The most common questions any writer gets are: Where do you get your ideas? What is your
approach to writing? How do I become a better writer? When do you find the time
to write? How do you deal with writer’s block? There are a few more but
they are variations of these enquiries. The
answers given are usually basic no-nonsense maxims. Seriously, how any writer
becomes a good writer is by writing (and writing, and writing, and writing).
Writing a lot develops discipline and opens doors in one’s brain they didn’t
know where there before. This is how it’s been for me. However it’s time to be
honest and reveal the key aspect those who ask me are never told. This will
require a story.
After an injury to my lower back my life went out the
window. As the rest of my life underwent reinvention the first idea was to
write a book about the 7th Infantry Division (Light) which had been
based at Fort Ord, California. How hard could it be? The problem was focusing
on research, which was a whole separate headache, instead of writing which lead
to the creation of a huge mess. The mess led to classes at Monterey Peninsula
College to shore up my writing skills. I have always been a writer, there are hand-written
stories (or parts of stories) tucked away in my closet going back to high
school, but I never thought about taking it seriously until 2007. Composition
1A lead to Comp. 1B, which lead to Comp.2, followed by Survey of English
Literature, and those lead me to the Creative Writing classes. The goal being
to write a quality narrative, which will bring the 7thID back to life, and put
the reader out at Fort Ord wearing 75-pounds of gear in the freezing indigo of
Monterey Bay nights.
Whatever else I will become known for writing, I will always
be ingrained by my research of the one Army division that got it all right, and
was able to operate at a superior level with little more than the will to do
so. So my writing secret is the application of infantry training and doctrine
to my writing mind-set. The 3rd
Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment’s barracks (the one with the Ninja
painted facing the parking lot) used to have maxims painted on the front. Those
which I apply to writing are:
Train as you will fight.
Conduct meaningful and challenging training.
Train at all levels
concurrently
Fight light – own the
night
So I write. I write anywhere, at any time, and this is done
so there is no excuse for not being able to write. The 7th’s breed
of soldier was named “Lightfighter”, and they could fight anywhere in the
world. This is because they trained in Iceland, Alaska, Korea, Fort Irwin (in
the Mojave Desert), Panama, Honduras, Arizona, and countless other locations.
The Lightfighter knew he could be anywhere in the world within thirty hours
with no warning. This has translated to those times when there is no story to
write, the challenge becomes working on weak spots with fundamental
exercises. Sometimes it’s looking at a
picture and describing details. Maybe I take something off my Twitter feed to
make a one page story. Other times I work out set pieces for action stories,
and then cull the narrative until it flows like sand between toes.
These things are done so when the stories spill from my head
I don’t waste time wrestling with mechanics, and I can just write. There is
also a lot of reading going on. Reading for fun and reading about writing.
Answers to every writer’s puzzle can be found in a classic novel or poem.
Whatever the problem, it is a safe bet some other writer has solved it in a way
you can use. I write horror so I read horror. When I began writing westerns I
picked up short story collections by the best writers of the genre. To bring
Max Chrome to life the stories of Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, and Ed Ruggero paved
the way. As the 7thID trained with armies of other countries, I “train” with
different authors.
Fighting light meant no relying on a huge apparatus to get
the job done. I apply this by writing light. Don’t use twenty words if three
will do. The Lightfighters could read the ground, and take an objective in an
economic –yet – dashing way. When a story forms in my head I can tell how long
it will be, and my writing is calibrated to achieve it. I find people are more
forgiving if I don’t take too much of their time. When the novels begin I’m
sure concise narrative will move the story along while engrossing the reader as
well.
The Army loves to complicate things whenever possible, so
the 7th ID was doomed from the start. The Lightfighters drilled in
the fundamentals so when the call came they performed in combat in exemplary fashion.
Everything step by step, though not always in order, until the job was done and
they went home. So I drill and I write and I hang with other writers. I listen,
read, and practice so I can write in any reasonable situation. This is done to
avoid over-thinking once the story is in the breech. Over-thinking is a problem
for every writer. It is a seizure-like mental breakdown. For non-writers this
is seen most often in football where the place-kicker blows a short field goal,
or a golfer misses a short putt. They failed mentally because too much was
going on in their heads. Writing a story of any length is like balancing a
marble on a two-by-four and if you think about it too much the marble ends up
on the ground.
The things I learned from the Lightfightesr have helped me to
not lose my marbles at the critical moments of story writing. Their approach to
soldiering has informed my assault on writing. Their hard work went unappreciated,
yet all 200 men I have interviewed would do it all over again if they could.
They would put on all their gear; head out into the night to dig fighting
positions, and freeze their nuts off just to be Lightfighters again. All I have
to do is sit in my room and write to be part of a community. So I do. I will
always be the bastard child of the 7th’s Lightfighters.
Lightfighters and Lightwriters understand often only reward from all the hard
work done is the knowledge you did it. The key to the Lightfighter’s success
was their commanders kept raising the bar, then dared them to surpass, and they
did – every time. So I raise my bar whenever possible too. I’m probably a good
enough writer now to get around, but I want to write better.
So I drill and I
write.
