What is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Desires and needs.
We are a blend of nature and nurture, but also of what we want and need. Don’t people’s needs and desires, and how they try to satisfy them, tell you and your readers the essentials of what you need to know about them? Because D & N are unique and universal, portrait and portent, they can create and convey character. People are what they want, as well as what they do and say.
What are people’s lives but the stories of how they pursue their D & N? These stories are characters’ literary DNA, the blueprint of their real or imagined lives and a source of endless inspiration.
We are all born with the same basic needs. We prisoners of them. But, just as mistakes are the ornaments of freedom, desires are the ornaments of our lives. They’re what we add to needs to help make life worth living. Footwear is necessary; Jimmy Choo’s are optional.
And yet, D & N make us running around in circles like hamsters on a wheel. The moment of satisfaction may either end a need or desire, or only subdue it, in which case, it’s the beginning of a renewed need or desire, perhaps for something different, if not better. Is this The Human’s Journey, and when we return from each quest, we bring back new knowledge about our D & N and how to satisfy them.
To be a successful writer, writing must be a need. To be as good a writer as you can be, make getting the words right a compelling desire. To be a successful author, you must know:
what your literary and publishing desires are
what you want to write and for whom
how you can satisfy the needs and desires of publishers and book buyers
how you want your books published
how well you want them to sell.
Your goals determine what you write, how you write it, for whom, and the platform and promotion you need. Your goals determine who you become, so choose them wisely and change them when necessary. May your goals always inspire your best efforts.
The goal of the blog is to help you and me understand writing and publishing. Rants, comments, questions, and answers are needed to make the blog as helpful as I want it to be.
Just Announced:
The 4th San Francisco Writing for Change Conference
Changing the World One Book at a Time
September 15, 2012 / Unitarian Universalist Center / Geary & Franklin, San Francisco
The 10th San Francisco Writers Conference / A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community / February 14-17, 2013 / www.sfwriters.org / [email protected] /
https://sfwriters.info/blog /@SFWC/ www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoWritersConference
San Francisco Writers University / Where Writers Meet and You Learn / Laurie McLean, Dean/free classes/www.sfwritersu.com/[email protected]/@SFWritersU
415-673-0939 / 1029 Jones Street / San Francisco, 94109