Writing With Smoke & Mirrors

I am reading English writer, Neil Gaiman’s ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ now. My favourite stories in this 1999 compilation include Chivalry, which is about an elderly widow who finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat in a second-hand store; the other is The Price, about a stray cat that defends his adopted family from unseen evil, almost very night. He is a very good writer (writing since 1980’s) of short stories, and his genre is mild horror, fantasy and the macabre. He is a Triple Threat: novelist, graphic novelist, and screenwriter. Among many books and graphic novels, he wrote Sandman, American Gods, and The Graveyard Book.

Smoke and mirrors are allegorical references to the art and craft of magic. Much of the apparatus of older magical illusions utilize principles of physics, including reflected images, and the use of smokescreens as a form of misdirection. Audiences have concluded that the trickery of most box illusions is founded on self-contained props, using these two principles of magic. In recent decades, illusion-builders have departed from such strongly alluded approaches to more sophisticated machinery and technology. There is no smoke and mirrors with David Copperfield’s Flying Illusion or The Pendragon’s performance of Metamorphosis (a mini-illusion attributed to the late-American magician and escape-artist, Harry Houdini).

Beyond novels, writing is a useful skill. We write almost everyday on electronic mail, post on Facebook, write reports, or post on our blogs. Writing is both a skills and discipline. To write everyday may be a simple task, yet it may not be easy. Sometimes, you may have to dig deep to uncover and unearth useful information and insights. Seth Godin has been doing that, consistently, and daily for a few years. He inspired me to take up the challenge to blog every day for the last two and a half years. I conclude, thus far, that it has been a relevant and purposeful exercise as I have learnt much. Readership has been increasing steadily, and with a healthy SEO ranking worldwide. I also wrote a full novel within 30 days in an online challenge; I learnt to work with deadlines and deliberately stimulate my creativity.

Perhaps you may want to consider writing regularly and honing this key skill and competency?