One Piece of Advice That Changed My Entire Perspective | Chaos Theory | Author Journal
To start this week…a quote that I’ll be doing an expanded post on soon (it involves Chaos Theory…and math). And then some writing advice that I’ve found very helpful! And if you’re not a writer or aspiring writer…this advice is useful for any project you’re striving for in life.
“Chaos has a deep philosophical significance. If determinism implied perfect predictability there would be no room for free will. We would be just small cogs in a large machine over which we have no control. It's easy to feel insignificant in a vast and complicated universe dominated by forces too powerful to resist.
Chaos theory illustrates that determinism does not imply predictability…recall the hypothetical butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil which sets off tornados in Texas. If the world is really governed by deterministic chaos we are drastically changing the future with everything we do.
We need never feel unimportant or insignificant. Who would have thought that a concept from mathematics could give meaning and purpose to our lives?” — Julien C Sprott
This One Piece of Writing Advice Changed My Entire Perspective
I had found myself in a rut. I’m a writer. I make most of my living from writing.
And so, finding yourself in a rut, as a writer in today’s content is king environment — this becomes a problem. I need to write in order to keep food on the table and my lights on.
I was searching for motivation to write.
I have been reading. I have been listening to writers talk about writing. But I haven’t been writing.
Plus, I’m trying to make a move into a new genre by writing my first novel! A dark fantasy novel. I’ve been endlessly doing research and taking notes (yes, that’s writing I know).
However, I haven’t been sitting down and creating structured essays. I haven’t been writing drafts of chapters. I’ve only been preparing for the act of an organized session of writing.
I was looking for the writing advice that would get me over the hump.
And I think I found it. It came from the best-selling epic fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson.
He was talking about the idea of switching your mindset from “becoming a bestselling writer” to “get better with every book.” Brilliant. So simple, yet so crucial of a mindset switch for me.
You need to write in order to improve.
Even if you’re not writing a novel! As I’m applying this advice to my other forms of writing, such as essays and dream analysis.
Stop trying to hit the home run! Stop endlessly preparing! And write.
So, this is my proclamation: I’m going to be a writer, so I’m going to write.
Stay tuned.
“And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.” — Brandon Sanderson
Chaos Theory, Four-Dimensional? and Circumstances | Author Journal Entry #1
Okay… a major point of the book is getting some ideas and thoughts across from the perspective of a story. Thus, I want to have some philosophical ideas expressed in order to do this job, you know…well. This is also why I'm creating this "Author Journal" to log my process of creating this novel! I hope you find it useful!
A main idea, or foundational philosophy of the world, is that everything is connected. And not necessarily in some New Age Spiritual sense of the matter, but mathematically and scientifically speaking!
Obviously, I'm going to extrapolate this idea into a more dark/high fantasy approach...by adding in some fantastical elements. But a potential logical understanding is we can see that the dream realm (using chaos theory and 4th dimension ideas) and reality blend together at times. I want to explore how these spiritual and more material spaces can interact and connect, as in what makes the realm of dreams come into our every day, three-dimensional reality?
I think mixing some mystical perspectives on dreams with our current understanding of four-dimensional reality could create some interesting metaphors. Why? Because we often understand the fourth dimension as the dimension of time and one that includes strange attractors, which means it's the dimension of determined chaos.