What is the Power of Imagination?

The Power of Imagination

By Remez Sasson

Imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the senses. It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist, are not present or have happened in the past. Memory is actually a manifestation of imagination. Everyone possesses some imagination ability. In some it may be highly developed and in others it may manifest in a weaker form. It manifests in various degrees in various people.

Imagination makes it possible to experience a whole world inside the mind. It gives the ability to look at any situation from a different point of view, and enables one to mentally explore the past and the future.

It manifests in various forms, one of which is daydreaming. Though too much idle daydreaming may make one impractical, some daydreaming, when not being engaged in something that requires attention provides some temporary happiness, calmness and relief from stress.
In your imagination you can travel anywhere in the speed of light without any obstacles. It can make you feel free, though temporarily, and only in the mind, from tasks, difficulties and unpleasant circumstances.

Imagination is not limited only to seeing pictures in the mind. It includes all the five senses and the feelings. One can imagine a sound, taste, smell, a physical sensation or a feeling or emotion. For some people it is easier to see mental pictures, others find it easier to imagine a feeling, and some are more comfortable imagining the sensation of one of the five senses. Training of the imagination gives the ability to combine all the senses.

A developed and strong imagination does not make you a daydreamer and impractical. On the contrary, it strengthens your creative abilities, and is a great tool for recreating and remodeling your world and life.

This is a great power that can change your whole life. It is used extensively in magick, creative visualization and affirmations. It is the creator of circumstances and events. When you know how to work with it, you can make your hearts' desires come true.

Imagination has a great role and value in each one's life. It is much more than just idle daydreaming. We all use it, whether consciously or unconsciously, in most of our daily affairs. We use our imagination whenever we plan a party, a trip, our work or a meeting. We use it when we describe an event, explain how to arrive to a certain street, write, tell a story or cook a cake.

Imagination is a creative power that is necessary for inventing an instrument, designing a dress or a building, painting a picture or writing a book. The creative power of imagination has an important role in the achievement of success in any field. What we imagine with faith and feelings comes into being. It is the power beyond creative visualization, positive thinking and affirmations.

Visualizing an object or a situation, and repeating often this mental image, attracts the object or situation into our lives. This opens for us new, vast and fascinating opportunities.
This means that we should think only in a positive manner about our desires, otherwise we may create and attract into our lives events, situations and people that we don't really want. This is actually what most of us do, because we don't use the power of imagination correctly.

If you do not recognize the importance of the power of the imagination, and let it run riot, your life may not be as happy and successful as you would have wanted it to be.

Lack of understanding of the power of the imagination is responsible for the suffering, incompetence, difficulties, failures and unhappiness people experience. For some reason, most people are inclined to think in a negative way. They do not expect success. They expect the worst, and when they fail, they believe that fate is against them. This attitude can be changed, and then life will improve accordingly.
Understanding how to use your imagination correctly, and putting this knowledge into practice, for your own and others' benefit, will put you on the golden path to success, satisfaction and happiness.

Kenneth Williams: Secret loves behind the life of a tormented man.

A new biography drawing on diaries that were locked away for years reveals the lonely star's unknown passion and a complex struggle with his sexual identity

• Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent
• The Observer, Sunday 10 October 2010
• Article history

Williams in 1969 with Clive Dennis, and Tom Waine, the man with whom he had a long-lasting but platonic love affair.

 

As erudite as he was rude, Kenneth Williams is now remembered as the author of a bleak and illuminating diary and not just for his saucy anecdotes and Carry On films. But as a new authorised biography reveals, the outrageous performer and raconteur had melancholy secrets that are only now emerging.

With the publication of Born Brilliant this week, the hidden corners of Williams's life of public comedy and private pain are examined for the first time.

Biographer Christopher Stevens has uncovered the depth of the star's friendship with a young gay couple who have never spoken publicly before and who were witness to Williams's long and bitter struggle with his sexual identity.

"Tom Waine and Clive Dennis feature frequently in the published extracts, but they're never fully identified," Stevens said. "One was an Oxford graduate working in the media and the other a postman. Kenneth introduced them both to Swinging London and he enjoyed the frisson of arriving at debauched parties with two 21-year-old men, one of them fey and elegant, and the other raffish and working-class."

Stevens's interviews with the two men, who have never sought publicity, have been a key element of his research. The varied extremes of their shared social life, from glamorous parties with famous names such as Rudolf Nureyev and Williams's good friend, the playwright Joe Orton, to quiet evenings of Scrabble at their north London home, have answered many questions about the private life of this lonely star. While Williams was clearly attracted to Waine, the friendship remained platonic.

"Their relationship was so close that it was really Kenneth's only long-lasting love affair – he adored Tom, and admired his education, but they were never physically intimate," says Stevens. "But as a threesome they partied, dined, promenaded, and raved it up in Tangier."

Over the years Williams wrote to the couple, who still live together, on around 150 occasions, and all his notes and letters have been preserved.

One airmail letter sent to Italy by a depressed Williams after he dropped out of a holiday with them is typically revealing: "Living with someone always means a denial of self in SOME way and I suppose I have always known it was something I couldn't accomplish. So I've always stayed on the sidelines. Getting the pleasure vicariously. It's not wholly satisfactory, but then of course no lives are, and you know what I think about indiscriminate sex and promiscuous trade. I think it's the beginning of a long, long road to despair."

Known as the Babes in the Woods, Waine and Dennis became friends with Williams after Waine, an Oxford undergraduate, sent him an amusing fan letter. Together with Williams's beloved mother, Louie, the couple became a vital support system, attending all the star's theatre and television performances and now and then unsuccessfully tempting him with other potential boyfriends, including rough labourers and squaddies which provoked an angry response. On one of many evenings at Orton's home, Waine also recalls Williams's fury when the playwright revealed that he had spiked Williams's food with hashish.

By chance, Dennis was with Williams at his flat in August 1967 when news of Orton's murder at the hands of his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, broke. He tells Stevens that Williams was unable to take in what had happened. He refused to speak to the BBC and instead went out to the cinema, remaining in denial for several months.

Aside from offering fresh insight into Williams's closest relationships, Stevens's book benefits from exclusive access to the diaries themselves. The 43 volumes found in Williams's flat on the day he died now belong to his friend and legatee Paul Richardson. In 1993 startling edited extracts were published in a book which has not been out of print since, but for the next 15 years the diaries were stored in the sealed vault of a London bank. Stevens was granted access to all the volumes to research his biography on the condition that he housed them securely inside a research library.

Waine and Dennis helped Stevens to unravel the background to many unexplored sections of the diaries, which Williams started keeping in 1942 and famously finished with a final dark entry on 14 April 1988, the night of his death, with the words "Oh – what's the bloody point?" But the content of the diaries is not the whole story. The appearance of Williams's daily entries turns out to be evidence of an unsuspected twist in his psyche, a bewildering array of handwriting styles and an extraordinary personal colour-coding system.

"The big shock, when I began to read Kenneth's journals, was the extraordinary and expressive variety of handwriting," Stevens said. "Millions of people know Williams kept a diary for more than 40 years, but almost no one realises they are such beautiful, diverse, fascinating collections of handwriting styles."

Williams, a trained engraver, worked as a map-maker during the war and listed calligraphy among his hobbies in Who's Who, but his astonishing skill has confounded even Nicolas Barker, a former handwriting expert at the British Museum, who has looked at the diaries.

"He is capable of beautiful copperplate script, but can produce very different kinds of writing with very little resemblance to each other," Barker said.

Piecing together the writing styles, Stevens realised that Williams appeared to be channelling different personalities as he wrote. The colour coding was easier to crack. Williams wrote in red pen when discussing his health and in blue when he had dramatic news, for example. Stevens now sees the fluctuating styles as the symbol of Williams's subtly distinct moods, moving as they did from disapproving, to intellectual, to schoolboyish or to outright furious.

Perhaps the most moving of Stevens's discoveries, however, are lines in one of the letters to his friends Tom and Clive that express his growing disenchantment with the notion that it was possible to be truly close to another person: "All problems have to be solved eventually by ONESELF, and that's where all your lovely John Donne stuff turns out to be a load of crap because, in the last analysis, A MAN IS AN ISLAND."

Born Brilliant (published by John Murray at £25) will be launched at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on Wednesday www.bornbrilliant.info

Who is Arthur C Clarke and what is his involement with 2001 a space odyssey.

  Arthur C. Clarke –

Like Asimov, Clarke was a true master of hard science fiction. He received degrees in both mathematics and physics from King's College in London.

His first professional sale was in 1946 in Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Clarke's first great work was 1953's "Childhood's End" but he took the Sci-Fi world by storm with 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Spanning eons, the film was built on themes of human evolution, space travel, and the perils of artificial intelligence. 1972's

"Rendezvous with Rama" was the only science fiction novel I was ever assigned to read in my High School AP English class. It is the story of massive alien spaceship that enter Earth's solar system and the eventual exploration of the ship.

The book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel as did 1979's "The Fountains of Paradise".


Clarke would go on to write three sequels to Odyssey and three sequels to Rama. It's difficult to assign just how much influence Clarke had.

You can trace almost any disastrous encounter with artificial intelligence and first contact with aliens, back to his works. In 1987, the Arthur C. Clarke Award was established for the Best Science Fiction novel first published in the UK. In 2005, the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Award was established for notable contributions in space exploration.

Jumping Universes - Dare you to read it.

Hi Everyone.

A friend of mine Mike Madigan of Numerologist.com sent me this interesting item so i thought i would share it with you all. I will cover some of this in my new book.

Enjoy.

Cheers Tom.

 

Hi Thomas,

So let's be real - as a Numerology enthusiast, you're pretty
niche. You're indie.

You believe in a phenomenon that a lot of people still
can't accept, let alone understand.

And you know that there's more to the universe than meets the eye.

But I'll bet you an imaginary dollar that even YOU won't
believe this when you see it:

>> The 84-year-old man who jumps universes

Meet Burt Goldman.

In many ways, Burt is just like any other senior citizen his age.

He spends time with his grandchildren. Walks his dog.
Reads his favorite books.

But there's something different about Burt.

Just before his 80th birthday, almost out of thin air, he...

• Taught himself how to paint, and got his artwork featured in museums across the world.
  
  
• Took up photography, and invented a new technique known as 'Mirage Photography'.
  
  
• Wrote not one, but multiple novels - including his very first Western.
  
  

"IS THIS MAN FOR REAL???" is what I first thought when I saw this list of achievements.

At an age when most people spend their time snoozing
in armchairs, how did Burt accomplish not one, but multiple
goals that some people spend their entire lives chasing?

The answer lies in a bizarre visualization technique which he calls...

Quantum Jumping.

According to Burt, Quantum Jumping is a technique that
allows you to use your mind to 'jump' into alternate universes...

And meet alternate versions of yourself, who are ready
and waiting to give you all the knowledge, skills and inspiration
you need to accomplish just about ANYTHING you want in your own life.

The painter you. The billionaire you. The novelist you. The athlete you.

If Quantum Jumping works, all the wisdom and skills in
the universe could be yours for the taking.

But is it for real? You be the judge.

Not too long ago, Vishen Lakhiani, the founder of the
personal growth blog FinerMinds, took a trip to Burt's
home in Rancho Mirage, California.

When he got there, he got his video camera rolling,
interviewed Burt, and for the first time ever recorded footage
of Burt's home gallery of paintings and photographs...

All which he made with the help of Quantum Jumping.

>> Go here to watch Vishen's astonishing recording (no sign-up required)

What makes a thriller book thrilling.

What makes a thriller thrilling? Nonstop action, precarious situations, hair-raising suspense, and heroic characters all exemplify the best thrillers on the market. But how can you be sure the book you choose is electrifying, not exasperating? Just consult the book editors at

Reader's Digest Select Editions who've spent 50 years finding the best, most satisfying stories that will race your heart and grip your imagination while you turn the pages. "People always ask us what are really the best books out there," says Laura Kelly, editor-in-chief of Select Editions. "They know we're simply looking for well-told stories and won't be fooled by all the hype around certain books and authors."

For your reading pleasure, Kelly's team has compiled a list of real double-trouble: the world's best thrillers, featuring both recent and timeless stories. They're organized by 10 popular thriller categories.

1. The Spy Thriller
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré (1963) is the quintessential espionage thriller. Set during the Cold War, this rich tale still captivates with its spellbinding portrayal of the world of secret agents. And don't miss The Avenger by Frederick Forsyth (2003) the 21st century's top spy pulse-pounder, by the author of The Day of the Jackal.

2. The Techno Thriller
Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets. Ian Fleming started it all with James Bond and his arsenal of clever, useful gadgets, some not so far-fetched anymore. The best Bond book? From Russia with Love (1957). Get to know the real Bond, not Sean, Roger, Timothy or Pierce, by imbibing him on the printed page. For a more recent techno thriller, The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver (2001) stimulates the imagination with its truly surprising twists and turns, and a fascinating computer-based plot.

3. The Classic Thriller
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (1898) was one of the world's pioneering thrillers, introducing this genre, unknown at the time, to worldwide acclaim. And the story is still alive and well today. We agree: Tom Cruise is cute, but treat yourself to the real deal and snatch up the book. For a more recent classic thriller, try Whiteout by Ken Follett (2004), the latest gem by the author of Eye of the Needle. It's the chilling story of what happens when biological weapons fall into the wrong hands, and the blizzard that builds over the course of the book will cool you right off at the beach. Visit www.selecteditions.com for excerpts from Whiteout and info on Ken Follett.

4. The Psychological Suspense Thriller
If you get your adrenaline rush from mind games rather than chase scenes, psychological suspense is for you. For sheer creepiness and terror, nothing beats The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988). More recently, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (2003), will not only scare you silly but fool you as well. Just try to guess the ending. Our one admonition: Don't read these books home alone at night!

5. The Legal Thriller
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (1987) features terrific characters, a deftly executed plot, and fascinating legal insight, making it the definitive legal thriller. And for an exciting new author, don't miss In the Shadow of the Law by Kermit Roosevelt (2005), a firecracker of a debut by a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

6. The Medical Thriller
Medical paperwork these days is pretty terrifying, but you can get true terror in these two great medical thrillers. Read Coma by Robin Cook (1977), the unforgettable saga of patients who check into the hospital for "minor" surgery and never wake up. For the strong of stomach, The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen (2001) is gruesomely chilling and addictively page-turning.

7. The Sci-Fi Thriller
Sure he's done dinosaurs and television emergency rooms, but Michael Crichton's first novel, The Andromeda Strain (1969), still ranks as one of the top science fiction thrillers of all time. What could be scarier than microscopic killer germs run amok? Representing the larger end of the weird-creature spectrum, Mammoth by John Varley (2005) imaginatively spins a yarn starring a billionaire, a brilliant nerd, and a gifted animal wrangler whose newest charge happens to be a woolly mammoth.

8. The Military Thriller
You've seen the movie, but don't miss the book. The Great EscapeKilling Floor (1997) or Child's latest bestseller, One Shot (2005). Or, for that matter, pick up any riveting Reacher book in between.

9. The True-Crime Thriller
Yes, real life can be stranger than fiction, and true-crime thrillers prove this. The most famous book in this nonfiction genre is Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1966). The author spent months in the Midwest painstakingly retracing the steps of two young rural killers — and then wrote about it chillingly. Another excellent and more recent true-crime book is Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (2004), the true story of the notorious Green River serial killer who terrorized the Seattle area for decades.

10. The Action / Adventure Thriller
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read (1974) set the gold standard for heroic survival stories, with this true tale of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashes, resulting in an incredible 10-week physical and emotional ordeal. Changing altitudes from mountains to the ocean floor, Shadow Divers, the hit 2005 book by Robert Kurson, re-enacts the story of an extraordinary deep-sea discovery and adventure.

You can see why thrillers have always been one of the most popular modern reading genres, with dozens of them dominating the bestseller lists each year. "Thrillers stand alone for their sheer page-turning quotient," says editor Kelly. "Once you've been in the grip of a good thriller you can't wait for your next thriller fix."

lady Gaga sold 1.1 million copies of Born this way in one week.

LADY Gaga has sold more than 1.1 million copies of her new album Born This Way in the US in one week.

And in doing so the dance pop provocateur set a digital sales record - with an assist from Amazon.com.

Billboard announced that Born This Way debuted at No. 1 on its Billboard 200 album chart, becoming just the 17th album to sell a million copies in its first week since SoundScan started tracking US sales in 1991 and the top-selling digital debut.

She is just the fifth female with an album that sold more than a million copies in the SoundScan era.
Lady Gaga's first No. 1 album sold the most copies of any debut in the US since March 2005 when 50 Cent's The Massacre sold 1.14 million. The last million-selling album was Taylor Swift's Speak Now in November.

Amazon's attention-grabbing download price of US$0.99 (92 cents) on last Tuesday and Thursday helped drive Born This Way to an unprecedented 662,000 in digital sales, pushing the album to nearly three times initial estimates by Universal Music Group. Amazon sold more than 440,000 of those copies alone, but with mixed results.

The online retailer did grab the spotlight it had hoped in its battle for a larger piece of the online market, which is dominated by Apple's iTunes. But it came with an image hit when customers overwhelmed Amazon's system.

Amazon's move has been deemed controversial by some observers who say the steep loss of several dollars an album was not worth the investment. Physical outlets also were upset at the advantage given to an online retailer.

Who is Thomas H Green.

 Biography

 About Thomas

Thomas Henry Green was born in the wilds of the north west of England in 1951. He was born but a stones throw away from the beautiful Lake District, in a converted Roman castle, located in the fishing village of Whitehaven. Thomas, the son of a miner, was raised in a working class environment. He was surrounded by strong moral values and much love, particularly from a devoted mother Laura who was the instigator in the families migration to South Australia.

As a young boy Thomas had two main interests, reading anything that had to do with ancient Egypt and a fascination with the spiritual world, both developing into his passion.

The future unfolded into successful careers in Advertising, Marketing and Sales, but he always felt there was something missing.

It wasn't until he returned to Whitehaven on a holiday and met a remarkable lady by the name of Brenda Towers, a working medium. Joining her "circle" he found the missing element.

Thomas is married to his soul mate, his beautiful wife Christine, who became the light at the end of his tunnel. She is his constant source of inspiration and unconditional endless love and encouragement.

Thomas still works as a medium. He lives with Christine in the calmness and beauty of Perth, Western Australia

5 Most Common Problems First Time Writers Share

by Amanda Patterson

I have run my creative writing course, Writers Write for four years.
I have learned so much from teaching novelists to dream their books into life.
I have watched people struggle as they decide whether or not they need to attend a writing course.

After many rejections and lots of reflection, they join.
Writing teachers and mentors, and writing courses, have been popular for longer than most people know.

Frank McCourt Angela's Ashes lectures creative writing, as do Wally Lamb She's Come Undone and Janet Fitch White Oleander.

Consider the Bloomsbury Set. Gertrude Stein sacrificed much of her own career to mentor the likes of F Scott Fitzgerald, T S Eliot, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, whom she once told to start again – and this time, "Concentrate."

Writers like Andre Brink and J M Coetzee have lectured the art of creative writing at UCT. Authors, like Diane Awerbuck Gardening at Night and Susan Mann One Tongue Singing, have graduated from this programme.

Don't ever be afraid to learn. The most successful novelists have always looked for help when they've needed it.

After seeing 36 graduates published, I have settled on these five as being the most common problems.

5 Most Common Problems First Time Writers Share

• First time writers all want to write their life story in the form of a novel
  
• Beginners have no antagonist
  
• First time writers have no plot
  
• Beginners do not have enough dialogue
  
• First time writers hang on to an idea for a novel that is no longer popular

1. Almost every writer who comes through the school thinks they have a life story so compelling that an editor in London or New York is waiting to publish it. Starting a query letter with, "This novel is based on my life," means the dreaded slush pile. Why you feel so compelled to hang on to your life story? Tell it to a therapist. Then write a novel. Or write a memoir. But learn how to do it so that it is not an indulgence. Chris van Wyk's, Shirley, Goodness & Mercy, Alexandra Fuller's, Don't Let's do to the Dogs Tonight and Mukiwa by Peter Godwin are good examples of memoirs.

2. If you develop well constructed protagonists and antagonists, who SPEAK and ARGUE and FIGHT, you will be able to write fiction. How can you write a book, which is generally 360 pages long, without a villain? Who will your hero fight to achieve his goal? The other characters – love interests and friends, are not important for the plot. They are important to show a protagonist's life, goals, motivations and feelings without you telling your reader what they are.

3. Beginner writers either stop at about 20 000 words or carry on until they reach 120 000 or more. Most novels are 80 000 words. Either way, these first time writers don't have a plot. Most first time authors ramble on philosophically until they have told the story. They are writing an essay, not a novel. This is called telling. Never tell.

4. In modern fiction you have to show. The narrator style of writing has all but disappeared. One way to get around this problem is to use dialogue. Modern novels contain 50 – 70% dialogue. I suggest that writers make friends with this writing tool.

5. All writers have a story from long ago, mostly high school, which they hang onto. I ask these writers to go to their nearest good bookshop and look at the new releases. I tell them to log onto Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Would their book fit in either of these places? Family sagas written by authors like Barbara Taylor Bradford in the 1980's do not sell now. Nor do cosy mysteries a la Agatha Christie, or historical adventures like those written by Wilbur Smith – unless you are Wilbur Smith. These first time writers need to let go, do some research and write fiction that publishers will buy.
Of course there is more to writing a successful story than these five points. My course, Writers

Write, teaches the rest. It covers plotting techniques, character development, writing believable dialogue, viewpoint, readability statistics, scene and sequel, pacing, chapter structure etc.

For more information, contact Wiida 0117064021 or mail info@thewriteco.co.za

How to select a book topic that sells.

SELECT A BOOK TOPIC THAT SELLS

By Judy Cullins

Authors need to write their book according to their target audiences' needs and wants. You can sell many more copies when you address these seven ways to select a topic that sells.

1. Write what you are passionate about. Write what will still interest you in the next two years. Your book is an extension of you, your talks, and your profession. If you don't love your topic, you won't be successful. One big mistake authors make is to put attention on writing another book before their first one has been promoted.
   
   
2. Write down five topics you are passionate about. Ask your inner author which one should you pay attention to first. After choosing, gather and organize everything you already know and want to know about that topic. If you need, research it. Read other authors' books in your field, check out related web sites, and subscribe to newsletters. You become the expert as you write.
   
   
3. Write a book your audience needs or wants. People want how to's and skills. Three special reports on memory and a Speedreading manual I wrote have sold over 100,000 in the past 15 years. Business books sell well. People need writing, reading, speaking, computing, communication, math, sales, marketing and Internet skills. Nonfiction how
   to's sell best. When your nonfiction books sells well, you can finance your novel.
   
   
4. Research your target market. Who is your preferred audience? Who will read and buy your book? Who will pay the $10-$25 price tag? How many possible buyers are there? How does your book stack up to your competition? What is your unique selling proposition? What benefits does your book bring its readers?
   
   How many in your audience? According to Dan Poynter, author of Writing Nonfiction, an audience of 200,000 to 700,000 is best. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul sold three million copies more in one year than the original Chicken Soup sold in three years.
   
   
5. Compare your book with other reputable, good sellers. What way is your book like theirs? What way is your book unique from others? How? How is your book better? If you think your book is the only one of its kind, it may be, but it will much more difficult to sell. Check out where your book fits by visiting your local bookstore. Ask the bookseller to help you.
   
   
6. Survey your market. Brainstorm with and ask for feedback from friends and associates. Let them vote on the best of ten titles and subtitles, chapter titles, back cover information. While some get their title instantly and know it's the right one, many of us need help. When you use the synergy of more brain power, you receive so many more ideas. Don't be attached to your choices. Feedback helps build a better book.
   
   
7. Create a winning vision for your book. Know that your book will be published. Specifically name the outcomes you will see, hear and feel. Place this winning vision in color on a card. Put it near your workstation. (Using today's date including the year) Now that my book (title and subtitle) is finished and is a huge seller: I see (peoples orders on my Web site) I hear (applause from multiple audiences affirming it) I feel (exhilarated, confident and pleased it's such a hit)

Now that you have a winning topic, your book will flow, be organized, easy to read, and attract your preferred audience.

Courtesy of www.fiction-writing-tips.com

Stephen King's Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer

Hi everyone. What better way to learn how to write your first novel or improve your skills than to learn from a master. Good luck.

Cheers. Thomas.

by Henrik Edberg. Print

If you want to learn how to write better where do you go?

Well, you can take a creative writing course.

Or read the books, biographies and studies of men and women hailed as literary geniuses throughout history.

For today, I've chosen to take some advice from one the most popular fiction writers of the last few decades: Stephen King.

Now, great sales figures aren't always an indication of greatness in any field.

But it probably means that the creator knows what s/he is doing and what works. Plus, I have found that that quite a few of Stephen King's books – like Insomnia <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->, The Long Walk <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> or The Running Man <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->- are really good reads (and sometimes even greater films <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->).

I've learned/been reminded about these seven tips by rereading King's memoir/how-to-write book On Writing <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> – highly recommended for many good insights into writing and a writer's life – and by a whole bunch of his novels I've sacrificed sleep to keep on reading.

Many of these tips can be useful no matter if you are a blogger, writing reports at work/in school or quietly spending your nights secretly working on that great novel that will astonish the world.

1. Get to the point.

Don't waste your reader's time with too much back-story, long intros or longer anecdotes about your life. Reduce the noise. Reduce the babbling. In On Writing King gets to his points quickly. Get to your point quickly too before your reader loses patience and moves on.

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->

2. Write a draft. Then let it rest.

King recommends that you crank out a first draft and then put it in your drawer to let it rest. Now, how long you let your text rest may vary. King puts his manuscripts away for several months before rereading and start the editing process.

I often let a post rest for a day or two before I start editing (as I'm sure many other bloggers do from time to time too).

This enables you to get out of the mindset you had when you wrote the draft and get a more detached and clear perspective on the text. It then becomes easier to edit, add and cut in a sometimes kinda ruthless way. The result is most often a better text.

3. Cut down your text.

When you revisit your text it's time to kill your darlings and remove all the superfluous words and sentences. Removing will declutter your text and often get your message through with more clarity and a bigger emotional punch.

Don't remove too much text though or you may achieve the opposite effects instead. King got the advice to cut down his texts by 10 percent from an old rejection-letter and has followed this advice for decades. While editing my blog I've found that 10 percent seems to be a pretty good figure not just for mammoth-sized books.

4. Be relatable and honest.

King has an honest voice in his fiction and in his memoir. He tells it like it is and makes us relate to him and his characters. Since King's fiction often is of an odd kind with strange plots that seldom happen to normal people I think one of his strengths as a writer is being able to write relatable content anyway.

One of the keys to doing that is to have an honest voice and honest characters with both bad and good sides to them. People we can relate to with all of their faults, passions, fears, weaknesses and good moments. King's characters seem human. That creates a strong connection to the reader who starts caring about the characters.

Another key to being honest and relatable is keeping a conversational style. Keeping it simple and using language that isn't unnecessarily complicated. Using the words that first come to mind.

5. Don't care too much what others may think.

King admits to being needy about the emotional feedback he gets when he lets his wife read a new story for the first time. He gets a kick out of hearing her laugh so she cries or just cry because something in manuscript really touched her. But he has also gotten tons of mail over the years from people who confuse his sometimes nasty characters with the writer. Or just thinks he should wind up in hell. And King hasn't always been a favourite among literary critics either.

But from what I gather he just sits down at his desk and keeps writing every morning anyway. If you listen too much to your critics you won't get much done. Your writing will probably become worse and less fun. And criticism is often not even about you anyway.

6. Read a lot.

When you read you always pick up things. Sometimes it might be reminders about what you know you should be doing while you write. Sometimes it's some cool idea or just the world and atmosphere the writer is painting. Sometimes it's something totally new that makes your jaw drop. That one is my favourite. And sometimes you learn what you should avoid doing. There are almost always lessons you can learn.

If you want to be a better writer you need to read a lot to get fresh input, broaden your horizons and deepen your knowledge. And to evolve you need to mix yourself up with new influences and see what happens.

How do you find time to read more? You can cut down on other evening activities like watching TV-shows you don't care for that much anyway. Or, as King suggests, you can bring a book to waiting rooms, treadmills or toilets. I like to plug in an audiobook while I'm on the bus or walking somewhere.

7. Write a lot.

I've saved the most important tip for last. To become a better writer you probably – and not so surprisingly – need to write more.

Many of the best in different fields – Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods – have gone beyond normal limits of practise. And so they reap extraordinary results.

But what do you do when you don't feel like writing? Waiting for inspiration can become a long wait.

One good way to get around this is to find an effective solution to reduce procrastination. You may have to try a few before you find one that works for you. Another way is well, just to do it. And if you just get going your emotions changes a lot of the time and any initial resistance becomes fun and enthusiasm instead.