5 Things You Should Know About Writing

by Soren Paul Petrek

1.  If you’re a writer you love what you do. Your characters become as personal and real as people you meet in every day life.  You think about your characters and how they’d react to given circumstances and challenges.  I feel that’s when your characters really begin to develop as your imagination broadens who they are, how they feel, their strengths and weaknesses.

2.  It’s a great deal of work. The fun part is the fast part, writing the story.  Editing, rewrites, trying to find representation and the reality of rejection are all daunting.  Your response is simple, if you believe in your work, keep moving forward.

3.  Everyone thinks they’re a writer, and that it must not be that difficult. Anyone can learn the mechanics of writing, but without imagination and giving life to varied, eclectic characters all you have at the end is a well formed disconnected series of words.

4.   Not everyone is a reader. I have had more than one friend simply unable to bring themselves to read my book or any other.  I never realized the resistance some people have to reading.  I can only assume that reading wasn’t  a fixture in the home they grew up in.  I grew up around books as have my sons.  They both read and were encourage to from the time they could hold up their heads.

5.   Writing is emotional for the writer. The emotions the characters experience as shared by the writer.  I have laughed and cried many times as the words come out.  I’ve been angry, sad, frightened and hopeless.  Emotions are real and have to be felt to be communicated successfully.  I try to do so in my writing.

Soren Petrek is a practicing trial attorney with a passion for studying World War Two.  He lived in England and France listening to people’s stories of struggle and sacrifice during the darkest periods of the war.  Soren’s debut novel, Cold Lonely Courage was inspired by the true story of a young Belgian woman who helped countless Jewish children escape from the terrors of the Nazi regime.  Soren lives with his wife, Renee and sons, Max and Riley, in central Minnesota.

You can visit Soren’s blog at http://coldlonelycourage.blogspot.com.

Cold Lonely Courage is Soren’s debut novel.