I - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...an Interesting Life + BONUS

 

I’m sure you have heard about best-selling authors and authors of classics who had difficult childhoods of abuse and poverty and about every sadness imaginable. You’ve probably also noticed how (in movies, books, real life) the hurt children and teens write and want to be writers when they grow up. When I posted the quote “You don’t need a degree in English Literature to be a writer” on Instagram, I received a comment from someone saying, “U just need a heartbreak.”

No, you don’t.

You don’t need to experience heartbreak to be a writer, or to have gone through something devastating. That could give you material to write about. Writing through that could be a form of therapy and healing, but you absolutely do not need heartbreak, or pain, or depression, or addictions, or anything negative to be a writer.

Before I started writing, I had experienced childhood fights that frightened me, but it wasn’t until some years later when I went through the hardest years of my life, from the age of 14 to 18, when I felt greater fear. Those four years felt like an eternity. But those hardships did not make me a writer. Instead, writing was my escape.

I think it’s dangerous to say you need heartbreak to write, for fear that young, aspiring writers will go out looking for heartbreak. Please don’t. You can write with your heart intact. You can write in happiness. That is actually the most fruitful time to write, because when you are deep in pain (even physical pain) or depression, writing can be damn near impossible.

While many writers have bad childhoods in common, a horrible childhood doesn’t make a writer. Well, maybe it can. As I said, writing can be an escape. When we need to escape our lives temporarily, things like writing, reading, drawing, and creating and listening to music can do that. However, it is not a requirement. It’s not a credit you need, as in school. It’s not a badge you need to earn, as in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. Many writers have had happy or perfectly normal childhoods.

The most important thing you need to write is a rich imagination. With an imagination you can lead a positively boring life but write a nail-biting thriller, an edge-of-your-seat suspense, a fast-paced action story, a chilling horror, a fun adventure, or a steamy romance.

If you do have an interesting life, though, use it as inspiration for your stories. If you’ve had many hardships, give them to your characters, help them reach the other side, and give them a better ending than you were given. I use my experiences all the time. But, I repeat, you don’t need those things to be a writer, to write a good book, or to create memorable characters. Through your imagination and writing you can go to places you’ve always dreamed of visiting. You can even create new worlds. You can do things you would never dare to do or are incapable of doing. You can be a pirate, a warrior, a goddess, anything you desire. Make your stories interesting and live vicariously through them. I do.

BONUS A TO Z

THEME: AVRIANNA HEAVENBORN

I - Infinity Grocery

New Vida is a planet on the other side of the universe that is mysteriously connected to Earth by a portal in the Grand Canyon. Because it's a different planet, and because Earth, specifically the United States, colonizes New Vida, I decided to give many stores and businesses names inspired by the universe.

Previously I highlighted The Galaxy's Tease, a strip club.

Now I'm highlighting Infinity Grocery. Well, there's really not much to say about it. It's a normal corner grocery story that you can find in any town/city. And it's another crime scene location.

Space Station Gas is another crime scene location.

Galaxy Bar is featured in Ghost of Death.

Businesses aren't the only things with space-themed names, even the strippers at The Galaxy's Tease have space-themed names. You'll have to read Cocky Killer to discover those.

Cocky Killer Excerpt:

It was bad enough that there was a bar named Galaxy Bar that concocted drinks like Wormhole. Apparently, business owners in the Unknown World thought they were being clever using the galactic phenomena that made it possible for them to even have a business on another planet, located lightyears from Earth, with a simple step through a portal and only seconds of time lost. Drinks and women. What was next? Cars? Would one of the big auto companies on Earth create a line of vehicles called the Titania? Titania Atlas, an SUV. Titania Hunter, a truck. Titania Solar, a solar car. Avrianna pursed her lips. Well, she actually wouldn’t mind that so much, but she drew the line at strippers. 

 

You can read Universal Killer, Cocky Killer, and all future Avrianna Heavenborn novellas on Patreon for just $5.00 a month. You get access to special perks, too, and you pay-it-forward to a good cause because 10% of all earnings go to StandUp for Kids, a charity that helps homeless American youth.

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A - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...To Be an Adult + BONUS

B - Break Down Your Goals + BONUS

C - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...a Coach + BONUS

D - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need a Degree + BONUS

E - HappEEEE (Happiness Jar & 100 Happy Days) + BONUS

F - Feng Shui + BONUS

G - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...To Be a Good Speller + BONUS

H - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...a Home + BONUS

I - To Be a Writer, You Don't Need...an Interesting Life + BONUS