One of the difficulties of balancing a full-time schedule of college classes, work hours, and (the semblance of) a social life is that, inevitably, something ends up getting shortchanged. Unfortunately for me, my writing project is the thing that I've ended up having to place on the back burner for the past several weeks. However, I do have a few positive bits of news to report!
Over the past few months, I've had an opportunity to attend a few sessions of my new writing critique group, and I've managed to receive some amazing encouragement and feedback. Best of all, I've received the motivation I need to start actively moving past the mere planning stage. Outlining is extremely helpful to me, but, at the same time, it tends to keep me a bit stuck. I find it too easy to begin to distance myself from my work and keep painstakingly plotting for every little contingency. Not only does this begin to suck the spontaneous pleasure out of the project, but also I find myself afraid that I may never actually move beyond pages of endless plot summaries and character profiles.
Thankfully, I received the stimuli I needed to start actually writing the thing. Even though I've been working on my outline sporatically since July, I still have a (significant) few more holes to get filled in, but I suppose, at least for this first draft, that I'm going to try to tinker with and explore my characters and let them begin to reveal aspects of themselves as we go. (Those who have worked with creating and writing original characters will understand how this process works.)
With that said, my major goal for this coming Yuletide season (and extended break from college classes) is to complete the first one or two chapters of Plan C. Can I do it? I think so! I've started to jot down a rough outline of the first 1 and 1/2 chapters as well as having begun a working draft for the first few pages. I just wish that I was finished with the last few (academic) writing projects of the semester...
Until next time...
I'd much rather be novel-writin'.
-R
Not to write, for many of us, would be to die. - Ray Bradbury
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A Little Bit of History (or: Let's Get This Party Started!)
After procrastinating on starting this blog for a few days (procrastination is the writer's curse!), I've finally decided to buckle down and get to it. Although this may not be the most original way to for me to kick off a new blog, any story has to tell its beginning, and this is mine.
I am a junior who is currently attending a small private college in Southern California. I'm majoring in English with a great enthusiasm - throughout my life, reading and writing have always been my first loves. Even as a small child who was under or around the age of 10, I would compose a variety of stories that, at the time, drew upon characters from various fandoms I enjoyed. A few choice and memorable examples of these would be Beauty and the Beast or Super Mario Bros. (Yes, really.)
For a time during high school, I was caught up in actively writing (rather terrible) fanfiction for a few fandoms that were currently popular at the time. Please pardon if I decline to mention them here because they, unfortunately, are probably still circulating around the perpetual time capsule of the Internet. Trust me, they're quite amateurish and not worth drawing any attention to here. However, I am very much thankful for the experience because it really provided me with my first opportunity to write short fiction for a reading audience of more than one. (The "one" being myself.) It was definitely my initial exposure with putting my ideas out there into the void for others to evaluate, and I definitely learned some valuable skills about the craft (most of which I'm still in the process of refining).
In the immediate year or two after graduation, I finally began concocting a few original characters of my own. They have gone through quite a few different stages of development before they became the "people" that they are now. It's been exciting to see the nuances and angles that they have received since they were first conceived of and, so far, their reception by others has been unexpectedly positive. It is my hope here, in this particular little section of the World Wide Web, to continue feeding the current spark of writing inspiration that I have. My first serious undertaking in novel-writing, currently entitled Plan C, is off and running at full force.
At current, my schedule (with college classes, homework, work, ministry, and a passing semblance of a social life) is pretty jammed, so this page may be updated only infrequently. Mostly, it's important to me, as a writer, to document this amazing and completely unpredictable experience.
But above all, I'm working on this project for the fun that comes with creating a living, breathing soul made of ink and paper. Finally, I'll be able to flush few of these crazy characters out of my head and onto the written page (Cornellius Frayne, I'm talking about you.) Of course, if, along the way, others enjoy reading what I might have to say... that would be pretty rewarding, too!
Until next time,
-R
I am a junior who is currently attending a small private college in Southern California. I'm majoring in English with a great enthusiasm - throughout my life, reading and writing have always been my first loves. Even as a small child who was under or around the age of 10, I would compose a variety of stories that, at the time, drew upon characters from various fandoms I enjoyed. A few choice and memorable examples of these would be Beauty and the Beast or Super Mario Bros. (Yes, really.)
For a time during high school, I was caught up in actively writing (rather terrible) fanfiction for a few fandoms that were currently popular at the time. Please pardon if I decline to mention them here because they, unfortunately, are probably still circulating around the perpetual time capsule of the Internet. Trust me, they're quite amateurish and not worth drawing any attention to here. However, I am very much thankful for the experience because it really provided me with my first opportunity to write short fiction for a reading audience of more than one. (The "one" being myself.) It was definitely my initial exposure with putting my ideas out there into the void for others to evaluate, and I definitely learned some valuable skills about the craft (most of which I'm still in the process of refining).
In the immediate year or two after graduation, I finally began concocting a few original characters of my own. They have gone through quite a few different stages of development before they became the "people" that they are now. It's been exciting to see the nuances and angles that they have received since they were first conceived of and, so far, their reception by others has been unexpectedly positive. It is my hope here, in this particular little section of the World Wide Web, to continue feeding the current spark of writing inspiration that I have. My first serious undertaking in novel-writing, currently entitled Plan C, is off and running at full force.
At current, my schedule (with college classes, homework, work, ministry, and a passing semblance of a social life) is pretty jammed, so this page may be updated only infrequently. Mostly, it's important to me, as a writer, to document this amazing and completely unpredictable experience.
But above all, I'm working on this project for the fun that comes with creating a living, breathing soul made of ink and paper. Finally, I'll be able to flush few of these crazy characters out of my head and onto the written page (Cornellius Frayne, I'm talking about you.) Of course, if, along the way, others enjoy reading what I might have to say... that would be pretty rewarding, too!
Until next time,
-R
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