My Own Fiction Writing

The topic of fiction is a large one. In particular, I have written science-fiction and fantasy. All of my personal writings are first written in with pencil in those 25 cent journals. The way the pencil feels in my hand and lead to paper is a magical feeling. After writing by hand I would then go back and type it. This allows me to check my ideas and catch some errors. My true first attempt at writing for my own enjoyment start in middle school with a science-fiction book called June 5^th with aliens. Looking back at it, the grammar was horrible and the way I thought of the story was scene to scene. I had not sat down and really think in the long term where this was going. Now it sits unfinished in my desk. My second attempt was called Blank another science-fiction. Done in the same fashion I had improved my grammar and spelling when I started this in 8^th grade. I first would think of events I wanted to happen like a fire tornado and a violent, but innocent girl shows up. Occasionally, I would have some of my friends read over what I had written and determined that I needed to rewrite my entrance to give more background to the situation. This story was more like a universe. After writing the first few chapters I knew where it needed to go. This plot had more going on and slightly intimidating. There were many minor and major characters at different times. At one point the two main characters split up leading me to have chapters go back and forth between the two. My final attempt in junior year of high school I did a very different genre and structure. This topic was fantasy with a cliché topic with a different twist on werewolves. The pattern of writing switched from narrator, to girl main character to boy main character. Besides the personality change the font would change, so a reader can tell who is who at the beginning.

3 Authors with Guidelines

In the Goldberg reading, I was most intrigued by the idea of starting to write about obsessions. These are the things a person would know. Similar to Lamott urge to write about characters that are based off real people you know. Make your character real. Is what Goldberg urges. There can be everyday experiences in life that can really change a character forever. My relationship with any person is based on their first impression. After a first impression though, we find out more about the person and the particular language they use. Just like Lamott says in his reply about characters to get them a personality. To this extent I would say treat your characters like you would a new friend. Lamott really does this by telling to make characters reliable. You want a friend to be there for you. Though in a story, you don’t want only honest people. The real thrill of the journey is characters trusting the wrong character that had alternate motives and how the noble character was able to outwit them. In thinking of reliability, does this extend to in a negative light? In the Walking Dead, you could count on the Governor to seek revenge at whatever cost. Since this is not a film there has to be description and the writing or evoking of the different five senses. Though the limiting of descriptions of scenes need to be meaningful. Though not brought up in class, there is something called too colorful. In my opinion, the third example in Burroway was the worst. Plus, did not understand not using words like “was” and “would” when the present versions “is” and “could” were not. In all the examples he gave there was the word was at least twice though the number he did use went down. Overall, I believe what was said had merit and can help writers find their way.

Longer Short Stories

The first reading got my attention right away, because I can connect with this girl. This style of writing is very casual and presents her ideas straight from her head. There is also an interesting construction of this short story. There are many divisions in the story almost like it is following an APA format. This may contribute to scholar like internship of psychology. Through these divisions it separates different events and thoughts she has. Some other separation makes sense like in “An Observation Begins” where it talks about her beginning to observe Kagen’s brother, while some don’t really say much like the section “What I Can Take As Given” it only has the word nothing. As the story continues her, mental thoughts are shown through her italic font and questions she lists. There is a lot one can tell about the main character and her boss Kagen. From her you can tell she is the nerves type from her hiding in the bathroom from Kagen, organized by her constant construction of lists, determined based on her evening spent drilling holes in walls, and critical this is based on her process of analyzing what she observes and is told. From her boss you can tell he is a philosopher from is continual adding of types of people.  Though this story there are details about what goes on there is no detail about the senses. The story was in my opinion unresolved, because no one knows for sure if the true test was her to study Kagen’s brother or for him to study her. 

Shorter than my Story

When reading the short stories in the packet I was a little surprised how short of them were. Most of the short stories are like memoirs from different people’s life. One of the stories I liked was “misdemeanors” where the husband and wife have a different version of the same story. This small story gives a lot to a reader. One can distinctly see the personalities of the two main characters, understand the memory, and stated enough detail to picture the story telling and the flashback. Though it was a few lines it was able to entertain and express a lesson which is the most basic point of a story. One other short story I enjoyed was called “Morning News.” This is where a man is real with his audience about him dying. In this story, one can again see the personality of the main two characters by the end of the story. The basics of a good short story are that you understand the character and can understand the story.