Rusty's Notes, Closing out 2016
By Rusty Knight
Issue 005
December 29, 2016
Good-day, I’m Rusty Knight and wouldn’t you know it, the holidays have come upon us again. Many of you celebrate the holidays in your various ways with your traditions, much as my family has its traditions. Most of us spend special time with family we’ve rarely seen during the rest of the year, or with friends we seldom visit. In these visits, I still end up talking about computers, networks, writings, publishing and being an author. Figure that out! Along with other farming, oil field business, and instruction, as well as the other odd tidbits people sneak in that rarely gets mentioned with friends and family.
I took notes this year, as I was interested in what most people were asking me about. I compiled a list of over forty questions, some of which I’d like to address here in these blogs over the coming year of 2017.
So, apart from wishing you all a great new year and happy holidays, I’ll start with a simple basic question that crops up in the writing group, ‘Fellowship of the Scribblers’ and on many online forums for writers.
Catch this, it’s not as easy as it appears, “What style of writing will work for me?” I know, sounds innocent, but it’s not.
Writing ‘style’ can mean different things to different people, for example, genre, troupes, format, location settings, worlds, environment, etc. also, pen and paper versus laptop or desktop computer, or audio dictation; novel, short story or novellas; fiction or non-fiction; commercial or non-commercial.
Asking what style works, is too general and broad of a question to be properly answered with a reply. Instead, it must be responded to with the questions, for example, do you want to write fiction or non-fiction? Do you want to make money and be commercial? Or simply, do you wish to write to express yourself? And several other essential questions to start narrowing down your narrative literature style.
But there is also the aspect of, do you wish to have a physical hard paper copy or are you better with an electronic computer copy? Do you find writing at home better, or is at an office more suited to your needs, or maybe in a crowded coffee shop, or some other venue? Do you write better in the morning, afternoon, or evening? What are your other life responsibilities? How much time do you have for writing? Are you a scheduler, or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Then, when you’re writing, do you plan out the plot? Do you outline your chapters and every character, along with the setting, if you’re writing fiction? How much research do you do, in both fiction and non-fiction?
Do you co-write collaboratively? Do you share responsibility with graphic artists?
Do you have a deadline? A contract to deal with? Are you ghostwriting for someone else, or writing your own piece?
All these and more queries will go into what your style of writing will be. More importantly, your style will change, as most artist’s styles change, so you must be adaptable and evolve with changes as time progresses. The question is much more complex than the few simple words it is composed of – what style of writing will work for me today, is more accurate.
Thank you, happy holidays,
Yours, Rusty Knight
Issue 005
December 29, 2016
Good-day, I’m Rusty Knight and wouldn’t you know it, the holidays have come upon us again. Many of you celebrate the holidays in your various ways with your traditions, much as my family has its traditions. Most of us spend special time with family we’ve rarely seen during the rest of the year, or with friends we seldom visit. In these visits, I still end up talking about computers, networks, writings, publishing and being an author. Figure that out! Along with other farming, oil field business, and instruction, as well as the other odd tidbits people sneak in that rarely gets mentioned with friends and family.
I took notes this year, as I was interested in what most people were asking me about. I compiled a list of over forty questions, some of which I’d like to address here in these blogs over the coming year of 2017.
So, apart from wishing you all a great new year and happy holidays, I’ll start with a simple basic question that crops up in the writing group, ‘Fellowship of the Scribblers’ and on many online forums for writers.
Catch this, it’s not as easy as it appears, “What style of writing will work for me?” I know, sounds innocent, but it’s not.
Writing ‘style’ can mean different things to different people, for example, genre, troupes, format, location settings, worlds, environment, etc. also, pen and paper versus laptop or desktop computer, or audio dictation; novel, short story or novellas; fiction or non-fiction; commercial or non-commercial.
Asking what style works, is too general and broad of a question to be properly answered with a reply. Instead, it must be responded to with the questions, for example, do you want to write fiction or non-fiction? Do you want to make money and be commercial? Or simply, do you wish to write to express yourself? And several other essential questions to start narrowing down your narrative literature style.
But there is also the aspect of, do you wish to have a physical hard paper copy or are you better with an electronic computer copy? Do you find writing at home better, or is at an office more suited to your needs, or maybe in a crowded coffee shop, or some other venue? Do you write better in the morning, afternoon, or evening? What are your other life responsibilities? How much time do you have for writing? Are you a scheduler, or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Then, when you’re writing, do you plan out the plot? Do you outline your chapters and every character, along with the setting, if you’re writing fiction? How much research do you do, in both fiction and non-fiction?
Do you co-write collaboratively? Do you share responsibility with graphic artists?
Do you have a deadline? A contract to deal with? Are you ghostwriting for someone else, or writing your own piece?
All these and more queries will go into what your style of writing will be. More importantly, your style will change, as most artist’s styles change, so you must be adaptable and evolve with changes as time progresses. The question is much more complex than the few simple words it is composed of – what style of writing will work for me today, is more accurate.
Thank you, happy holidays,
Yours, Rusty Knight
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