By the time you are reading this blog, I will officially be 30 years old. A lot has happened in the first three decades of my life. Some things haven’t happened as quickly as I wanted to. Others happened before I was ready. But’s that’s another blog for another time. Let’s just say me and God haven’t always been in the same time zone. However, there is something else that makes this birthday so meaningful to me. As of today, I will officially be writing for half of my life.

How do I know this? Because I read my diary. (Shhh! Don’t tell anybody!)

Beside my bed is a leather-bound journal. Inscribed on the inside are the following words:

Age 15-

Content: Stories

When my parents presented this to me on my birthday, I decided I would fill this (and many more journals) with novels, short stories, and whatever else popped into my head. On the very first page, written by 15-year-old Kyle is the following paragraph:

Travis and Ariana Fox danced to their song at their first wedding anniversary. Nobody thought their marriage would work out. Ariana was the daughter of a Mafia godfather, and Travis was the son of a former police chief. The two family’s (sic) didn’t always get along. In fact, the couple sometimes felt like ambassadors.

Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that I hated writing by hand and immediately switched to filling external hard drives with Word documents.

Just a few months ago, I wrote this:

I stalk my prey. My sandaled feet moving breathlessly across the prairie. The animal turns its furry head, and I crouch further into the grass. I patiently wait until he returns to grazing. My fellow hunters move to my right and left, flanking me. Together, we slither closer towards the animal. I feel my hand grip the spear tighter, as I narrow my eyes. Then, with one smooth motion, my arm pulls back, and the spear flies out of my hand. The sharp stone pierces the animal’s fur, sinking into flesh and bone.

What I hope you get out of these two examples, is that I have learned a thing or two. And today, I am going to share them with you. Consider it my birthday present.

Transportation

It all comes down to transportation. I could always see my stories in my head. I was in that living room with Travis and Ariana Fox. But it took me years to figure out how to bring you along with me. It is not enough to transcribe our daydreams. We have to take the reader by the hand and bring them with us. Transport them to a different time and space.

Senses

One thing a book can do that no other medium can, is give you all five senses. There are times when I still miss a few of those. But I am much better now at setting the scene. Giving you a smell, a touch, a taste, a sight, and a sound. If you look at what I wrote at 15, there is none of that. We don’t know what song is “their song.” We don’t know where this is taking place. We don’t even know if there is Mexican food being catered, with the smell of cumin and carne asada filling the air. We don’t know if there is the soft glow of candlelight, or brilliantly white lights perfect for photography. For all we know, they could be naked. Which leads me to my next tip.

Don’t let your characters be naked

I don’t know how many times I have finished writing a chapter, or a story, only to realize that I never once mentioned the character’s clothing. It has become a running joke for me. I still fail sometimes to add clothing. In my writing, that is. Not in real life. I promise you I write while fully clothed. I guess I’m old fashioned that way.

Be original in plot, but not in characters or structure

The whole reason I got into this writing game is because I was fed up with generic storytelling. I was confident enough that I could write nothing but originality. And I succeeded if I do say so myself. One of the first stories I wrote (and I can’t believe I am admitting this) was a little 5-page story called “A Cow’s Diary.” It followed a herd of cows who discover that their farmer is secretly growing marijuana.

They decide to have one of the cows eat the plant, get sick, and then hopefully the vet will pump the cow’s stomach, discover the drug, and report it to the police. While this story is a complete wreck, you cannot say that it has been done before. But original plots will only take you so far. In the end, you still need some form of a classic story structure and some stock characters. Otherwise, it will be so out of left field that no one will know if it’s good or bad. Which will mean it’s bad.

Write from joy

While sometimes I abandoned a story because I didn’t understand story structure, far too often it was for a different reason. To paraphrase Marie Kondo, it “sparked no joy.” I could try to write a story about a hitman who was hired to kill a pastor, tried to right the wrong by helping out his family, only to become a Christian himself. I could try to write about an alcoholic man who keeps committing crimes against Native Americans because his parents died in a gangland murder. I could try to write about a virologist who goes back in time to stop a plague from wiping out an ancient civilization. But none of these stories sparked joy. They were too serious. Too gritty. If I write from joy, then I never get tired. I never get burned out. After all, the joy of the Lord is our strength!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

While I have learned more along the way, they can be summed up in your typical writing advice. I have been writing long enough to realize that all the cliches are right. All the forefathers of writing are still on point. But I couldn't write a blog post offering the same advice that everyone gives. Because that wouldn't be original.

How long have you been writing? What have you learned along the way? Let me know in the comments!

Author Bio

Just like his two older brothers, Kyle Morgan was homeschooled from Kindergarten through High School. When he is not busy writing, the next classic children’s book, Kyle loves spending time with his family, all things baseball, and watching black and white movies. He is a monthly contributor to Write2Ignite where he blogs about writing for children. His work has appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, The Caldwell Perspective and StarLight Magazine. You can check out his Facebook page or follow him on Instagram.