For the past 2 days I've been trying to do some story writing. And I've gotten nowhere. For whatever reason, I'm not comfortable with my story writing. I debated posting So Far So Good for the past week, but I figure what the hell. There's only one way to improve. And Sherry part 2, I REALLY don't like where it's at. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time tomorrow just writing and writing. We'll see if that happens though. I think my problem is that I'm self-conscious about my story writing, particularly my descriptive writing. Instead of setting the mood with the scenery and the surrounding environment, I tend to let my characters carry the burden throughout the story, simply because I don't feel confident enough in my descriptive writing to convey on paper what I have floating in my head. A certain friend says I have to learn to follow "conventions" because conventions is what story writing is all about. I think that may be what I don't feel comfortable with, I dunno. I know all art forms have their "conventions" but sometimes it's the things that come out of left field and hit you in the back of the head that make you say "what was THAT?" I like getting that response. The same friend also said that I tend to bring out the bigger picture with the little things. I agree with him on this part. But he says that you can't focus on the little things too much in stories as you do in poetry because in stories people want "go go go" as he says; they want plot. But those nuances, those small things, that's what I always enjoy in the stories. They're the shading of a painting, the last piece of the puzzle, etc. that complete the work. Anyway, I would greatly appreciate some feedback to this journal entry from those who have read my stories. Thanks alot. I'm gonna keep at it...
Devious Comments
If you aren't comfortable with your own voice as a storyteller right now, try on someone else's. There's nothing wrong with that, in my view, especially for a beginning writer. When I started writing my story, I took two books from two different writers and decided I was going to create a fusion. I consider their styles to be roughly compatable with each others', and my own. I keep the books with me at my desk whenever I'm writing, and I refer to them all the time. They influence my narrative voice, my characterization, and even my plot sometimes. It's not plagiarizing, because I don't take words from their pages and put them on my own, and it's working really well. If I'm ever unsure of something I've produced, I grade it by their standards. If it's not up to code, I delete it, or adapt it, or tuck it away so I can look at it again later. At this point in your career you've still got a lot to gain from looking at examples from published authors, so I think you should try and find some models. Knowing you, and the way you write, Chuck Pallanuik would be a good choice, and I'd also throw in some Don DeLillo. A good book from DeLillo to pick up would be White Noise.
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