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.

2nd Half City Eclogue

In the second half of the reading it was not as engaging as the first half. The section “Open” an interesting poem was on page 77 called “Engine.” The spacing in the poem does give a more dramatic phrasing. There is a lot of imagery within the poem. Overall I find this poem to be about an average workman’s life. One of my favorite lines in the poems is “into a gear you didn’t know would shift you can tell you runnin’ “. It compares the human body to an engine being taken into overdrive. It also refers to a suit case could symbolized a person’s mind. In the next section, “Ornithologies” on page 95 there is a short poem about the time boards at a station. There is a structural pattern of long line short line and repeat. One phrase that grabbed my attention was “metal winged panel.” In the last few sections, there was one poem called “The Counsel of Birds.” The paragraphs are in sets of four lines. This poem has a lot of personification. It brings alive the alarm because it cannot wait or shove down anything. Though I did not overall enjoy the second half of series of poems I found some gems in the ruff. 

City Eclogue Review

In the first section City Eclogue called City Eclogue held many poems that created vision or represented the culture of a city with negative outlooks. Some of the common words used in many of the poems were mirror, face, window, city, and eye. This leads me to find that many of them were descriptive poems describing a scene. A few poems I found interesting was on page 16 and 18. The poem "Words for It", in the first paragraph has a beautiful example of imagery. At the end of the poem has an interesting spacing between phrases. There is a more dramatic concentration on the first words. Going down one of the sides is a mini poem makes sense on there own. One of my favorite poems was a metaphor between humans and squirrels called "Sequoia sempervirens". Beyond a constant metaphor to me the spacing is very odd and leaves me to think I'm not sure what is trying to be done here.
In the following section Beauty's Standing the title doesn't seem to fit many of the poems who's main constant is describing divisions of blacks and white and violence. Commonly used words are water, feet, garbage, and job. This gives a feel of a more personal approach to what they are describing. Intriguing poems in this section where on page 43. Unnamed poem on 43 follows a pattern at first. The end of every 1 & 2 line match the ending, and then 3& 4 match. On the third section the lines go every other where the endings match. The last section is a complete change in style exposing a discrimination to African Americans.

Poetry Packet Revised

A poetry packet comprised of work from Shakespeare, Mullen, Berrigan, Hove, Swenson, Hughes, McHugh, Ramke, and Diskinson add had up and downs. To be the Shakespeare sonnets have a sense of timeless comparisons. Using metaphors involving the sun and roses will be seen on Earth till Humanity is wiped out. While in a Mullen recreation of Shakespears is era sensitive. Even people in our class did not know who Muzak the rapper was and within the last year there is no longer a Hostess Company to sell Twinkies. Berrigan plays with spacing in sentences and many word choices I find interesting to repeat. In poem XVI he repeats the words, closed air of the slow, ice, mud, doom, trembles, and heat. Taking the ordering of lines on a poem to another level Hove makes phrases on diagonals and up side down having the words with more excitement. Come of the shorter poems are from Swenson making the words he chooses very important and direct. Hughes is probably my least favorite with the using of slang and sound effects in her poem. It gives a unique sense to her poems and true emotion. McHugh's work is complex and half thought leaving the reader to think about what was said. Her first poem with taking words apart and redesigning them. Ramke writes longer poems with interesting phrasing like "thin walls were death to hide:". My favorite writer would be a traditional writer Emily Dickinson. Her poems are short with many similes and metaphors that help the reader to picture the comparison. She changes her pattern in many poems sometimes repeating the same word at the beginning like 377 to used the same vowel sound at the end of a phrase. This packet was diverse in the different ways to look at writing sonnets.