muse

Once again I find myself trying to do this after midnight on a “school night,” so once again, you’re basically getting a blog entry. Sorry. I think it’s high time I posted some of my responses to this exercise I’m doing, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Here are a few of my observations…

1. Writing every day is really hard. Especially on the weekends. For some reason, I can’t get myself to sit down in the middle of the day and do this. It’s always at the end, when I’ve sucked up all the free time doing other things.
2. I find writing fiction scarier than writing about my everyday life. That surprised me a bit at first, but it makes sense the more I think about it. I am fairly open about my life, my thoughts, my insecurities. i am a thinker and a worrier and I’ve put hours into making myself more communicative, so that comes more and more easily. Fiction, however, is a window from the cold, analytical word directly into my imagination. And that feels much more vulnerable. It’s not about what happens to me. It is the stories I tell to myself when I’m idle. It’s a much deeper form of self-expression from my perspective.
3. I have a problem making characters act. They’re in constant danger of thinking themselves in circles for pages on end without so much as getting a fork from plate to mouth. Art imitating life? Quite possibly.
4. I like writing humor or mystery. I don’t like writing dramatic pieces. I keep bypassing writing exercises that would require me to get heavy. I don’t like making my characters cry. They can be scared or insecure or mad or hurt, but I hate reducing them to tears.
5. I have an over-affection for stingers. I run the risk of being one of those Dan Brown-esque authors, who ends every chapter with an evilly dramatic hook. While it does keep you reading untill three AM, by one you’re really sick and tired of being unable to find a stopping point.
6. It is nerve-wracking to know that people are out there reading these exercises, but saying nothing. Now yes, there’s no reason they should have to. But it makes me understand the abject terror with which other writers I know wait for that initial contest, editorial, or commercial feedback.

That’s it for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get back to the writing. For now, sweet dreams!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 12:18 am and is filed under ARWA 301, Writings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.