June 26, 2012

Last year, when I took time out of writing, due to other issues going on, it seemed easy to just give up writing my blog.  However, the nagging urging to write, was still in me.

The problem that I face once in a while, is what to write about.  I suppose in some ways, I can sympathize what real writers go through.  Granted, this is only a blog.  Although I’ve set my own standards and personal rules and regulations on what to write about, the one thing that I don’t want to get into, is complaining.  It is too easy to fall into the trap of constantly bitching about things that don’t sit well with you.  Finding those issues that are encouraging, or enlightening, or even fun or funny, is a lot tougher.

Definitely, I am not the most learned person in the world.  Nor am I the most prolific reader.  One of the things I really hated during my high school years, and I’m sure I’m not alone here, was having to read all those stories by William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, and all the other writers of times gone by.  As history was my strongest subject, neither was historical writing.

In my adulthood though, and having spent too much time on public transit, I had time to start delving into the world of reading and writings.  When you’re relegated to an hour of sitting on a bus or riding the train to get to work, and then repeat the process again eight hours later on the way home, it gives one time to pursue other options.

One of those options was sleep.  I must admit, that once I knew how long it would take to get to my destination or transfer point, it was rather easy to catch up on a little shut-eye.  At some point, I did invest in a Walkman and listen to the radio while traveling.  Listening to all my favourite songs of the day, or hearing the news and listening to the dribble from the radio hosts eventually became monotonous and boring.  There were many times that trying to grab a few minutes of sleep were just not an option.  I either had to try to sleep in a standing position, or within a couple of stops, being the respectable person my parents raised me to be, giving up my seat to an elderly person or someone who really needed to sit.

So, I turned to reading.  One of the first books I decided to start with, was Stephen Kings “IT”.  This book, if anyone has ever read, is probably one of Stephen King’s lengthiest novels.  I won’t get into the whole story, as I think you should read it for yourself.  Needless to say, after reading this novel, I became enthralled by Stephen King’s writings.  Even going so far as to purchase as many books of his as I could.  It became an obsession.  I could hardly wait for my work day to end, just to get back on the train or bus and continue reading.  Even reading while WAITING for the mass transit to pull up!

And now, here I am, half a century in age, one quarter of my anticipated lifespan, and I’m learning what it is like to write.  As I said, I can now sympathize what writers like Stephen King, V.C. Andrews, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens must have felt like.  Granted, they didn’t write daily blogs, since computers were not commonplace in their lives.  Well, perhaps Stephen King and V.C. Andrews, but definitely not Shakespeare or Dickens.

The task at hand now, is to figure out what to write about, that is encouraging, or funny, or enlightening, or just simply non-negative.  That doesn’t mean that there won’t be negative writings, but that I will try to keep them at an arms length distance.  Instead of looking at, let’s say, the idiocy of drivers in Tainan, look at the ridiculous risks people take with their lives.  Rather than finding faults in ‘the system’, find the silliness these faults cause.  Rather than get upset by students not bringing books to class, give an award for the student who has the most missed days of book retention!  Actually, I am just joking.  Even writing about these types of issues is still negative.

The one thing that I have started doing, is taking notes each day of topics of writing.  During the day, I find many things that I could write about, but have tried to keep in my mind.  When it comes time to write, of course I don’t have these ideas at hand.

Every day is a learning experience.  One of the addicts I try to follow, is that ‘… the day you stop learning, is the day you die…’.  May sound a bit crass and scary, but it is a good thought to keep in mind.  I’ll now be changing this a bit to, ‘… the day you stop finding things to write about, is the day you stop writing…’.

That’s it, that’s all… for now!

June 4, 2012

So, what genre of book should I write?

One of my ’20o Things I’d like to do during my life’, is to write a book.  A bestseller would be wonderful, but just writing a book and having it published would be a goal.  Perhaps far-fetched, but a goal nonetheless.

When I think about some of the genres available today, I wonder which I would choose:  romance, mystery, horror, detective, sci-fi, reality…

Romance is not quite my forte.  One of the most popular of all romance style romance, are Harlequin Romances.  Now, I’ve never personally read one myself, but I don’t really think a lot of guys are drawn to romance novels.  Perhaps it’s because we all think we are romantic enough, and don’t need the help of books!  Perhaps we think they are too ‘girly’.  Who knows what the real reason is.  Most guys don’t read romance, and probably even fewer actually write them.

Or maybe I should think about a mystery novel.  Mystery is such a broad term, and a lot of people do read these kinds of novels.  I must also admit that mysteries are not quite something that I find interesting enough to read.  Perhaps it’s my lack of imagination or lack of desire.  A mystery needs to be drawn out, and the final conclusion must be suspenseful and surprising.  As I’m more of a logical person who looks for inconsistencies, mysteries don’t really excite me enough.  Sorry.

Horror.  Now, that would be interesting.  I love a good horror story.  Not the ‘blood and guts’ type of horror, but one that scares the bejesus out of you!  When I was younger, I suppose it kicked into my head that what I saw on T.V. or at the movies or read about was not real.  I can’t really remember the last horror movie I saw or book I read , but it has been a long time since I’ve been ‘scared’.

I like something that gets the heart pumping.  The anticipation of the unknown.  One of my favourite writers, Stephen King, has done a lot in the genre of horror.  At least, that is how I would classify his writings.  My most favourite of all time, is “IT”.  When I really started reading Stephen King’s novels, was when I had a lot of travel time between home and work.  Being able to read on the bus or train to and from work/home, gave me a chance to read, and not fall asleep!

Later on, I found out that my mother and one of my brothers was also ‘into’ Stephen King.  Once I finished reading “IT”, I began reading more and more of Mr. King’s works.  As intriguing as they were, as time went on, and I came to Taiwan, I fallen behind in my reading of Stephen King novels.

Now, detective novels are cliche.  “It was a dark and stormy night.”  How many times we’ve heard this statement as a beginning to a detective novel?  As much as I’ve enjoyed watching ‘Columbo’, ‘CSI’, ‘NCSI’, etc., I don’t think I really have the detective instinct for writing.

Again, a good detective story must have a lot of twists and turns, and in the end, a surprise.  The case is solved, the guilty party being apprehended and the story is done.

I must admit, that I’m not too ‘up’ on who the greatest detectives are.  Sure, there’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his writings about Sherlock Holmes.  I have read several of his stories – who hasn’t?  And besides, who can possibly compare to the legendary Doyle and his stories?

Sci-Fi.  Now that’s something that perhaps I could write about.  However, after the “Star Trek” series (Star Trek, Voyager, The Next Generation, Deep Space 9), and others like Battlestar Galactica, etc., what is left to write about?

Gene Roddenberry did a great job during his life with the ‘Star Trek’ franchise.  He did write other series, such as ‘Andromeda’ and movies like ‘Trek Nation’, among others, none was as legendary as ‘Star Trek’.  Even today, over 20 years after his death, ‘Star Trek’ is still shown on T.V., the movies are still in circulation, and basically, the whole idea of space travel and meeting other beings in the universe, is slowly becoming a reality.

Granted, at the time of this writing, we humans on Earth have not met other beings of other worlds and galaxies, but the idea is still something that we as humans, are striving to accomplish.  Some of the ideas and events and ‘inventions’ of  the ‘Star Trek’ series, have slowly become reality.

In the 60’s when the original ‘Star Trek’ series was produced, there was no such thing as cell phones or computers as they are in use today.  I think that Gene Roddenberry was not only a pioneer in new technology, but did give us the impetus to expand our lives and see beyond the present.

Reality is a tricky one.  It takes a great writer to write about everyday life.  Writing about one’s life, or the generation, or ‘the times’, is tricky.  It’s almost a type of history book.  If written good enough, writing about reality can be a look into the past.

There are many writers who wrote about their lives and times, but perhaps one of the most notable would be Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens was an English writer.  Born in 1812 and passed away in 1870, is an acknowledgment that life was not a long-term idea.  However, he did write and publish many books and novels during his time on Earth.

One of the most famous writings, must be ‘A Christmas Carol’.  Having been alive during Queen Victoria’s reign of England, he grew up in the ‘Victorian Era’.  Life was difficult.  You were either a rich person, or a poor person.  Having grown up in the Victorian era, Charles Dickens was able to write about the life and times of people like Oliver Twist.  A child who was an orphan, and eventually becoming part of the ‘upper society’.

Times were a lot different during those days of the 1800’s.  Anyone who has watched the movies or read the books of Charles Dickens, has an idea of what life was really like during the 1800’s.  Who would we read about to appreciate life in the 1900’s?

When we think about the 1800’s, most people would agree that life was difficult.  From 1800 to 1899, our thoughts and ideas would not change a lot.  When we think about the 1900’s, since this is our time period, we can see that there were a couple of world wars, conflicts between nations, racism, new technology, the barriers between the upper and lower classes becoming less split, the colonization and strengthening of other societies…  The 1900’s may have started as an 1800 society, but ended as a 21st century society.

The population of the world has increased.  Baby boomers are the lawmakers now.  There are those that live in conditions similar to the vast population of the 1800’s (poverty, homelessness), and those that are ‘super rich’ – not needing or wanting of anything.

With the advent of the ‘baby boomers’, many of us want to make our mark on the world.  As with the peoples before us, only a few will be able to relate what society was like during the 1900’s.  It will be a few years before someone will be recognized as the writer of the 20th century.  Not every writer this century will be able to relate what life was truly like for the average person.

Could I do that?  Not likely.  I’m sure there are other writers out there, in our vast population of over 6,000,000,000, who can show the readers of the 21st century, what life was like during these times.  It would be wonderful to one of many people to talk about life in the 1900’s, but I doubt that I am.

So, back to the drawing board, so-to-speak.  What kind of book could I write?

That’s it, that’s all… for now!

August 27, 2010

Well, the last weekend is upon us. Summer is almost over for the students. Monday, at least here in Taiwan, is back to school.

Another couple of weeks, I’ll be heading back to Canada for a holiday. I’ll just be getting going on classes, get to know some new students, then off for three weeks. When I get back, it’ll be like starting all over!

So, to continue, here is another in the ‘Sentence Series’…

I choose a book by its…

Well, there are a couple of ways I choose a book. The first, and usually most important, is word-of-mouth. This is probably the most simple way of choosing a book. A friend has read something, and as long as it’s of a topic that is interesting to me, I will either borrow the book from them, or alternately, go and buy it. I must admit that I don’t always buy books. Being in Taiwan, it’s not always easy to find English novels. There are a couple of stores in Tainan that do sell English-language novels, but they do, in my opinion, tend to cost a little more than they would if bought in Canada.

The next choice of book is author. I have a couple of favourite authors – Stephen King and Charles Dickens. Both of these writers are very different in a lot of ways. Stephen King is an American writer. Most of his stories are set in the state of Maine, and many times, in or near the town of Derry. Don’t try looking looking for Derry, Maine, as it doesn’t exist – I’ve already looked!

The genre of the stories are not really horror, but more like suspense. If memory serves me, the first story of his that I remember reading was, “Carrie”. I found out years ago, that one of my brothers and even my mother also read his books. A bit of a surprise.

One of the best stories of his that I read, was “It”. Over the years though, I’ve read so many of his books now, that I can’t even remember which I have and haven’t read. He does seem to be a prolific writer. I have also watched some of the movies based on his books. Like most people (I would assume) that read books, I find that the books are much better anyway. You use your imagination; you become part of the story; you associate yourself with one of the characters.

Again, one of the first Stephen King based movies I watched, was “Carrie”. Okay, so everything, or most everything, from the book was shown on the screen. However, you had to deal with the characters and what they looked like. No imagination. It was someone else’s image of what these people in the story looked like, or how the acted.

Charles Dickens on the other hand, is an older writer. He is no longer with us. He died in the late 1800’s. I remember in school, having to read some of his books. Back then, trying to understand the language, even though it was English, it was ‘olde’ English. Many of the words used by Charles Dickens, are no longer used today. I really could not ‘get into’ his stories, and thus, my grades sort of suffered.

However, now I do understand some of this language. Words that I haven’t seen, I can now understand through context. I can also understand his style of writing. Even though the stories are about life in England during the mid-1800’s, when, compared to today, life was not as comfortable as we have it, he is able to describe life in a way that is interesting.

It may not be the life that I would have enjoyed living, but the stories do help me to understand what life was like, and in a way, just how good we have it today – even though we may not think so.

Another way I choose a book, obviously, is by genre. Stories that depict life in a ‘real’ way, suspense, and even what life COULD be like (future/space/science fiction), are all genres that do interest me.

The final way I choose books, is what can be helpful to my students. These types of books are obviously books that I would use in class – either school or private teachings. The topic has to be somewhat interesting to me, because, how can I get a student to enjoy reading English, if I don’t find the story interesting.

We all choose stories or books for a variety of reasons. I’m sure that my reasons are probably no different than anyone else. The one thing that I would suggest to anyone is, no matter how or why you choose a book, do it! Read. Use that imagination of yours.

In my opinion, your imagination is a lot more interesting than someone else’s!

August 11, 2010

How many books do you have on the go? Are you one of those people who start to read a good book, but then never finish it? Or do you read a book from cover to cover before starting another? Or are you one who reads several books at the same time?

There have been, over my life, many authors whom I’ve enjoyed immensely, and to date, still do. My crazy schedule and Facebook have seen some of that precious reading time erode slowly over the years. I still enjoy reading, but just don’t have as much time to do so these days.

One of my favourite authors is Stephen King. Way back when, I watched “Carrie”, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. After that, I decided to read the book. Personally, I found the book more interesting. I have found that, just as my English teachers in the past mentioned, reading books is a lot more imaginative than watching a movie. Sure, watching a movie is quick, you get the information, but then again, you get SOMEONE else’s interpretation of the story. When you read a book, you only have your imagination of the events.

Another movie that I remember watching was “Tron”. Probably won’t be a pop culture movie, however, it did do one thing – it helped me to understand, visually, the workings of a computer. After that, I decided to read the book. I actually found the book rather boring. I couldn’t visualize the computer and the characters as well as the movie had done.

However, back to books. When I was in school, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate, we were required to read books by authors such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. In English literature, these two in particular seem to be a favourite of English teachers to impose on their students. The language is ‘olde’ English, many words are now considered archaic, and the writing style just isn’t how we speak today. It took a lot of work to understand these writings.

However, in the past few years, well actually, since coming to Taiwan, I have had this insatiable appetite for Charles Dickens. One of the bookstores in Tainan (and Taiwan) that carry English schoolbooks as well as literary works, carries a wide range of ‘the classics’. These stories are the original works, still using the ‘olde’ English, and at a very reduced cost! Makes it a bit more appealing to decide to re-read some of the works that I couldn’t understand in high school.

Mind you, Charles Dickens is not easy material to just pick up and read. It takes a while to get into the writing style. However, now that I’ve read about a dozen of his books, it does get easier. It’s also interesting in another way. I’m learning some new words – believe it or not. Granted, as mentioned above, some of these words are archaic by today’s standards, but they are still words. It’s also interesting to note how some of these words have changed.

One of my favourite examples that I use with students, is the word betwixt. Now, this word is not used any longer – at least not in everyday language. Sure, it is perfectly fine to use it, and it would not be considered wrong. However, by today’s usage, we now say between. Why? I don’t know. It is interesting though, to see how the language has changed, even over 150 years.

I try to encourage my students to read more than just the inane materials provided by their schools to learn English. I encourage them to read articles on the internet in English, to read novels, or at times, some higher level material just to get them to understand how English is spoken.

At present, I have four books on the go. I’ve read, with students, all the Harry Potter books, but am still stuck on Chapter 1 of the last one, “Deathly Hallows”. One of Stephen King’s latest, “Everything’s Eventual”. A collection of works by Edgar Allan Poe, and a Charles Dickens novel, although the title escapes me right now.

My [procrastinated] problem these days, is finding the time to read these books. I used to read a chapter before going to sleep at night. Now with so many classes, Facebook, and this blog, I’m finding that a lot more of my time is spent on writing, and not so much on reading.