I come home from the Buck’s game two Wednesdays’ ago to my apartment and guess what? My apartment was broken into and had things stolen. Awesome right? Well my laptop was taken and the flash drive that was sitting next to it and on the laptop was my story. So, my dilemma here is do I try to rewrite my story? At the point that it was stolen I was a few pages in but far from done. The story I was writing was about a boyfriend and girlfriend living together. The girlfriend was cheating on the guy with the maintenance man and the whole story is being told from the house cats point of view. All the cat can think about is how much he hates the maintenance man and how badly he wishes he were a bird. I have a story idea on the back-burner that would be a serious of diary entries from a very depressed middle aged house wife. I am leaning towards writing the diary entries but wanted to get some perspective on if it is even possible to write a story? Do you think it would be worse then the original or better? I feel I may unintentionally leave out details and descriptive parts because I’ll feel like I’ve written that already because I had.
Side Note: I used to have this old notebook filled with quotes or lines that came to me at the time. Over the years, I used those single lines in other pieces and such. What i had left was all of these “What i want…” quotes. I decided to use them all, whether or not they were totally cohesive. This is what I ended up with.
“I want your mind to wander to me because I want you to know I exist when I am not within sight. I want your face to look in the mirror, envision your lips covered with mine and I want you to get that grin on your face when you know that you won. I want to bend backwards for you, until I break. I never want to let you down, but I want you to understand that I cannot be trusted. I want to go to out on the town, letting the car take us where it pleases. I want us to share gifts that we get from others, except chocolate, I want us both to know that sharing chocolate never works out quite right. I want you to make the moves every once in a while, sometimes feeling desired is better than getting what you want. I want you to understand that I am not the type of guy who needs time away from you, just the situation. I want you to know that I won’t tell you every little thing because I enjoy some level of introspection. I want to enjoy the simple things with you; nature, the unknown and forever. I want you to know that I will never search for you, not because I am arrogant, but because “meant to be” doesn’t require fate, it requires “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. I want happiness to be over looked and raindrops to be celebrated. I want to look over the waves with you, splashing into each others wonders, dreams and desires. I want the soft grass to grow wet around us as morning dew and the sun rise in unison, for we have lost track of time under the moonlit night. I want everything you have to offer, but even more than that, I want your word that everything will be okay when I wake up…do I have your word?”
Now I know the above work is not perfect. I know it isn’t all cohesive. I know it doesn’t have this amazing underlying meaning. But it is a work years in the making and it happened without my knowledge. I have since started a new notebook with just lines that do not have a home yet. However, I fear I will never be able to recreate this experience again.
I know it is an obvious thing to do as a writer, but walking around with a notebook that I can simply jot down a line or thought in has helped me with writing more than anything anyone has ever told me. See, I feel that ingenious ideas comes to us everyday, we just ignore it. I am not going to tell you what to do, but here is a thought to consider:
Do you want to be the one ignoring genius? Or even worse, yourself?
saw this photo in search for inspiring pix/videos/lyrics. Also here is a song i really like by Spoken that sort of helped me develop interest in persuing this story.
Sleep Well Tonight
I’m sending this letter to you
In hopes that it find you well
I wanted to say I love you and I miss you
I pray that you sleep well tonight
I hope you dream of me
I’ll write again tomorrow
I’ll be home soon
I’m a million miles away from you
I can’t get you off my mind
(not that I’m trying but)
All I want is to is hold you again
Sleep well tonight
All these miles that stand between us get shorter everyday
I’m calling to say I love you and I miss you
I can see the city skyline
I’m not that far away
I pull into the driveway and I see you
I’m a million miles away from you
I can’t get you off my mind
(not that I’m trying but)
All I want is to is hold you again
Sleep well tonight
Sleep well tonight
Sleep well tonight
Sleep well tonight
I’m a million miles away from you
I can’t get you off my mind
All I want is to is hold you again
Sleep well tonight
I think its fairly obviouse my opinion of war. Im writing my female charactor kind of the same way. Not only because I can easily relate to her contempt for the war and death, but because it sets a more dramatic mood for my story because the husband feels the pressure to return and the wife feels the walls closing in around her due to her lonliness and regret (possibly havent gotten that far) for marrying a soldier. I kinda want to kill off the wife, maybe make her unfaithful so that the reader doesnt get sad when she dies. Not sure how to do it though; maybe a car crash, a stray bullet (show that anywhere can be just as dangerous as war maybe?) or she can die from an STD. Or I was thinking she gets prego by another man while her hubbys on leave. . I dont know. Im ready to just get to the good parts though. Any input? Im so sick of writing happy endings; just so unrealistic. My thoughts are so scattered; I know.
I’ve decided to set my story in the 1970’s. This is just a link to some photos of Colorado mining town streets from different decades. These pictures helped me visualize the main street of the town and what it might have looked like. What time period did you guys choose to set your story? If it is in the past, these historical photos might be helpful!
I realize that this is not perfected yet and that there are some tense issues. I appreciate any comments and the pointing out of flaws / incorrect tense will only help me. This is in its first stage but I believe it has potential. What is the actuality? You will have to read to find out. Thanks.
I’m finishing up my short story tonight and I’ve trapped my characters in a packed car for three hours to spill some pretty intense secrets to each other. The only problem is I feel so awkward putting this stuff into words. I don’t want it to sound “contrived” or cheesy but I just have to make them say so much that I don’t feel like I’m doing it justice. I’m usually pretty good with emotion because I’m, you know, a girl, but almost the entire story is dialogue. Help!
I am somewhat scared by this piece and I believe to have already caused my father to have become ‘possessed’ a couple of hours ago. Evil stories like this are nothing to play around with. This story is about a psychopathic serial- killer who believes himself to be the only communicator with the evil deity Jabulon which he believes that he is actually a part of. I took the name from the below description.
Please comment and let me know if this story works so I can work on my technique if that is needed. (I know there’s always something to work on.) I really don’t want to write anymore blasphemous stories though. This one is seething with evil energies and the the reader must beware. Heed my warning. If this piece causes illness or possession it is strongly encouraged that you consult a physician, a priest, or a shaman immediately to heal yourself, balance your energies, and exorcise the most evil entity known to mankind. Thank you for reading.
That post below is the wrong link. That link is a funny video summary of the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” that we read for today. OOPS! Well I guess both links are relevant, right? Here is the one I meant to post:
This is a video I found while doing research for my discussion leading on the Joyce Carol Oates story. It is interesting to hear what this experienced author has to say about creating her characters, and the writing process. I haven’t yet read the book she mentions but it sounds quite interesting so I think I just might have to read it!
Writer’s block is an ugly thing most of us will experience someday. There’s been plenty of times I’ve been plagued by a nasty bout of writer’s block, having trapped myself in a scene with nowhere to go. There are many ways I try to work around it, and there’s quite a few exercises I’ve found that help. Art is a wonderful medium that I use often. I find a photography or painting I really love and try to write a background story to whatever I see happening. Make a character and a lifestyle relevant to the art. That’s an exercise I use quite often. And sometimes I make a character I end up really enjoying and writing more about! Another exercise I’ve grown to love is making a story to a certain song. The emotions and lyrics in a song can really inspire. That counts for instrumental music, also. I think instrumental is even better for the exercise sometimes, such as one of my favorite composers named Yiruma. It’s almost more complicated, because you don’t have the words to back up what the song could mean, you just have the score.
I also draw inspiration from other literature. Writing a small exercise on a poem you read can jog some things up.
Here are some pictures I’ve used to help me get started on some exercises (:
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