What If

I have been wanting to write something outstandingly epic ever since I’ve taken interest in literature. The frustrating part is knowing you can write something just as fantastically captivating as something you’ve read, something published. Your goal, at least my goal, might not necessarily be to get published, but it is to write something WORTHY of being published, something other people will want to read, not necessarily get to read. I like to believe that one day I’ll write something outrageously good but my ideas aren’t worth much when they’re still in my head. The hardest part about writing, and what puts doubt in all our minds, is the fear of transferring those ideas to paper. All those moments, feelings, and thoughts are sometimes not always relatable through the same event, so how can a writer produce a story without running off topic, back and forth from time to time and thought to thought the way our minds actually work. It’s unsettling to realize how cohesive and structured a story is because it seems so impossible to write one like it. The themes and the characters sometimes feel way too complex to be written by a mere human being. And that’s where writer’s self doubt comes in, that wretched disease we all have: The belief that my life isn't interesting enough, that my words aren’t technical enough, and that I’m just not smart enough. When did J.D Salinger know he was ready to write “The Catcher in the Rye”? What inspired J.K Rowling to write “Harry Potter”? These are two completely different novels, yet they have the same “classic” status. You can write fantasy, or fiction, or write personally through and autobiography but what is it that makes each of these genres just as good as the other? I won’t even try to answer that question but I will ask this one: How does a writer make something personal global? The truth is that there is no answer, that there isn’t a formula that will give you an absolute answer, but that honesty will find its relevance somewhere. I’ve been through a tough year, to say the least, and I’ve recently been hit again after just standing up straight for the first time in a long time, and it’s a year now that I’ve wanted to write about it all. I know I can write something moving, not only as a way to help me cope, but also something that can say more than just a retelling of a series of events. The problem is that I don’t know where to start and I’m scared it will go wrong if I do decide to just take the plunge and begin; something every writer goes through: the fear of failing. But you’ve got to ask yourself one question; what if J.D Salinger was afraid to fail? Where would Holden Caulfield be?

By: Sabrina Di Lonardo

Characters

Blog: Characters

A character is really important in a story. All of them are important. I love describing my characters I have a book full of them with their personal differences of age, status, powers, appearance, style, persona, talents, etc,. Describing the main characters is really relevant in the beginning of a piece because it lets the reader know about who he or she is reading about and what the story is going to be. I have learned from many books and by myself how to do that a long time ago. I have always read anything I could find since I am a young girl and I couldn’t stop reading at night even when I was going to have a big day. Some writers that I find are good in characters are Anne Robillard with her successful series ‘‘Les Chevaliers d’Émeraude’’ and ‘‘A.N.G.E’’. Those are French books but I really feel she captured the essence of a character. I love J.K Rowling too and the huge work she did on the Harry Potter series. And I am very interested in scripts for movies because that type of writing requires for the actor actress to know well who they will perform. I have done scriptwriting classes and it was quite interesting to learn about that different and direct form of writing. Characters must be described physically- for the reader to have some clues about the appearance-, mentally and its environment must be describe as well including his or her reactions to things. The personality is really important to deepen.  You will want your readers to be entertained, to be thrilled and to feel empathy for your characters. They have to be into it and not wanting to stop reading your art work. That is why characters are extremely important in any writing that exists. For novels, cinema, tv shows, theater, etc,. 

Leonie Philippe Beaudoin

Believe In Your Writing

    By Hannah Bartels      

          Writing.  It’s something we many of us take great pleasure in doing.  We use it to express ourselves, to escape, to share our lives with others; however, sharing our work with others is not always so easy.  Confidence is one thing many writers lack and one thing that is very important to have. 

          I don’t know about anyone else, but I often put very personal experiences on paper.  I use writing to get out my emotions, my feelings towards people or situations and to make sure I don’t forget certain experiences or feelings.  When I have to show these pieces of writing, these chunks of my life, to other people, I get very uncomfortable.  Nerves start to kick in, I get butterflies in my stomach and I automatically assume they are going to hate it.  When it comes time to hand it over to the reader, I start to criticize the work myself, saying things like: “It’s not my best work, don’t look too much into it, I wrote it really quickly.”  Getting people’s opinions about my work, something that I put so much hard work in, terrifies me.  One of my biggest fears is that they’ll put me down as a writer.  Personally, I don’t think anything I write is very impressive, but to have other people tell me that would probably crush me, and I can’t pinpoint why.

I am also horrified of showing my writing to my friends and family.  Peers are one thing, but people who actually know me, and what I've gone through, do not read my writing.  I always fear that they may send me to a psychiatrist or something because some of my writing topics are pretty deep and depressing.  This is something I, and other writers who have the same problem, need to get over.  Family and friends are probably the best critics, because they will (hopefully) always be willing to read whatever you hand them.  And they will realize and understand that you can’t always write about sunshine and rainbows. They will also realize that just because the topic of your writing is melancholic, it does not mean that you are actually depressed. 

          I really lose confidence when I read my classmates’ and peers’ writing.  I feel that everyone is so much more talented than I am.  When I go on the class forum and read people’s posts, I immediately read my entries and tear them apart until I think they’re at least a little decent.  I picture them reading my posts or texts and laughing at how terrible of a writer I am.  I don’t think I am alone on this one.  What I’ve discovered is there will always be someone better: a better athlete, better dancer, better musician, and, of course, a better writer.  Even though someone will be better than you, it does not mean you lack talent.  If we are confident in our writing, then it will show; but, if we are self-conscious and continuously pick at a sentence or paragraph until we think other people will like it, it will show and people will know you’re trying too hard.

          I am not the best writer and that’s a fact, but what I know is that we need to write for ourselves and just let the words flow out onto the paper (or the computer screen) without worrying what people will think about it.  In the world of literature and writing, confidence really is key.

Sorry about being late...

By: Jillian Brodner

I couldn't for the longest time think of something to write for this blog entry. I think that’s the worst time to have writers block, when you know you have to meet a deadline, but your brain won’t let you think of something interesting or relevant to write. I think that one of the worst things, that I have to get over, is being afraid of people reading your writing.

I don’t think I am the only person who has this problem. At least, I hope I’m not the only person with this problem, because that would be awkward. Anyways, in my searches of the internet, I have found that this is called “Scriptophobia” (http://www.fearofstuff.com/places/fear-of-writing-in-public/). I found it interesting that there was actually a name for this, I thought it was just me being weird (which wouldn't be something new).

                The weird thing is that once a paper is handed in, or any sort of writing is handed in this seems to disappear. It doesn't bother me if I’m not there when someone reads it, only when people read it in front of me. I guess I could just tell people to submit all questions and comments to me in writing, and I wouldn't have that much of an issue with people reading it. Right now as you are reading this, it doesn't bother me as much, because I can’t see your face. I also can’t hear the all of the comments about how much better all of the other entries are and that you would rather be checking Facebook.

                I found this interesting website that I found amusing, it’s called Men with Pens (http://menwithpens.ca/). They one part where they were talking about the 7 deadly fears of writing. I found it really interesting that some people have the “fear of success” which to me, doesn't make much sense. But who am I to judge.

                In some other articles, it also said that the fear of writing can also manifest itself as procrastination (which makes sense about why I am only submitting this a day late). I can’t really say that I have done that until now.

                I guess what I am trying to say is that it really doesn't matter, and you shouldn't be afraid of what people will say, and what people might think when they read your writing. Most people can actually help you improve your writing, which can help you in the long run. It always helps to get someone else’s input, because not everyone is going to say something mean about your work.  

Writing: Style

By Sarine Moumdjian

When I think about John Green and the amazing work that he has put out there, I can not help but let the jealousy rush over me. He has a way of putting words together that can grab me by my shoulders and shake me to the core, but he also has the ability of making me feel exactly what the character is feeling. The way he does this is what experts in writing call "style". 

When we usually think about writing, we all want to follow this absolute road to perfectionism that we feel will get us to where we want, but sometimes we overlook the little intricate unintentional detail we create that set a certain style to the way we pick out our words and form them into an image. 

John Green, who is an American author of young adult fiction, started off his career as a novelist with Looking For Alaska, a novel about a teenage boy who leaves his town, off to high school to "seek a great perhaps". He meets a group of friends who accept him for who he is, one of them being Alaska Young. His plots never usually include a very dramatic turn of events, but he is known for a lot of quotes that come from this specific novel. He also wrote An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Town, the Fault in Our Stars, and collaborated on Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Let It Snow. He has not written a great amount of books, but nonetheless has proven to have a style of writing that is entirely his own: when I personally read his work, I can automatically know that he's had a hand in creating it. 

Usually, this develops with time and practice. Some people think that words need to be carefully picked out and bundled up together to spark something in the reader. But the same result can be achieved without going all out, but rather writing with a true passion, because no one wants to read something that has already been put out there. 

When asked about how he goes on to write for adolescents rather than adults, he said:

"When I write, I'm trying to imagine what it's like to be someone else more than I'm trying to express what it's like to be me". 

Writing is also about having a voice which is a factor that contributes to that style. When John Green is writing, his target audience is ranging from 15-25 year olds. Being 35 years old himself, he needs to put himself in place of his character's age. His style becomes much more different then if he were writing from a 30-year old's perspective. 

The ability of forming a train of thought on a paper in an organized matter is what makes up a person's style and what sets his or her originality into place. The only way this can be achieved is through writing as much as humanly possible, and discovering what style fits you best. This way, not only can you please yourself, your readers will appreciate the way you have found your own unique voice. 

The Art of Keeping and Recycling Your Crap

by Gabriel Proulx

Have you ever written a sentence, a paragraph, a page, or even a complete story, to then only realize that it is worth nothing and that it only deserves to be cut to pieces, spat on, burned and thrown away, suppressed from your memory, hidden from other human beings who could discover – O calamity! – how bad and worthless you are as a writer, for ever erased from Earth like some kind of radioactive junk or an incurable, deadly disease? 

If not, well you are either completely full of yourself and you think that your writing is soon going to trigger an international cultural revolution because it is absolute perfection in the purest and most beautiful sense of the word, or you just haven’t ever written anything. If you are of the first type, you should just stop reading this post since you already know better about writing than us mortals and there is no writing other than your own that is worth taking your time to read. If you are part of the second category, but that you are reading this blog anyways because writing interests you, please just click on the little “x” sign in the corner of this page, turn your computer off, take a piece of paper and a pen out and jot down at least one sentence, one line of a poem, even two or three words, for God’s sake!

Now, if you answered yes to this question, and that you actually like writing, welcome to the club of what we call typical writers. In fact, there is a reason why so many (read: all) of us write crap at least once in a while: because it is normal! However, the place writers tend to disagree is to whether this crap can be of any use or if it should be kept, despite all the disgust that we have for it. I, myself, must admit that, when I write an awful line, a depthless and dry poem, or a story that has the flavour of raw, unseasoned tofu, I normally feel like destroying it by all means. However, with time, I have come to realize that keeping even my worst work sometimes happens to be extremely useful.

Actually, when we write, it’s because we feel the need to express something that we have in our mind, something that we have lived or imagined, a narrative or an idea that we think is interesting, important, unique, or at least that represents us in one way or another. Therefore, even the texts that suck – and God knows how many of these are written each day all around the world, and sometimes even published – still have at least one element that is worth keeping and that could be modified and recycled later. Sometimes, it is just an unusual word that has a fascinating and remarkable meaning or sound. It can be a whole paragraph in the middle of a 9-page story that you wrote when you were twelve that just happens to have the power to expand into a complex and poignant passage of another, completely different story that you are working on later in your life. 

For instance, last week, I found an old poem that I wrote when I was in eighth grade and I almost laughed when I read it; the tone is so melodramatic, most of the images are cliché, the subject matter is very serious but is explored in a puerile manner. However, guess what! In the middle of the text, there were two lines that caught my attention: “Your body’s a field of numb flowers / Frozen to the core, petals like prayers of frost”. Even though I will probably never use those lines as they are, they have some character, which makes me want to sculpt them in the future, and then reuse them in a brand new poem that I will actually like. Had I thrown that bad poem away, I would simply not remember that my brain once thought those two lines. 

So really, keep as much of your writing as you can, because you never know when you’ll return to your old, hidden crap and maybe find, under the layers of literary incompetence, that one word you’ve been looking for to finish, say, the first chapter of your novel.

Take My Advice- Or Don’t

Take My Advice- Or Don’t

by: Kelsey Watt

“Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise.” –Joan Rivers

There is a lot of advice out there about writing and how to write and the best way to write and blah, blah, blah. Advice is good and it’s important to listen to what people say to you but at the end of the day it is your decision whether or not you will listen to it. Sometimes, or maybe a lot of the time, you will get advice that doesn't really concern you or what you wrote. Everyone in the world, writers and non-writers, seem to have some sort of advice regarding writing. So what I'm trying to say here is take the advice - or don't. Take it if makes you realize something or if it changes something about the way you viewed writing but please don't try and analyze what someone said or wrote about your work and convince yourself that you've been doing it wrong this whole time. You’re probably doing just fine. And please disagree with the critics if you want to. In fact, I encourage you to disagree with them because whether you agree or disagree, you’re thinking.

   

If you've just re-read one of your stories or poems and are trying to find out where that one critic though you could improve upon- stop. Put the story down and just breathe. I'm sure that whatever that critic said was awesome and super intelligent and sounded as if he really knew what he was talking about but maybe he’s wrong. Maybe he doesn't understand why you added that one little detail. The important part is that you do. Maybe you added a bunny in the field because your favorite stuffed animal when you were younger was a bunny or maybe you had a bunny and it died but in your story it’s alive again. Or maybe you just wanted to add a fucking bunny for no reason whatsoever. That's all fine. In fact, it’s what makes literature so interesting, why art in general is so interesting. You can have ten people read the same story and you will most likely get ten different interpretations. You can't get the same results if ten people watch a hockey game.

Critics are always going to compare you to some really amazing author and you’ll probably compare yourself to them- don't. I know it sucks but we’ll never be able to write what Jane Austen did. But here is the good news; that's a good thing. You shouldn't want to be like Jane Austen or Stephen King. You can wish to have the same success as them but don't ever try and compare yourself to them. What you have to say is just as important as what they had to say. And it doesn't matter if you get published and 5 million people read your book or if the only people who ever read it are the people in your creative writing class. What you have to say is important and you never know who it might touch or affect. The words you write may change someone’s life. So really it’d be selfish of you to keep those words to yourself.

I understand that my advice to you is to not take advice (irony for the win) but I hope that you take my advice to heart. Or don't. But I kind of hope you do. 

Defeat

Bridget Butler

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat” —F. Scott Fitzgerald

            Writing, both its process and its end product, is such a fascinating phenomenon, really. Although you can try to structuralize it (and, to an extent, succeed in doing so), there is no strictly concrete way of defining or understanding its purpose or function. Because of this, it can at times be an overwhelmingly difficult task to complete. When void of ideas, unable to incorporate that particular symbol or frustrated over the use of psychic distance, giving up hope is easily done and convenient. However, it is important to never forget that even the most celebrated people among the literary world experience lulls and periods of severe doubt.     

            It comes as no surprise to hear that everyone’s writing process is different. It is personal and there is no set formula that can be followed to obtain specific results. Naturally, then, not everyone does or can deal with “writer’s block” in the same fashion, and so, yet again, there is no set formula for overcoming it. That being said, writer’s block does not mean writing is a lost cause and should be abandoned.

            I think it is important to, when troubled/aggravated/dumbfounded by writer’s block or the futility of developing a certain story, realise that it is not inexorably the end. Maybe all that is required is a break or some rearranging of sentences or paragraphs. Writing, after all, does not write itself, and it is understandable—perhaps even necessary—that we occasionally fail at it. The important thing is to not allow this “failure” to smother us. Lack of immediate success is not always equivalent to defeat. In fact, I would argue that it is sometimes (most of the time) compulsory and key in understanding how to improve and ameliorate our work. Failure is unavoidable no matter who you are, so there is no use in permitting it to dictate our attitudes towards writing. If we do, we run the risk of shifting our entire mindset. If we are mentally unwilling to commit to working on writing, we will be physically unable to, as well.

            Going to the source of the problem is probably one of the most effective ways of both coming to terms with it and also overcoming it. We should familiarize ourselves with potential habits and/or patterns that force us into creative standstills and address them head on. If we purposefully tiptoe around them, the chances of something changing for the better are lessened. Despite what so many of us believe, there is nothing wrong with being stuck for a certain period of time, and we need not let this muffle our sense of self.

            F. Scott Fitzgerald believed in not allowing one defeat to become a final defeat. This, of course, is a very powerful and impressive idea, but as a challenge, why don’t we disallow any number of defeats, obstacles, or hindrances from becoming a final defeat? I have no doubt that the consequences of this practice are nothing short of great.   

Stefan Does Writing

by Stefan Zajdler

Here is a video. Of me. Trying to do writing. Let's see how this goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92j1KIwwStU

Inspiration

Please click the link bellow! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZRtvdzPjs

Hope you like our blog entry!

-Jessica Feuiltault & Alessia Cardillo

All I Know About Writing

by Claire Skahan

Write because you want to.

There’s no shame in not wanting to write.
Don’t write about something you don’t understand.

Don’t write with a hate for the person your hero or heroine hates;

Write with a compassion for the hated, it is at this point that you will become believable.

Don’t think of the child as immature when you write his or her thoughts. The child is not immature,

The child understands more than the average adult. The child has an open heart. Never forget that.

Don’t write about the mother of six children as jaded and boring. She is not jaded and she is not boring, she can be full of love and creativity if you let her.

Do not compare your lover to a summer’s day until you have thought of the beauty of a summer’s day at great length. You are not Shakespeare.

You can be as good as Shakespeare but do not assume it is poetic to compare your lover to the beautiful weather. Say what you love about your lover. Is it his amber eyes that fall like autumn leaves from the trees when he cries?

Is it her thighs as white as snowfield that you could stare at forever?

Metaphors and similes can be wonderful, but it is not always necessary to use them.

It is much more meaningful to write what you mean that to try and force a metaphor to say what you mean.

Use a metaphor when the simple words aren’t enough,

When you feel strongly enough about the whistling kettle or the sagging blue armchair, then you may use it as a metaphor. Do not use it as a metaphor until you fully understand those words, until you fully appreciate why the armchair sags and how the kettle whistles.

Understand

the

words.

Think about the words.

Think about all the different meanings the word “for” has. 

The Merriam Webster dictionary lists ten different definitions for the word “for.”

Words are pliable. Words are clay, ready to be sculpted into something meaningful if you are patient enough to stick with them.

Have sympathy for your readers, have understanding for them, have respect and generosity you are prepared to give them. Your readers will recognize and appreciate this.

Leave holes in your story. Let the readers fill in these holes without realizing they are being forced to fill in these holes; this will give the reader a feeling of satisfaction and connectedness with the characters.

It is not necessary to tell the readers the nationality of your main character, nor is it always necessary to give your main character a gender.

Tell us about his or her eyebrows and the way he or she raises the left one during moments of skepticism.

Tell us about your main character’s bathroom: does he wash it every week? Is there long black hair clogging up the shower’s drain?

How does this character say hello?

When does she laugh?

Is it a great big bellowing laugh or delicate giggle?

Do not overload your story with adjectives. They can lead you down the road of imprecision.

Do not tell your readers that the small child padded lightly down the dark hallway taking care to be as quiet as he could. Instead, tell us that the seven-year old boy tiptoed past his parents’ room taking care not to tread on the loose floorboard that creaked.

Let the readers guess the details you aren’t sure of,

Leave no room for guessing in the details that you are sure of.

And finally, never forget to

Write in                                               whatever the fuck                                                 way

makes                                   you                                          feel                                   good.

You             deserve             that.

Getting Your Ideas Onto Paper

By: Lindsey Perlman

Do you ever just stare blankly into space and then realize an hour later that you still haven’t made any progress? Have you ever sat down to write a story and ended up with a partially chewed pencil and a blank page? Because I have as well and you are definitely not alone on this one.  

Many of our ideas come from our own inspiration and things we have experienced in the past. The most common problem is being unable to transfer those ideas and inspirations on to the paper in front of you. Sometimes you have so many things going on in your mind that they get mixed up among one another. This is a very normal problem, not just for new writers but also for any writer. There are many ways in order to get past the point of “writer’s block” and getting those ideas down on paper.

The thing that I find helps me the most is before you sit down and write an entire story; write down any ideas that you have on a piece of paper, whether it is a word or a sentence. By the time you are ready to write a story, you have all of your ideas laid out and you can go from there; it is very difficult to remember and keep all of those ideas organized in your head. Also, never believe that once you start a project that you immediately have to finish it. The greatest stories and books were not written in one day, they take weeks, months and even years to be perfected.

One thing that I learned from taking creative writing this semester is that you do not have to start from the beginning of the story. It is often more efficient to start different sections at different times and then put them together and make them flow smoothly. Evidently when writing, there is no science to writing a good story. Do what works for you because everyone is different and everyone gets inspired and writes at his or her own pace.

With anything in life, we often try to put ourselves down when we don’t feel motivated right away. For example, every time I attempt to continue a painting that I had given up on, I start telling myself that I’m too tired and I will do it another day. This continues on and on until I just forget about it. The same thing happens when writing but once you push yourself and write a few things down, once you get on that “roll”, the ideas will start to come out. If they don’t immediately come and you are really just blocked, take a step back and then come back to it, but never give up on it.

People are often afraid to start something because they do not know how to make their point understandable to the reader, but if you just put it down and then try to work it out on paper, it will benefit you much more than trying to work out the kinks in your head. Editing your work and getting it edited and read by others is the most important thing to do. Never be afraid to get constructive criticism because those who take the time to help perfect your work will make you a better writer. 

Rocky Roads By: Madison Green

When I think of putting pen to paper I imagine the ink running smoothly across the page in an elegant flow like water running off a rock. Yet sometimes when you sit down to write, whether it be a poem, short story or any other creative work the water unfortunately may not run just so smoothly.
Finding ideas can be easy, or at least that's one part of writing that I find the easiest, you can come across an idea at any time, sometimes in the most random places or situations. I find it similar to having a picture in your mind and then trying to draw and paint it but once you start to draw it it never or rarely comes out the way you imagined. Instead the picture in your mind looks like something professional and what you've actually drawn looks like a six year old drew it. When writing I sometimes feel this happens; I have a master plan and begin writing. I then reread my work and cannot believe how far it is from my original idea.

Writing is a journey and it can take you down different paths, ones you may not have ever considered. The road can rocky, with unexpected curves, cracks and pot holes, but the one thing in writing that I force myself to do is to continue down the road, even if I don't know where it'll take me. Maybe it'll lead to great story or poem, maybe it'll be an epic fail but there's no way to know unless you carry on.
One thing I struggle with is the flow of words. When I get my ideas and begin to write, it's exciting, not really knowing if it'll work out or not, but sometimes when you get an idea and are trying to make it work the flow isn't smooth and the water instead falls through the cracks.
Writing and flow go together. It's like breathing, you inhale the idea and your exhale is the words coming out, flowing onto the page. But naturally we sneeze, cough and sometimes even choke uncontrollably.
I consider this quote when I get stuck in my writing.

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart"
William Wordsworth

The road may be rocky, but one thing that we all do is continue breathing. So when stuck in writing, just breathe, in and out, in and out the words will come, the flow will be there, and never be afraid to fail. Breathe and your heart will release the words.

Let’s Talk About Plot

By: Steven Tutino

“...in lieu of plot you may find that you have a sort of temporary destination, perhaps a scene that you envision as the climax. So you write toward this scene, but when you get there, or close, you see that because of all you’ve learned about your characters along the way, it no longer works.”

                                                                                                                          Ann Lamott Bird by Bird

            Whenever, it comes to writing, plot has always been my one true weakness.  I rather think that detail is quite easy to achieve, like in a painting or a sketch; the nose or the eyes, the eyelashes, and the red lips are something any one can do with minor difficulty. Rather, the most important thing is to first complete the painting or work of art and then focus on the peculiarities. I think a good well developed story that consists of not too much detail has more success than a story that has plenty of detail, but the plot is not as effective and clear.

            In elementary school, whenever I(my classmates) had creative writing classes and we were discussing effective strategies in order to write a story, our instructor  told to draw a spider; the body with all its eight stick legs with large circles at the end of them. We could have used multiple spiders, some strictly for characters or just for plot.  I always looked forward to creative writing with great enthusiasm, yet and up to this day, whenever I start to write my piece, a pure and simple mess occurs! I remember writing a story about a couple of friends and myself on some kind of quest and as soon as I began to read it out loud, I realized my story made absolutely no sense, the characters were everywhere, some disappeared, while some new ones magically appeared. Of course, I think my skills as a writer have improved since then but the way I go about developing my plot has not changed one bit. I usually have this very strong idea and then I base my entire story around that plot/idea, the beginning to the end, which my mind is always able to conjure up without thinking things through. I think it comes down to a general problem that my plot carries the characters and the entire story, rather than the other way around. For example, I like the idea of suicide endings and I base my entire story on how everything will culminate and lead up to that. Then, once in the stage of writing my story I realize that the connection between the ending and the characters I have put on the page is implausible.  

            In plot, and I know I am probably repeating what other writers have insisted on for the past thousands of years, desires and goals are crucial. If your story is about some girl for instance, who seems to walk through life as though she were a zombie or in a dream, perhaps she is being controlled by forces she cannot comprehend such as her unconscious. But you as the writer must provide us with clues, hints, obstacles she encounters that begin to give us a sense of what her conflict consists of.

            Always write down your ideas! Please! Unless you have another method that is beneficial to how you go about writing, you should always carry a portable notebook and writing utensil around you.  Ever since I have been a student in a creative writing class, I have written almost if not all of my ideas down, and although I now realize that those ideas and pieces of dialogue will not serve as utile in my current endeavours, I am simply content with the fact that I expressed myself on paper and threw up all that junk lying in my system. I am someone who reflects and thinks about a lot of different scenarios and dialogue. I tell myself that I will remember to write them down, then I got to work and halfway during my shift, I will have forgotten everything; only a vague distorted glimmer of light remains in the far back of my mind.  Neither will I throw out any of those writings because they can serve as a guide to embark on another creative project.

           While I think that plot and character are inseparable, I also believe in compromise, in the sense that if I want to make that suicide the ultimate moment in my piece, then I might have to change something about the characters or the entire story itself and re-start from scratch. On the other hand, if I truly feel within my body and soul that my characters are staying with me on this one, then I would scrape out the plot, hands down. I think this latter point of view is more effective because if the climax or denouement you have created does not fit in or make logical sense with the progression and characterisation of your characters, then it will simply not be believable. I would rather preserve and help bring to life those characters that I created, that I conjured up, in times of sadness, stress and despair, which are a foil for my inner turmoil, my personality and my take on the world. I am currently in the midst of writing a major project for my creative writing class and I recently came to the realization that all those notes, writings and ideas for an ending just do not make sense, simply because I was too stubborn to admit to myself that the characterizations and motifs do not one hundred percent match up to my desired ending. They are incompatible. Now I have decided to erase the plot and my ending while still preserving the same sense of conflicts found within my previous characters.  Novelist John Gardner describes the purpose off not just plot but fiction as“...creating a dream in the reader’s mind. We may observe, first, that if the effect of the dream is to be powerful, the dream must probably be vivid and continuous-vivid because if we are not clear about what it is that we’re dreaming, who and where the characters are, what it is that they’re doing or trying to do and why, our emotions and judgement must be confused, dissipated, or blocked; and continuous because a repeatedly interrupted flow of action must necessarily have less force than action directly carried through from its beginning to its conclusion.” This I think is something to be cherished and preserved as one of the true marks of being an authentic effective writer. I believe we writers simply know and feel when we have accomplished the ‘dream’ in our works. The reward is simply priceless.

            My big point: always make your characters guide and create your story. I think we have to embody the role of a parent in relation to our characters. They are like our children, innocent, learning something new along the way, encountering obstacles, and yet it is our job as a parent/guardian to simply hold their hand along the way, even though we have no clue where they are taking us.  Once your character achieves what he wants or your story is about to reach its end, I do think that something totally out of the blues can occur, but your entire story, from the beginning should build up to that crucial scene, when everything is about to come to an end; when she tells him that their relationship will not work out, where the protagonist leaves with knowledge that no one else possesses, yet with some little ember of dignity and respect hiding beneath that veil of darkness.

            I believe many struggling writers like myself are like little embers trapped and lost in darkness, but with the potential to grow and radiate through the dark into a fiery burning sun in order to create some of the best plots and pieces of writing the world has ever seen. We just have to avoid the sprinklers!   

           

The Clarity of Writing

The Clarity of Writing

By: Ariane Arsenault

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. ” - Strunk & White

An issue that often arises with writing is the message that is portrayed by the reader. Writers want the readers to understand what they are specifically writing about, which can end up becoming troublesome if not taken over by the reigns. A writer is often seen as a carrier with a message, painting a certain idea to his or her audience. The message or idea can be difficult to show to the reader if it is not made clear enough for all to understand. A few tips of mine to stop this confusion are the following: waiting to edit for a certain amount of time, reading out loud, and picking out a person, any person, and thinking as if you were them.

The flow of writing can be difficult to obtain yet is possible. If you see any mistakes that you don't understand, your reader will probably not understand them either. It is important to go over every sentence of your work and determine if they belong in the text or not. Choosing whether something is relevant or not is a dilemma that all writers must go through. Editing does help, but taking time off after having written helps even more. After editing your work, take a few hours or days off the constant headache of trying to make everything sound comprehensible. This will help you think of your text in a different way. When going back to the text, some issues may appear clearer because of the small break.

Sometimes, it can be easy to miss out on some unclear parts of your work when they are only re-read. Reading out loud is a great tactic to single out any mistakes that were seemingly invisible when read over. Don't worry about anyone overhearing, simply dive into the words and look out for any problematic sentences. Reading your own work out loud will also give you an idea of how your work is displayed and may give you a different perception on what you had written before. Hearing how your sentences are structured may seem different from the usual editing process but it is definitely a strategy that should be done to embellish your work and determine whether some parts need more clarity to them.

Trying to grab a person's point of view and getting inside their head is obviously something that seems impossible, although it is relatively easy. Take, for instance, taking the bus. There are many potential people who you can try and grasp their points of view towards your work. What would that old lady with a blue shawl think of your story? Would she tell you to edit the part where you speak of a flower garden because it does not seem clear enough? It is obvious that it is absurd to know exactly what the person is actually thinking, but getting into their character does wonders to become critical of your work. Try to think what they are thinking, why are they wearing those specific clothes, what their profession is, and mostly, what would they think of your draft? The point is to try to make your work understandable and relevant to a wide audience, to everyone in the end.

These tips work for every type of writing project, they even worked for this blog article. Happy writing!

Milking the Space Cow, or How to Get Thay Perfect Idea

Milking the Space Cow, or How to Get That Perfect Idea

By Victoria Quercia

                I imagine if you’re reading this, you’re doing it for either of two reasons. One, you have written about a page and a half of your latest short story, poem, play or whatever, and you’re suddenly drawing a blank because you have no idea what comes next. The other possibility is that you saw the title and thought to yourself “Hmm, space cows…”

                Well, it doesn’t matter what possessed you to take a peek at this article, because now that you’ve started reading this – whether you’re having trouble coming up with fresh ideas or not – that title alone has provided you with such an unusual (and potentially disturbing) mental image that you won’t be able to forget about this blog post until you’ve satisfied your curiosity by reading it and have determined that the author is not using hallucinogenic drugs.

                So, now that I’ve ensured you’re hooked, let’s get down to business.

                You might have noticed that sometimes you start a story and things are going pretty great. You’ve established your setting, you’ve put your characters into the setting, and maybe you’ve even thought up a snappy title for the finished product. But, then you get to that part where things are supposed to start happening and you’re suddenly drawing a blank. The well has run dry. There’s no gas left in the tank. If you can think of another crappy cliché about running out of ideas, let me know.

                In short, you just can’t come up with anything that works. All that pops into your head are things that you keep telling yourself are absolutely stupid and ridiculous and make no sense at all. Now, if you’re standing up and can manage to tear your eyes away from the computer screen for a few seconds, you should probably go find yourself a chair and take a seat before you read on. What I’m about to tell you might be a little difficult to process. Seated yet? Good.

                You need to open up your word processor – or get out your typewriter if you’re really old school – you need to get out your unfinished work, and you need to continue writing your story by using all the stupid, whacky, ridiculous and nonsensical ideas that pop into your head. Yes, that’s right. All that stuff you keep insisting has no place in your work of beauty needs to be thrown into it. All of it. Killer amoebas from outer space? Write it. Demon-possessed ferrets? Write it. People who speak by oinking at each other? Okay, that one’s a little far-fetched, but write it, anyway!

                Before you ask, no I am not telling you this because I’m hoping eliminate the competition. I am telling you this because those absolutely stupid ideas aren’t going to go anywhere until you write them down. If you’ve got a pile of useless clutter in your basement that is constantly in your way, it won’t be out of your way until you throw it out. And sometimes, when you go through that useless clutter, you might even find something that isn’t completely useless after all (dibs on the killer amoebas).

                And, let’s be honest, unless you’re one of the old school writers mentioned above, if it turns out that all the useless junk in your head really is useless junk, then you can just hold down the backspace button until it all goes away, and, finally, you can forget all about it and move on.

                So, the next time you sit down to write that un-writeable something, do what comes naturally. Not everything you write is going to be serious and poignant, and most of it probably doesn’t need to be. If you’ve emptied your head and you still can’t come up with something then just close up shop and take a nap. Or something like that. Who knows? Maybe the great space cow will deliver while you’re sleeping.

Blue Curtains by Isabel Plaa

When my brother has a question about English he always asks me. It could have something to do with the Literature program I’m in, or maybe he just doesn't like how my other two sisters explain things. One night he asked me "Does the author always put so many symbols intentionally? Cause my teacher finds symbolic details in dirt. It’s bullshit.” Like my brother, most of us have probably been there. The most famous example of this is "Why are the curtains blue? Because the author wanted to emphasize the character’s sadness, loneliness blah blah blah." We all secretly think; maybe he or she just liked blue curtains. If our class was lucky, maybe there was a student who’d say this out loud and get the death glare from the teacher clutching To Kill A Mockingbird to her chest.

When it comes to our own writing, we start thinking that every little detail must be symbolic. It doesn't. Most of the time, if you really begin to write your work with emotion and passion, symbolic details will just pop up on their own. This year I wrote a short story about a girl lying in a field of grass and a boy with a crush on her sits down too because he wants to learn how to understand her. My friend pointed out that a meadow is a really intimate place and it's ironic how they both are there but he feels distant from her. Although it's not a huge symbol, it's a little one and I had no intention of ever having it. I used a field because, frankly, they sound cool. Another example a friend found in my work was when the girl gave the boy an origami bird and when he goes home he realizes it fell out of a hole in his pocket. She said something along the lines that “the ending was interesting because the bird is suppose to symbolize freedom but he loses it so it shows he can’t hold onto her or his future.” When someone is peer editing my work, like in both of these examples, I just nod like that was my intention. It wasn’t and it doesn’t have to be yours either.

My point of this little spiel is don’t write with symbols in mind. From experience, I learnt that it makes my writing forced and not fluid. The best types of symbols are the ones you don’t intend, the ones you find with your readers. Yes, you can intend to put a few symbols into your writing because it might help foreshadow or explain your story line. But don’t go thinking you must be a writer like Margret Atwood or Edgar Allen Poe (who are amazing writers if you haven’t come across their work) who have symbols every few lines. Be your own writer. Make your own symbols—or don’t. The beauty of writing is that there are no rules. Write a piece with so many symbols it’s the best piece to write an essay on or don’t and create a piece with absolutely no symbols to see what your writing on it’s own can come up with.

So when my brother asked me that question, I answered; “Of course not but just go with it.”