WCMarchese

     Isn't it funny how you seeing something can connect you to another time in your life? Sometimes when I drive this happens, especially if there's an overcast sky. I remember as a kid, when my mom was sick with cancer and my sister and I would visit with my cousin upstate. We'd go to a pool and it would be a wonderful sunny day. There were times when it wasn't sunny. Where by the time we were leaving (and we were probably leaving because of the change in the weather, but as a kid you don't realize these things) we'd run to the minivan and the outside air would feel different. Charged. The atmosphere smelled different, too. These days it's what some call ozone. But back then it meant lots of rain was about to pour down.  And possibly even a fascinating thunder storm. I loved 'em. We'd get into the vehicle and drive off, sitting on towels, or feeling numb from sunburn brought on by playing in water all day. We'd w...

Ever see when someone gets to that rung in the ladder where you know they are moving up, and all the things they do just seem to hit the ball out of the park, over and over, as though nothing can go wrong.  It's sort of like watching a space take off. So many things can go wrong, and things have gone wrong in history, rest in peace Challenger crew, but so many things can go wrong, but you just know that spaceship will make it into the thermosphere.  You just know they're gonna make it.  They have their sayings, the things they come back to, themes, other ideas. They have a world they're building over their fiction world.  They are on the way.  What does it take to get to that point, to get into the mind set of a successful career?  Authors look to established and big names to see if they might garner a shred of something to lead them on the way to that position.  And you may read those success stories and feel elated and sure you got th...

Did I get your attention with the name? Ha ha. The picture I see for this is a night table, low light, and a typewriter in bed, the covers slightly pulled up. Getting intimate with the story, the characters, that's what I'm thinking about this time around.  It may seem daunting to create a story, or a novella, heck, a whole novel, after seeing what's out there already.  You think to yourself--if you're like every other writer out there--how can I do that?  The stories are so intricate. They seem so real.  But it's possible with baby steps.  Getting a scene, going with it. Thinking what would--could--happen next.  Motives.  Moving slowly and seeing where things to, but not too fast. Let things happen.  Then move forward a bit more. Create other scenes that connect to that one, but feel how it is to be in t hat moment. Maybe you're at dinner with one of the DAs discussing a local serial killer, the extent to whic...

The final frontier, or just an over-saturation of writers clawing for the same prize?  Well, it may seem impossible, but stay to yourself when you need to, and stay true to yourself and you can make it through.  You see, I've come to realize that everyone has a different idea of what success is in the game.  Any game, really.  Some just want to see their name on a spine. Some want the money. Some want to be praised by peers. Some want to entertain.  Some even want to provide an escape for people who rely on these stories to get away from the horrors of their life.  There is no way to know how far one wants to go. We look at the playing field and think everyone is out there for the same thing.  For the most part they are. But it's just different.  And if you keep focused and concentrate on yourself, you'll go far.  There will be those who copy you, who look to everything you do and do exactly the same thing.  But I c...

Like Axl Rose said in the song by Guns N Roses November Rain , "Nothing lasts forever and we both know hearts can change."  I don't think I'll ever stop with motivational posts, they are just something that comes natural from within.  But I recently got to thinking. And I'm coming to realized something. I'm feeling a change.  And that's okay.  Maybe I'll stick to a schedule, or maybe I'll post when the feeling strikes. That might even be more than three times a week--once you release yourself, the flow is greater.  At this point I don't know yet.  I still think the art is a good idea, incase you don't enjoy the words, you can at least get something.  Just like that job you ask why they had to go through hell for, everything is for a reason and I feel you can find the good in just about everything.  I'm not really changing anything pre se,just maybe the timing and execution.  Plus I wanted to mess with diff...

I was thinking the other day and came to a realization.  Looking at writing a story head on is fine, for most, I suppose.  But when you have a project you start with something. Then you add another aspect to that. Say an outline, then you add another dimension and keep adding until the original product is no longer discernible.  Does that make sense?  You see a finished product from someone you admire. But what had that product looked like in its infancy? What were its roots as the skeleton was being built as the skin formed on them?  A formula.  But the best formulas are those the readers can't see.  Right?  Do you have a formula when you do your thing? Is it something you try to stick to, or do you deviate from the path every now and again?  Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter  @WCMarchese . Hope to see you there.  WCM Also, check out my YouTube channel with this link:  www.you...

The state of things. There's a saying that goes something like "Jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down." Basically saying, if you procrastinate you'll never know what you got going until you jump off and get going.  I got to thinking about a lot of... well, things.  As usual.  And something I've been pondering upon has been where to go from this point.  What direction.  As it is, I am writing a blog and doing videos, for the most part, that attempt to help other writers in a way of seeing the path and what happens along that path.  It may not be something all writers go through, but there can be quite a few similarities.  If you can take away something that helps, then this post and other things I do in this vain have done their job.  Then again, perhaps this info won't even be considered until I am "successful" at this--which of course can take on a whole bunch of different meanings to different people.  ...

I know I've said this over and over. But it's something more important than you think. Your story has to feel real.  If it doesn't, you run the risk of being cliché yeah, but also, far worse, you can be dismissed without even knowing you've been dismissed.  Fellow writers, or frenamies, may say, hey, great job! Yet they know and see what happened and just want to keep you back in the dirt.  Real friends might alert you, but some are so busy they can't read everything out there.  Bottom line. One has to be careful. Make sure your characters are likeable, lovable. The story is memorable. Etc.  Real.  Now i don't know the single formula for success, mostly because it's different for everyone. But you'll know when you find it.  Hopefully.  And I've read a quite a few times that talent isn't what makes the writer.  But it's a pretty damn important part of it. Yes hard work goes without saying, but if you don't have the tal...

This past weekend some sort of destructive force wanted to do me in.  But it didn't.  A week prior I had a guest on Gary Buller and my show. This after a Microsoft update.  The update must have done something to the sound settings, because all the sounds were wrong, and when I tried to fix it, I realized the sound wasn't even going to YouTube live.  The guests in the chat room were saying they heard nothing. But at this point it was already almost half an hour into the interview.  I was devastated.  Embarrassed.  After the show, I went to work trying to figure out what went wrong. I fixed what I did have of Gemma and Gary and started messing with settings.  I had the program and my settings to a point where it worked, and even better.  So I took a picture of the settings so I could have it for the future in case something like that happened again.  All was well.  Then I turned the computer on this past Friday ...

Give your story life, otherwise it’s just a cliché. Thinking about this quite a lot lately as I restructure my style and add more to that toolbox Stephen King made famous in On Writing. Writing is an ongoing learning experience. Even the greats can still learn. Yeah, all those clichés. But you see, when you write about a guy who goes into a house and he sees ghosts. It turns out those ghosts may be something he’s dealing with internal. Yada yada. This can be altered in any multitude of ways, but it’s still a basic story. And I’ve seen many authors, myself included, mistakenly run down this path. Grammar and other technicalities aside, this story needs personality. This is where write-what-you-know comes into play. That guy could have lived in Florida. He’s moving to NY to take a house that was given to him by his mom, because the siblings were fighting and she wanted it to go to someone who hasn’t been around in a while. The sister warns him with a threat a...

So you sit before your laptop, or your cellphone, and you wonder if this will all pay off?  Social media sites like Blogger and YouTube deal with constant posts and such to fans.  I see decent views on my blog and YouTube channel, at this point they are not great. But things build.  I have to keep pushing.  I've been working on my blog longer than the YouTube channel, and that is going well. But not enough for me to not worry about if it's all worth anything.  I can say this, if I had thousands of viewers, or thousands of listeners on YouTube, heck yeah I'd post more often.  Probably even multiple times a day.  Live stuff for YouTube, any thought that pops into my head for my site.  But I guess it's easier to do that when you know people are waiting for your next post.  It's hard when you don't know if anything you're doing will pay off. Is it just people you know, or are you getting out to new individuals?  And is a...

Ever sit and think blindly about anything and everything? Of course you do, everyone does.  Then a scene comes into your head. You let continue to see where it goes. You've written scenes like this before, but this isn't one of those. You let it play out further. Then a hole opens and you get a brief glimpse of something profound.  What is that?  You get a quick glance of the whole shebang. This ever happen to you? It's almost like those moments when you're about to fall asleep and you feel like falling.  All of the "writing secrets" are laid out before you and you have no pen or pencil to jot them down.  Deep thinking, as they call it in philosophy?  Maybe.  But there's something more to it.  I see and feel and know something at that moment. A portal had been opened and I got a brief snapshot of something so great and perfect, whole.  Afterwards it's like a dream that you can't quite remember, but you have a vague ide...

Life is a beautiful thing. To many, life is pain.  Here I lie/sit, pecking this out on my phone, resting my back which I somehow pulled the other day. And I got to thinking about all the creative types, or people with passion, who have to live with this day after day.  The whole thing really weighs hard on you.  When I'm lying still, I'm halfway decent, it's the agony of trying to get up and letting your back get into a state of being used to standing. I had to leave work yesterday, and I usually never do that. But trying to get out of bed I felt for a moment that feeling of falling back and giving up.  But you can't give up. Because what then?  It's just another roadblock in the path to The Dream.  So as I am off to purchase a cane this fine morning, and maybe beg my chiropractor for another treatment, I say: don't give up. Always push until the end.  Has anyone experienced life debilitating pain? How did you cope and continue with your...