To me, golf writers have a great job. However, as an author, I use my favourite sport to develop characters, plots, and settings in my novels. Here’s how.
In this Golf Writers blog article, you will find advice in these areas:
- How I use my hobby to explore myself as a writer, and you can do the same,
- How to overcome issues with character plot and setting through ‘thinking time’ as you enjoy your hobby,
- Getting to know characters on a deeper level by talking to them as you enjoy your beloved hobby,
- Growing the world inside your writing by developing real places, which helps create an enthralling setting for the reader,
- Developing a plot by taking a methodical approach to writing as you do in your technique during your hobby.
Read the rest of the Golf Writers blog article to learn how you as an author can benefit from the Creative Cloud.
I love reading articles from golf writers and, to me, they have a great job. They get to write about, report on, and interview personalities from within a sport that I am incredibly passionate about.
Coming from a country like Ireland, it is great to have so many top-class players for young people to look up to. Players like, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, and Graham McDowell have helped put Ireland on the map in recent years and ensure the Emerald Isle continues to punch above its weight on the PGA and European Tours.
As someone who came to the sport relatively late on, I have grown to love it. Yes, it’s stressful at times, and it can put me in a bad mood, but it is honestly the most addictive sport I have ever played. Between playing competitions and devoting hours of practice you soon want to perfect as much of the game as your talent allows. Then, during winter months, I spend quite a bit of time in the gym to keep myself from getting overly fat with too much Christmas turkey and chocolate!
When it came to developing my creative writing ideas for my published novels of Inside Iris and Anna’s Awakening, I turn my 18-hole walk (and sometimes swearing session) into time to think about ideas. This is not a golf blog, but I feel I can grow the creative ideas I have by considering:
- The characters within my stories,
- The settings that envelop the characters I create, and,
- The plot and character arcs that I want to craft over one or more books.
As a golfer and a writer, I see the benefit of how three hours of gentle exercise can allow fresh novel ideas to flower. Here is how I have turned the game I love into an opportunity to get to know my stories deeper and explore my thoughts as an author.
Getting To Know Me
When composing a story, we all know there are three vital essential components required for a story, whether you are a beginner or a best-selling author. We all know they are:
- Character,
- Plot, and,
- Setting.
There are endless articles online about how to develop these three aspects of story craft, so I won’t delve into them here. Instead, I will share how I use my time out on the golf course to get to know my characters better and deepen my understanding of their backstories.
As many of you are reading this blog may not play golf, you may not be able to totally relate to the golfing aspects contained within. However, I’m sure you can replace it with yoga, swimming, running, or gym training to achieve the desired effect.
When I play a round of golf alone, I usually take around three hours to play the full 18-holes at my golf course, Bangor Golf Club in County Down. When I walk the path, I have a golf-based target that I will work on, but I will also have a creative writing goal.
Many of the times I walk the course, I will use it to consider problems I may have around the development of an idea within my current work in progress. In the past, these issues have included:
- The genetic experiments that surrounded Iris,
- Background details of Jade, Dr Rosen, Raymond and Kyle,
- The reintroduction of previous characters from Inside Iris into Anna’s Awakening,
- The ending of both novels, and,
- My continuous articles as a creative writing blogger.
The above issues have been considered, developed and, in turn, solved on the golf course. While golf writers may express thoughts and opinions about the sport through articles or a golf blog, I develop my all-round creativity as a writer while I play golf.
Whether I work on my fiction ideas, creative writing blogs, or my direction as a freelance copywriter, my time on the golf course valuable to work through ideas creatively. What past-times do you use for ironing out creases in your creative process? Comment below.
Getting To Know You
In my opinion, characters are the most crucial element of a story. Without well-developed, believable characters, you could find it hard to create the story you have in mind as an author.
When I would walk to Queen’s University for my MA classes, I would think about the characters and ask them questions in my head to delve deeper into their backgrounds. By doing this, I was able to get to know them as I would a friend and learn the intricate details required to make them well-rounded.
This was a vital time for me as a young twenty-one-year-old writer. I took the advice I was given from my tutors, Daragh Carville and Glenn Patterson, to question the characters to learn as much about them as possible. Only by doing this would I be able to write ‘real’ characters who people would believe in throughout the novel or play.
Now, as a thirty-six-year-old fiction author, I still refer back to this technique. However, this time I try to kill a little white ball with a metal club as I question the characters I have in my mind.
Walking the course at Bangor GC, I am not alone. Instead, I imagine Iris/Anna, Jade, Raymond, or Kyle walking beside me. Between shots, I ask them questions and have silent conversations with them, as I would a playing partner in a four-ball during a competition.
Do you take a similar approach to get to know your characters? If so, what do you do and how does it benefit you as a writer, screenwriter, or a poet? Comment below.
The World According To…
After creating characters, I always believe that the setting needs to be next on any author’s list. The characters you have spent so much time developing need you to build a stable, structured world around them to explore and grow.
When I create a setting, I work to ensure it is as specific and realistic as possible. This means I need to include elements such as:
- Specific place names,
- Historical authenticity,
- Tangible landmarks,
- Detailed descriptions,
- Influence of the natural environment, and,
- inclusion of senses, emotions, and memories.
With so many areas needing to be included within the setting of a story, you can imagine I need a lot of thinking time. Yes, I do need time to ponder these thoughts and consider ways to solve the problems they throw up.
When writing Inside Iris and Anna’s Awakening, I would think about areas like Hexingham and Bowmore Estate in a way that would help me to develop details around the elements listed above. I would imagine Jade, Kyle, Raymond, or Anna walking around the settings, describing them to me so I could understand what they looked like, as well as any emotional attachment, there would be to specific buildings or landmarks.
The time I had walking between shots on the golf would help me build up a 3D picture of the world that these characters lived in. The images I could form in my own mind would shape the planning and detailed descriptions included within both novels.
As I was outside for a few hours, I would also be able to note elements of nature around me. I would also place the characters within the natural surroundings and focus on their description, emotional response, and the memories that they experienced at the time.
By getting outside, I was able to shape and mould the settings within The IRIS Trilogy. Then, by playing golf, I could consider my author choices in a relaxed manner that didn’t feel like work. This would mean the ideas could come to me organically and not with my hands poised over a keyboard.
Do you feel the same about your hobbies? If so, how do you use them to develop settings in your writing? Comment below.
The Plot Thickens
Plotting a story is the one task I carry out that is closest to playing a game of chess, setting up a domino rally, or building a house of cards. As writers, we all know the moves we need to make to get to the ultimate conclusion, but how do we lead our characters through the story we want to tell?
When writing, how we tell the story and how we direct our characters can cause authors and screenwriters much stress and anxiety. We are all perfectionists, and we want the series of events we devise to be dramatic enough, develop intrigue, and be structured in such a manner that our readers or audience feel satisfied by the end.
By setting out a plan for how to get from A to B, from B to C, then C to D, etcetera, we lay out an interconnected sequence of critical moments that are required to make our stories a success. As a golfer, I do this every time I walk the course with that smirking white ball and the hole that always seems to get smaller as the day goes on.
For three years now, I have had the story of The IRIS Trilogy in my mind. However, the plot and finer details of how I want to tell the story to those who read the novels continue to frustrate me until I finalise the book and hit the ‘Publish’ button.
I know that many of my fellow authors and writers out there feel the same way when it comes to their work in progress or the pieces they are planning to write next. We are all in the same boat, aren’t we?
This is where I love golf the most. Yes, I would love to pound the golf ball 320 yards off the tee and drain putts from 50+ feet, but I can’t. Unfortunately, I’m a 17 handicap golfer who is a mere mortal like 95% of golfers who harbour similar dreams of being the next Brooks Koepka or Rory McIlroy.
When normal people play golf, there is a strategy to the game, and we need to plot our way around the golf course. This means I can pose myself similar questions about the plot difficulties I have within my prose writing as I play a relaxing round on my own.
At times, I could hit a driver, but I decide to play a long iron because strategy dictates the shorter club to be a better, and safer, choice. I could also consider taking a putter from off the front of a green because a chip could put me in trouble on that particular day.
This is the same as writing fiction or plotting a screenplay. Sometimes, we can take the direct route to tell one particular story. However, if we diverted the plot of our story slightly, we could stumble across a character or a different perspective that could make the novel come alive.
Golf writers always share articles of how best to strategise on the golf course and how it can shave shots off our golf handicaps. In my opinion, by taking a considered approach to our plot crafting, we could make out fiction or drama much more satisfying for the audience.
How do you feel about this point? Is it something you agree with and, if so, how do you use your hobbies to develop the plots of your writing? Comment below.
Golf Writers: The Takeaway
As I said above, I love reading the articles from golf writers, and I am somewhat envious of the job they have. They get to write about what they love and are passionate about while getting paid to do so. Yes, there aren’t a lot of opportunities out there, and many people have started up a golf blog to feel as though they can at least contribute to the world of golf writers and journalism.
While I cannot be one of the golf writers I read in Golf Monthly or My Golf Spy, I have learned to use the hobby I love to get time alone with the characters I create, the story I craft, and to consider the direction I want to go as an author. By taking time out in the fresh air, swinging a golf club, and most likely losing golf balls as a result of many bad shots, I can get ideas that I can transfer into my fiction books.
Through my creative writing blog, I have spoken before about the use of hobbies to grow our ideas as writers. Not only is regular exercise and having a regular hobby good for us as authors, but it is also critical for our mental health in a world where we can spend many hours a day alone.
I have outlined the reasons why I use golf to help develop my stories and take stock of where I am as a fiction author. What are your hobbies and how important are they in your creative writing journey?
I know I am not yet a golf writer, but I am a writer who golfs and loves to take his characters on the links with him.