I was going through some collections while cleaning up. Suddenly my eye fell on something that I had not forgotten, but…the attention for it had waned. So? You might ask? Dump it, done, even cleaner.
Yes, cleaning up stuff you haven’t used for some time is a good thing. Nostalgia isn’t really helping in cleaning. But this was a game…or rather more than a game. And even if it had only been a game, it was an integral part of my life.
The I in write
I write, I write since I can write and am a poet since my teens or before. As drawing doesn’t come as easy to me as it does to others, I have to use words to describe a world I picture. It wasn’t until this game, that I turned my yearning for writing into a ..(I hate words connected to superstitious nonsense, but by lack of better) soul-lust. The game was Myst, or rather the whole franchise (The books, the games from Myst, Revelation, Riven, Exile, URU, Myst V and upcomingObduction, but also the web communities, way back in the 90’s). What it did to me, was give me a sort of insight into the process of writing, without going into it actually.
The Y in Myst
In Myst, the story starts on an Island that was created by a writer. He wrote a book, and by writing it in such a way, it became a real world. No doubt Robin and Rand Miller will have thought about it from this perspective. The game is all about solving puzzles in various ways. It was the start of the genre, though I now found Cosmo and Manhole to be the precursors actually. The fact that the game was based on such profound (in my eyes as a teen) wisdom, that writing was an ability to shape a world inside one’s mind, was beyond the game of course. And it clung to me. I was Atrus (like many people at that time), I was a D’ni (I was always joking online that my third name was pronounced the same), like all the other people. Some identified with Catherine, the wife of Atrus, others with yet other characters from the stories devised later (Three books: Myst: book of Atrus, book of Ti’ana and book of D’ni are a must read. Rand and Robyn Miller together with David Wingrove).
Revelation
But the revelation, or rather making the idea that thrives writers, tangible, caused me to build this dream to be able to really write such type of ages, these worlds. But of course, schools don’t immediately teach you what you dream of, rather than what you need to come by in society and the country you live in (if you are lucky).
In all, I am a writer, more because of the world of Myst. Where worlds were written and words held magical power, which metaphorically is the same way we as humanity look at it.
No, it isn’t about the level of writing, or about ‘illusionists’ writing their stories, but about what to write on: The writing medium.
We live in a digital age. Much of what we do either touches, are is completely stored on digital media, or even bigger: stored online.
Medium improvement
Each generation loses a little of the knowledge from the past, but this is all part of evolution. Should we keep all we write? Should we forget things on purpose? But even more, should we forget how things were done before? Like we forgot we forged pots of clay, by baking them in burned ground? Should we forget about how we wrote on paper?
True, paper is a costly way to write. Not just because it costs ink, or paper, but rather because paper comes from nature. Paper is made from trees. Even with recycling it takes effect from oxygen generating life of nature. But why would you then, even consider writing on paper, if you want to be conscious, aware and responsible?
A strong connection, that internet
Well, did you know that the internet is like a computer that is always on? Do you know what computers need? It needs electricity. Not only that, but when too much is done on one computer, the computer becomes hot. If too many computers together get warm, they also get hot. Thus, with the internet, which is build on several skyscrapers of computers stashed together in some rooms all over the world, they need to be cooled. They need airconditioning. This means more electricity required, as supporting appliances to the actual internet. But, of course there are also people checking the computers day and night. They need food, light, and all sorts of stuff, to be able to do so. More electricity. And you know…..electricity is created in several ways: Sunlight, wind, water, coals, burning fossil fuels in general.
Writing on the wall
So….eh….It is all neat and all, but where you store your writing, doesn’t automatically change your impact on nature (if you were interested). But there is more.
While a book of paper might seem oldfashion, there is a reason why humanity first invented those, instead of the internet. They don’t cost energy to preserve. Though the internet is always available, what do you think happens if a major power outage would hit the vicinity of where your data is stored on servers? Well, basically nothing much should happen. The backup power supplies should kick in and all keeps running, but what if the power was off for a longer time. Or off at your location? You would not be able to access any data anymore.
A book remains a book. You can write it and later read it without any power or electricity required. Taken that you have enough light. The book doesn’t need anything but a dry place to be secured. This is one of the reasons I write both on the net, and on paper still.
Paperanoia
There is another reason, a more paranoia reason to write on paper: nobody can just access it by hacking into your accounts. As we all learn about IP (Intellectual Property) and how Google, Facebook and Microsoft have prying eyes in everything, it is hard to not be paranoid when you have that idea that you think is totally unique.
Conclusion
But in all, I think both have pro’s and con’s. Online is easier writing or reading together with others. Something humanity will move into, if some religious sect won’t have reverted most of us back a couple of decades first. In which case my children still have some writing to read.
Without the long intro that will get you yawning, here is a list that definitely will help you improve your writing skills:
Write EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Don’t excuse yourself. Write a minimum of one word, but don’t write nothing with the intend of the writing itself. So, no signing a letter doesn’t count. But ONE word can be a poem, a reference to more. It will help you tomorrow if you write even one day today. What is the effect? If you don’t have too much time, you are able to improve your ‘thought condencing’ abilities. Writing down only a couple of words will almost always fuel the brain to write more. The brain must be given little nudges of cookies to continue. When you sit in the train, bus or waiting on someone, write what you see, what you think or what you hear. It will start you thinking and tomorrow you do this again and suddenly after a couple of days, it becomes natural to write down just a little, then more.
Don’t limit yourself to types of writing.
Especially when you are a beginning writer, you will think you have it all laid out, you don’t need to improve your writing: This is what I want to write about…..but that is not the way your writing will develop itself. The creativity or consistency in writing comes from understanding when to write what in what form. Practice everything. Writing is painting with words. You can be an architect, you can be Rembrandt, you can be Picasso. They all had their style and they all took years to perfect it. Don’t think you should write only poems if you like that. Also write a story, if you have trouble doing so, extend your poem in the amount of lines (Check Shakespeare if you don’t know how), or write the poem and use it to write how you envision the subject of the poem lived or moved.
Rewrite!
Whatever you write at first, is not good. It is bad. You can always improve your writing. Why? Because it is the initial conversion of mind to word. It is always lacking, it is always a bit too much here, too little there. Look at your story, poem or anything after a week and write it again, from that initial writing but what you would change. Don’t hold back, the digital age gives you the possibility to keep every single version.
Write together.
As they say in some of the scenes RP/Roleplay. When you start writing, you often write from one perspective. That is great. A diary kind of story can do marvels, but often after several pages a reader might fall into a feeling that all characters are thinking the same thing….because you wrote it from one mind and will at some point write the story through all characters but from your mind only. Doing a roleplay will help you see things from others perspective. A roleplay generally goes like: – writer one: Joe walks into a room, gun holstered. At the far end of the damp place he notices the other guy. – writer two: Greg looks up from his drink. The light falling in from the doorway shows only a silhouette. Was it him? The hairs on the back of his neck rose up. Sweat started to form on his forhead. …etc.
Let go!
When you finished a story, a poem, even a short or a piece of a scene that you don’t feel will be needed anymore. Put it out there for people to see. Show them what you do. Ask them to respond to it. Let people provide feedback. It will help you. Even the ‘Wow great’, ‘You call that writing?’
Writing words isn’t just making the characters connect, or making a word of a string of characters. Writing means a process of changing non-tanglible ideas into a concept, into a protocol of signs that are understood by another.
A simple word can have a simple meaning, but a simple word can also have a complex meaning. Worse even, a simple word can even be a complexity in itself and the connected emotions. It can build a world or just a short flick of the eye.
Consider the word Word. It is a concept of everything you have read right here. It is simply the defining combination of symbols that should translate in someone’s mind into: A concept of combined characters that has meaning in or outside a context. Here you see, that the simple word Word, already gave more words as an explanation of itself. And even now, as you read this, you are even wondering whether I am right about it. Whether your definition is the same, or more extensive. Perhaps your mind lingered from this text and you started to think of a poem about the word Word, or you have suddenly seen recollections of texts that resembled this. So much happens when you read a word. So much a word can mean.
So when you write, you aren’t just writing words, you are writing ideas.
Metawareness is a site that is not affiliated with any corporation. The articles are personal well informed opinions and no rights can be claimed from them. The content on the site IS copyrighted, so any reproduction in any form, without prior consent is illegal. The images are copyrighted by different other sources. Many are Public Domain. MindMap Charts, the mind awareness diagram and the image of Myst books are owned by Metawareness.com
