Multiple Waypoints

Index

So you have a story you want to tell, whether verbally or in written form. Likely there will be several points of interest you want to highlight. Organizationally, multiple waypoints may take on the form of multiple chapters. Psychologically, the characters and events in your story may also be various waypoints. For example, say you are writing an autobiography. Every person that stepped in and out of your life can be a waypoint to visit in that story. Likewise, every memorable event, big and small, can be waypoints you want to recount. But merely saying, “I did this, and then I did that, and then…” would bore your audience to sleep. The human experience includes emotions, colors, surroundings, lessons learned and so much more.

Once you identify your waypoints, I recommend using sticky notes and a large, wall that will allow you to examine not only the waypoints, but everything related to it--how you felt about it, what you experienced, who you experienced it with, what you gained or lost in the experience.

What if you are tasked to create some term paper? (Yes, I know, boooooring! But it doesn't have to be that way.) Here is where mind maps may be useful (and make the journey invigorating and rewarding). In the center will be the assigned topic. Nearest the center, surrounding the assignment, will be all the main supporting points (major attractions and/or waypoints) you want to develop. If the instructor provided his own set of sub-points he wanted included, fine. Put those as closest around the main and then build your presentation off of those. Using this method will keep the development of your paper concise, focused, and centered. If you have a smartphone (or even a digital camera), take intermittent snapshots of your wall and put them as files on your computer. When you finally get to the point of writing your paper, you’ll have the mind map as ready-reference. (Especially if you are in a dorm environment, you’ll want to do this before stepping out. You know how guys will mess with your head and your sticky notes!)

As previously mentioned, the waypoints will become your beacons, keeping your development on course. They are not necessarily “endings” (as I originally indicated in my Smart Writers article), rather they are major points of interest to be elaborated.

(Contextually, I flop back and forth using the terms major attractions and waypoints. Sometimes I intend them to mean the same thing, sometimes I intend waypoints to refer to minor stops along the journey of what you are writing--things you want & need to include, but not necessarily your main points of interest.)

Index

This article is part of a series. Please scroll through the Index to "Inspiration For Writers."

Adventurous--No Particular Destination

Index

This happened to me when I was a newly licensed teen driver. I just got on the freeway and took off in a direction I’d never been before. Two hours later, it was around 11pm, I had no idea where I was, and my car was running on fumes. This was decades before cell phones were common. Somehow, I found a police station in some small, heaven-only-knows town and called my dad. I was completely off any map that he had available (and he had several Thomas Brothers map books). The police were kind enough to tell me the general direction but offered no help in getting gas. I was very anxious, but finally made it home around 1am.

Just as some adventurous person might decide to just jump in the car and start driving, At times writers may work on various parts of their written pieces that way. “Inspiration” strikes them and they just start writing. Some have even described it as the piece taking on a “life of its own,” where the writer feels as if they are merely along for the ride, an observer. I understand how this happens, I too have started writing short stories this way. The problem is that many of those stories ended in up in the trash because I soon faltered when I worked myself into a corner, felt the creative juices try up, or just lost interest and didn't know how to proceed.

Then again those that are actually writing "stories" may have no idea where they actually want to end it. Saying “My story will end when I kill of the bad guy,” may be the initial goal. But as you continue writing you realize there is so much more of this story to tell. Maybe you want to do a flashback, examining why the bad guy was the way he was--but first you want to kill him off. I've seen some TV shows that use this method to captivate their audience--First they relate an event, then they backtrack and explain how everything built up to that event. I've modeled speeches after this method and the audience afterwards expressed great appreciation for it.

I've also seen inexperienced high school and college students become so overwhelmed with the data they've collected, that instead of trying to organize it first, they make a blind stab at shoving it all into a "package" and call it "done."

But I would never suggest that a writer disregard his/her creative juices. Go ahead and write to your heart’s content. If, as I previously mentioned, everything just flows out of your brain, through your pen and onto your paper (or from brain to computer keyboard) and you actually finish the whole trip that way--bravo! My hat is off to you. You are a rare breed and an accomplished traveler that knows how to get around on the landscape of your story. On the other hand, IF you do get lost for what should follow, try the methods recommended in this series--for example, the Hiker's Compass.

Index

This article is part of a series. Please scroll through the Index to "Inspiration For Writers."

Different Strokes For Different Folks

Index

Let's start off by pointing out an obvious hole in the Smart Writers article: It was a generalization, an over simplification that “starting your project by first knowing your ending point and using that as a beacon to navigate to,” would be the panacea for all writer’s block and aid the writer in succinctly conveying their message. The fact is, if we truly wanted to draw on a journey as our metaphor, we need to more closely examine that metaphor. Let's do that.

On a long journey (which speeches and written pieces can feel like to the author), having multiple waypoints is very normal. A driver needs to refuel, both himself & his vehicle. A driver may need to rest, whether it be at a roadside rest stop for a brief refresh, or a motel for the evening. Vacationers may also want to include various sight seeing locations and may indeed have multiple vacation spots in mind. In all these cases it is not merely driving to a single destination. Each of these stops would also be something that would be planned in advance.

Another very real scenario is the person who just jumps in his car having no particular destination in mind--they are just going to drive wherever their heart takes them. This can be exciting, refreshing, liberating, and mentally/visually stimulating. It can also be dangerous, especially for the inexperienced. They may end up "in the middle of nowhere," having no indication of where they are or how to get back to civilization. (I’ve “been there, done that.”)

This happens to writers when they find they've worked themselves into a corner and are unsure how to get out. In this scenario perhaps a hiker is a better metaphor. The reason is what an experienced hiker carries--this is our clue how to get out of our dilemma. They carry a compass. So where roads and other markers fail a hiker, the compass provides some guidance. Say for example the hiker is in the woods near the western shore. Obviously they must be east of the ocean because if they were west, they would be standing on the ocean. So the hiker would set his general course westward until he reached the ocean. From there, the coastal roads can be followed. (I am in California where highway 1 pretty much runs the length of the state.) The subsequent installments to this series will explain how literal journeys mentioned above can be applied to writing.

Index

This article is part of a series. Please scroll through the Index to "Inspiration For Writers."

Basis For Further Reflection

Index

In concluding my original Smart Writers article, I mentioned that it itself was only an overview, an introduction to something that needed to be expanded. I said that a closer examination of developing the conclusion, then the body, and finally the introduction would be something I would work on later. However, after reflecting on it for the past several months, I decided to take a different avenue before looking at those pieces. At the end of that article, I linked to another blog article I wrote that examines storyboarding. There is yet another discipline that can be a tool in quickly fleshing out a subject, whether it be a speech or a report or a novel--mind mapping. Mind mapping is to a bullet-point list what a plotted course on a map is to written directions. The advantage in both cases is that the former provides instant visualization of the relationships to the main subject.

Recently, Google Docs (“Drive”) added a new plug-in feature that allows its users to expand the functionality of docs. The plug-in that immediately caught my eye was MindMeister--an app that turns a bulleted list into a mind map. (To get the free add-on, open a word document in Google Docs; click on “Add-ons” from the menu bar; then choose “Get add-ons….” Type “mind” in the search box and hit Enter, then select and proceed with the install.)

But I have already gotten way ahead of myself. First, I need to state that my Smart Writers article needs some refining. I knew that when I posted it but I also knew it was still a good article. This was confirmed when I received a note from a graduate student expressing appreciation & stating he wished he had read the article before he found himself struggling through all the papers he had to write. There have also been a couple other appreciative expressions from business people.

To keep this expanded discussion in mentally-digestible, bite-sized pieces, I decided to make this article into a series. In that way you, the reader, can have a sense of accomplishment & closure in completing each segment & have an instant mental bookmark as to where to pick up next.

Index

This article is part of a series. Please scroll through the Index to "Inspiration For Writers."

How Is Satan God of This World?

Index of Blog Articles

Both Jesus and Paul (an educated man and author of several letters to early Christians) spoke of someone other than our Creator, our Father--Jehovah, as being “the ruler of the world” and the “god of this system of things.” In speaking to disbelieving leaders of his nation, Jesus identified this one as being the Devil.

For some, this is a very hard concept to wrap their minds around. Did God (Jehovah) give up on mankind? Did he give up his authority, rulership or interest over the earth and mankind? The answer is no. God still very much considers the earth as his creation, his possession, and his dominion. How then, can anyone but Jehovah be “the ruler of the world”? The answer lies in understanding that the aforementioned scriptures define “world” and “system of things” as referring to the masses alienated from God because of their own choice to reject not only his rulership, but his direction and guidance regarding what is proper both in our relationship with him and with others.

Jesus identified Satan the Devil as being a father to anyone who is disobedient in a manner like Satan. Although in context Jesus was talking to religious leaders who were blatant liars and having a murderous heart, he made a very sobering claim that affects all people--He said that if we are not actively supporting his interests, he considers it the same as working against his interests. Satan is god to all such ones because, like himself, they follow a course of choosing an independent course in life--in complete disregard of the fact that they owe their very lives to their creator. How can we individually ensure we are not among those type of people? That is beyond the scope of this article. In the meantime, here is more information explaining how Jehovah has not given up his authority over the earth and mankind.

Index of Blog Articles

Mosaic Law-Why?

Index of Blog Articles

Why did Jehovah institute a formal worship (the Mosaic Law) of himself after Israel exited Egypt? When God put Adam on earth, obedience was all that was asked. Although the details of the conversations in the Garden are not recounted, they seem to be more of a father/son relationship. Then, when Jesus came to earth, he boiled down the formalistic worship into a mere two concise details recorded at Matthew 22:36-40. So why the formal, ritual-filled worship?

One possible explanation may be that the post-exilic Israelites had been deeply influenced by religious practices that existed in Egypt. Animal and sex worship had become common practice. To remove that mindset and merely have a simple father-son relationship with the creator would have left a void that many would have been inclined to fill with pagan worship rituals. So Jehovah gave them a precisely defined practice that would not only answer the question of what God considered acceptable but also provide insight into the prophecies leading to the greater fulfillment (Christ's sacrificial death and the restoration of earth into God's son-ship). Also not to be forgotten is that Jehovah wanted to make sure the Israelites never forgot how he saved them from the clutches of Egypt. (Exodus 13:14-16; 31:13)

But if God never really wanted ritual, why are there passages indicating that even the angels engage in a sort of ritual worship? Although the angels are pictured in some scriptures as "worshipping" and calling out ‘holy is Jehovah,’ those visions were given to mankind to help us appreciate the total devotion and uncompromising loyalty those angels have toward God. Taking the scriptures as a whole, the overwhelming evidence is that God would much prefer to have a close, endearing relationship with us as his children rather than a distant and cold, authoritarian relationship. God is not so self-centered in that he enjoys having his creation call out random praises to him just because he is God.

So rather than the angels mindlessly engaging in formalistic rituals, what is closer to reality is what some accounts help us appreciate about the natural expressions we humans have made and can make. For example the spontaneous expression of praise to God after the Egyptian pursuers were destroyed in the Red Sea while all Israel stood delivered and unharmed in the far shoreline. (Exodus 15:1-21) Or the prophetic account in Revelation 7:9,10 where those delivered through Armageddon are praising God. Likewise, even the angels are awestruck with Jehovah's creative abilities as shown at Job 38:7 (and surrounding verses). Yes, our amazement over Jehovah's power, coupled with his qualities of love (as from a father), wisdom, and uncompromisingly fair justice, are rightly to be acknowledged just as an artist's work is appreciated by others. (Psalms 8:3,4)

So the Mosiac Law helped to organize and standardize a form of worship that would demonstrate what spiritual purity entailed as well as act as a tutor leading to the Christ. However, once it accomplished its purpose, and after it was fulfilled by Christ’s better covenant, we are helped to appreciate the beautiful way God cleverly, gently, and gradually educated mankind to the point of maturity. Someday, we will finally arrive back at the point that Adam started with.

Index of Blog Articles

What Is Entailed in "Believing On (or In) The Lord Jesus"?

Index of Blog Articles

Are you one that holds to the conclusion that merely believing in Jesus is enough? If so, how do understand the following words found in the Bible: “You believe that there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder.” (James 2:19) Yes, more than mere mental acknowledgement of the Father's (and, in this case, Jesus') existence is needed. Still, you may want to cling to the one verse that says “believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31). Or perhaps you remember the famous one at John 3:16 which states: “everyone who believes in him will ... have eternal life.”

Although God is very merciful, he is also very astute (having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people). He knows the difference between those who have made a real effort to know and obey him and his son as opposed to “foxhole converts” and others that think merely “believing” is some sort of lucky charm or amulet that will protect them from any adverse judgment.

Why then do scriptures such as John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 merely indicate that believing is the summation of our responsibility? That is where research comes in. If you read the original Greek words that were used, you soon come to realize that there is so much deeper meaning in that word than our English language can render in a single word. (So why not use more than one word? The reason has to do with a long-held belief by translators that using more than “exact” wording would mean they were “adding to” the meaning. In actuality, they were withholding from the meaning and thus misleading readers into over-simplistic and wrong conclusions.)

More often now, translators are beginning to realize the importance of conveying the correct meaning by including the intent of the words used. Although there are still issues due to preconceived ideas, the efforts are helping people to finally understand the scriptures in their common, modern language.

Bottom line for this discussion, as noted by the quote from James, much more is needed than mere acknowledgment of God’s existence or even just going to a church once a week. We each are responsible for our own relationship with God. We cannot delegate it to a preacher, minister or priest. 

More information here.

Index of Blog Articles