Control: What To Write Next

Daniel Trump
Sep 1, 2018 · 2 min read

I, Dalton Lewis, want to write another novel, but I don’t know why I should. The last book sold fewer copies than the one before it. I spend countless hours throwing my entire heart onto the page only to find half a dozen people buying it. I’m not building an audience right now. I’m reading Game of Thrones, and my writing doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Game of Thrones and the like.

Why? Why can’t I write more effectively? I should be able to write brilliant fiction. I’m a good guy. I got good grades in college. People consider me smart and talented. I read a lot of books, and Stephen King writes in his memoir On Writing that reading is a key to writing well.

Why? Why don’t I understand everything that I read perfectly? Irony escapes me. People pretend to say one thing and actually say something else. I don’t understand that something else. A great professor in college taught me that irony is the key to writing, and I have failed to use it in my stories.

Why? People write beautiful stories every day. People give their stories love and care. Audiences eat up great books and feel meh about my books. Why is that? I care. I care about my stories. No one says that my writing moved them beyond life itself.

Why? Why am I not great at everything? I should win Warhammer 40k tournaments. People should marvel at my mind. Instead they say that it will take time to get better. I don’t understand why 99 percent of all writers must fail. There should be a way to make more writers successful. Some sort of writing and reading program should give new writers a chance to break out. Instead millions of people write books, but a tiny fraction succeed.

Why? I write like crazy. I work hard. I try to give my writing some knowledge of the real world. No one understands what I try to say in my writing. It seems to me that writing and reading are extremely difficult to handle and do. I don’t even read as effectively anymore. I just need to try to work hard at writing and rewriting a novel that will speak to people.

Thanks, and take care, friends.

Daniel Trump

Written by

Daniel Trump wrote the slasher/horror epic Impressions of Suburbia. Buying it is the way he makes money for his writing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RPXPQPC

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