The inspiration behind this post comes from two very insightful men.  Odds are, you haven’t heard of either one.  However, they both have some pretty earth shaking stuff to tell writers.

Do Epic Shit

Brian Oberkirch gave a speech titled, “Try Making Yourself More Interesting.”  One of his main points was this: do epic shit.

Those three words should dominate a writer’s career.  Mediocrity has no place in writing.  Whether you are composing for the internet or print publications, epicness should be your only goal.

The principle sounds simple, yet very few people actually follow through.  Why?

Because the average writer doesn’t think he is powerful/special/smart enough to do epic things.  He assumes epic shit only happens to epic people.  Therefore, he continues to churn out the same old stuff that is seen in millions of other places by millions of other mediocre writers.

He thinks he should start with something small and work up to an epic status.  However, his limited mindset keeps him trapped in his meaningless role.

This is a very toxic and unproductive way to think.  We all know writers have somewhat delicate egos.  Our work is out there, open to scrutiny from everyone who sees it.  So we tend to play it safe.  We write – and live – cautiously.  But if we set our sights to a lower, more “manageable” level, we’ll never accomplish anything.

We need to do epic shit.  Get out there and live.  Grab life by the horns.  Experience things.  Do, dream, dare.

Then, take all those epic experiences and write epic shit.  Write things that are inspirational, entertaining, and useful.  Be an authority in your industry.  Blow people’s minds with your understanding and interpretation of a topic.  Change people’s lives.

Do you want an example?  Lucky for you I have one!  Let me tell you about Ramit Sethi.

Ramit came from a middle-class family.  As high school graduation loomed near, his parents informed him of two things.  First, he had to go to college – it wasn’t an option.  Second, he needed to find a way to finance his higher education on his own.

Ramit applied for more than 70 scholarships.  After receiving his first scholarship payment – a $2,000 check – Ramit immediately invested it with the hopes of turning it into even more money for school.  A few short months later, he had lost 50% of it.

At that point, he decided to learn more about money – how to invest it, how to tell the scam offers from the legitimate ones, methods for saving money, ways to budget.  He read every book and magazine he could get his hands on.  Through the entire process, he never stopped trying new things.  He was constantly on the hunt for ways to make even more cash.

Today, Ramit is the proud author of an Amazon #1 bestselling book – I Will Teach You to Be Rich.  He runs his blog, earning more than 250,000 visitors per month.  And he has shared his advice with ABC News, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, PBS, The New York Times, CNBC, Yahoo! Finance, and NPR.

That is a whole lot of epicness happening right there.

First of all, Ramit didn’t sit around, waiting for awesome things to happen to him.  He went out and made them happen.  Second, he is living proof of how epic life experiences turn into epic writing topics which turn into epic paydays.

If you want even more advice on how to make this epicness happen, read how Corbett Barr interpreted Brian’s advice.  In a post on his blog, Corbett explained why writing epic shit is so important.  Get the content right and you won’t have to worry about promoting or marketing your stuff – it will speak for itself!  Build it and they will come.

Write Drunk, Edit Sober

In 1964, author Peter De Vries published a novel called, Reuben, Reuben.  He based this fictional work on the life of Dylan Thomas, the notoriously drunk poet.  He wrote:

“Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk.  But you have to have both elements in creation – the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.”

The thought references Greek mythology.  Apollo and Dionysus were both sons of Zeus.  Apollo was known as the god of dreams and reason.  His brother was the god of intoxication and ecstasy.

Perhaps the most interesting concept is this:  the Greeks did not consider the two brothers to be opposites or rivals.  They worked together in harmony.

What an inspiring thought!  Now, we aren’t actually telling writers they need to get drunk to compose.  Rather, writers need to recognize – and embrace – both sides of the creative writing process.  Good (or day I say…epic) writing needs to have spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.

A recent study examined the relationship between cognitive impact and popularity of the written composition.

  • 16% of readers reacted favorably to writing that had an element of surprise.
  • 29% of readers preferred content that was interesting.
  • 34% of readers chose writing that had practical utility.

Now, take Mr. De Vries’s advice and apply it to this information.  If writers included both sides of the dichotomy – entertainment and usability – they could appeal to 79% of the intended audience.  That is pretty powerful writing.

I suppose you want an example of this too.  Alright.  Here you go.

When you have some (ok…a lot) of free time, check out Cracked.com.  On the surface, it might seem like a bonehead site, offering up a lot of sarcasm and crass humor.  To some extent, that is true.  And it is entirely believable that at least a few of these writers were drunk when putting pen to paper.

However, the blog owners have a pretty high standard when it comes to what they will and won’t publish.  I know for a fact.  I’ve pitched an article for their review.  Twenty-nine days after my original pitch, the article has already undergone six edits – and it is only at the outline stage!

Why do they have such ridiculously high standards?  The Cracked editors know readers come for hilarious content, but they also want substance.  Each point of every article must have a credible source as supporting evidence.

And while the articles might not seem to have much usable information, they do to those who are looking for it.  For example an entrepreneur or inventor would really learn a lot of “don’t let this happen to you” information from 6 Inventors Who Changed the World and Got Screwed in Return.  Likewise, business innovators could learn some tips about patients and perseverance from 5 Modern Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think.

Not everyone is motivated by the same things.  Sometime, you have to take a creative approach when breaking the bad news.

So, in today’s conservative, restrained world of writing, the best advice we can give you is: get drunk, write epic shit, and edit while you are sober.

Steve tries not to drink while writing and editing for freshessays.com. He is an essay writing expert and likes to cover education and college survival topics. Follow him at Google+.