I Don't Build Words - I Listen To Them

I Don’t Build Words  -  I Listen To Them

How we live our life shapes our experiences in the years to come.

And so, it was for me.

A Childhood Based on Imagination

From the age of 1, I lived in Nigeria, West Africa. It was a lonely life, so I had to think of things to occupy my mind.

Luckily, I have a very vivid imagination, so with drawing, painting and having a close imaginary friend called ‘John’( my Mother always had to lay a place for him at the dinner table) I was able to keep my mind active.

I should have guessed as I grew up, and took note of what my favorite subjects at school were, or the jobs after school that I was most drawn to, they all ranked pretty highly as ‘creative’

But being creative is only one half of the story, the other is imagination. I would say both of these go ‘hand-in-hand’.

The Books that Shaped my Imagination

I was a voracious reader in the early days, especially books full of adventure and sci.fi. and it was an author called Michael Moorcock that not also captured my imagination, it nurtured it as well. Two great things about those books. They weren’t big books and there were lots of them?

We have all felt the disappointment of reading a wonderful book only to be feel a little sad when we had finished it…I desperately wanted the adventure to continue.

And so it was with Michael Moorcock, after the first couple, I was so happy to learn that he had written well over 150 books! Amazing! How prolific. So, I knew then I would be kept happy with my reading for quite a while.

The Moment That Changed Everything

Many years later, I was now married, with a beautiful wife and 3 young children.

And then a tragedy hit me like a sledge hammer, my wife was senselessly attacked and murdered, leaving me with the boys who were now 4, 6 and 12.

Three months later I decided to visit a clairvoyant.

 I had been to some in the past, but now there seemed to be an urgency. I desperately wanted to know something, anything, about my wife in the afterlife. Seeking a reason. A purpose even? For what had happened.

Well, that reading brought into focus 2 major things.

The first that my wife did in fact come through to me and I knew it was her, nothing was made up. The clairvoyant said, “She is here, gripping my shoulders telling me to tell you two things that are very important.”

“That she wants you to know that the way of her passing was very traumatic, but she is absolutely at peace now.” “And even more important, that her love for you and your children will always be around.”

I was so happy to hear that, and expected the session to end there. To say I was satisfied with the clairvoyant was an understatement…I felt absolutely thrilled.

But suddenly the clairvoyant said she hadn’t finished, there was something else coming through that was so strong, something I couldn’t and shouldn’t ignore.

She told me I had to write!

At first, I misunderstood her, and told her I can write.

No, she said, write as in ‘write books’ that it would start to be a major force in my life and continue. It was meant to be, she said.

So I sat down and tried to construct the plans to write a book. I thought a thriller of sorts. But when I tried to think about characters, a plot, world building, antagonists, protagonists…it literally bored me. I tried and tried. But no, I couldn’t even start.

When the Story Took Over

It was a few days later that I went to see ‘Lord of the Rings’, my imagination went off the scale…into my head came fantasy images and the world building to me was as real as the world we live in.

With nothing more than a thought, I sat at my laptop and just decided to type. As I did, characters, humans, elves, magic wands, a story line, all lit up in my head! I typed for close on 6 hours!

I read through later what I had typed and it all seemed to make sense, and not ramblings that I was afraid of.

What was more amazing, was that the very next day, I felt compelled to sit and type nonstop for another day, then it continued the next day, then the next until I had written approximately 500 pages!

And all the while as I was typing images, storylines, all sorts of pertinent colourful creatures just filtered into my head. So, I typed them down.

Almost immediately, I wrote book 2. Approximately 500 pages

And finally, I wrote book 3, also approximately 500 pages

It was an epic high fantasy and I called it The Wand Chronicles.

But then I was hit with a feeling of dread! What if what I had written was rubbish?

It was only when the manuscript was handed to professional reviewers as well as members  of the public, that all the reviews that came back were excellent!

Discovering I Was a Pantser

It was at that stage I discovered that in fact there are other authors who write like I do, and the term given to them is ‘Pantsers’. Authors that write by the ‘seat of their pants’.

I went on to write more than 20 more books, of all genre’s and for all ages.

One of the beauties of being a pantser, is that the term ‘writer’s block’, doesn’t exist in my world. Never had a problem writing lots down, or naming a book, or indeed the names of chapters, or characters.

So, I don’t fight my mind, I ‘release’ it with no conditions. And it repays me with a colourful creative skill that I hope will never leave me.

I am pretty damn sure it never will.