Wow, this is working faster than I expected!

I am very excited about this writing endeavor. There are people all over the world who are looking to improve their writing and I am confident this exercise will prove helpful to them. Before I go on to writing about what I have learned so far I will highlight a few comments I received and provide a resposne:

From: Lori
Well, you didn’t tag me (and I think that’s a good thing), but I want to respond anyway. I can teach you to write. My fee is $125/hr.

While your post is somewhat cute, it’s just another ploy for freebies from working writers. Your career will only be as successful as the time you put into it; you won’t gain a thing by expecting others to do the growing for you.

Don’t worry; this is not a sinister, narcissistic ploy for freebies from working writers. I see blogs as a provider of two important functions. First, they are a fantastic mechanism to help individuals build relationships; community is a fundamental theme in the blogging world. Second, blogging is a fantastic medium with which to engage people. From unfiltered and raw dialogue to a refined educational tool, blogs can be anything. Some blogs have the sole purpose of helping people grow.

Steve Pavilna has as fantastic personal development blog. He doesn’t charge people $125 per hour for his services. He enables people all over the world to grow for free. Obviously not everyone in the world can make a living from this model, but I think it is an important one to follow. I would never expect anyone to volunteer their services for free. But when someone is willing to help out, I welcome their participation with open arms.

The purpose of this blog expands beyond me as an individual person. If I was soliciting requests for one person to educate me, I would not have selected a public medium to do so. The purpose of this blog is to help people all over the world become better writers. The lessons I learn through this project will be immortalized on the Internet, and I sincerely hope hundreds – if not thousands – are able to benefit from this experience.

Nathania, you are absolutely correct. Thank you so much for providing links to those screenplay writers. I am certainly going to thoroughly explore them. Every single medium of communication is different, and screenplays just happen to be my favorite. I think I will start this project by exploring fundamental and core elements of all writing, dabble in a few mediums, and then pick the one I love most.

Carson, your post is brilliant. Thank you so much for writing it.

Everyone else, I’m going to write about my learnings so far in “Lesson 1”.

Cheers,
Jeremy David

UPDATE!!!

I was wondering where that comment came from. I found the source. Here’s my response:

Ahh, a challenge of my own. I was wondering who inspired that snarky (and valid) little comment on my website. I honestly appreciate your… wanting clarification… before you continue.

1. Who the heck am I, and why should you spend your time helping me?

My name is Jeremy David Peters. I’m a student slash politician at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia. It’s funny that the first characteristic I thought of was that I am involved in student politics. It’s a vicious and thankless realm of impossibility. But alas, I am entrenched in that world and eagerly anticipate April 30th when my term is complete. In terms of school, I’m technically a business student – but I’m not one of the cliché suit toting cliquey commerce students that typically come to mind when the word it uttered. Or thought. I am passionate about the environment. I have a bad feeling about where the world is going and I fear it is too late. Zombies. It’s going to happen. Trust me.

I doubt that I am the only person in the world who wants to be able to write eloquent and compelling literature. Heck, that’s why they offer English courses, right? Unfortunately, my formal education didn’t revolve around those classes. I was too busy doing my silly commerce stuff. So now I am here, close to graduation, regretting my inability to write.

I love blogging, I think it is a powerful medium of communication. I frequently change what I blog about, and now my targets are focused on helping people write better. Believe me or not, I sincerely want to help people who are in my position learn to write better. Yes, there are probably many resources – you highlighted some of them yourself – that can teach someone to write. But they are not cut and dry. There is no definitive step by step guide that teaches someone to write better. That’s what I want to do, and help people succeed.

Why not do my own work? Why do people write research papers? Why have books? Why record anything for that matter. If everyone had to start from scratch anytime they did anything, what would be the point of doing it first. That didn’t really make any sense, but I’m trying to say that I was hoping to start my writing quest by learning from what accomplished people, like yourself, have done before. Then, when all is done, I would refine everything into a simple and effective resource to help people in my position.

What will you get out of this? Credit for being a participant, and the satisfaction of helping people write better. I agree, my little challenge thing was a bit sassy and INFOMERCIALesque. But it worked. Here we are, talking about writing. Would you have responded if I sent you a little email asking for help? I’m not sure. I’ve already learned one thing I didn’t know before: writing forums are a great way to learn to write better. Tip number one assimilated. Celebration.
Before I continue, I’m going to look at your analysis of the great writing challenge:

Step 1: Pick 10 or so people who know what they’re doing

Check.

Step 2: Issue a double-dog dare aimed at making them climb all over each other to help you be a better writer for no compensation other than “bragging rights — if you win.”

X. There are more benefits than bragging rights. I didn’t want to dangle the glowing carrot of altruism in front of your face, but it’s there. Trust me.

Step 3: Sit back and watch your blog traffic skyrocket as people talk about your guts/brilliance/foolishness.

I think I’ve had 30 new visitors today? Ha ha, maybe the ball just has to start rolling. And if it does, well, that would be awesome. All those Google ads I have on my page might earn… Oh wait a second. I don’t have Google ads on my website anymore. But it would be really cool if I did, and I managed to make like $4.

2. What’s in it for you?

That’s a really good question. First of all, you got to write a really sarcastic post about some random kid (am I still a kid? Whatever). Don’t worry though. I love it. I can handle it. I’m involved in Student Politics remember. I thrive on this kind of stuff. Seriously though. You have valid questions and I am having fun answering them.

When I was saying bragging rights I was jokingly implying that when I win an academy award I’ll go on stage and thank you personally for making me the writer I am today. All your friends, while you’re sitting around the television in your fancy dresses, would be so jealous. I wish I could italicize that so. That would be so cool.

Let’s briefly talk about opportunity costs. Obviously if you had a paying client calling you asking why their copy isn’t done, you wouldn’t say “Sorry, bud, I’m helping this random person for free. Wait in line”. But if it’s raining, and the power’s out. And it’s cold, and your cell phone isn’t working. And it’s dark. And you’re really bored, and you have nothing to do. Not even board games or DVDs. Just nothing. That would be a good time. “If I give my services away for free people will not pay for them!” No. I do not have any money.

What would you actually get out of this? Recognition for your work. When people check out the blog they’ll see all of your contributions and think “Wow! This person is really smart. Maybe I’ll pay for some consulting!” No, I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about you. Also the readers of your blog would get the benefit of anything you provide because I’d hope you would provide the information to them too. Basically, the reward is helping many people learn to write, and getting some free advertising along the way.

3. And what’s this “if you win” crap?

I’m the only winner? Nope. Everyone’s a winner. You, me, and the people who participate. Even the people in four years who stumble upon these posts. I believe in free information. I’m not about to close up shop and start charging people for what you teach me. No one would listen to me. Why would they hire me when they can hire you? This is about helping everyone. The process I go through to learn how to write will be available for everyone. I’m just the example. A tangible experience people can follow. I could figure it out myself. I’m sure that’s what you did, and thousands of people all over the world. But times are changing. Information is fast and accessible. Communication is easy.

I agree with you 100%. There is no easy way to improve. If there was everyone and their chimpanzee would be a writer. A good writer too. Then, actually, it would be the bad writers that are famous… because everyone else is good. But that’s a philosophical debate I wouldn’t be able to eloquently defend. So I shant. I love that word. Even though it’s not real. Wait, aren’t “shants” short pants? I think they are. So I shall not.

Becoming a better writer is going to take years. It’s going to involve reading many books. It’s going to involve writing a lot. And I think that’s cool. I do not have hundreds and hundreds of dollars to pay people to teach me to write, so I came up with an idea: a blog that is going to help many people learn to write, and diffuses the task of teaching across many different people.

So there we go. Hugs and ponies. I heart you. I shall begin the archive retrieval process immediately. Or tonight. Certainly before the bell tolls one.