I think that many of us would probably be absolutely terrified to realize how much of our lives are constantly operating on autopilot on a daily basis. Honestly. Have you ever really thought about it? Some of these automatic actions are pretty harmless. You lock your car doors when you get out to run into the store. You hold the door open for someone with their hands full of groceries. You feel the urge to say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes, even if they’re a total stranger. There are plenty of things that you do during your daily activities that you simply, ummm...do. It’s habit, you know. You don’t think about it, it’s just following patterns of learned behavior. Or, as my grandmother used to say, “It’s what you do if you were raised right!” But what about some of those other things that you do in you lives on autopilot? Have you ever driven home from work...and not really remembered how you got there? You’ve done it so many times that the mundane nature of the task itself doesn’t take any real brain power or attention at all. BUT...while your mind is pretty much blank or not really absorbing your surroundings and what’s going on within ‘striking distance’...SOMEBODY is driving that car! Two thousand pounds or more of metal and glass, a deadly machine, traveling at speeds that could do a whole lot of damage if anything bad were to happen while you were lost in your thoughts. Luckily, our focus can snap back and forth pretty quickly when we need it to...but unless someone in front of you slams on the brakes, a cat runs out into the street, or construction forces you to take a detour...there’s a virtual ‘nobody’ driving you to and from work, day after day, and you may not even know it. Even then...accidents happen. It’s actually pretty frightening when you think about it.

Well...the more ‘harmless’ part of that virtual ‘nobody’ is going to be our target of focus today...

So don’t worry! Hehehe, I’m not going to traumatize you with the other side of that coin. At least not today...

When I, personally, talk about a writer’s ‘fuel’...what I’m really talking about life itself. Not just distant memories, or wrongs that you wish you could right in your fiction, or a fantasy about that really hot guy that works in the mail room at your job. Life is what you’re writing about, am I right? Even if it’s fantasy, science fiction, romance, action/thriller, or horror...the one element that brings it all home to you and to your reader is its connection to real life goals, real life emotions, and real life experiences. This, in my opinion, is what creates the real connection between a writer and their readers. It’s a part of the bond that makes these stories work...and, more importantly, makes them memorable in the long run. Remember, there are a lot of people reading five to ten stories a day...minimum. Why should you stand out?

By relating to them on a personal level that other writers can’t on a level that goes deeper than words and plot can provide, that’s how.

The question is...especially if you’re planning to write more than one of these stories over any extended period of time...how are you supposed to come up with all of this stuff out of, literally, nowhere? Not just once, but MULTIPLE times??? And this is where you go looking for something that energize you and keep you going. It can be major events in your life...but how often do those really happen? Really. You might rely on reader comments and in depth feedback from them...but, again...that’s not always guaranteed either. Hehehe, I lot of people read your story for free, roll over in their beds, and go to sleep. So that can also be a weak source of fuel as well.

What you need to do is go outside, go to work, walk the streets, visit the park, go shopping, go to church, whatever it is that you do that you love...and learn how to activate your ‘writer’s mind’ while you’re doing it. This is something that I learned to do from the very beginning when I was all young and excited and trying to come up with new ideas on an almost daily basis. I used to save money on public transportation by walking to work every day. It would take me thirty or forty minutes each way, but I was downtown Chicago, so the streets were always full of people talking and laughing and having a good time. So I would just catch bits and pieces of whatever it was that they were talking about, and sometimes that would inspire new ideas for stories, themes, dialogue, etcetera. That was my fuel. And while it may seem like it’s a bit invasive or weird at first...once you develop this instinct, it will become an automatic part of who you are, how you think, and how you absorb and express the details of your life in general. It’s an amazing tool for writing a truly engaging story, but it’s also good for how you interact with people on a social level as well. That’s something that I can promise you!

The thing that you have to realize and tune into is the idea that your entire life, day after day, is a story in itself. Even the typical, autopilot, ‘nobody’ stuff that you do every day...there is fuel for a story there. Now, growing up in a major metropolitan city, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and then grow numb to the huge wealth of influences around you. There’s sooooo much stuff that I just basically shrugged my shoulders at and didn’t really pay attention to as much as I could have been, and I wish I had. Oh...there’s a fight on the train...that’s typical. Oh...somebody pulled the fire alarm in the mall...ok. Oh...look, a taxi hit a pedestrian? Shit happens, I suppose. But it wasn’t until I started writing that I really began letting all of these details soak in the way they were supposed to. And that made all the difference as brand new story after brand new story started pouring out of me on a daily basis. Now, I don’t even realize that I’m drawing energy from my surroundings and the people in my environment until I feel all anxious and inspired again. That’s the point that I think every writer should reach at some point...where it all comes as natural as breathing. And all it takes is a simple shift in your thinking.

This is usually where I’d say something like, “Easier said than done.” But not this time. It really is as easily done as it is said. You just have to have to be conscious of the practice. That’s all. Congrats! You got it!

Naturally, a wealth of my earliest stories were all told from my memories and a heavy sense of nostalgia, but they didn’t really grow from there until I found a way to keep tank constant full with a heavy dose of updated writer’s fuel. New trends, new feelings, new outlooks on life...these are all things that need to be current and ever changing in order for your fiction to be relatable to your audience. That means getting out of the house and constantly examining the world around you. It means seeing pretty faces at your local fast food joint. It means overhearing brief parts of fun conversations from people who pass you on the street. It means seeing someone taking pride in the garden out in front of their house and getting their hands dirty. Each and every one of these people has an interesting story to tell. Maybe even a series of interesting stories from their past. They have motivations, achievements, goals to reach, some might have tragic back stories, or hardships that they’re trying to deal with by engaging in activities and conversations that you may only catch a quick, three second, glimpse of when you walk past them. Not SOME of them...not HALF of them...but every single last ONE of them has a story behind them, creating the foundation of who thy are. And since you don’t have access to what that story might be...your creativity has now been given a free ‘jump off’ point to make one up for yourself. Voila...writer fuel.

It really is as simple as flicking a switch in your brain, causing you to be more hypersensitive to what’s going on around you at all time. I know that sounds weird, but humor me for a few moments here. You’re trying to get to work, and someone cuts you off in the turning lane, and makes you miss the traffic light that would get you there on time. What’s going through your head in that moment. I’m not just talking about emotion here...you’re probably verbally cussing that fucker out with a passion at particular moment. Ok...that’s not just a random thought. That’s a part of a story right there. Your emotions are involved now. I don’t want to inspire any road rage or anything, hehehe...but think about it. If you could get yourself to a keyboard at that particular moment, without any delay, what would you write? The ‘fuel’ is right there, isn’t it? Feel it. In the moment where your emotions are the most potent, and you want to shout it out.

As I always say...there’s a serious difference between having to say something, and having something to say. Unfortunately, with social media and self promotion...a lot of people go for the former. I’m not a fan. Nobody has something important to say three times a day, every day, for six months. Get off of Twitter and Facebook, hehehe! PLEASE! Speak when you’re inspired to speak. When you really have something worthy of sharing with others. Tell your story as though it matters...and as if other people really needed to hear it. Not as an ego ‘self-stroke’ where you just want attention...even when you’re not doing anything to deserve it.

As shameless as I am when I have to advertise the site or the ebooks or the paypal donations (By the way, https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/ and https://paypal.me/Comsie just so ya know! LOL!) I don’t just make random posts unless it’s something that truly interests me, and that I think will interest the people reading my site. I write what I feel...not just with the stories, but in everything that I do. It’s a part of who I am. I share a bit of my personal story and mood when it’s necessary, and if you’re reading or listening...that can be a part of your writer’s fuel too.

This is what you need to observe and absorb in the world around you. That person that works at your bank, that lady that delivers your mail, those people standing in front of you with a shopping cart full of groceries...they all have stories to tell. Maybe the bank teller has a stain on his shirt from lunch. Where did he go? Where did it come from? Does he know it’s there? What was he thinking about? The lady that delivers your mail...does she look tired? Has she been working all day long? Is she happy? Not happy? Has she been doing this for a long time or is she still learning the ropes? The people in line ahead of you at the grocery store...what’s in their cart? Is it a bunch of frozen meals from a bachelor who can’t really cook? Is it full of soda and candy for the kids they have at home? Is it a gay couple? Is it a lot of expensive stuff...or are they trying to get by on an extremely tight budget?

The world around you is full of details that can create entire stories for a writer once they learn to pay attention to what those details are feeding them. You have an infinite amount of fuel out there if you look for it. So get away from the keyboard, turn off your mobile phone, and experience as much as you can. Take a pocket notebook and a pen with you so you can jot down any spontaneous ideas that you might have along the way. I use to fill up a page a day, minimum. Granted, it was a small notebook, but I was always sucking in the world around me and looking for ways to add them to my stories. My writer fuels was always...and still is...in endless supply.

If I can do it, you can do it better!

Anyway, I hope this helps, you guys! Allow yourselves to draw the rest of the world in on a daily basis. Make it a habit...then make it a discipline. K? Happy writing! Seezya soon! And stay beautiful!