Wednesday, October 23, 2013
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 5th 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 8th 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.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
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.
Friday, October 11, 2013
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.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)