Places To Read, An Unintentional Multipart Short Story Series – Part 8

 

Sat in the car waiting for someone

No one particularly likes waiting around in a car, especially if it's going to be a long time. If you and your roommate are parked at the supermarket, but you don't want to go in, or if you're with someone who needs to drop something off at a friend's house before you go somewhere else, but you know they're going to end up talking for ages – you have the perfect solution.

Reading in the car is not an exciting prospect. Reading is a way to pass the time, and everyone knows that time passes quicker when you're reading. You pull your book out of the bag at your feet as your friend says the classic line – 'I won't be long'.

You nod, sure, and open the book, leaning back in your chair. Maybe, after five minutes, you tilt the chair back a little, so you're more comfortable. After ten minutes, you tilt it back a little more and put your feet up on the dash, crossing your legs.

You turn a page, and see a new chapter. A new chapter is when you come up for breath, where you have a look out the window to see if anything has changed. Someone catches your eye and you awkwardly give them a little wave, before sinking lower in your seat. No sign of your friend, you might as well start the next chapter.

Another chapter ends, and you look around again, checking the time. Won't be long, they said. It's been forty minutes already. You look around, and look back down at your book. They could be back at any moment now. You flick through the pages, to see how long the next chapter is. It's not too long, it's shorter than most of the previous ones.

You take the risk, and keep reading. You've barely turned one page when the car door opens and your friend apologises for being so long.

This is where things change a little. There are two endings, depending on whether you started at the supermarket, or outside someone's house.

If you were at the supermarket, you have a little more time to finish the chapter as your friend puts the bags of shopping in the car. You speed-read as they push the shopping trolley back – you are not leaving until you've finished the chapter. Depending on the chapter, maybe you finish it, maybe you have a few more lines to read when your friend turns the car on, but you finish it, and can close the book in satisfaction, sliding it back into your bag.

If you started outside someone's house, well... things run a little differently. Your friend gets into the car, apologising for how long they were, but you still have a couple of pages. They start talking to you (how rude) as they plug in their seatbelt. You hold up a finger for them to wait and they fall silent, waiting for you to drop the finger. They ask if they can start driving and you shake your head. You don't let them turn the car on until the book is closed, the chapter finished.

Either way, you inevitably forget to put your seat back up properly, and spend the rest of the journey feeling that something is wrong, but not quite sure what it is.

And done!

I'm not sure how many more of these there are going to be, but I would quite like to get it to at least 10, because I like nice, round numbers. That means we have two more, at least.

I wouldn't recommend putting your feet up on the dashboard unless it is your car, you do not have shoes on, and/or you have permission from the owner, but let's admit it, we've all done it once or twice.

Okay, that's it.

Bye!

Forcing my unqualified advice upon writers who didn't ask for it

 A few pieces of advice for writers...

I would consider myself a writer. I am not an author, as I haven't properly published anything yet, but I am a writer. I am also not technically qualified to give out any advice, but I never forced you to listen to me, so it's up to you if you want to take in any of the words I have to say.

I generally have quite a bit to say when I get into a topic like this, so here we go!

Inspiration

Inspiration comes to us at the strangest of times. On the bus, in the supermarket – for me, I get most of my inspiration from the dreams I have. I don't think inspiration can be forced, so if you're sitting, staring at a blank screen and a condescending little blinking line, waiting for you to type something, without so much as a vague idea of what you want to write, there are two things you can do. You can step away for a bit, and look for inspiration around you, or you can inspire yourself. Go out for a walk, listen to some music, create little stories about the things you see until something sparks, or write down something on the page, anything, and keep going until you can see a story start to form in front of you.

Sometimes, writing can be like standing on a path blocked with vines. You're holding a machette, and know that you have to break through the vines before you can continue, but you also know it's going to be hard work. You can either walk away, try and find another path and potentially lose your way, or you can take a swing and continue on your journey. If you're standing, staring at those vines, at that blank page, and contemplating taking the leap or not, just go for it. You can't create anything if you never start. Even if it turns out terrible, maybe you can fix it, maybe it'll give you inspiration for something else. Just get some words on the page and tell the world your story.

Self doubt

First off, I accidentally just wrote the word doughnut instead of doubt... don't know how that happened!

Every writer has self doubt every now and again. If a writer says that they have never doubted their writing abilities, they have far too much confidence and should share some of it with other people. I think everyone has, at some point, read something they have written and just thought 'this is completely terrible'. How could you possibly compare your writing to something as great as that book you read, or the story you've come up with to the one someone else did?

You can't. Not in a bad way, but your story isn't theirs, your writing is not the same as that book. You can't have the same imagination and creativity as another person, and copying them is just hindering you in creating your masterpiece. Everyone doubts themselves, but if you work at your story, smooth out the flaws and make sure your writing is as good as you can possibly make it, I can assure you, that story is something that you can be proud of. Not everyone has to like it, that's the great thing about stories. There's no way you've enjoyed every book you've ever read. But when you found your favourite book? Just think – someone, somewhere, is going to feel that way about what you've made. You just have to make sure they find it.

Finding the time/place to write

It can be incredibly difficult to find time in your calendar to sit down and focus on your story, even more so if you're spending that time not knowing what to write next, or where your story is going. It can be even harder if you are constantly getting distracted with everyday things, such as a beeping washing machine, background chatter or a rumbling stomach.

Finding the time and place that works for you is essential if you want to get any words written. For some people, waking up early and writing before work is when their ideas are flowing, for others, they like to sit in a cafe and be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of everyday life as they write. Not everything works for everyone. I write best on Saturday, in the afternoon, between 1 and 6pm. I am not sure why this is so particular, but that is how my writing works. There is a time and a place that works for you, and it may be as specific as mine, or it may simply be that you need a nice cup of tea to get the words going.

It's simple to get frustrated with your writing, or when you're trying to write, but play around with different settings and times. Put some music on, make yourself comfortable and warm in bed, or sit up at a desk with the window open. When you're not writing, think about your project(s), your storylines, your characters, and how you can improve them. Make yourself excited to write, so when you sit down, you can't wait to start typing.

Right now, I can't think of anything else I would like to go over, but if you would like me to go over something specifically, please let me know. Again, I am not a professional, but there is a lovely little phrase called 'fake it 'till you make it' and I am very (very, very, very) good at doing that.

I hope this has given someone even a little bit of help and, if not, well... I didn't have a post ready, so this is a last minute idea anyway!

That's all for now...

Bye!