One of my objectives of having a blog is to track the learning experiences of the process of learning to write fiction so this particular entry is an attempt to log some of the things that I’ve noted recently. Currently I’m working on a second version of the first draft of my 3DayNovel. I don’t consider this to be a second draft as I’m not revising much of what has already been written; this is a second version of the first draft. At least that’s how I see it.
Category: Thoughts about Writing
bookmark_borderPost-NaNoWriMo 2011, or, Begining the second version of the 3DayNovel
So I didn’t make the 20,000 words in eleven days to total 50,000 for my manufactured NaNoWriMo for this year, but I did manage to come up with close to 15,000, and have kept at it since then, though at a much slower pace.
Continue reading “Post-NaNoWriMo 2011, or, Begining the second version of the 3DayNovel”
bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo 2011
ATM there’s one week left to complete NaNoWriMo 2011. This is Year Four for me; two wins, one abortion on Day Three in Year Two, plus this year. But this year I’m not really doing it according to the rules.
bookmark_borderOutline, 3DayNovel, and writing
I did the 3 Day Novel this past September. The word count is half what I get from doing NaNoWriMo but it’s a complete story, though a short one. I went into this with a detailed outline which helped a lot. In the process of doing the writing I hit most of the outline targets but I know that the story is short; some scenes are missing, possibly some secondary stories are not formulated yet, and some elements that I hoped to bring out need padding and reinforcement.
bookmark_borderEmotional Masturbation
Apparently there is something bad or wrong about masturbation. It’s not natural, or it’s devoid of the element of procreation or sharing that is supposed to be the purpose of sexual drive. Some people who accept masturbation as okay have issues with pornography. Besides being devoid of procreation like masturbation, pornography also devalues the act of sex and devalues the people/gender/activities that are displayed. Some authors then carefully try to slot themselves as “erotica” to avoid being labeled as porn. Erotica is supposed to have realistic people, realistic emotions, realistic stories. Erotica is like romance, but with sexual descriptions. Imagine Jane Austen or Harlequin Silhouettes with the missing sex scenes included.
bookmark_borderEgo bruising
I attended a writing workshop this weekend. Standard structure; moderator asked panel of published writers some questions about how they write, what advice they have, why they chose their genres. This was followed by a session where preregistered participants met for fast reviews by experienced writers or editors.
bookmark_borderWrite about what you know
“Write about what you know”
You hear this all the time. The theory is that if you pull stories from your own life and use settings, occupations, and situations that you are familiar with, then your writing will ring true. Writing about what you know will also help to avoid errors like using words that Brits don’t use when a character is supposed to be British, or calling a street “Maple Street” when it should be “Maple Avenue” for a city that you visited once. But writing about what I know is something that I rarely do except in an indirect manner. I rarely use things that actually happened to me or to someone close to me. At most I draw on fragments. I do it this way because of my reasons for writing.
bookmark_borderWriting analysis: “Axis”, by Alice Munro
I’ve been waiting to find another short story in the New Yorker that generated interest in doing some more writing analysis. After going back to some older issues as well as keeping up on the semi-regular delivery of new issues in the mail I finally found an interesting story to look at. Unfortunately, it’s a story by Alice Munro. I say “unfortunately” because it’s intimidating to select the master of the genre to be studying.
bookmark_borderWriting analysis: Blue Roses, by Francis Hwang
Review of “Blue Roses” by Francis Hwang
Published in “The New Yorker” November 1, 2010.
Continue reading “Writing analysis: Blue Roses, by Francis Hwang”
bookmark_borderAnalyzing writing
I was a music composition major in university and one of the things that my composition teacher required was score reading. Score reading means to take a bit of a string quartet or orchestral work and be able to play a reduction of it at the piano regardless whether you are a pianist or not. And in theory classes we analyzed music looking at the formal structure, root elements such as motives and their later development, harmonic structures, contrapuntal elements, and as many different ways as there were to analyze pieces of music.