My Take-Aways from Awards Season

Ever since I knew I wanted to become a writer, whenever I watched The Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, The Emmy Awards (Prime Time and Daytime) or the Tony Awards, I always found myself walking away feeling inspired that one day that could be me.

When I hear writers’ acceptance speeches of humble beginnings, late starts in life or how a unique little story or unique way of telling a story became the object of much attention, I really do feel validated that there is purpose and potential for a budding writer like myself.

I do not delude myself into thinking that my turn WILL come at the awards podium, I think the odds of that are equivalent to winning the lottery. But I would like to think that my imagination, my creativity, my ideas and my story telling style combined with consistency and persistence, are the foundation for writing stories that will resonate. Where it goes from there, nobody knows. Hope for the best, expect the worst, and hopefully land somewhere in the middle.

This year in particular, the word “diversity” has been a recurring theme, appearing in speeches, editorials and reviews which struck a particularly deep chord with me.

As writers, I think we all have an innate fear, “What if no one is interested. What if no one reads it.” If the appetite for diversity is as strong as it seems to be, I take that as my cue and as my challenge to dig deeply for the stories that can matter and that can resonate.

The appetite for diversity is a sign to me that people want to see themselves in a story, someone to relate to, someone who has felt their passion, their pain, their anguish, their fight and then their triumph and their joy.

Books, movies, television (and blogs) offer us so many opportunities to reflect back the stories of our time as well as those of our predecessors. I am thrilled and privileged to be in a position to channel stories from concept to paper and to bring a broad range of characters to life.

Let’s face it, things don’t happen to just “core demographics”. Great stories involve people of all ages, of all walks of life and all ethnicity. With the appetite for diversity thriving like this, could it be a more exciting time for a writer?

This year’s award season left me with the following suggestions:

– Tell the story that’s never been told.

– Tell a character’s backstory that’s never been told.

– Tell a story from an unexpected point of view.

– Be original, be innovative, be bold.

– Anyone can be the hero/heroine of a story.

As a result, I feel empowered, I feel brave, I feel like I can use my “superpower” for something good.

I admit that in writing things in my journals over the years, I sometimes thought to myself, who is going to want to hear about that, but I write it anyway… and am I ever glad I did. You never know when that idea will form the last thread to complete a character, unravel a story or become the focal point of a story.

Also I love the novelty and prospect of weaving into stories some of the life events that have happened to me but are so strange that they could have become a Jeopardy category onto themselves. “I’ll take ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ for $1000, Alex”.

I believe it is human nature to want to see ourselves and our stories in books, television, theatre, movies and in song. I would like to think that with hard work, perseverance and continuing to practice what I love most, I could be one of those people who can deliver.

Deep down, to me, writing is just that thing I love doing more than anything else, and I know I will be doing it until the day I kick the proverbial bucket. I don’t just do it for the page views, the accolades or someday, the awards. I do it because writing, to me, is equivalent to eating, sleeping and breathing.

But no matter what, doing what I love best, reaching out and resonating with people and then perhaps getting recognized for it, could be a gratifying bonus for following my passion and my calling.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André