Follow Your Characters

I chose fiction for my first book because I wanted to tell a certain story. To make it even easier, I wrote a story around what I know… the fire department. I didn’t want to write a story about firefighting, I just wanted to use that environment to convey the real story.

Unless you already have a clear beginning, middle, and end to your fiction, try developing your characters. Good character development is very important. This way you can let them lead you.

In my book, Look In The Mirror, Gus Bennett has certain character traits. I would create situations in the story then think to myself, what would Gus do here. I would then write it that way. I followed my own characters and that helped develop the story and move it forward.

Powerful

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE:

I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.

 

Those two powerful lines are from the poem, INVICTUS, by William Ernest Henley. You may have seen the movie. When I committed to writing my first book I knew I had to expand my knowledge of many things. I needed to understand more about human behavior, character, self-discipline, and what the early philosophers taught. I knew I wanted to write smartly. I wanted to say the sky is blue without writing, the sky was blue. I turned to poetry, and I discovered it is way more than just; Roses are red.

INVICTUS speaks to the power of courage and the human spirit. The resilience of the human spirit in the face of extreme personal torment. I also take it as a reminder that we are all in-charge of our own lives. Today’s world is constantly telling us how to act, how to look, what to say, what not to say. Don’t surrender your fate, or your soul to anyone else. Do good in the world, but don’t be one in the herd.

Write Your Book

Your life is a story. A journey of experiences, both good and bad. You gain wisdom and character from each of those experiences. Tell your story. Write your story.

Whether it is fiction, non-fiction, or whatever the genre, if you have a desire to write a book sit down and start writing. Your first draft will probably be bad, but it lays the foundation for later edits and improvements. When the inspiration is just not there to write, read. Read other books and make mental notes of that authors’ style. Do research on the genre you are writing. Think you are not a good writer? Not good at grammar, spelling? I have that problem too; however, I am working on that, and remember, there are people who are very good at editing. Write your story and let an editor check your work. Enjoy.

Stoicism and the First Responder

Have I lost you yet?

In my reading and learning about stoic philosophy, it occurred to me that people who are good first responders are stoic. They have to be - at least when they are facing a life-threatening situation.

A police officer arrives at the scene of a shooting. A firefighter arrives at three o’clock in the morning to a residential house fire, with flames blowing out of the window. The paramedic/EMT arrives to a heart attack with family members distraught and looking on.

If you have ever had the opportunity to observe these individuals at work, on the scene of what is probably the worst moment in someone’s life, what you will see is a person who is calm yet determined. You don’t want your savior to be running around emotionally out of control. They are assessing the situation - sizing it up. They are quickly deciding what additional resources they will need to mitigate the emergency. They use their voice over the radio to set the tone for others responding in. Those other responders will be able to determine if it is an urgent situation just by the calm but determined voice of the first on-scene.

A stoic is prepared to face adversities. First responders have to endure adverse conditions: think storms, wind, heat, cold, and snow. Obstacles have to be overcome. Go over it. Go around it. Go under it. There is a victim trapped on the 12th floor, aerials can’t reach. We’re going to the roof and descend by rope. First responders can’t give up, and they don’t. The stoics teach to be calm, almost without emotion. As a first responder, they are channeling those emotions into an appropriate response. That teaching, stoicism, is extremely hard to control, however, when it’s their own personal life in danger. Perfectly understandable.

To be clear, I’m not advocating that all first responders should adhere to a strict study of stoicism. As described above, I merely had thoughts on what makes a good first responder at that moment of facing a life-threatening situation.

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