Part A: You, the Writer
Before entering into the Creative Writing (CW) elective, I did not believe strongly in my writing capabilities. I not only thought that my writing was awful, but that it wouldn’t benefit me in any way. The stories I wrote had no effect on anything I do, or the world around me, so my stories lost their drive. As the years went on, however, I started to discover how much you can create through the words on paper. After this discovery, I enlisted into the CW elective for grade eight, a year before entering high school. By far, this was the most fulfilled I had felt in a course, and by the end of the term I had become a published author. For the first time, I had realized how powerful writing can be, as your words are actually put into a book. Another year passed until I would enter grade 10 and embrace my new-found joy again.
Today, I fully believe in my capabilities as a creative writer, and that my words will have an impact on the world around me. Through practice, practice, and even more practice, I have developed an identity accustomed to me and my style of literature. I am eager to improve and sharpen my pencil, as I truly believe that if I continue to pursue my writing, a future involving it would be possible. Even if I do not, the knowledge I have taken away from the course will help in any future writing that I do.
Over the course, there has been a great development in my writing. The ideas I present in my writing have taken a more mature turn, taking on darker themes for an audience of adults and children. The details in my writing have become less direct and more implied in the way I describe the story I have written. In this way, I believe the reader won’t be drowned in information, instead, having to read into the story more and find out the information for themselves. Structure in my writing has become more fluid, and proper paragraphs are now included. I believe the most important part of structure I took away from this course is the proper technique of using quotations, something I always include in stories I write. My voice in my writing has become more prevalent, along with the way I write. My input and opinion on topics is always reflected into the writing, allowing me to embrace my identity as an author. As for the GUMPS aspects of my writing, they have greatly improved due to practice online and from just experimenting with my own writing. With all of these newly found or improved under my belt, i am sure that my writing will continue to grow, as I do along with it.
My voice in my writing as always been something I’ve struggled to find. In the past, I always appealed to what I thought the reader would want out of the story, and ended up hating my writing for that. However, through this course I have learned to embrace my own voice and express it in my work. Personally, my voice consists of a lot of sarcasm on things that I would find worthy of humour/insult. Though these are present, the underlying tone of majority of the literature I right is that of realism. I always tend to look on the more human aspect of characters, events, or issues. Perhaps this reflects my atheistic viewpoints, but I believe I do this to make my readers think more about how they are only human. The genres I stick to, at least at this point in my life, tend to be dark fiction, poetry, and comedy. However, I’m sure that as I grow older I will change in these genre preferences.
If I were to become a mentor for future authors-to-be, I believe I would have some decent advice for them, as I have learned from my own experience. Obviously, I would tell them to never stop writing or reading, as you will only get worse at that point. Also, I would advise them find out more about themselves, and discover what type of writing they are best at or enjoy. In this way, they can either improve in other areas of writing, or pursue their favorite. Finally, I would tell them that if they hated writing, then they should find something else to do. If you’re not passionate about writing, then you are not going to improve or get anywhere with it.
My future goals for writing are ambitious, but I believe that with practice, I can succeed. To begin, I hope to enter in more writing contests and test my own capabilities. After I graduate, I wish to have at least one book published and available. Creating a novel/novella is something I’ve always thought about doing, and if I succeed in that I will know that my time spent in this course was well spent.
Part B: You, the Blogger
My development as a blogger has been a long and windy road, and I have definitely changed along the way. Before this course, I was clueless to the use of blogs, and I found no interest in them. When the course started, I was very reluctant to start one, mostly because I am not skilled with technology, and did not know how to work on my blog. However, some of that same reluctance related to my disbelief in my writing ability. However, as the class became closer, I began to warm up to putting my writing up for others to see. Though I still have problems figuring out the website and how to use all of the things on it, I am more avidly committed to putting out my work and blogging.
My blog is not perfect. In fact, far from it. Though there are some things I enjoy about it, there a many I think could be better. What I do like about my blog, besides my content quality, is the style I used to design it with. This style makes it easy for viewers and reader to see my writing, reading ladders, links to the other things I enjoy, and more. The name I used also appeals to who I am as a writer before the course, as I kept all of writing caged in my mind and thought that they were all rubbish. Thus the name Vault of Faults was created. For improvements, I definitely would have made my blog more visually appealing. I would have chosen a blog outline that allows viewers to see my work along with the pictures I include individually, instead of having to scroll through the entire blog to find my work. Also, content quantity is something I wish to improve on for next time.
I have yet to decide what I will do with my blog after the course. I highly doubt that I will delete it, because I have spent so much time making it and it holds a special place for me as a writer. Perhaps I will add more of my works, but that is undecided as well. It is something that I want to keep and cherish, because of the memories I have had in this class. But on the other hand, I will probably forget the password to it in a couple months anyway.
I will still continue to check in with my fellow writers, and see their latest works as well. The blogs I will continue to follow are the ones of people I have recognized as having a strong writing personality. Though I will check in to see everyone’s blog occasionally, there are some that constantly put out writing; therefore, I will be regularly viewing and hoping for these blogs to update:
- Paper Flowers http://paperroses.edublogs.org/
- The Girl with the Purple Soul http://tickledpurple.edublogs.org/
- Amor Fati http://amorfati.edublogs.org/
- Carry on Wayward Writer http://1awayfromthez0mb13s.edublogs.org/
- Parisian Nights <http://dannyboy4.edublogs.org/>
In all honesty, I have not viewed any “professional” bloggers in this course. I was more involved with my own class and their blogs that I found no need to view someone deemed a professional. I do not believe that we have to find something like that to view or follow if we students keep putting out our own content, as each of us should be a role model for each other.
Part C: You, the Student
Over the course of the Creative Writing course, there have been a few “Aha” moments. However, the most important one for me was when Adam Dreece, an indie author who wrote The Yellow Hoods series, came in to talk to the class about writing. What I took away from this presentation was not only what it takes to be an author, but many techniques to help me along the way. The most important technique I learned were the ones to do with planning the plot of a story. We learned how to properly plan in accordance to the events in a story, and how to keep these events organized. I never got to use these skills in practice until the short story assignment, where I found great ease using the techniques. They kept my story on track and on topic, which I believe added to the quality of it.
As a reader, I have challenged myself with books I would not normally read, as they did not peak my interest in genre. However, after completing them, I have learned to enjoy these types of books that I am not familiar with. An example of this was my read through of The Cellist of Sarajevo. I was not interested in the style as it was based on a true story, and took the perspective of multiple characters. However, after reading the entire story through, I learned to appreciate the real life events and how the differing perspectives from characters helped to develop the story. What I plan to read next is another book that is outside of my comfort zone: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I never found this book appealing in my previous attempts to read it, as the Southern slang that is used constantly throughout the book was irritating and made the book a hassle to read. However, as long as I can get past my bias and perhaps even take breaks between readings of the book, I believe I could make it through its entirety. The best book I have read this semester would have to be The Martian, by Andy Weir. The combination of comedy, sarcasm, scientific analysis and concepts, and a great story made this book one of my favorites. It follows the story of Mark Watney, a botanist on a team of NASA astronauts, whom gets left behind on Mars as his group escapes without him. He then must use all of his skills as a scientist, botanist, and a human to survive until help can rescue him, if they even do. After reading this book, I began to consider how reading can help a writer in their work. What I decided is that books not only help you develop an expansive vocabulary, but also give you an outline of what successful literature looks and sounds like. In class, we explore this by doing emulations or inspirational pieces of literature, in which we can base our own writing off of.
On the topic of writing, I believe I have accomplished a great many things over the course of the semester. I successfully made a blog, I made poetry I am proud of, and I learned how to properly write a short story. On top of that, I wrote more enjoyable pieces than I have in any other course I have taken, which made it all the more fulfilling. My plan for future writing is to continue on a piece I wrote for my blog called “Food for the Crows,” by making a collection of short stories revolving around the world I set up for that story. These will follow the same character and his progression over time as he takes on differing cases of the plague as a plague doctor.
I do believe that I will be taking Creative Writing next year as one of my electives. I want to pursue my writing and see where it takes me, as writing has always been something I’ve wanted to do.
Part D: You, the Fan
For me, I learned a great deal through researching and making a presentation about the author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, born 1896, was an American author who was born into a middle class family. In 1917, he dropped out of college to join the army and hastily wrote The Romantic Egoist. After the war, he revised the book to become This Side of Paradise, got married, and continue to write many more works. A common style F. Scott Fitzgerald puts into his works is heavy description and thought provoking ideas/rhetoric. He prefers to have the world or item he is describing tell the backstory for him, which is a very important skill to have. On top of that, majority of his writing includes themes of alcoholism, mental illness, and marital issues, reflecting much of his own life. What I learned from Fitzgerald was that description is key to making a successful story feel alive and realistic to the reader. Also, he has great advice detailing that as a writer, you must have your own obstacles to overcome or you will never improve. In our presentation, we allowed the class to emulate some of his work from paragraphs taken from The Great Gatsby:
“I wanted to get out and walk eastward towards the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I saw him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” The Great Gatsby, 45.
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” -Great Gatsby
My emulation (below) was a continuation of the second quote:
Nay, the loneliest moment is what we call recognition and how invisible it can be; Air to you and I but to whomever breathes it, it is what keeps them alive. Like a mechanized clock, ticking down, you don’t care unless it’s your time; your world. It’s not a complex issue, or is it? Your world being my world in our world that is not the same world, yet is? But your pupils seek the light that your world emits, not mine. And when only your eyes watch, it is truly alone.
The Writer Seminar of my classmates that I found most inspiration was that of Alan Moore. As an author of graphic novels, you would think that he isn’t as credible of an author but you’d be wrong. Moore explores many dark and almost unorthodox themes that other writers are just too afraid to take on. Though he conveys his work in the graphic novel style, they hold just as much of a story, if not more (get it, Moore), than a regular paperback novel. What I took away from this presentation was that you do not have to be an author of conventional stories to find success in your writing, instead, doing what you believe is just as effective. I do intend to read more of his works, as I have seen the Hollywood adaptations of his works, which most likely compare poorly to the actual novels. These include Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell.
Part E: You the Critic of your Work
Short Story
The title of this work is called “Food for the Crows.” The significance of this title relates to how plague doctors had a beaked mask to protect them from illness and that they dressed up in dark colours like brown or black. This gave them the nickname of crow. The “food” part of the title relates to how as a doctor, he must clean away rotting flesh of patients sick with the Black Death, whereas a crow would eat the rotting flesh instead. Both take it off of the body, just in different ways; one living and one dead. If I were describe this story in 17 words I would say: A doctor must heal victims of the Black Plague. Death is everywhere, and hope is a rarity. When beginning to write this piece, I had no initial purpose, but as the story progress I wanted to show and describe how mortal we all are. I would say the audience that the story is directed towards is a mature one, due to some semi-graphic situations. What influenced me to write this piece was an injury I had received from working at my job. I had squished my finger on a heavy object and afterwards I found that my nail had turned completely purple and black. For some reason, I thought to myself that it looked like a symptom of the Black Plague, therefore creating my story. The style I tried to take in this story was a very dark and menacing one. In the beginning of the story, I tried creating a vivid picture of the setting and scenery that the story took place in, so that the reader may get a better idea of how life as like during the Plague.
“Death. No matter how much I tried to cover it, its stagnant odour fermented the air around me and crept into the back of my mind. The streets lay filled with the dying populace of London, as if Pestilence had marked the Apocalypse early.”
I described how people were dying in the streets and how some were even turning insane. The best part, I believe, was showing that being unprepared has consequences by revealing how the patient had to lose a limb. When fixing all of my work, I was finding it faultless at the time, but I knew that there had to be improvements somewhere in it. I emailed my work to a teacher of mine and had him read it over. After his reading, he found a flaw that I had missed, for I was looking for GUMPS errors. He discovered a slight inconstancy in the protagonist’s personality, which did not match with the person I had created him to be. After changing it, the entire story flowed better, allowing for a finished product I was proud of. I believe that if I had a larger word limit, I could have made the story a bit more complex with more moments of shock to intrigue the reader.
Poem
The title of the poem I wrote is called “Bleed Green.” The title relates the overarching theme of the poem, showing how money is what actually drives us and keeps us alive. When we get injured or sick it costs a lot of money to become healed, so you are basically bleeding out your own income. In 17 words, I would summarize this piece like: Money is what drives us to greed, yet everyone needs it to survive. Is this our reality? My purpose for writing this piece was to show how illogical and unethical we are, without even noticing it. We are more caught up in getting rich that we don’t realize that our ignorance to the rest of the world. My poem also demonstrated how we are manipulated by those with money like large corporations while the government does nothing but endorse it.
“Our leaders, Motionless. Their hands stay by their side and the machine rests, Cold and dead. But also red, painted by the hands of the hierarchy…”
There was no specific audience for this poem, as everyone has experienced some sort of struggle with money in their lives. What influenced me to write this poem was my own financial struggles and the many stories of scandal and abuse of power by the government in the news lately. I decided to write a poem to voice my own opinion on how most people are just milked for their money by taxes and corporate businesses. The style I took in this poem was a more direct one, as I almost targeted the class I was presenting to as guilty. This way, they can look back on their own lives are wonder if they have made the right choices with their money. I used a lot of imagery and symbolism in this poem, and I related blood to paper, our upper class as Grim Reapers, and businesses as Toddlers with Lego.
“Our ‘upper class’; Classless, undead skeletons…”
My process of editing and fixing up this poem consisted of reading it over to myself and others a multitude of times. As I read it more, I would find any parts that did not flow well with rhythm of the poem, parts that made no sense, and any areas that listeners may misconstrued the meaning of the poem. The opinions of other helped me find areas that I need to highlight or expand on more, so that when it came to presenting it to the class, I knew which parts had a message that I should emphasize on. Overall, I am very proud of this piece, as it is my first slam poem, and I hope that there will be more chances to write poems like this next year.
Non-Fiction
The title of the non-fiction piece I chose is called “A Childhood Interview.” There is not much significance in the title at all, as it fully describes what the piece is: an interview about childhood. The only part I believe to be significant is the fact that you don’t know who is being interviewed unless you read it. In 17 words, the synopsis would sound like: An exchange between different generations about what made up their childhoods, even if they are just memories. The purpose of this project was to discover the stories that both my sister and my mother had from childhood, and to share them in an interview style. As a found out, there is a lot more emotion behind some of them, depending on the age of who I was interviewing. The audience of this piece was for those also interviewing their own relatives about memories, and those wanting to read to stories of my family. What influenced the creation of this non-fiction piece was the film The Stories We Tell which followed the tale of a woman interviewing different parts of her family about her mother who had recently passed away, and how she a child from another man. This story made me wonder about my own family and their story, and since I am still technically a child, unfortunately, I decided to ask my family about their childhood. The style of this piece is that of a regular interview between two parties, done twice to show both perspectives from the two people I interviewed. The text switches between my voice and the interviewee’s voices, and no other text. “So was childhood fun?
‘I had a great childhood. I think I did. Absolutely. I had a great childhood.’”
I did this because the words they were saying are meant to be the story, and not the actual text. For editing this piece, I went through the entire exchange that I had recorded, and followed along with the words I had typed out to make sure I did not miss anything. The feedback I got from the piece has been relatable to some, as they have parents and siblings in the same age range, making it relatable to them. At the end of the interview, I decided to add a paragraph detailing how it personally effects my life, to add to the relatable factor of the piece. Overall, this was a great piece to write, and helped me realize the importance of stories, not only on paper, but in the memories we have.
Free Choice
The free choice I chose was the “Scavenger Hunt part 2,” a post containing the short story I called “Business.” The title relates to what happens in the story, as the protagonist arrives at a meeting for his business, which deals with drugs. The whole story revolve around how his business gets him killed for trying to be greedy and sell narcotics to two parties. To describe this story in 17 words, I would say: a man arrives to talk business, but finds out that crime doesn’t pay, and embraces the price. The purpose of this piece was to use the many things I had collected from the Scavenger Hunt part 1 in a story. Seeing as how most what I encountered could be twisted for a story of crime, I decided to take that route. What influenced me to write this story was the conversation I overheard from two Italian men, whose dialogue seemed almost stereotypical for a Mobster,
“Then I says to the broad, forget about it!”
From that idea, I built the story of the Mafia into my writing. The style of this text was meant to be suspenseful for the reader, and have them wondering what was going to happen next. I did this by having the presence of the Boss character be one of authority and have him continue to interrupt the protagonist. Though in my more recent writing, description of the setting has been beneficial, but I believe that in the beginning if this story, I may have gotten lost and described too much.
“The drive out of town was a bleak and dull one. Infrastructure turned into trees, and cars turned into rocks on the side of the road. The grey concrete never ended as it disappeared into the horizon, and tired me.”
This has no benefit to the story, as the scenery is already created by action in the story, and the setting changes anyway. How I initially revised this story was to get it proof read by multiple people, and see how they enjoyed the story. From their reactions, I guess I thought that the story was great, but looking back on it now, I can tell I need some more editing and revisions. This piece, for the first story of the semester, was not bad, but for my skill level now, I know I can do better.