Sometimes, when you don’t have anything to talk about, it’s because you don’t know where to look. The world, and yourself, are all always happening, regardless the extent of the stasis you may perceive either to be undergoing.

It’s easy to say this, but difficult to act upon or even really know how to begin to act upon it. We are all our individual, unique selves and it may be quite difficult for us to be anything else than that unique self. That’s why actors, people who are supposed to pretend that they aren’t themselves, often have to conduct research and truly understand and engulf themselves in the role or persona they’re to take on, because otherwise, they will not be able to draw inspiration and act accordingly to their responsibilities.

We can look at ourselves this way. If we wish to be better and more productive writer’s, we must act as the actors do, and conduct ourselves accordingly to our goals in order to uncover the personal motives that we can apply to our work. Actor’s do this by putting themselves in the shoes of the persona, and writer’s can do this by experiencing the world, or more specifically the aspects of the world that they wish to write about.

Effective writer’s observe and understand the world around them, and are able to translate these observations into interesting, dynamic writings which engage the reader. I’ve spoken at length about how observing and finding inspirations to motivate yourself and some ways to look into those observations and extract something worthwhile from them, and so I wish to not repeat myself anymore than I already have.

However, I truly believe that the only thing stopping a lot of people from becoming great writer’s, is how they observe and interact with the world, and understanding the significance and weight of each intention and/or action. And no, I don’t believe everyone is equally capable, but I know that each person has a unique world that they live in with unique people, dynamics and interactions. Being able to capture these unique situations and perspectives can be done at varying degrees, but I believe that everyone, as long as they train and hone themselves to understanding the world around them, can become great writer’s in their own way.

Books are normally reasonable substitutes for real-world experiences to a degree, especially when compared to other media outlets. You can certainly derive a lot from video games, movies, tv and so on, but there are a few reasons why they aren’t as productive, in general.

One reason, is that when you’re reading, you’re just taking in the words and projecting them into the blank canvas in your mind, with all the pictures, shapes and smells that you produce, based off the suggestions and guidance of the symbols on page. With other forms, you’re experiencing someone else’s detailed and completed vision. There isn’t as much room for self-expressions or imagination, which would allow you to more deeply engage with the material. Another reason, is that when you’re reading, presumably, all you’re doing is reading and getting into the mindset of the symbols you’re interpreting. You might have music or other ambiance, but they aren’t the focus point. With other media, there is a lot more going on and you’d have to spread your focus thin, and you might not be as able to extract what’s crucial, since there is so much more space being taken up by everything that’s going on.

Not to say that books are the only good media, not at all. There’s a lot of greatness that comes from intaking other forms of media, but as writer’s, nothing really beats getting lost in and experiencing a great book, both in terms of enjoyment and inspiration.