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The Sanctity of Literature

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

I am the type of person who is very passionate about the things he cares about. In my opinion if something is worth spending time on, it is worth doing well and to the best of your ability. One of the things I am most passionate about in this life, aside from my girlfriend and my own work, is the art of literature. I believe that literature is one of the greatest gifts granted us by God Himself. It is a blessing to be able to enjoy and be a part of the world of literature, and we should all recognize that and treat it as such.

Literature is something that definitely should never be taken for granted, especially in today’s society. It is a fact that literature is one of the main reasons education has come as far as it has in the history of mankind, and it is with much chagrin I admit that we are in grave danger of that progress being eliminated thanks to the development of the very technology I am using to spread this message to you, oh loyal fans.The advanced development of computers, the internet, cell phones and other means of instant communication has lead to a vast degradation  of the confines and heights of education and literacy. Text messaging and ‘internet speak’ has lead to such a socially acceptable inability to properly spell words (or an acceptable reason to no longer care whether or not you can) and a horrible influx of all new abbreviations that some children are actually confused as to which is correct most of the time. For instance, take a six year old boy who has grown up seeing this abbreviated conundrum all around him and is asked to write a sentence using the word ‘you’. Being so young he is likely to remember having seen the letter ‘u’ used in such context all of his life and to think that is the proper way to use it. This is a real travesty and a true testament to the ruination of the English language that is consistently reinforced by our need to further develop our means of communication.

Literature should truly be cherished by all, not just by some. Books, poems, stories and even essays are truly some of the most important things on the face of this planet. They are all crucial to intelligence and education and must be upheld in the highest esteem in order to show our future generations not only where they come from, but places they should never go. Perhaps one day even this post, or a book that relates to its content will be in libraries everywhere and warn our children what they should avoid. We can only hope that literature and literacy will return to its proper place and importance in society and the world so that we can be as proud of our children as we would like them to be of us for fighting such ridiculous slaughter of intelligence. Books are one of the greatest legacies our forefathers and mothers left us, and they should be respected and recognized as such in every way. It drives me insane to hear people say that they hate to read or don’t see the point of reading, etc. Our brains need the exercise of the written word, and we need to continually recognize that. Literature is one of the greatest forms of art, and it is art that helps make this world the amazing place it is today. So pick up a book, teach a kid to read, type full words and cherish the true art of literature as we were meant to.

Keeping Your Work

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

Have you ever let someone read your work and asked them for feedback and just be mesmerized by what they said? More specifically have you ever listened to their suggestions and just thought “that changes the whole meaning and purpose of the story, why would I do that”?

Those situations are among some of the ones you have to be most cautious about when writing. Your work is going to have to be something you make your own, no matter how different that makes it from someone else’s and no matter how many people you encounter who may not exactly prefer your style. There are over 7 billion people on this planet and there is certain to be at least one other person in the world who will love your work for what it is. That is your audience. That’s not to say that that is necessarily the person you are writing for, by any means. You are always writing first and foremost for yourself. The work you do is yours to do. The idea came to you, after all, didn’t it?

That is one of my biggest purposes with this post; to remind you all that your work is yours. I can never emphasize that enough. So many times young authors meet resistance or differences of opinion regarding their work and they just give up their ideas to conform to those of others. Originality is one of the most important things to strive for when it comes to the craft of writing. It has been said by many that there are no new stories, just new ways to tell them, and to an extent that may be true. But it is our job, or if you prefer, our blessing, to give every story a new twist and make it our own.

No one else can write our work for us. That is why the ideas came to us. They are our own, and it is our duty to write them and spread them to the world. That is why it is so important for us to not allow ourselves or our ideas to be compromised by the thoughts and opinions of others. They can’t write our work for us, if they could the ideas would have come to them and not us. Granted that is not to say that we should just ignore and blow off all criticism and feedback. We can’t do that either. The key is to find the proper median, and this time, that line is a bit more prominent than others. The limits are similar for every writer in this respect, if they hope to remain unique and individual and not just generic and over-used.

The line is really quite rock solid, but as usual is never as simply cut-and-dry as some may prefer. We must listen to our feedback, look at what we know about our work, and examine the work using the knowledge of our intentions and the thoughts of others. After this we must use our conclusions to either keep, tweak or change our work while keeping both our own wishes in mind and the opinions of our audience, but no matter what we absolutely can not change the real essence of our work. If we compromise our work by making it what someone else wants and losing what we want then we have wasted our gift and really compromised the sanctity of the craft itself. I will write more on this subject and a lot about maintaining the sanctity of literature with my next post. I hope this has been helpful.

Working on a Masterpiece (part 2)

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 3 Comments

As I mentioned before, passion is a very crucial thing when it comes to writing. Your passion will make your audience love your work even more, which is going to help you in the long run of course. But another bit of caution I must throw out there in relation to this fact, and to the first half of this post has to do once more with rejection.

There is a very good chance all of us are going to be rejected at least once at some point or another and we must learn the best way to react. There are a number of ways rejection can happen, just as there are a number of ways we can take it when it does (and yes, one is likely going to rely on the other). One thing that you must not do, however, is despair. Rejection does not mean your career is over. Not by a long shot. You have to keep trying. You’re never going to get published if you don’t get your stuff out there. That is one of the truest things I could say to you, really. You have to try and spread your work before your work can reach the world, and I have to remind you again; the world deserves it. If you don’t send your work out there, it will never get the chance to gain an audience. Rejection does not mean that you are a failure by any means. It just means you have to try all that much harder. The world deserves it, your work deserves it; You deserve it.

Your reaction to rejection is a very deciding factor in your career. You can’t just receive a rejection letter in the mail and then throw your work away and quit. That suggests that writing was never really anything more than a route to fame; which is usually the air mark of someone who wasn’t really destined to write anyway. Your rejection may give you a chance to fine tune your work and turn it into something even you didn’t imagine it could be. There are many possibilities for improvement that are presented us, and we can’t take every rejection as a shutting down of or a direct attack on our work. That will only lead to bitterness and a loss of the real essence of the craft, which is shameful. Too much has been done to the art of writing over the years for those who are meant to continue the legacy to join in on the cheapening of the craft, but alas that too is a different post.

Largely the point of this post is going to be summed up here. Passion is typically the ruling factor in things of the heart, which is what real literature is; a direct line to the writer’s heart and soul. We are all going to be passionate about our work at some point, and many of us are going to be passionate about all of our work all of the time. That is why it is crucial for us to keep a level head when we feel our work come under scrutinization of any sort. If we react harshly it could basically ruin our potential career. I’ve heard of people who have been rejected who’ve gone off on the person who rejected them, taken helpful criticism as cheap shots to their work, given up on the craft of writing and even destroyed their work. This is the exact opposite of what we as authors should do. We, who are supposed to be lovers of the craft, should respect it, and by respecting it we should be able to handle criticism and opinions of our own work and actively work to fix whatever problems that may exist in order to better honor the real art of writing.

My next post will, I think. be about maintaining the sanctity of our own work when under criticism, and making sure our work remains our own. As always feedback is welcome in any form. Hope this was helpful.

Working on a Masterpiece (part 1)

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

Your work has to be what you love. I’ve said that enough that you are all probably very tired of hearing it, but that doesn’t make the information any less relevant. The best piece of literature is going to be written by someone who is passionate about it. “It” being both literature in general and the specific topic the work is centered around. Granted, it also tends to be very enjoyable to read the work of someone who is experimenting with an idea they are interested in, the best work is going to be completed with and full of passion.

Passion is the biggest deal maker, and deal breaker, in this field. That is the big purpose of this post really; to discuss the truth of passion. Passion can give the world a work of art unequaled in its excellence, but without the proper means of distribution the world won’t know it. With your passion will come a very defensive nature regarding your work, and that is what can be our seller- or our killer.

When we attempt publication of our work, we have to find the real market for what we’re trying to sell. That is a very key element of publication. Your audience knows what they are looking for, and they know where to look. What is left to you is to first find the proper agent, company, self-publishing venue, whichever method works for you, to publish your masterpiece and put it out in the proper markets.

In this search you are very likely to meet the bane of an author’s existence; rejection. Whether pushing for a short story, poem or novel, you are more than likely going to meet the face of rejection. This is not necessarily going to be anything against you or your work. Perhaps the person you submitted to just doesn’t accept the genre you write in, or they were just full already. The list of possibilities is endless, but the biggest thing you have to keep in mind is that you just can not give up. If they give you feedback and ask you to make changes, make the changes- but if you do make changes you have to make sure that your work remains your work; you can’t let them take the essence that makes it unique and gives it the feeling you want it to have. But that will be another post.

Rejection is hard to handle, believe me I know from experience, but it happens to the best of us. One great example is Stephen King. In his book “On Writing” he talks about his history with rejection. He got so many that he began putting them on a nail on his wall. Eventually the nail got so full that he had to trade it out for a railroad spike. A railroad spike! And this is Stephen King we’re talking about! My point is that rejection does not mean we give up. Nothing justifies that. Now, I will be back with the other half of this post tonight. As always feedback is welcome.

Apology

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

I have to apologize for my absence of late. I have been working hard at my research and trying to regain the full level of my inspiration by immersing myself in all things vampire. I have been reading Dracula and preparing to read its sequel and looking over legends and myths that give me the true essence of my work. In addition to this, I am looking very hard for a publishing deal and all of the required additions to put my first novel Maverip on the market and make it available to you all. I’m currently considering trying my hand at self-publishing/e publishing one of my early short stories, and if I do I will be sharing that link with you all on every venue I have. I hope you all can relate to my dedication to my work, and I hope you all understand. I’d love to hear from every reader to see how their work is going, how this blog has or has not helped, or anything else you would like to say. I promise to post more helpful tips as soon as possible, and I thank you all for bearing with me through my obsession. More is definitely coming soon, and I again welcome every bit of feedback you are willing to give. Thanks,

Damean

The Avoidance of Inspiration-killing Stress

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

Authors can seriously be crippled by the lack of a proper atmosphere. This is a huge helpful tip for anyone who hasn’t figured out the full deal for themselves, and a great pointer for someone currently trying to figure out how best to do their work.

Step #1; Find your happy place. Overlook the cliché of that statement, it holds vast truth and importance. You have to find where the you write best. It may be somewhere quiet, it may be somewhere loud, it may not even be the same place all of the time, but you have to use it when you find it. While the place may take some time to find, you’ll definitely know it when you do. It will be the place your writing comes most naturally and easily, and where the flow of your words is best. The atmosphere must be perfect to get optimum work, for a lot of people anyway. Granted that, as much as anything else, can vary from person to person, it is something that absolutely must be paid attention to. Your work area is your happy place, your safe place, your haven, and it must fit your standards to the finest points. Whether you like it quiet or loud, bright or dim, crowded or completely empty, it must be the place that most helps you do what you do best.

Step #2; You must find your time also. Most people can write at nearly anytime, but there will be a certain time of day (not necessarily an hour or minute per se, but more a generalization like morning, dawn, dusk, afternoon, evening, night) that they find their work absolutely at the top of its game. This must be taken advantage of. That is the best way to deal with your day, and can even be a great stress reliever in itself. Just finding what time works best for you gives you an idea of how you can literally schedule your entire day around your writing and get top quality work without having to edit as much (which always helps in the end).

Step 3; Utilize every second of your time. Setting up a schedule will definitely help this, especially if you have taken the time to follow the first two steps. Going to your ‘happy place’ at the time that you have found to be your best work period is going to make you feel you have become increasingly accomplished in the craft, and help to complete your project as quickly as possible.

These steps are probably fairly generic to most people, but they can still be very helpful to new authors, and we can all admit that it never hurts to be reminded of such things. Life can cut its way in on us and ruin our mood and inspiration. Stress has killed more books throughout history than book burning protesters have, most likely, and we have to do all that we can to fight it at every turn. These steps will help most authors on their way to success (or at least completion of projects), and I really would like to hear what you all think about them. If they have helped, let me know. And if they haven’t let me know also, and hopefully you’ll share why they have or haven’t. And if you have any more tips definitely leave them in the comments, and of course you will get all of the credit. I look forward to hearing from everyone.

-Damean

Get Your Name Out There

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

That is one of the most important things an author new to the game needs to have on the brain. Spread your name as far and wide as you possibly can in an attempt to find your audience. Success very rarely comes to those who do not try to find it, especially in today’s world. You must find a way to reach your audience if you hope to give them your work and make your name known.

So who is your audience? And more importantly; where are they? Those are two questions you must be able to answer for yourself, and they are questions you should attempt to answer before you even try to put your work out. You have to know where to look to find the people who will truly appreciate your work. Just as much as you have to know what you are comfortable writing, you have to know who is going to be comfortable reading it. For instance it probably would not be the wisest choice to advertise a book about the occult on a church website or forum. You must be able to target groups of people who would at least be likely to enjoy your work. And it wouldn’t hurt to find people who can help spread that work to others who would like it as well; thus you have begun to build your fan base.

That is a huge part of this business. The fans are really everything. Not only are they the ones we write for most of the time, but they are our very life. It has been said that an artist, in the end , is only as good as his worst piece, so it really behooves the artist to find his muse and his audience, doesn’t it?

My First Worthy Poem

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 1 Comment

I thought I would give you all another sample of my writing today, this time of a different genre. I want to first say that I am not a poet by any means. This poem is merely a fluke, and it is one of two that I felt worthy to ever share with anyone. This poem was published in the literary journal Jimson Weed and has given me a lot of satisfaction and positive feedback. If any of you like this poem let me know and I will explain more about its origin and inspiration.

 

I

By Damean Mathews

 

I watch the wind blow through the trees

I hear the fairies’ footsteps playing on the breeze

I watch as the world spins beneath me

I watch from above; seeing all, being seen by none

I watch alone, apart from them, yet a part of all

I am all, I am none

Always watching, never touching

I am everything

I am nothing

Beware Inconsistencies

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

I have recently become a victim of my own creativity. That is something an author must always be on the lookout for, and I’m ashamed to admit that I made such a rookie mistake. I started working away on Maverip 2 and forgot a couple of minor details that I’d already covered in part 1. Granted that mistake wasn’t too huge, and was easily fixed, it could have been much worse. Any real mistake or fluke in your writing can be something that could seriously cripple your career, or even end it before it began. You have to know every detail, both major and minor, about your work front and back and have things working in serious order. Self-contradiction in your work is something that will cause most agents and/or publishers to immediately disregard your work. And if they don’t catch it, by chance, then your audience will and it will likely ruin your fan base before you even build one. You have to pay very close attention to your work, and everything that involves it.

That being said, I am going to go and work more. I apologize for the short length of my posts of late, but I am in a roll and trying to take advantage of my lack of writer’s block. I think I will soon post another piece of my work if you all think it is a good idea. In the meantime, take heed that you do not contradict yourself or ruin a piece of your own work with inconsistencies. It can be the death of an author.