Tag Archives: opinion

Backstory and the Challenge it Presents

One of the reasons I started this site was to work on my story telling. I am an aspiring writer, I would like to get a few of my novel ideas published. Eventually. When I come up with a story idea and create the characters, I have a general idea of their backstory. The problem is that I want to write the story and not the backstory. I am figuring out that is the wrong way (for me) to go about it.

I have gotten stuck on every story I have begun writing. I believe it is because I only can develop characters so far before I get stuck without a proper backstory. For me, I have discovered that I need that backstory to help me write consistent decisions and feelings. I need to know how the character grew up, what kind of problems they had to overcome, how they were raised and so on. In short, I feel like a character can not be a fully developed character unless they have a fully developed backstory.

This will extend my writing process significantly, but I also believe that it will improve my writing in the long run. Some of the questions I need answered are things like:

  1. Where did the character grow up?
  2. Does the character have any siblings?
  3. What was their home life like growing up?
  4. What led them to be where they are at the beginning of the story?
  5. What kind of social life did the character have before the story beings?
  6. Have they suffered any great losses?

The list could go on, but you get the general idea. I have been working on one particular story since 2013, and I am stuck. I may have to take the time to go back and write backstory for ALL of the characters to help me. It would be an undertaking. When trying to write a series though, it seems like it should be an undertaking! I hope to have a manuscript ready by the end of this calendar year. We shall see.

In the meantime, I will begin posting some short stories here on the site. It is time. I have been reluctant to publish anything of substance here because I never see my work as finished. I can always improve on it. If I start sharing them with you all, maybe I can finally get some of these characters out of my head and onto paper (or website, as it were). So in the coming months I should be posting more on here. I hope you enjoy reading and will continue to enjoy reading.

Hate and Social Media

I try not to get too political on this site since I have friends and family members on all sides of the aisle. I like to leave politics to the professionals. But if you are on any kind of social media at all you have probably noticed the hate that gets thrown around like beads at Mardis Gras. It is completely unavoidable unless you block everyone you know.

 

I like to peruse social media for photos of friends and family, sports, inspiration and for funny videos or stories. No matter what I get on social media for, I am always inundated with stories, political or otherwise, that have hateful and divisive comments attached to them. It is commonplace now to see people berate the character of complete strangers and roll everyone on the opposite side of the aisle from them as this or that. Apparently everyone in America is either a Nazi or a socialist.

Don't tolerate angry people - Official Site Dan Miller

I try to be fair in my judgment of people, but if you begin a statement with “everyone who believes (insert opinion or politician here) is a (insert nazi or socialist or other insults), then I question a few things about you.

  1. Do you even know what a nazi or a socialist stands for? My guess is you don’t.
  2. Do you really believe that everyone in the country with a differing opinion than you is one of those things? If so you probably are too narrow minded to be in the conversation.
  3. Would you be willing to go to everyone’s house on the thread and tell them in person what you think of them? No one in their right mind would do that.

I am absolutely certain about one thing. Every single person in America has a collection of life events that sways their opinions on everything. No two people will have the same opinion on every issue, so if you are living by the rule that everyone that believes different from you is pure evil, than everyone else on the planet except you is pure evil.

 

I will not comment on political posts on social media for a plethora of reasons, the main one being that I don’t want to. Another reason is that I get insulted enough in my job and my writing that I don’t need more complete strangers adding to it because I have an opinion on a certain subject. I have never voted straight party anything on a ballot. I vote for who I believe is the best candidate for the position, from president all the way down to local city council. I don’t care about their political affiliation. I care about what kind of person the candidate seems to be. Have I been fooled? Absolutely. Have I ever hated a political or sports figure so much that I would stop at nothing to see him or her ruined? Absolutely not.

 

The social medial hate is vile and it is part of our society now. It is not easy to deal with, and it is something we are going to have to deal with as long as social media is around. My hope is that our children are smart enough to know that only one thing happens when you wrestle with pigs. You get muddy, and the pigs enjoy it.

The Journey Begins

Welcome to my site. I have been writing for the last 11 years, mostly about sports, and mostly about the Texas Rangers. I enjoy writing on my other site, the Ranger Report. About 5 years ago, I began writing a book. The book has been a real labor of love and it has taken a lot of time and effort to get as far as I have in it. Along the way, I have started three other stories as well, and I need somewhere to keep track of my journey.

I will use this site as my personal blog to help me organize and categorize my thoughts and story ideas. I hope you enjoy going along with me on the journey of becoming a story teller and I look forward to sharing my journey with all of you.