooks and folders.
You might have wondered how to keep all of your notes organized and up to date. Well for me, it was by accident, finding Mindjet. It was the Game Changer to my note and idea organizing problem, and is now one of my favorite tools.
The above image is from a sofware company called Mindjet. They have a very cool program that can help sci-fi writers like us a whole lot. Remember that our brains are made out of neurons, so imagine for a moment how neurons are connected. Ok… Now check out the following images.
These are connected neurons.
This is a map section from Realms Of Forgotten Worlds – using Mindjet.
See the similarities? No wonder it works so well – it just takes some time getting used to. Our traditional methods can be a bit hard to change sometimes, no doubt about it. Like the Texan saying, “If it ain’t broken don’t fix it.” That’s funny. I actually grew up with this saying, but thankfully I didn’t get stuck in it.
Sticking to tradition is a noble thing to do, but in the case of Sci-Fi Writers, we are just forgotten. If we don’t adapt, we simply just fade away, and no one will even remember what we wrote.
This is the sad truth. So change is sometimes good, and in the case of organization, this is a very good thing to change. More organized the better, just as long as it doesn’t take more time to organize than doing the actual project.
As a matter of fact, these are very different types of maps. We got away from the topic of taking notes, though the art of Mind Mapping is exactly the same concept.
The idea is to get your ideas down, solidified, and most importantly, in an area where you can see them. If ideas on paper get cluttered then they are almost always destined for the waste basket.
Here’s the advantage of doing things with Mindjet.. In this program, you can just drag ideas around and re-arrange, which makes Mind Mapping and Note Taking a breeze. The hard part is actually getting ideas out of your head, but Mindjet takes a load off of an unorganized writer, for sure.
Just In Case You Were Wondering What These Maps Are All About…
This is an actual Multi-Option Sci-Fi story, in a map.
See the similarities it has to more traditional Multi-Option GameBooks? It would be hard not to.
Multi-Option Sci-Fi (GameBooks) is a bit different when compared to regular Sci-Fi, though they do share the same principals. The point is, that you as a science fiction writer, have to invent pretty much everything.
You have to invent the characters, the environment, the physics, and probably even the Alien Dimension of a Sci-Fi story. It’s not something that everyone is willing or even able to do. This is what makes a Sci-Fi writer special.
The creation of a map starting to look a bit more useful? Of course it is. In reality creating multi-option sci-fi is almost impossible without a map. Here it is then, so if you have any degree of success from taking my advice, don’t forget to let me know. I absolutely love to hear from people who have benefited from this information.
Step #4 – Environment
Once you have your story all mapped out, you are pretty much set. The only thing left is to find a nice quiet place to write, get some really relaxing type music, and let your family know that you will be in a weird working but not working mode.
Most families probably won’t understand right away. In reality, most will probably think you are just slacking off, but try not to think about that too much. There will always be enough criticism, even after the book is done. Forget about that last part though, at least for a moment. You are going to have to find some music to calm your nerves. I love a trance remix from Mark Sherry (A Star Within a Star). You may like that or perhaps some Binaural Theta Waves, which are extremely effective as a meditation tool.
This is one of my favorites. Everytime this one comes up I feel ideas and inspiration surfacing from unknown parts of my brain.
Binaural Beats
This one is also one of my favorites, but more than being an inspiring beat that is in line with all the other songs, it is a starter for me – before listening to anything else. I usually turn off the lights, sit back in my chair, prop my feet up to a comfortable height, and listen to Theta Waves for 15 to 20 minutes. That’s more than enough for me to get my brain in sync and ready to create a story.
Here are some links to the music I mentioned before. Let me know if you liked them. After this, it’s all about perseverance and discipline. Nobody said it would be easy, so saying something like that would be a total lie. Despite the harsh reality, just have fun and try not to worry too much.
Remember, if it was easy, everyone would do it.
This information was brought to you by:
Thank You for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. To learn more about Realms Of Forgotten Worlds Click the book link.
Here we also have information about Multi-Option Writing and Reading, so it’s worth checking out.
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