Use It or Lose It

"...your sex life is nobody else's business. Quit worrying about begin judged, and do what you can to cut judgmental people out of your life. Respect yourself, enjoy your sexuality, and ignore the haters." - Coke Talk

That quote comes from the advice column of one of the smartest ladies I've never met. 

But Scarlett, what does this quote and incredible lady have to do with writing? 

I'm so glad you asked.

First, replace sex/sexuality with writing. Enough said

Second, I don't know who she is or what she does but there is much to learn from her. CT, as she will be referred to here, has an amazing voice. And that is the topic of this post. Use your voice or you will lose it, or much worse, if you don't use it you will never develop your voice. It's obviously not the only aspect of your writing, but your voice, or the voice of your characters, is going to make your writing relatable. That connection is crucial for any writer but especially for a new writer with no established reader base. A fun, and perhaps solo project for developing voice might be a technique actors use known as method acting and since I love CT I will use her as an example. 

There you are sitting in your coffee shop, your dorm room, or your small apartment in Big City, Somewhere. As you are, male or female, might not necessarily be able to formulate the voice of a strong independent woman, but look who we have. Coke Talk. Read her work and personal blog or even her clothing and jewelry boutique. (Do you see why this woman is one of my idols? She also has her Master's degree and some kicking job in L.A.). For the rest of the day imagine how she would handle a situation. Someone messed up the coffee order? What would Coke Talk do? Jerk at work come on to you...again? What would Coke Talk do? Maybe a more positive situation. Someone buys you a drink at the bar What would Coke Talk do? Think like your character. Talk like your character. Hell, walk like your character. Doing so will get you to understand your character better which in turn makes you write them better. 

Coke Talk not your cup of tea? Understandable. Look up the show Summer Heights High. It's an Australian show where one man plays the part of three characters. They include thirteen year old Jonah, the middle aged (and seemingly gay) Mr. Greg Gregson, fondly known as Mr. G, and finally sixteen year old Ja'mie King. Yes I spelled that correctly. Chris Lilley is the man behind this and I plan to write an entire post about him later and his ideas on characters and their development. Maybe I'll even post a video. But since that is coming later I will leave you with this...

1. Plagiarism is deplorable. If you don't have enough neurons firing off to think creative thoughts step away from your computer, pencil, typewriter, whatever. In reading the work of Coke Talk or watching Summer Heights High or his other works, you are not meant to copy them. You are meant to learn from these people and see what they do that works and maybe what you feel doesn't work. But don't copy. 

2. The "What Would CT Do" is an extremely clever play on the WWJD and there is a bracelet you can purchase from CT with WWCTD. Here's the link for the shop. 

Sincerely,

S. Darkly