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Part One of One Way to Write Your Story

What is your passion?

When I was teaching creative writing, I asked the students their favorite movie or television show? The answers ranged from the best of Disney to the classics to smart-alecky attempts at humor.

Your greatest strength in telling your story is your point of view. No one has ever lived the same life as you, had the same experiences at the same time as you, or expressed themselves the same way as you. Unfortunately, this is also your greatest weakness. Your point of view may seem like some other artist, but it's never going to be the same. When someone reads and evaluates your work, they're looking for something new, but not that new. They want something just a bit different than what everyone else is producing. But you must be true to your vision of your story, and if you get as close to creating the story in your mind as possible, you're a success. If anyone else likes what you've done, that is icing on the cake. Your first customer is you. If your work intrigues someone to the point that they will give you money for it, that means you're both talented and a professional. 

Poet Emily Dickinson is a personal favorite of mine. She had a vision, expressed it, and was satisfied with the product. But when she tried to publish her work, an editor disagreed with her vision and changed it. She decided that keeping her poems true meant not finding a publisher that shared that expression during her lifetime. As a result, her work only found a wide audience after her death. While she wasn't around to see how the world accepted her genius, she died knowing that her work was her own and not someone else's.

What kind of written or film media excites, informs, and touches you emotionally?

If you are moved by a story, find out how and why. Did you laugh, cry, shake in fear, shout in surprise? Is there something in your life that is similar? Most people tell two stories: the way the world is or the way the world should be. Your experience will color the way you tell those stories.

The theme of that story affects you as a person and inspires you as an artist. A theme involves a question that works best when there is no concrete answer. More on that in the next installment.

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