By Steve Bradshaw
Writers are born—at all ages. We
come from every part of the planet with our unique knowledge base, skillsets
and perceptions that forever influence our view of all the universe has to
offer. Although we are different in many ways, we are connected by the
insatiable desire to tell a meaningful and worthwhile story—sooner or later. Although
there are numerous factors that come into play, I believe a big part of our writing
success is determined by how we leverage our unique assets.
Each day I pound my keyboard
alone with my thoughts and dreams and objectives. I make huge withdrawals from
my private-world depository and
attempt to find the perfect words to create the perfect sentence to build the
perfect paragraph that grows into the perfect chapter. I strive to erect the
perfect plot, produce the perfect characters, forge the perfect conflicts,
hatch the perfect cliffhangers, and bring into existence the perfect resolutions
to give rise to the perfect novel. I gather my ideas like a man chasing a thousand
butterflies with a tiny net. Most are never caught. Some flutter away for
another day. Many die in my net or are horribly damaged in the process. But
when I’m lucky, I find the perfect specimens that become the miracles from
which my stories are born.
Leveraging one’s assets is like
catching perfect butterflies. We all have them, but before we can leverage them
we must know those relevant to our writing career. For example, my road to
writing traversed fascinating worlds I now draw upon. I was the youngest forensic
field agent in Texas history to investigate over three-thousand unexplained
deaths. I also developed new medical technology with FORTUNE 500 companies advancing
healthcare around the world. And I was a founder-president/CEO of a game-changing
biotech company. I raised millions of dollars and developed new age medical
devices. Just these life experiences alone provide an unlimited supply of butterflies relevant to my
mystery/thriller writing career.
When I leverage my assets
correctly, I write stories that draw upon my life experiences that will take my
audience to places where I am the profound expert. With me they have a unique
opportunity to go where they’ve never been, to see and feel what they would
never experience. Because I personally controlled horrific death scenes and was
on teams hunting real monsters, I have mountains of information to weave into the
stories I create.
Because I controlled powerful boardrooms
shaping business plans and futures in our modern world, I have intimate knowledge
of people, technology, and business dynamics. I leverage these knowledge-assets
when I create fascinating characters and define ground breaking science, and
when I shine light on world changing concepts moving from theory to practice at
great risk, and when opportunity for enormous success turns into a horrible catastrophe.
Knowing our assets and using them
effectively in our writing can increase the value of our stories because people
listen to experts. They lose interest when we don’t know what we are talking
about. We must know our fields of expertise. We must leverage the abounding assets
that create unique experiences within our stories. If we do it well, we attract
and build audience.
________________________________________________________________
Steve
Bradshaw—Forensic Investigator, Biotechnology
Entrepreneur, Author—received his BA at the University of Texas, trained at
the Institute of Forensic Sciences, and investigated 3,000 unexplained deaths.
His career with FORTUNE 500s, and as founder-president/CEO of an innovative
biomedical company, introduced advanced medical technology improving healthcare
around the world. Now, Steve draws upon his experiences in fascinating worlds
of biotechnology breakthroughs and the forensic pursuit of real monsters.
Steve’s debut novel BLUFF CITY BUTCHER is
a 2013 Darrell Award finalist—best science fiction, mystery/thriller in
MidSouth. The second book of the Bell Trilogy, THE SKIES ROARED,
releases July 2013 is a Darrell Award finalist for 2014. WEBSITES & BLOG www.stevebradshawauthor.com http://blog.stevebradshawauthor.com www.stevebradshawshow.com SOCIAL
NETWORK LINKS https://www.facebook.com/steve.bradshaw.9400 https://twitter.com/sbauthor
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