Thoughts
I’m not even sure what to be writing here. Just like any other twenty something in a Starbucks with a laptop in front of them, I feel like I should be writing a script or the next great American novel. Or even the next Twilight. Who doesn’t want to have that sort of incredible bit of inspiration sitting in a coffee shop? Its having the greatest thing ever written come flowing out of your fingers that is the dream of any of these twenty-somethings in this Starbucks with the laptops in front of them.
I spend much of my time with earbuds in my ears, having podcasts of all kinds playing through into my head. At the moment, its Selected Shorts. Which are short pieces of fiction read live in front of an audience of world-minded, or trying to be world-minded, NPR listeners.
I’ve always found these stories so wonderful, imaginative, heart wrenching, beautiful, and inspiring. And I’ve always wanted to be able to find the inspiration to write something like that. Just a short story that can create and fill a world that can take people away for just a few minutes.
Now I know very well that these stories come from everywhere. From all over the world and from incredible writers. Some writers are considered some of the best in the world. Others, never heard of before and never heard of again. But these writers have found a way to connect with an audience, no matter how large or how small. I think it’s the unknown writers that give me the most inspiration. I feel that the larger known writers have already made their connections and have a voice, that can write anything and still be considered great. Its those smaller, younger, lesser known writers that have to create something new. Something that can capture the imagination of an audience starting from the bottom and pull the emotions out. That’s what I want.
Its not going to be easy. I haven’t really written anything good or of substance since before college. It was actually just a creative writing assignment that I found in my piles of crap at home that got that spark in my head again. It was an odd, futuristic sci-fi story of the young adult variety. Teenagers having to deal with some huge evil corporation doing some huge evil corporation things. It wasn’t too terrible. I know my teacher at the time loved it. You can read it in her red pen all along the borders of the story. Any criticism that was there was written more like a book editor than those of a teacher grading an assignment. Questions on plot, exposition and character development instead of grammar and sentence structure. Re-reading it and all those notes made me feel like I could write something again.
This writing however, was over 10 years ago. I was a 16 or 17 year old kid writing from imagination. Not from experience. Now I’m a 28 year old man, living in New York City and trying to be a true adult and not doing well. Imagination has been slowly waning, being replaced by pop culture, opinions and life experiences. For me, these things make not a fun story. At least not from me. I would much rather create a new world, or build fancifully on the current world like I did back then. The amount of times I have started and stopped a new story is innumerable.
I would like something to write for. Something besides myself. So many years ago I wrote that story because I had an assignment to complete. A one or two page short story. I wrote twenty pages. Why? I don’t know. I started and could not stop. The story kept flowing out of me. It felt wonderful. I need a reason to write something. Someone. Or something.
I spend much of my time with earbuds in my ears, having podcasts of all kinds playing through into my head. At the moment, its Selected Shorts. Which are short pieces of fiction read live in front of an audience of world-minded, or trying to be world-minded, NPR listeners.
I’ve always found these stories so wonderful, imaginative, heart wrenching, beautiful, and inspiring. And I’ve always wanted to be able to find the inspiration to write something like that. Just a short story that can create and fill a world that can take people away for just a few minutes.
Now I know very well that these stories come from everywhere. From all over the world and from incredible writers. Some writers are considered some of the best in the world. Others, never heard of before and never heard of again. But these writers have found a way to connect with an audience, no matter how large or how small. I think it’s the unknown writers that give me the most inspiration. I feel that the larger known writers have already made their connections and have a voice, that can write anything and still be considered great. Its those smaller, younger, lesser known writers that have to create something new. Something that can capture the imagination of an audience starting from the bottom and pull the emotions out. That’s what I want.
Its not going to be easy. I haven’t really written anything good or of substance since before college. It was actually just a creative writing assignment that I found in my piles of crap at home that got that spark in my head again. It was an odd, futuristic sci-fi story of the young adult variety. Teenagers having to deal with some huge evil corporation doing some huge evil corporation things. It wasn’t too terrible. I know my teacher at the time loved it. You can read it in her red pen all along the borders of the story. Any criticism that was there was written more like a book editor than those of a teacher grading an assignment. Questions on plot, exposition and character development instead of grammar and sentence structure. Re-reading it and all those notes made me feel like I could write something again.
This writing however, was over 10 years ago. I was a 16 or 17 year old kid writing from imagination. Not from experience. Now I’m a 28 year old man, living in New York City and trying to be a true adult and not doing well. Imagination has been slowly waning, being replaced by pop culture, opinions and life experiences. For me, these things make not a fun story. At least not from me. I would much rather create a new world, or build fancifully on the current world like I did back then. The amount of times I have started and stopped a new story is innumerable.
I would like something to write for. Something besides myself. So many years ago I wrote that story because I had an assignment to complete. A one or two page short story. I wrote twenty pages. Why? I don’t know. I started and could not stop. The story kept flowing out of me. It felt wonderful. I need a reason to write something. Someone. Or something.