To Write Well

In the book, Hideaway, Dean R. Koontz (via the phlegmatic author, S. Steven Honell), says that, "To write well, one ought to possess a monk's preference for solitude.  In isolation, one was forced to confront oneself more directly and honestly than possible in the hustle-bustle of the people world, and through oneself also confront the nature of every human heart."

I half-heartedly agree with that.  Sure, writing takes up a lot of time.  A lot.  And the old axiom holds true:  Those who write about life, have no time to live it.  And those living it, are too busy to write about it.  In addition, I often enjoy spending the final hour of every night just sitting in silence; contemplating.  But if I didn't wrench myself away from the keyboard (or sometimes the ol' fashioned pen and notebook), I'd never have anything to write about.  I'd have no characters to write because so much of what I write is influenced and inspired by other people and my experiences with them.  "They" say to write about what you know.  Well, if you don't live your life once in a while, then, you won't really know anything.  Will you?  Except, you won't even know that you don't know anything.  And that's a sad-sad state of affairs.

If writers want to delve into the depths of the human condition, perhaps they should repatriate from their monk-like mews to the land of the living.

Post script.  Why the hell did they change, Hideaway, so much when they made it into a movie?  Hollywood (I'm sorry, but if you want me to refer to you as L.A., you better take down the Hollywood sign and replace it with one that reads either:  LOS ANGELES or L A), completely butchered a unique piece of masterfully-crafted fiction.

My only critique of the book is at the beginning, when the car is sinking to the bottom of the river and Lindsey is thinking about the past five years of her life.  I've been in car accidents, and I've nearly drowned a handful of times.  In that penultimate (which is a word I learned from Mr. Koontz), moment, you're not thinking about your life.  Your thinking about ESCAPE.  Or, you're summoning your last bit of strength for one final furious burst of hope to break the surface of rushing waters before your lungs explode in your chest.  It can be difficult to get your bearings under rapidly churning water.  Sometimes you don't even know you're up-side down until some Good Samaritan strolls along and  pulls you out by your feet.