Just want to say that I’m not dead or anything! I had kind of a tough time for a few weeks and now I’m recovering. I should be back to posting…within the next month, I hope.
I just came back from a walk where I explored some of the areas of campus my usual routes never take me to, and I found a lot of hidden beauty around (even in the middle of winter!). Things like evergreen bushes growing beside a brick walkway under a bridge, or a graffiti vista you can only see by taking the road the delivery trucks are supposed to go down–I really like happening upon those things. The juxtaposition of nature with man-made things has always been a favorite subject of mine. A bug crawling inside a discarded cup, ivy snaking up a wall, a dilapidated house hiding in the woods! Taking some time out of my usual routine to seek out those things was a very good idea. Now, sitting at my computer again, I feel like that half-hour or so was worth about two hours of recharging in any other way! I’m a big believer in the helpful effects of nature (and wow I can’t wait for spring).
Wilderness, and the woods in particular, play a big part in both the short story I’m writing for Intro to Creative Writing (which I’ll post here when it’s done) and the novel I’m working on in my free time. The short story is kind of an outlet for the ideas that I don’t think will make it into the novel, so it’s no wonder. In both of those stories, the woods conceal people living a way of life that I think most people would consider bad (in the novel) or at least very unorthodox (in the short story), so, um…I guess in my writing at the moment I’m not exactly channeling Walden or anything. But I guess in my depiction of nature, just like with people, I see the best but show the worst…or something?!
Speaking of showing the worst, for one of my courses this semester I’m reading Frankenstein, and I guess I’m not surprised that pop culture’s depiction of the story is very, very different than the original book. Frankenstein as a passionate, brilliant, borderline-psychotic college student who creates a life and then is immediately terrified by what he’s done appeals to me way more than a mad scientist hunched over his experiment in a secluded castle (in the same way that a depressed, sensitive, confused young Hamlet interests me way more than a guy grandly proclaiming “Alas, poor Yorick”). I’m looking forward to seeing how the plot progresses, because as much as the idea of “Frankenstein’s Monster” has been present all my life, I actually don’t know what the conflict or climax of the story is!
I also recently started reading a horror story of a different kind: Saya no Uta, or “Song of Saya,” a visual novel about a medical student who has experimental brain surgery done to save his life and as a horrific, unexpected side effect, experiences the world as a gut-splattered hellscape. The only thing he perceives normally is a girl named Saya who he’s become totally dependent on, while drifting away from all his old friends. Our protagonist seems to be of an antisocial bent even without the whole senses-warped thing, and I definitely think he seems prone to do some dangerous things in the future. Plus, there’s no way that Saya’s really a cute girl, right? The gross horror visuals are really…visceral, and I’m interested in seeing how protagonist Fuminori copes (or not) with his plight, and who Saya is. So I think once I’ve finished it I’ll write a review-type-post of it!
This is another kind of unfocused, status-update post, but in the near future I can promise writing excerpts, doodles, and my thoughts on Saya no Uta!
Here’s my twitter, for the curious!
I don’t think I’ve posted in at least a week…I had a surprise 5-day weekend due to snow and between that and being sick for the past few days, keeping track of time has been harder than it should be lately! Also, because of said sickness, this probably isn’t the best post I’ve ever written (in my defense, so far today I’ve forgotten that every day has to be a day of the week, told my roommate I was floating, and stared at a gif of a cat spinning for 2 minutes before laughing uncontrollably), but I wanted to post up on here anyway because I’m trying to get on a regular, frequent schedule with it.
In Intro to Creative Writing, for the past two or so days, we’ve been discussing characters and stories, how to build characters, what causes conflict, what the progression of a story is, etc–all things that I naturally knew about and knew how to do just by having seen it before and done it myself (and taken Creative Writing twice in high school). But it was surprising to me how much I didn’t really think about this “basic” stuff before my professor started talking about it. It’s like the difference between being innately able to use logic as a human being, and being able to explain logic and know its inner workings–something my Logic teacher last semester liked to say.
For example, the principle of “show, don’t tell.” It’s really common and even cliche advice to state things indirectly and provide details rather than using flat statements. What I didn’t consider before my professor brought it up was that these indirect methods of providing details make a reader work. The reader has to judge the details and put the picture together on their own. It’s, as he said, “honoring the reader’s intelligence,” their ability to figure it out from details given rather than just be told “She was sad” or something.
Then there’s conflict and plot. A plot comes from the main character wanting something, and obstacles being put in their way of getting that thing. However, every character needs to want something–and if everyone wants something, but is having obstacles in the way of their getting it, then everyone has their own “plot”–this leads to characters coming into conflict with each other. And as the writer, you control everyone in that big struggle: it’s like playing chess against yourself, commanding both sides.
Well…that’s all I’ve got for today, I guess. However, I should mention that our creative writing class has us putting all our work on a personal school blog, and I think I’ll be putting whatever I post there onto here as well! I also got a Twitter recently because…hey, why not. So I’ll be linking it to this blog sometime soon.
I’m going to get a liiiiittle personal here, but hopefully you’ll bear with me! And if you do, you’ll get to hear about how I opened a carbonated drink and it exploded all over me in front of the entire creative writing class.
Well, I guess that was actually the whole story.
I’m now three days into my new semester and still trying to get the hang of my new schedule, though a rhythm is starting to emerge for Monday-Wednesday-Fridays that could be really nice if it remains feasible. I’d really like a regular schedule of starting my morning with Mozart, having lunch, going to Creative Writing at noon, and then having the hour after that to write and then spend the rest of my afternoon doing homework and going to the gym (and then there’s Shakespeare’s Later Plays in the evening. In the tiniest little classroom you ever did see. I have two classes in that room and I think I’ll need to bring an air tank so I can breathe).
I’m starting on the bottom rung of the creative writing course ladder, because the Intro class is required before I can take any others. I’ve taken two intro-level creative writing classes before in high school (well, technically I guess they were the same class, but taught by different teachers) and I feel like I’m starting to become an expert on them–and on the kinds of people who sign up for them. And while it’s fun to play entry-level-creative-writing bingo (long-haired guy obsessed with Norse mythology, girl who embodies tumblr fandoms, someone who writes really cliche poetry, someone who tries to turn in fanfiction…), I think this semester is a really good time to tackle and defeat one of my biggest flaws as a writer, and the reason why I need to be surprise-showered with orange soda in front of my peers more often: a sense of superiority over other young writers because I’m “serious” about it. Though I’m a humble person as a general rule, and even struggle with low self-esteem, there’s just something about being surrounded by other young writers that brings out my inner stuck-up judgmental bitch. And wowwww I don’t like that about myself. I am serious about honing my writing, and I do aspire for “realistic,” “serious,” even “literary” stuff a lot of the time, but I also know that I’m a kind and friendly person, and kind of a goof in day-to-day life. Besides, just like everyone else in my class, the things I write are the things I enjoy writing, and I love populating my stories with people I wish I knew and things I wish would happen. My stories are things that are entertaining for me, and much as I want them to be intelligent and fresh and well-written, I want them to be those things because they’d be more enjoyable that way: it’s not as fun to read a clunky story that you’ve already seen a hundred times.
We’re all doing creative writing because we enjoy creative writing. So I want to tone down my ambition, put aside that judgmental attitude, and just let my writing speak for itself. I might not be as casual about writing as some of the students in the class, and I might have more experience, but if I assume I’m the upper crust of the class, and underestimate others, I could alienate potential friends, not try as hard as I should in the class, or even get painfully reminded that I still have a long way to go. Because I do. I reeeeally do.
Besides, especially after my long involuntary hiatus, a brush-up on the basics is never bad!
I might print this out and add it to my writing-inspiration bulletin board, if you don’t mind!
1. Write your target quota before entering any social media site
2. Write from your instinct before reading writing advice
3. Only seek feedback from other writers
4. Only seek feedback when you have planned and written a substantial section
5. Stop and decide where the plot is going one third of the way through
6. Lie in bed and hear your characters’ voices clearly
7. Highlight the sections you’re unhappy with in blue
8. Beyond halfway read the first and last lines of every chapter
9. Read a highly rated novel while you take a break
10. Care about your characters and write their future…NOW
I’ve always had trouble titling things, which usually leads to Word documents titled “some crappy gay love story” or “novel 2011” and then a mad dash to slap the most relevant phrase I can think of onto the top of “some crappy gay love story” five minutes before I submit it to the Litmag. But today, because I’m getting tired of referring to the novel I’ve been writing since 2011 as “the novel I’ve been writing since 2011,” I decided to take a look at titles: what kind of titles grab me, personally? What books or movies or etc have I decided to check out just because they had cool names? What’s catchy and memorable? By listing interesting titles other writers have created, I’ll be able to better understand my own sense of what makes a title appealing.
After sitting down for fifteen minutes with a light blue pen and my idea notebook, here’s what I came up with:
The Murder Room
Ben Drowned (are creepypastas italicized or put in quotes? Does it depend on the length? A mystery of our times)
The Wicker Man
The Shining
A Clockwork Orange
Not Simple
Lord of the Flies
Fuan no Tane (Japanese for “The Seeds of Anxiety”)
The Night Circus
Heavy Rain
The Wake
Taking a look at this list–even though I’m sure I can keep listing titles forever (oh no the ideas keep on coming and coming all of a sudden I’m remembering the titles of Doctor Who episodes I watched three years ago and movies I’ve never even seen)–I can notice a couple of trends right away:
This little exercise has given me a lot to think about for today! I’ll probably continue adding titles to the list in my notebook as I think of more, and as I work on “the novel I’ve been working on since 2011” I’ll keep an eye out for short, moody phrases, and maybe even an enigmatic title that’ll only become relevant to the reader towards the climax of the book. It might be a while before I come up with a working title I like, but when I do, I’ll be sure to mention it here!
I can’t really think of any interesting way to say this, since it’s basically just a status update, but the past few days have been full of ups and downs, writing-wise. On my novel project, I wrote two chapters in two days, and then was stuck/busy for another two days–I think for now a good goal for that project is a chapter every two days. I’ll see if this has to be adjusted when I go back to school in a week and a half, but for now it should be more than reachable. Because I’m rewriting a story I had planned out and half-written in the past, I know what’s in the story’s future and what I want to accomplish; I’m very familiar with it, basically. It shouldn’t be hard to keep writing it on that schedule!
As far as the visual novel script goes, the more I write of it, the more I realize that the main character isn’t fleshed out nearly as well as I’d like, so I’m backtracking to see if I can get to know my protagonist better. I’m so indecisive on some of their traits that I even flip-flop on their gender from day to day! And because it’s in first person, I can avoid the issue for a little, but a person’s gender affects the way they perceive the world and the way they’re treated, and I enjoy focusing on that in stories, so maybe I should really pay that issue the attention it’s due before proceeding further.
I also had a story idea burst into my head last night (and I wrote it down in total darkness and I’m super surprised it’s legible now…though apparently the protagonist’s mother is “peakable” >.>). I might work on developing that, so that I can try writing it whenever I have the time or desire to!
I’m finding that developing new characters is a little harder now than it has been in the past. I’m guessing that when I get back to school and see more, different kinds of people than just my family and neighbors every day, it should be easier for me to come up with some good ones (I create characters by sticking together lots of little bits of people I know and fictional characters I’ve liked)!
My main vice this break is a messed-up sleep schedule…watching youtube videos til three am and then sleeping in until noon is a vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of >.> But on days when I do wake up at 8:30 am, like today, I feel really proud of myself, and that helps me do more with the extra hours I’ve put in my day!
I don’t think there’s any point to waiting until the New Year to improve myself and change my habits, because that’s just even more procrastination. Plus, that would make it a New Year’s Resolution, and New Year’s Resolutions are pretty cheap. Like, do you know anyone who carries through on their New Year’s Resolution through the whole year? I don’t even remember what my New Year’s Resolution was last year (I think I slept through New Year’s Eve anyway).
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot–I’m only going to be eighteen for two more months, and Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at age nineteen. I don’t think there’s anything stopping me from creating something at least decent at my age, besides my own reluctance to take the plunge. I’ve never really been the kind of person to take chances and I like to think a lot before I start on a new project, and when it comes to writing I always feel like “I’m not ready to write (whatever I’m writing) yet today/this week/this month, there’s so many preparations to make first”…but I think by the age I’m at now, I should get over that. Tomorrow I’m going to sit down to work on my novel, starting a new draft from scratch since there’s so many changes I want to make. I also downloaded Ren’py today so I can get a sense of what creating a visual novel will be like and what kind of preparations I’m going to have to make (time to start teaching myself basic photoshop skills…).
…And on a non-writing-related note, I’m also hoping to start a regular exercise routine and cut a lot of desserts from my diet, because I may be skinny but I also sit on my butt all day and that’s no good. (I bet the gym is going to be so crowded for like the first half of January.)
Hi, my name’s Sebastian, and I’m still not quite sure what to write in my first blog post, but I’m sure posting will get easier as I go along! I’ve started this blog mostly as a place to write about writing, the writing process, and miscellaneous things from a young writer’s perspective (no personal drama or politics, I promise). I tried to set up something like this on a tumblr for a while, but the community started to rub me the wrong way after a few months and the site seemed more visual-arts oriented. Now, since the new year is coming up, I’ve decided to give blogging another try!
I’m 18 years old, attending a four-year college, and I’ve wanted to be a “writer” since I was a kid. Of course, all you have to do to be a writer is write, so I guess I am one already! Still, though, I’m interested in a career having to do with words and literacy, and I’d also like to create stories that entertain people and maybe even make them think. My future career and my story-writing will probably be separate, and I accept that, but if I ever land a job as a creative writer of some kind that would be really great.
Because I want to be the best writer I can be, I try to write as frequently as I can. I’m currently working on a novel and (as a side project) a visual novel/video game script, and I’ll probably post about how those are coming along as I write them–what my planning methods and writing schedule are like and if they’re working for me, snags I hit, things that go well. I’m still not sure whether I’ll post any of my works-in-progress (though I think the idea of a web novel is interesting and I might try that someday!). I also might post some drawings every once in a while, because my doodling is very important to my brainstorming (though please don’t expect anything impressive or artistic, it’s just a hobby and I haven’t taken any classes or anything!). I’d love to meet other aspiring writers and creative people of all kinds, so if my blogging interests you, please give me a look!
sebspiration 