The World Cup in Russia and what Writers can get out of it.

Too many years ago to admit exactly how many, the boyfriend of one of my flatmates asked me if I minded if he watched a World Cup soccer game while she was getting herself ready to go out. I started moaning about "nothing but football" to be seen on television for the next month and he said "football is a great game" and proceeded to explain all the rules to me: offside, what's a penalty, what's good play, etc. etc. He made it so interesting that I was hooked from the start and since that time I have tried to watch every game of this competition. (As far as I know, my flatmate and her boyfriend lived happily ever after and I never laid eyes on him again - not such an interesting ending as you, dear reader, might have thought...).
My point here is simply that he had the ability to make something in which I was not remotely interested so intelligible and make me want to see how it all played out in the match we were watching. That is a talent that good writers possess: they reel you in from the first page and you stay happily with them as they take you on the journey they have written.

The World Cup is exotic, flamboyant, heartbreaking, fun. It's all there: drama, pathos, penalties given and penalties denied, tears, and triumph.You never know how a game is going to go. And you have the big stars and the players who stand out - there is always one player no one noticed before who saves the day, gets that vital goal and makes himself the hero of the hour. You get carried along with the excitement. If you can inject some of these emotions into your writing, you can hook your reader just as I was hooked into watching soccer.
There is no other competition that grabs me in the same way and I've got a whole month to enjoy it all!

Another dent in the learning curve of writing

I know - I haven't posted anything for ages. To tell the truth I've been watching the Euro 2016 Soccer. I love football, as I prefer to call it, and especially international games.  This time I was lucky because in addition to Ireland and Germany, England, N. Ireland and Wales also participated.  It was a bit tricky trying to arrange my social life around the matches but I managed it.
As I write, Wales are the only ones left in there and I think they have a good chance of getting into the final. I had originally tipped Belgium as a lot of people did. But that's football for you. Tonight Germany play Italy so I have an exciting evening of football to look forward to.

I remember when I became interested in football. It was too many years ago for me to admit to it. I was sharing a flat with a few girls and one of the boyfriends arrived early for a date. World Cup soccer was in the preliminary stages and while boyfriend was waiting for the girl to get ready he joined me in the sitting room where I bemoaned the fact that there was nothing but football on television (in those days we didn't have cable/satellite TV so you were stuck with what your national provider decided you should have).
'Football is a great game,' said the young man. I can't remember his name nor what he looked like but he did change the course of my sporting life! He proceeded to explain the finer points of the game to me, possession football, dribbling, the role of strikers and defenders and of course the off-side rule and what getting a penalty entails.He described it all in so interesting a manner that I was hooked. And I have been hooked ever since.

I don't want to moralize or making heavy going of it but there are some tips here for writers. Hook your reader from the word go and they will stick with you even if they have to concentrate here and there to get the full gist of the story. 'Nuff said.