Richard Schiver

Category: Random Musings

  • Develop Your Writing Skills with Passion

    Develop Your Writing Skills with Passion

    Sorry for the delay in getting this out there. Been dealing with a bad case of insomnia for the past few days and I’m struggling to think coherently.

    Writing is a journey that demands unwavering commitment and dedication. Whether you’re an aspiring novelist, a seasoned journalist, or a casual blogger, the process of writing requires commitment to your craft. Below are some key aspects you must consider to create written works.

    1. Time. If possible it’s essential to carve out dedicated time in your daily routine to write. This might mean waking up an hour earlier or setting aside time in the evening. Consistency is the key. Even if you can only manage a few paragraphs a day, the cumulative effect will be significant over time. This commitment to regular writing sessions helps to build momentum and keeps your creative juices flowing.
    2. Learning. Writing is an evolving skill, and there is always room for growth. Like a muscle it must be exercised regularly. This also means reading widely, attending workshops if possible, and seeking feedback from peers and mentors. It’s important to embrace constructive criticism and to be open to revising your work as needed. This willingness to learn and adapt is what separates good writers from great ones. It’s also important to develop a thick skin. Sometimes that honest criticism will hurt, and you have to be able to put aside your feelings to look at your work with an objective eye. 
    3. Perseverance. The path to creating written works is often fraught with challenges, including writer’s block, self-doubt, and rejection. It is important to stay resilient and keep pushing forward, even when the going gets tough. Remember that every writer faces obstacles and overcoming them is part of the journey.
    4. Authenticity. Writing is a deeply personal endeavor, and your unique voice and perspective are what make your work stand out. Stay true to yourself and your vision, and do not be afraid to tackle difficult or controversial topics. Authenticity resonates with readers and adds depth and meaning to your work.
    5. Passion. It’s the driving force that fuels your creativity and keeps you motivated. It is what makes the long hours and hard work worthwhile. Find what inspires you and let that passion guide your writing.

    Embrace these aspects, and you will be well on your way to becoming a successful and fulfilled writer. Happy writing!

  • Overcoming Self-Doubt in Writing

    Overcoming Self-Doubt in Writing

    Anyone who is seriously perusing a career as a writer is familiar with the ups and downs that is the writer’s life. Some days you’re riding the top of that emotional wave as the words just flow from your fingers. Hanging ten from that proverbial surfboard of creation as the ocean of ideas washing through your mind batters itself against white beach of the blank page leaving in its wake the basis of what will become a powerful story.

    For every peak in the creative process, where it seems nothing can stand in your way, behind or beyond lies a shadowy valley of self doubt. When that creative wave dashes you against the unyielding stone of cold reality, you tumble from that peak to land in the valley of the shadow of death for the creative process.

    Suddenly the words that had flowed so freely dry up and one is left staring at the blank page as blood begins to form upon their forehead. Who wants to read anything I write? Why do I waste my time doing this? Who really cares anymore?

    Self doubt has silenced the muse. It has thrown a monkey wrench into the machinery of creation, clogging the gears, and stopping them dead in their tracks. Everyone who dares to believe they can create something another person wants to read faces these moments from time to time.

    The greats have carried on their own personal battles with self doubt. Struggling in the years of anonymity before they became an overnight success. Stephen King threw away the original manuscript for Carrie believing no one would want to read it. His wife rescued it from the trash and convinced him to carry on. Great writers from the past were known to agonize over the placement of every word, never really believing that what they were doing would ever be widely accepted.

    How many unknown greats have given up entirely, trashing their greatest works, and turning their backs on their dreams to accept second best? How many Lovecraft’s, Shelly’s, or Stokers have given up even before they started?

    More than we will ever know. One thing we’ve all learned when embarking upon our writing career is that we are our own worst critic. In my opinion what happens when we turn our mind to writing is that we begin to read as writers. We forget how to read as readers. We dissect every story, searching for clues to how the writer put the tale together. In doing so we forget the one thing that drew us to reading in the first place, the excitement of discovering a brand new world living between the covers of a book.

    Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
    – E. L. Doctorow

    If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.
    – Somerset Maugham

    Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.
    – Ray Bradbury

  • How Music and Writing Connect: Finding Your Flow

    I’m running a little behind right now. Installed a new entry door on my house last week and have been paying for it ever since. My sciatica is kicking my butt and the heating pad has become my best friend. Hopefully soon it will loosen up and I can get back to our normally scheduled programming. My apologies all around.

    I recently found a clip on You Tube taken from the concert film, The Song Remains the Same, a movie released in 1976 that featured the group Led Zeppelin. Filmed during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden.

    The clip features the song Stairway to Heaven which has become a classic since it’s release in the early seventies. I grew up listening to groups like Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Boston, and The Eagles just to name a few. But this was the first time I even saw the guitar solo by Jimmy Paige halfway through the song, and I was blown away.

    In the close up you’ll notice that Jimmy’s eyes are closed as he’s playing. It’s as if he has transcended the mechanical melding of guitar and man, the song no longer coming from the musical score in his head. It is no longer the act of metal strings being strummed while fingers move to the appropriate fret. This goes much deeper than that. In a sense he has become the song itself and what we hear comes from the depths of his soul. Jimmy has entered the zone. If you were to ask him what he was thinking about while he was playing, I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t be entirely sure himself.

    Writers do the same thing when they create. During the initial phase of a story’s creation, after the spark that inspired it. To write that first draft the writer finds it necessary to venture into the zone where all things become possible. In the zone there is no grammar, no punctuation, at least not consciously at first. That will come later, during the many rewrites to polish the story to a hard brilliance. No, during that first stage, the very first time a word intrudes upon the unblemished page, the writer infused with the fever of creation slips into a state of self-hypnosis.

    For some the ability to slip into the zone becomes second nature. As soon as they sit down at their work they enter that altered state. For others it is a struggle to find that quiet room in the mind where all things become possible. Here time has no meaning. The seconds, minutes, and even hours pass unnoticed as the writer becomes wholly focused on that imaginary place they have created in their mind. Where the words flow like the waters of a swift moving river that passes through their consciousness. Dark, deep, and muddied by the swirling emotions that whisper across the page.

    It is only then that the writer is at peace.

  • Upon The Shoulders of Giants

    Upon The Shoulders of Giants

    I’ve heard new writers complain that there are no more good story ideas out there. That everything that could be, has already been done. I wholeheartedly disagree with this. While there are only seven central archetypal narratives that form the basis of every story ever told, each writer brings their own unique perspective of the world to work at hand.

    The seven narratives are: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth.

    When we retell a particular story we are in essence as writers, standing upon the shoulders of giants. We are taking existing ideas and retelling them from our own unique perspective.

    The most successful authors of our time understand this and use it to their advantage. To cite just a few.

    Stephen King’s novel Fairy Tale features many familiar fairy tale elements including a royal family, a cursed princess, and a monstrous guardian. Typical for his work he leans into the darker, more gruesome nature of the Brother’s Grimm originals. With references to Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood.

    Stephen King’s Dark Tower series took its inspiration from Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Arthurian legend, and spaghetti Western films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  He envisioned the Gunslinger as the man with no name featured in many of Sergio Leone’s westerns.

    Dean Koontz  is currently tackling the Frankenstein story with Prodigal Son book 1 of his Frankenstein series.

    I’ve heard of a rumored quote from Richard Matheson that contrasted the largely psychological, ambiguous atmosphere of Hill House with his own novel, which presented a haunted house where “you damned well know it’s haunted” I’ve been unsuccessful in tracking down the quote though I’ll leave it at that.

    Each of these writers stood upon the shoulders of giants to bring their own vision of a classic to life. The examples are endless.

    I’m currently reading Dan Franklin’s newest novel, Steel Machines. A retelling of the Golem story that has been redone multiple times. If you were to look deeper into every new story ever told, you would find it has its origins in the past and the author is in a sense standing upon the shoulders of giants.

    So, the next time you hear an author complain there’s no new plots or story ideas out there, remind them that the innovation comes not from the plot, or central idea, but in the unique way they tell a story.

    Free Book

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    Jimmy and his friends have come to the roof of their apartment building to watch the passage of the comet Omega9. Little do they know the dust from the comet contains ancient organisms that are about to turn their world upside down.

    They’re already dealing with tough times, but things get even crazier when Robert’s mom is attacked by his dad and turns into a zombie. This is only the first act in a chain of events that plunges the world into the zombie apocalypse. Forcing the boys to figure out how to survive in this new, terrifying reality.

    Trapped between the undead, and the evil living in the building, their future becomes more perilous until Robert makes a startling discovery in the basement. In the end it’s all about survival, friendship, and facing their fears as they fight to protect each other and their home.

    Sign Me Up!

  • The Ghosts of Conflicts Past

    The Ghosts of Conflicts Past

    The gunfire has long since fallen silent, most of the scars that once marred the field of battle have healed, and the physical signs of the past conflict were but a memory. Yet if one were to listen closely to the restless breeze whispering across this hallowed land, you might hear the voices of the past. The cries of anger and terror fading to the final whimper of a dying soldier as they came face to face with that which awaits all of us in our final moments.

    The names of the battlefields might change as well as the means of conflict, but one thing will always remain. The dying. Be it from sword or arrow, bomb or bullet, death moves among the combatants gathering up the fallen. Where they will march for eternity in lock step with death as the world of the living honors their sacrifice.

    Stories of ghostly encounters near old battlefields are as old as the nature of war itself. On the plains of Marathon, north of Athens, Athenian soldiers repelled the Persians in 490 B.C. Afterwards visitors to the battlefield talked of hearing the whistle of spears and the screams of dying soldiers.

    British history is filled with similar stories. Three battles from the civil war of 1642 have been reportedly seen by visitors, the engagements at Naseby, Marston Moor, and Edgehill. Two world wars have also left their mark upon the landscape from Dieppe to Burma.

    The U.S has its fair share of stories with most centered on the ghostly apparitions that inhabit the civil war battlefields of Gettysburg, and Antietam just to name two.

    I experienced an encounter in West German in the mid-seventies. It was my first trip out of the country, courtesy of Uncle Sam, and we were in the field on maneuvers. I had been assigned to a listening post for two hours. It was punishment because me and my tank commander, a west pointer who was always trying to bully people, had been locking horns ever since he’d been assigned to the tank. I had been bullied growing up, so I had very little patience for people of that nature, no matter their rank.

    It had only been a little more than 32 years since the guns of WWII had fallen silent, and in many parts of the country there remained small reminders of the past conflict. Most notably were the abandoned structures still riddled with bullet holes.  

    We weren’t near any towns, or even farms. The night was clear with a full moon and as I waited to be relieved I caught the sound of movement to my right front. I focused my attention on where the sound was coming from but could see nothing. It sounded like several people sneaking up on our position, and it was obvious from the sound of their movement they were soldiers. An armed force moving through the night, no matter how quiet they think they are, will still make small sounds. A rifle sling rattling softly, pants catching on the weeds, footsteps moving as quietly as possible. When you’ve done it enough you recognize these sounds.

    There were no infantry units nearby, and as per our rules of engagement everything in front of us was considered hostile. I was about to call it in when whoever it was started speaking quietly, in German. Like they were giving orders or bitching about their situation. I only knew enough German to get into trouble. I looked again at where the voices were coming from, but there was nothing there. The weeds in the field were only about a foot high and not very dense so it’s unlikely they were hiding.

    They continued to get closer, their footsteps growing louder, that guttural voice whispering orders. They were no more than five feet away from me, but nothing moved where the voices were coming from. I couldn’t see a damned thing, but I could hear them as clear as a bell. It was then I took a chance and turned on my flashlight. I was supposed to call in any movement, but for some reason this didn’t sound right. There was something off about the way the person was speaking so I hesitated on calling this in. I’d heard a number of stories about strange occurrences that happened to others in the field.

    I searched everywhere but saw nothing. If it had been an opposing force patrol sneaking up on our position, the moment I turned on my flashlight they would have come after me. As it was whoever had been there simply vanished. My relief showed up, and I returned to the tank to get reamed out by my TC for turning on my flashlight. I didn’t tell him what happened. It wasn’t until later that I started to piece together what I might have witnessed. I believe what I heard that night was a lost German patrol that paid the ultimate price but were still continuing their mission.

    Sounds farfetched, and some might question what kind of drugs I had been playing with at the time. But I was stone cold sober, and I know what I heard. I believe it was just one of the little events that put me onto the path I now follow.

    In the coming weeks and months, I plan to explore the stories of hauntings from the world’s battlefields, from ancient times to the present day. If you have any personal experience I’d love to hear about them too, please share your story in the comment below. Thank you.