Shouts From Down Under

Have you heard (of) the Muffin Man, who does it cos he can?

Yes, Mr S King,

There were only a couple of people who would even glance at the first few pages of my novel.

After how every many months and years of toiling I finally decided it was good enough to print a cheap "photo-copy / fax" shop bound hard copy for myself so that not only could I do manual editing, yes, with a real red pen and highlighter (or whatever pens I could manage to find in our caligraphy challenged house).

Ok, you already know how I felt. You are all writers, eh. You've been there, or you're going there, or you've been way past there and probably published and famous. Good for you, and thank you. You are the mountain top inspiration we all look for and work towards.
Being a successful author at whatever level we've aimed for.

I felt on top of the world already, just getting that bunch of MY words, MY creation, onto paper, bound up with plastic cover and who cares if it was A4 size, with novel sized (Times New Roman size 12 about 120 words / page (I think?)) pages.

When you pull a world, a plot, a creation out of your proverbial (OK out of your head) and it's finally visible on paper in a book, it's a big moment. Come on, IT IS! Mr King.

(Muffin Man
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060621095422AAV9pUI)

Yes, I haven't forgotten that I said only two people would have a glance at my printed "novel". They were (are) relatives, family, and give them their due, they didn't shout at me or just say NO.

But their comments hit me fair where it sort of wasn't welcome. No, it wasn't welcome at all, not just "sort of".

After only a couple of minutes and a couple of pages, the hasty and dry comment was, and the other not dissimilar, "It's very serious".

The other lonely comment I got was, "It reads like a dictionary, Dad." Yes, one of our children (teenagers at the time) said that.

These comments were extremely valued, don't get me wrong. This is not a moan Monday.

We can get too highly technical too quickly, and for too long. The old saying KISS. Keep it simple stupid.



There is a time to be low tech. Definitely. Fish hooks aren't complicated, even the fancy ones. Really. They are there to keep the fish on the line. Not talking lures here. I guess a lure is the novel's cover if using the fishing analogy. Or the spinal text. Or the backside blurb.

But the hook to keep 'em comin' is that low tech sledgehammer first couple of words, sentences and pages. Give it to 'em with both 12 gauge barrels.

You don't get to be Mr Muffin Man, or Dexter, so to speak / or write, by hesitating and being wishy washy.
You don't get to be Mr King by writing knitting books. Ahem. Unless someone uses one of them for alternative purposes, and does it low tech.

Follow the manual. Point to the pictures. Low tech. Get it?

Mmmmmm. Muffins.

The tweet title should have read De-complicate your first impression but "fort" still sounds right somehow. That's what happens with low tech fingers poking at high tech iPhone screens, in a hurry at the library, trying to upload a photo. Quirky mistakes.

Low Tech. Quirky and interesting if done right. Less is more.

Sparky