Writing about writing
It feels like one of those inspirational summer nights. My inspirational summer nights usually involve writing of some kind. The first one I can really remember was in June 2000, when the warm breeze and a Savage Garden song brought me back to that exact moment 6 months before, and the memories of that cruise vacation came flooding back. I ended up chronicling most items in truth and some in partially altered memory as my first full-length "script" story, finished in August 2001 I believe. A few months later I began working on the sequel to it, this one created from a mix of various experiences (by this point I had been on about 6 cruises compared to the 2 after the first one) and some fabrication. That one took me a few years to finish, stopping in the middle for large breaks, as well as writing a 12-page chronicling of my high school senior trip to Washington. Eventually, I got that sequel done as well, and while they both pretty much reek of cornyness, they still hold up all right, and give me an idea of some accomplishment at those time.
Since then, I've been a little more sloppy.
A couple of stories started in 2003-04 didn't go past 10 pages. I was past the point of writing about teenaged vacations, and couldn't find a new direction that I could really take, until one evening in 2005, where I was playing hockey in a rink that really reminded me of one I'd played in in the States. I started thinking about the atmosphere of it all, and about my rep career, and put them together into one that put together parts of my hockey-playing past as well as general young adult interaction. This one was clearly an improvement on the others, as I used a much fuller style of writing (non-verbal parts were boring parts, I'd originally contested, and left them out of the cruise stories). The story jumps in quickly but takes you in at relatively the same speed, and the first two chapters themselves hold up as a short story. The story hasn't as of yet gotten past 65 pages, but it was the best larger piece that I'd written during my time at university.
And now? I've been needing to do some writing, but other than articles (which too have grown in style and substance over the past year) the only thing I'd come up with was 12 pages into a colourful, but highly unrealistic sports situation. Will my writing of shorter pieces hinder my ability to write the long and fun stories I used to? The truth is, the stories have always been what I loved. I don't want to lose that, but I don't want to lose this new part of it either. They're both a part of my writing past, and they're experience for me to draw on, for whatever I do.
Oh, and if you're interested, I do have copies of all 3 completed works, as well as the 3 that remain permanent works-in-progress. :)
Since then, I've been a little more sloppy.
A couple of stories started in 2003-04 didn't go past 10 pages. I was past the point of writing about teenaged vacations, and couldn't find a new direction that I could really take, until one evening in 2005, where I was playing hockey in a rink that really reminded me of one I'd played in in the States. I started thinking about the atmosphere of it all, and about my rep career, and put them together into one that put together parts of my hockey-playing past as well as general young adult interaction. This one was clearly an improvement on the others, as I used a much fuller style of writing (non-verbal parts were boring parts, I'd originally contested, and left them out of the cruise stories). The story jumps in quickly but takes you in at relatively the same speed, and the first two chapters themselves hold up as a short story. The story hasn't as of yet gotten past 65 pages, but it was the best larger piece that I'd written during my time at university.
And now? I've been needing to do some writing, but other than articles (which too have grown in style and substance over the past year) the only thing I'd come up with was 12 pages into a colourful, but highly unrealistic sports situation. Will my writing of shorter pieces hinder my ability to write the long and fun stories I used to? The truth is, the stories have always been what I loved. I don't want to lose that, but I don't want to lose this new part of it either. They're both a part of my writing past, and they're experience for me to draw on, for whatever I do.
Oh, and if you're interested, I do have copies of all 3 completed works, as well as the 3 that remain permanent works-in-progress. :)