‘Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit’ is here to teach you writing

I have been reading the book ‘Nobody wants to read your shit’. Little to my surprise, Stephen Pressfield has written an incredible book, again.

He goes in length about how to write an ad content, how to write for Hollywood as well as how to write fiction and nonfiction.

Maybe you are already familiar with the idea of a hero’s journey. Most resources about writing a story focuses on this one idea. But Stephen goes further than that. He talks about themes, counter themes, how to write characters, Inciting incident, climaxes, jeopardy, content, text/subtext and a lot more!

Here are some of the suggestions that I found helpful:

Tell the story in pictures

A very important part of writing a story is making it a series of pictures. By pictures I mean portraying the scene happening in real time. No body likes long talks or expositions. That’s why even movies bring us to flash backs instead of just talking about things that happened.

Every character must represent something greater than himself

The hero needs to embody the theme. But not from the start. He will learn it from all the experiences he gets in the story. Thus his character will be developed and he will get ready for a face off against the villain.

The villain himself should embody the counter theme. His character will be developed in the second act. The more dangerous and powerful he is shown to be, the more impactful the climax will be.

Jeopardy

The hero needs to go through severe jeopardy. A lot of trouble should be on his way throughout the story to get him on the verge of a psychotic break.

Solve the climax first

Pressfield also suggests to start writing the end of the story first. He advises to solve the climax first and then write around that.

Having said all that, I’d like to add my two cents. I think the most important part of writing a story is to a block all distractions while writing and actually sitting down everyday to write something.

That’s how Stephen Pressfield does it.

That’s how Stephen King does it.

That’s how Neil Gaiman Does it.

If you can’t make yourself write daily then your writing won’t improve overtime. The ideas that we as humans have discovered about a proper story, wont just come naturally to you. You have to practice it day after day after day. You have to embody the spirit of a sculptor who keeps putting in work carving and chiseling away.

To make sure you sit down to do the things important to you, read this.

Have a lot of hobbies but no time to do them? Use the 3 Sacred Hours Rule!!

Do your days feel incomplete?

I am asking this question because for many days that’s how I felt. I felt like I wasn’t doing the things that mattered most to me. Even on the days when I was very productive, I was often fulfilling outside obligations, instead of walking my own path.

So, I started to ask myself. What could I do in a day that would stop this inner whining about fulfillment?

Well, it took a while, but I got answers.

I listed 7 activities that, if done daily, will greatly aid in my cause and leave me feeling satisfied.

They were- Posting in my blog, practicing Python, studying finance, reading financial news, learning German, writing fiction and making YouTube videos.

Whoa! That’s a long list!

Well, I did feel intimidated at first, but then I started to assign how much time I would need for each of them.

The new list looked like this-

Python- 25 mins

Blog post- 25 mins

Studying finance – 25 mins

German – 25 mins

News- 25 mins

YouTube -2 hrs

Well as you probably noticed, all of them, except making a YouTube video, needs only 25 mins daily. And if I add 5 mins break between each activity, then all of them should take only 3 hours to complete (again, except YouTube).

As I stated in an earlier post, I have stopped all slot machine type apps. I put my phone away from me as soon as I wake up. Thus, I have cleared up a lot of free time. Its entirely possible for me now to spend 3 extra hours each day.

I named this the 3 sacred hours.

As soon as my day starts, I start my 25 min pomodoro session, and start an activity from the list. I work for 5 to 8 each morning and thus get the tasks dearest to me done regularly, without fail.

Even if my whole day is a mess, I am at a peace, as I know I have completed the most important tasks of the day.

This idea of having 3 or 4 sacred hours is nothing new.

Apparently, Jordan Peterson used to isolate himself in a room for 3 hours everyday to write his first book.

 

 

Steven Pressfield also employs a similar tactic.

 

 

Stephen king once told George RR Martin that he writes 6 pages every day. I guess in his case it’s 6 sacred pages! 😉

 

 

 

Neil Gaiman also shares how he isolated himself when he needs to write. I discussed about his technique here.

 

 

So, what are the most vital tasks for your cause? Can they be done in 3 ours? Would you be willing to stop the trivial to make space for the meaningful?

Neil Gaiman shares how he keeps writing day after day

Was listening to Neil Gaiman on the Tim Ferris show. I already admired the guy- for his silky voice, good looks, nuggets of wisdom from his masterclass and of course- his writing. This podcast didn’t change anything about that.

He shares an interesting secret here. It’s how he keeps producing so much content. I found the trick very practical yet amusing. Been giving it a try since I listened to him yesterday and trust me – it works!

He basically prepares for writing and sits down in his assigned place, blocking distractions. Then he tells himself that he has permission to write or NOT to write… but he can not do anything else.

Naturally his mind wanders around as writing can be boring and tedious if done day after day. But miraculously yet very much predictably, he picks up the pen and starts putting words onto the sheets. It turns out that, writing is more interesting than doing nothing.

Very practical insight indeed! Just show up to your work and give yourself permission to fidget around. But, avoid the slot-machine-like addictive YouTube, Facebook or any other entertaining stuff. Just be there- alone in the workplace. Sooner or later, your mind will start searching for more fun, and the only available fun is your work!