The newest episode of the Atomic Mind Dump Podcast is live!
Listen Here: Atomic Mind Dump episode 81: Weasel Slappers
This week, we’re recording from the water closet at a Starbucks, because Brian is now our resident pompous author, that only handles his media in analog format. Tony is a tiger with no tolerance for finger wags. Allen is a weasel slapper, with his sights set on Tony. Bobby is a stand-up comic with a strong five minutes on quality made products.
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“I just listen to my characters and write down what they do and say.”
Nonsense! I used to think when a writer said they just “listened to their characters”, it was some strange hippie stuff. Like they were just trying to say what we wanted to hear, to make them sound mystical. I started writing short stories in 2013, and most of the time it was about a single character with minimal interaction.
In 2015 I took one of the stories and expanded it into a full novel. I added a lot of characters, had a lot of witty banter, and did my best to give each a somewhat unique personality and way of speaking (I’m sure most still sound the same because it’s still coming from my head). By then I had been listening to the audiobook of Stephen King’s “On Writing”, and thought again about how authors just “listened to their characters”. Hooey! Malarkey!
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That’s the catch, you’ve got to finish it, otherwise, it’s pointless. We’re too busy chasing the next wave of inspiration, not realizing that all the winners are the ones that actually finish the game. I’m not speaking from a position of success, telling you all how I “did it”. I’m equally guilty of pouncing on the next shiny new object that crosses my path as well. There has got to be a point where we all accept that leaving a bunch of tasks sitting around unfinished, only to label them as “I’ll finish that someday”, will never accomplish much. We’ve all got tasks sitting around, partially complete. Like half cleaned offices, partially built projects, unfinished manuscripts, or a half checked to-do list.
…And you’re gonna hear me roar! Yes, I did just quote Katy Perry. I’ve got no regrets about that. Speaking of regrets, something you always hear when others are doling out advice about how we should be living, is to live a life of “no regrets”. Do you want to make that decision now, or live with regret later on, always wondering “what could have been”? The problem is that most of us already have regrets in life, and hearing that type of advice always seems to stir them back up. I think making decisions to avoid any type of regret is the wrong way to go about it.