August 13, 2008
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[short] Writing Assignment #8 (attempt 1)
Assignment #8: Free write for 15 minutes without stopping; then read
what you’ve written, cross out/make changes where you feel necessary..
I have no idea how to do this one, you know? It’s supposed to be
creative writing so presumably I’m supposed to write something I dunno
creative or something. But my brain doesn’t formulate creative story
elements as a stream of consciousness. When I just *write* without
thinking this is what comes out. My thoughts, my wondering, my dreams.
I ramble and write about random stuff that interests me, what’s on my
mind what’s bothering me. Can’t see how that would really be
conducive to helping with my writing stories ability.
But when I do try to write creatively the same old story elements just
keep coming back and back. I remember my favorite villain I never wrote but I
can’t think of any circumstances involving him. His name, I don’t even
know his name. All I know is he is a person who is cursed with an
infinite number of lifespans, only he lives them from birth to death
and is reborn remembering all those pasts completely. Well I say he,
but I’m not at all sure whether he’s going to be reborn only to the
same gender or whether it will be random, but he definitely starts
*off* as a guy. But when I do try to write about him the story just never forms quite
right in my head.I also have stories involving a classic kingdom kind
of scenario where there’s this princess and her close friend who
eventually betrays her. The friend is from a lower class and gets
raised up to be the princess’s servant and she keeps the princess sort
of grounded in the world by giving her mistress a sense of justice that
differs from the rest of her family because of their different
lifestyles. But she still never quite stops seeing the princess as the representative of the
upper class that is keeping the peasants down or something And then there’s a
falling out over a guy who happens to be a manipulator who is going to
take over the kingdom or something. Eh, it’s a pretty standard story
line actually, I just think some of the confrontational scenes would be
really cool to write about.
Yeah my fifteen minutes are almost up and I haven’t written anything
really. You see conjuring an image or a scene takes a long time for
me. Imagery, metaphor, and analogy doesn’t come natural. I’m not visual at all.
Maybe I’ll try to do this again with dialogue. I could maybe probably manage
that. But the assignment was vague so for now I’m going to go with a
random ramblings because that’s the way I write. Haha I guess if this
were a class this would be the assignment I purposefully bomb and fail
because I don’t really want to do what the teacher is asking for. know how to do it and just give up. I more just want
to go on to the new assignments that interest me more anyway.
Three more minutes, geez fifteen minutes is a longer time than I
thought. What now? So what’s on my mind? I’m thinking I want to do a
few more assignments and then update the index and then work on writing
some more fun entries. But first I have to disagree with some of my
friends about a couple of minor points. There’s so much to write. I’ll
never finish it all. You know what’s strange about writing? I have
basically a limitless supply. Set me down in front of paper and tell me
to write and I can write without end. And I’d still have more to say.
But ask me to tell a story and it’ll take three years before I find the
words to tell it right. I think that’s why I’m doing these assignments
in the first place to stir up some ideas, to try and acclimate myself
to the creative writing process. But not so good with this assignment.
hmmm. I’ll try this again later.
More Writing Assignments
Comments (2)
Okay… This is just odd. Can I make two suggestions, just in case you attempt to do this again?
> Play music. Whenever I’m at a loss for a story idea, I put on some older music, and sooner or later, a song comes on that I can use as inspiration… I’m pretty sure that’s not cheating
> Take that random thought train you go on, choose an aspect of it, and write it in third person, or something. That might make it a bit easier
Heh… I’m trying to be helpful, but I might just come across as a pain in the neck. If you ever write anything on your villain and princess, I’d love it if you shared, though!
I hate free writes. I really really do. But, grudgingly, I’ll admit they can be helpful. To avoid the “Oh, shit son. What do I write?” situation, I would recomend starting with a sentence and building on it. Just any line that could be setting up a plot or scene, like “The chairs were all flipped over and I couldn’t find my ring.” Just by throwing those statements out you have something to build on. How did the chairs come to be flipped? What ring? This could just as easily be a waitress at closing time that can’t find her engagement ring as it could be a scene in a fantasy story after some sort of attack and the ring holds some magical or sentimental value. Don’t think “I’m going to write about a ninja! And then (this) will happen… and then (this) will happen… then it will end like (this).” Instead just build scenes and let the details take you where they will.