You don't really sound very sure of yourself in a lot of ways--you add "that I can remember" to qualify not having taken a creative writing class in college, which sounds odd, and your first instinct on being told to write about your own childhood is "I can't" instead of something more positive. Ending on what you consider to be a weakness (plotting) also seems a little weak.
You could probably cut the high school stuff in general, to be honest, since it was awhile ago.
Also, the list of authors you admire isn't particularly diverse--they're all sff authors. There's nothing wrong with sff (I love it, read it, and write it myself), but it might be nice for you to add a few non-sff authors in to show your appreciation for different genres and types of fiction.
Is guess the reason I come off as unsure is because I am. I have never really had any confidence in my own writing, though I've received many compliments and encouragement over the years. I will cut out the "unsure" stuff as best I can.
I do want to show my biggest weakness is plotting, because I still have many things to learn.
I didn't know how many authors to include. I've read so many different types of books/genres/authors that I didn't know which to include. I'll try to add in/edit that list to make it more diverse.
This is a good start, but it needs some fine-tuning. It feels like you talk a lot more about reading than writing in this. Obviously reading is important, but you're not applying for a creative reading degree - you need to show not just that you're widely read, but that you've thought about your specific influences and how you have incorporated them and made those lessons meaningful. For example, what have you learned from Robin Hobb or JRR Tolkien about world-building? I also feel like you need to pay more attention to your grammar and structure. This will be the first piece of writing that your adcoms will see, and you want them to keep looking. For example, this paragraph:
Recently I participated in Nation Novel Writing Month (November 2012) during which I focused on retelling the story of Peter Pan; or, more specifically, the story of James Hook, as if he was originally a Lost Boy before becoming the dreaded pirate we all know and love to hate. This idea was spurred by a simple idea: “What if this story was told from a different
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First off, thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you think it's a good start and I do think with some fine tuning it will be ready to send out in a few weeks. I will edit my SOP today and put it in the original post. Trying to write an SOP while sick is probably not the best thing to do, but it's what I've got to work with.
1. World Building: I've never tried to build my own world before aside from the NaNoWriMo stint this year. I don't think I've done a very good job at it, but I'm trying! I guess that's what writing is for.. trying. haha
2. NaNo / History degree: I see what you mean here. I will definitely fix that. I wanted to give an idea of what my background is (history degree) and how I can apply that to writing and storytelling. I'll see how I can make that flow better. (Maybe even get rid of the 1066 part altogether.)
I still feel like this sounds unconfident. Trust me, I know how it feels. (I will be pursuing an MFA soon-ish and seriously have no actual confidence in my writing.) The problem is, if you don't believe in yourself, why should they? On the other hand, it's definitely better than seeming cocky
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Don't give up!!! These things take time, I think especially for a degree in writing...haha. I think you can definitely still mention that you wrote the James Hook story/novel, especially if you have samples of it in your writing sample!
The whole story (or what I have so far) was going to be my entire writing sample, since there aren't any guidelines on the website regarding what they want to see in the sample, other than 20-30 pages of prose fiction. I emailed the secretary a few weeks ago asking if I could include multiple samples/stories, but I haven't heard back yet.
My biggest problem is that all my stories are half-finished. That's my problem. I don't know how to plot or plan a story and tie everything in to an ending. I've never learned how to do that, and it's my biggest weakness. It's something I definitely want to learn how to do that.
I was wondering if I should take a different approach to the entire SOP. It seems way to dry and bland, which makes me seem dry and bland. Any ideas?
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You could probably cut the high school stuff in general, to be honest, since it was awhile ago.
Also, the list of authors you admire isn't particularly diverse--they're all sff authors. There's nothing wrong with sff (I love it, read it, and write it myself), but it might be nice for you to add a few non-sff authors in to show your appreciation for different genres and types of fiction.
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Is guess the reason I come off as unsure is because I am. I have never really had any confidence in my own writing, though I've received many compliments and encouragement over the years. I will cut out the "unsure" stuff as best I can.
I do want to show my biggest weakness is plotting, because I still have many things to learn.
I didn't know how many authors to include. I've read so many different types of books/genres/authors that I didn't know which to include. I'll try to add in/edit that list to make it more diverse.
Thanks for the input. I appreciate it!
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Recently I participated in Nation Novel Writing Month (November 2012) during which I focused on retelling the story of Peter Pan; or, more specifically, the story of James Hook, as if he was originally a Lost Boy before becoming the dreaded pirate we all know and love to hate. This idea was spurred by a simple idea: “What if this story was told from a different ( ... )
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1. World Building: I've never tried to build my own world before aside from the NaNoWriMo stint this year. I don't think I've done a very good job at it, but I'm trying! I guess that's what writing is for.. trying. haha
2. NaNo / History degree: I see what you mean here. I will definitely fix that. I wanted to give an idea of what my background is (history degree) and how I can apply that to writing and storytelling. I'll see how I can make that flow better. (Maybe even get rid of the 1066 part altogether.)
Thanks again! I'll edit in my new SOP in a bit.
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And Yeah.. I felt that was too many authors, but I do feel influenced by quite a few authors and didn't know who to pick.
I'm about ready to give up. This is harder than the writing sample. >___>
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My biggest problem is that all my stories are half-finished. That's my problem. I don't know how to plot or plan a story and tie everything in to an ending. I've never learned how to do that, and it's my biggest weakness. It's something I definitely want to learn how to do that.
I was wondering if I should take a different approach to the entire SOP. It seems way to dry and bland, which makes me seem dry and bland. Any ideas?
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