• How to Write (I)


    Writing isn't a simple thing, but it isn't a hard thing, either. You just have to do some things before going into it. Before you begin building, you have blueprints. Before drawing, you sketch it out. And before you write, you brainstorm. Now, let's think about take one of the words out of that last one. How about "brain"?
    Use your brain when thinking, it was made for that purpose. Enter your mind. Think of nothing. Nothing. Now, think about seeing through a glass wall. Notice the how it's hard and its colors are disarray. This is the opposite of writing: soft and straightforward. Now...let's think of a color. How about...white? Yes, white. Artists and scholars call it that because they had nothing else to call it.
    White. It's blank, and clear, and most importantly: soft and straightforward. Use this for your start. Then, after that, imagine it as a square. Any height and width can be fine--it doesn't matter until it gets published anyway. Now it's time to get white's opposite: black. It was named this by artists and scholars as well.
    Black. It's full, and unclear. It's also soft and straightforward, but just not so much like white. Imagine this as a dot--any size. Now move that dot. Move it with your mind. Move it until it creates a letter--any letter. When that's done, use it to create more letters. Once you're done, you've created a word. That word is your first idea. But it's also your title. Titles are important--or so I was told. But I was also told that some stories don't need titles.
    I'll tell you one that doesn't need no special titles or chapters. The reason for this is because it's a true story that I've been shown. Not told...shown!
    It's about this little boy. He was young and strong. He, too, was a writer. But he wasn't so professional. He ran most of his ideas in his head like most starting writers. Now, he would think up stuff and have vivid dreams about them. But his parents didn't like that. Eventually, his father spanked him for every time he would tell his stories. One day, he went too far...
    Can you see it? Can you see the boy "falling" off a high cliff? Can you see what he sees as he falls? Can you see his glass wall? Can you see the whiteness being consumed by darkness? That was his title:
    White and Black: Eclipse.