Part A: You, the Writer
Prior to the Creative Writing course of this passing semester, I found myself to only be an amateur. In many aspects of my writing, I still had much growth to experience, as my writing was limited. I had a lacking vocabulary, and sentence structure was redundant and weak. Before the semester, the voice I presented in my writing had a sarcastic tone. In my writing today, I still possess that sarcasm throughout a lot of my works, though I still do avoid its use in more serious works of literature such as essays. My sentence variety is beginning to vary and reach a higher level, though my vocabulary could still use improvement. I am able to respond to more difficult prompts in essay formats, as well as express ideas in a creative manner.
My development as a writer has changed a lot over the period of this semester. My ideas before the course had resumed to a more basic manner of thought, and were not as complex or thought out as I would have liked. Over time, they evolved to encompass more thematic ideas that would improve my stories and writing. The details in my writing have been slightly increasing over time, as I attempt to include more acute details into my works that enhance the readers comprehension of the writing. I have begun to attempt different structures of writing, as in poetry I have sampled enjambment, and my story telling has taken a more personal tone for some pieces. As stated previously, my voice has not changed much, though a more humorous aspect has been added to the satire and sarcasm of my writing. Finally, my GUMPS have improved a lot, as my mistakes in grammar, usage, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling are now rarer than before.
My voice and style is contains much ridicule into society or the habits of people, as they may be the targets of sarcastic comments. In lots of my work, this strong sense of sarcasm is present, as it is a strong component to the humour I also attempt to integrate into my writing. For my short stories, I typically create stories that are darker and have a a more sinister story line, as those I find to be fun to explore and work with.
As a mentor writer the advice I would give to future writers is something simple: be as true to yourself on the page as you are in real life. This way, you can express yourself in your writing, and find a voice to speak if you feel you are silenced. In finding your writing identity, and watching it evolve over time, you learn more about your individual identity. How else are you supposed to find out the truth if you don’t give yourself a chance? Readers enjoy an author’s work that speaks out about the humanity we all share.
My future goals as a writer are definitely ambitious, and I am unsure that I will be able to succeed, but I have decided to pursue writer as an ultimate career for my life. I am passionate about writing,and its something I do not believe I am terrible at. I would ideally like to become a novelist or author of other stories for a wide variety of readers. I hope to pursue writing into my university career, and work from there.
Part B: You, the Blogger
My development as a blogger has not changed much from the course last year, as I do not frequently use it for my own writing that I choose to upload on a whim. However, that does not mean I will not do this, as I hope to do so during next semester. This way I can keep a constant level of writing and hopefully not let my skills dwindle.
The positive aspects of my blog would definitely include the aesthetics, as they fit well with the overall themes of my work. My blog has a variety of works ranging from poetry to news pieces, so their is a abundance of different writing. What I would improve, however, would be to have more writing uploaded, as though there is a variety, there is not a large quantity of my works. If I did have a larger amount, I would be more accurately representative of my ability as a writer.
As stated before, I do plan on continually using my blog to maintain an adequate writing level. The student blogs I would continue to follow include those of Katherine, Jade, Kaden, and Sheema. Personally, I have not explored any professional bloggers, as I am more engaged by the blogs of my classmates, as we get to learn from each other and find ourselves, rather than have a professional with their own identity having an influence on each of our own.
Part C: You, the Student
An “aha” moment I experienced in creative writing was from the warm reception I received in a post that utilizes my own voice and life experiences. By creating a piece of writing heavy in voice and my personal style, I was able to make a piece that a large audience could relate to, and ultimately find amusement in reading.
As a reader, I have read some difficult novels and stories, which accounts for the lacking quantity of reads. These books are not the longest in pages either; however, they do contain difficult language and and require much analysis to comprehend the material. My plan to read next is the works of H.P. Lovecraft, as I have yet to read a good fiction piece in quite some time. The best book I have read this semester would be A Farewell to Arms, a love story set during the first world war. This novel, by Ernest Hemingway, is filled with insight into the human condition, creating a great topic for discussion or even a Socratic seminar. Personally, reading affects my writing by giving me a stronger vocabulary, as well as a way to emulate another’s works to better suit my own needs. By emulating, I am able to discover what the author is trying to convey, then integrate that into my writing.
As a writer, I have accomplished stepping out of my comfort zone and taking risks in what I write, as to expand my area of knowing. This took the form of non-fiction prose, which is something I used to have difficulty with; today, I am more comfortable with this style of writing. My plan for my next write is to start working on a proper novel or story, with plot development as well as interesting characters.
I do plan on taking Creative Writing next year, as it is the only elective that truly harbors my passion: writing. In this course, I can continue to learn and better my own skills in writing.
Part D: You, the Fan
For the Writer Seminar my partner and I created, we chose to study Andy Weir. As a fan of The Martian and a some of his short stories, like “The Egg, ” I am glad that this author was chosen. For a length of time, his works were rather inspirational to my own writing. However, if we had not chosen Andy Weir, perhaps my partner and I would have chosen H.P. Lovecraft to study, as he is a very stylistic and important author in literary history. Personally, the genres that intrigue me the most from Weir involve stories about survival, against all odds, as I find tales such as these riddled with development of characters and plot. From our author, I learned the importance of integrating humor into my work, as it better engages the audience and keeps them reading, inn hopes of something else funny to make them laugh. Comedy is a universal thing all people enjoy, so it also helps appeal to a large audience. I do plan on reading more of his work, however, as he is a new author, new work won’t be available for some time. When it does finally get published, I will read whatever story he puts out.
Here is my emulation, as well as more information on our Writer Seminar:
Part E: You, the Critic of your work
Piece 1: Cheers to You, Drunkards!
The title of this piece is meant to be ironic and sarcastic, as the “Cheers to you” is supposed to present something positive when addressing someone. However, the ones being addressed are the drunkards, whom are supposed to be a negative influence. In seventeen words to describe my piece it would sound like this: the sarcastic tale of my encounters with drunkards, and how they contrast from the sober: yours, truly. The purpose of this piece was to simply tell a funny tale that would make people laugh, as anyone who has ever encountered a drunk person could relate to the piece. The inspiration for this writing came from my girlfriend, as she also experienced majority of these ordeals. She believed that they would make a great satirical story to make; thus, I decided to write. The style of this piece is very personal and casual, almost as if I am having a regular conversation with the audience. An example of this is, “The funniest part was that he literally got back onto the train and left right after. Disappeared. A brief moment of what-the-hell-have-I-gotten-myself-into and *poof*, gone.” There is also a lot of sarcasm in the piece, as to enhance the humor and attention of the reader: ‘ “Just helping out a fellow Canadian!” Oh, drunkards, we stand on guard for thee.’ My process of experimentation in this piece mainly involved questioning how long to make it. I believed that by leaving it at one story was too short, as I made sure to have three for more quality work. Revision took the form of rewriting the last, final ending part, as I needed a a proper way to end the piece. As for feedback, I was asked the fix some sentence structure errors, and to make sure it flowed well. Also, the comedic touches in the work apparently kept my audience engaged.
Piece 2: O Captain! My Captain!
The title of my piece is a direct line form the original Whitman poem that I emulated from. Whitman’s title for his poem excluded the “O ” that mine includes; this is done to differentiate the poems as they are similar. In seventeen words to describe my poem, I would say: A nautical epic telling the journey of a seafaring crew of sailors, and their courageous captain’s perseverance. The purpose of my piece was to emulate the poem Walt Whitman had done for the death of Abraham Lincoln; further, my intended audience was for those who had previously read the poem, and would be able to spot the similarities and differences. The creation of my piece was mainly influenced by my reading of Heart of Darkness, as that novel involves the journey of a steamboat captain and also a ship. The style of this poem involves a rhyme scheme, and a careful consideration for the syllables of each line in the original poem. An example of this is found throughout the poem, even beginning on the very first lines: “O Captain! my Captain! a storm is soon to come / The ship is fighting every wave, the crew is sick and dumb.” My experimentation for the poem involved trial and error for finding rhyming words that would fit to the plot of the story. Sometimes I would have to go back and revise a line as it did not hold consistency with the rest of the poem, either in flow, rhyme or general plot. The feedback I got for this poem involved an appreciation for the rhyme scheme, though an improvement could have included something more meaningful to match up with the meaning behind Whitman’s original work.
The title of my piece was meant to be simple and straightforward, telling the reader what to expect in the writing. To describe the piece in seventeen words: A man inspired by Frankenstein, deciding he can make a better monster, unfortunately, out of his daughter. The purpose of this piece was to create a short story that would make fans of Frankenstein be engaged and hopefully interested in the novel’s impact; thus, they are my intended audience. As implied before, Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, influenced me to write this piece, as the book left a lasting impact on me. The novel is full of the human condition, and I attempted to twist that for my own writing. The style of the story involves breaking it up into three different parts as there are major shifts in the tale. This allows for the reader to take a moment to soak in everything that just happened before switching into the next section. An example of this includes: ‘
“I do not know a Victoria. There is only my Monster.” he spoke into her ear, seconds before her world became dark.
Brightness peaked through her eyelids as Victoria awoke in the basement of her house. ‘
The process of experimentation involved rewriting paragraphs so that they may better suit the plot and characters’ personalities. For feedback, I was told to include more metaphorical writing and to not focus on the literal aspect of the story.