How to Write and Influence People

Writing is an illusion. It gives the author a sense of permanence, longevity, and weight. It is almost as writers assume that by placing thoughts down in writing they can somehow make them last forever, make them have real meaning and purpose. In writing, authors hope that the receiving participant will absorb a part of them and perhaps keep that part alive even after they are gone. However, this is where the illusion takes place; just because it is written down, it does not mean that someone will read it, or will be moved to partake in those words and make them a part of who they are, only good writing can do that.

Only good writing can change minds and move souls, and good writing alone can create statues of thought to be remembered and milestones to be looked back upon as the day that the reader's life changed. A robust writing process can only achieve this caliber of writing, and it is the pursuit of that perfect writing process that it is often more alluring than the writing itself.

Writers will pursue all manner of odd rituals to fuel that writing process and become creative and efficient. In this pursuit, the process of writing evolves and becomes more akin to an old man tinkering in a garage, working on a new creation late into the hours of the night, than some scholar patiently tapping away at keys on a keyboard.

Craftsmanship and its similarity to writing create a metaphor that allows the writing process to be better understood. I believe that it is easier for us to identify with the image of a craftsman working with his hands than with a scholar that we assume has higher intellect, therefore, no time to entertain us and show us how writing gets done. The old craftsman is far more approachable in our mind, more welcoming and kind, more willing to let us into his dirty workshop and show us the intricacies, the messiness, and evolution of his work, his passion.

In the next paragraphs, we will step into the craftsman workshop, and through exploring the process of creating a fishing lure, we will learn what it takes to leave a part of us behind on paper and allow our writing to make a generational impact. Like writing, making a lure requires imagination, patience and the willingness to carve and repair the work that you have already done. We will see the striking similarities in the high level of craftsmanship and the practice of creating written content. By following this process, hopefully, we will learn some new tricks, digest new tactics and find some of that coveted permanence that all writers seek in their work.

A look into the workshop
Any quality craft will require a dedicated space to create it. A craftsman must have access to his tools and inspiration, as well as an area where he can be free to think and create without any judgment. Things are about to get messy, and he does not need to be in a place where he will be judged for the mess he is about to make. Writing makes a mess, maybe not in a visible spectrum such as carving wood, but non-the less a mess will be created. Notebooks will be out, coffee will stain, and reference pages will be open. Before deciding to write, make sure you are in a place that you enjoy and that you feel free to make your mess in.
Some people like the business of a campus library or a local coffee shop, others prefer to be outside in the fresh air, while some will instead be on their couch or private office. The place itself does not matter as long as you are in an area you enjoy being in and your process will not be hindered.

As a writer, a desk set aside in a dining room could take the place of the Craftsman workbench. On that desk, a warmly toned lamp and a container with handy reading and research tools such as highlighters and sticky tab dividers become the craftsman auger and wood shaving tools. A figurine of the writer's son's favorite cartoon character could sit on the desk and remind the writer of his purpose in writing. Much like the craftsman may keep a picture of his trophy fish high on the wall of his workshop to remind him of why he is carving into balsa wood, to begin with.

Regardless of what is in your writing space, make sure it all has a purpose, this will help you reduce the clutter and the distractions that will keep you from getting in your writing flow.
Once you have your space set aside, grab your favorite drink; for the craftsman, it could be black coffee, dark as a pirate's soul. This jolt of faux adrenaline will keep him going even into the late hours.

With a workshop prepped and ready to unleash creativity, the craftsman will sit down and begin the process of making a lure. Like writing, he will divide the task into three portions, pre-production, production and post-production. Each one of these steps will build on top of the other, and at the end, the result will look much different than the raw material that he started with.

Pre-Production
Pre-production entails asking questions about the subject that a writer wishes to explore and drafting out main ideas. Much like a craftsman does not blindly begin to carve without a goal. So must a writer set before him a dew expectations. First, he must understand the target fish that he wishes to catch with the lure he is creating. A writer must ask, who is this content for? What is its purpose? Is the tone being used attractive to the type of reader being targeted? These are all questions that must be asked less you create a lure for barracuda that you wish to use in a pond. A writer must also know his subject as well as he knows his target audience. Much in the way the craftsman not only knows the fish he wishes to hook but also the wood that he is working with.

A very productive way to break down complex subjects, and get to know the type of wood you are working with, is to do an exercise known as "cubing" in this practice you look at a subject as if it was a physical object in your hands. By pretending to hold your subject you can begging look at it in your mind's eye and ask questions, what is it made off? How old is it? Who would want this? Whom does it affect? Am I familiar with it? This exercise can be extremely beneficial.
 Once you start to have some meaningful answers, write them down, if more questions are raised as a result of this activity, write them down too. Until you are out of questions and answers. After writing them down, do research and find the best solutions available and proceed to create an outline compiling all of your results in the order that would better form a narrative with a beginning, middle and end.

Production
Once a craftsman knows the fish he wants to target and the wood he will be working with, he begins to carve out the rough shape. For a writer, this occurs by sitting down in front of the computer and starting to type, using the outline created in pre-production as a guide. The craftsman follows the sketch he drew on the wood with the pencil, knowing that mistakes will be made; this is ok, you will sand them down as your work progresses. In the same manner, this stage of writing is meant to be fast and furious, it is called drafting for a reason. Don't worry about it being perfect, you have tools to smooth all of it out later. Make sure to only write in thirty-minute increments, unless you are quite inspired and developing a thought. The last thing you want to do is interrupt your flow just because a timer went off. If you are not in a moment of inspiration, you should respect the thirty-minute rule and get up and away from your desk for five-minute maximum then return to writing. Repeat this pattern until the content is completed, all of your outline points have been reached, and your work is beginning to look like something your target can get hooked on.

Post-Production
Post-production is where revising, editing and publishing take place. It is where the craftsman will begin to smooth things over and remove any pieces of wood that are out of place in the lure. Read over your content and correct any identifiable spelling or grammatical errors, read it over and sand over any messy pieces. Once you read it over, ask a friend to take a look at it, and then read it yourself again. In this second read look for content that is out of place. Ask the question does this make sense and does the previous point builds up the next?
The details of your work must connect to one another, a perfectly carved lured with the wrong colors painted on will not attract any fish. Read over your work one more time and make sure you do not have any contradictory themes or tones.

Once a lure has been carved, the details have been refined, and the matching colors have been placed, it is time to cast it into the water and see if fish will bite. This is the publishing stage, in it, each writer has different size waters that they can cast in to. For most, it is small backyard ponds composed of friends and family that will enjoy reading your content, for others, the ones that are willing to take a more significant risk, they might venture out to a lake and self-publish online via a blog or forum. This comes at a higher risk of ridicule, but also with a higher chance of hooking a big audience. Then there is the few that get to go on chartered fishing trips due to their hard work and dedication to the craft, these are the ones that publishing companies expose to oceans full of hungry fish to bite.

Whatever size waters you are casting out too. It is immensely satisfying to go through the writing process from beginning to end. The awareness that your thoughts earlier on that day are now influencing the minds and lives of others is what will keep you returning to this craft.
Writing is an illusion. Hopefully, with a strong writing process and a willingness to develop and advance our craft, we will finally make that illusion a reality, and find ourselves hooking the minds of people long after we are gone.