My writing spark

Joshua asked: What made you want to be a writer? Was there a specific event? A specific person?

For the most part I've kind of slid into the mindset. I had fun writing stories in 5th and 6th grade, but I didn't pursue it that much. I don't really know why. It would have helped me work stuff out, and I was already a heavy reader. I only wrote stories for school even through high school. Then my first few years of college, I wrote nothing creative at all.

But then my roommate my 4th year of college got me playing D&D and NERO, a live-action roleplaying game. NERO in particular resparked my creative drive. I created a couple characters. To best play someone other than myself, I had to make up backstory and motivations. At some point, I realized that this process was sort of like prewriting for a story. It made me think that maybe I could actually make stuff up and have fun with it.

I started working on a novel with just an idea of the two main characters and what had just happened right before the story opening. Worked on it during the summer. In the fall, I took a creative writing class as an elective. My professor allowed me to keep working on that story for the class even though it was fantasy and intended to be a novel rather than a short story. I learned two major lessons about writing from that class: people way outside the target audience tend to not understand/appreciate genre characteristics and when you change the rules to how the world works, you need to define them somehow.

Well, and some people are simply clueless about clues. (My piece was titled Chapter One: The Rescue, because it was the first chapter and it was about a rescue. One person complained that the story didn't make much sense because it didn't read like a short story and who would name a short story "Chapter One" anyway? *headdesk*) That story has been tabled ever since, but mostly because I hadn't decided where I wanted to take the story from there.

Even though I haven't gone back to that one yet, it got me kicked off. My next bit of writing was a brief bit of backstory about one of my larp characters. I really want to tell her story in greater depth at some point, but I haven't worked out what to make the overall plot. It's sort of rambly right now and the beginning keeps shifting. For now, it's a tabled project.

The story that really pushed me into writing with the goal to share began with a dream. It had been so vivid and the characters so compelling that I wrote down as much of the dialog and setting that I could remember when I woke up. It made me want to know what had led to the confrontation. Even after a few days, I still felt it pulling on me. Thus began a several year long project I have never completely put aside, even though I still have a long way to go to completing a draft.

Currently, I cycle between that story, three other novels, and a couple of short stories. Having multiple stories may seem scattered, but when I get flustered or muddle-headed on one because I've narrowed my focus too tightly for first draft work, I can switch to another project. It's reduced my chance at being hit by Shiny New Idea. That's how a couple of my current projects began. I took too long of a break with no writing, and SNI bit me hard. Considering how my focus has improved and my non-writing intervals have shrunk, I'd say it works for me.

But I wouldn't have gotten past the puttering stage on that dream story or spawned any of the other stories if it hadn't been for Writer's Digest. The forums on the website connected me to other writers, especially ones who appreciated the kind of stories I enjoyed. The class may have been a nice start, but I've learned more about improving my writing skills from my forumites and the bloggers I've stumbled onto because of them. Even this blog exists only from the encouragement they gave me in starting one.

It's been a long slow ride for me to get this far as a writer. I wasn't sure how serious I was about it at first, more like yet another hobby. (I have many.) Some writers describe their drive to write as this powerful urge, their passion, something they've always had. I don't have that. But the longer I continue on this writing adventure, the more I want to keep going and the better I get. And my stories won't leave me alone.

Monday questions

Sorry this is so late. I was wiped out last night (went to bed at 9pm, crazy early for me) and my internet was down today until around dinner time. Here are answers to Emily's questions. I'm going to save Joshua's and DL's questions for the next couple Mondays.

Emily asked: What's the weirdest food you've ever eaten?

Hmm, this is hard. Possibly starfruit and kumquats. Starfruit for the taste and kumquats just because they're like itty bitty oranges that you eat whole. I've had quite a bit of international foods, but I'm not sure I'd classify any of them as weird. Though I'm sure some people might think of tadig that way. It's rice that's been deliberately cooked into a crunchy crust.

If I could be any of my characters, which one would I be?

Another toughie. I love many of them. But possibly I'd go with Captain Daira or Jana. They're from the same story and balance each other's weaknesses.

--Captain Daira is tough and disciplined with a mind for strategic planning. She's loyal to her country and fights for justice and honor, even when others think she has none. Right now she's trying to maintain her ideals but she's no longer quite the noble leader she'd hoped to be. She's fixated on proving herself innocent of the false charges which has made her a little bitter and tarnished her ideals. Managing an assorted lot of men doesn't help her focus when some of them are actual criminals.
--Jana is a kind-hearted artisan who gets brought into Daira's camp after her father is hung as a traitor and has to learn all sorts of things about the wider world she'd never dealt with before. She'd been sheltered, but she will be learning how to be a leader even though she won't be the same sort as Daira. Instead she has a willingness to listen, generosity, and encouragement to draw people to her. Jana never sees herself as a leader, but Daira and her men come to recognize those quieter leadership traits.

This whole leadership difference is a major theme. Daira's the obvious sort of societal leader. She commands a group of people with her dominant and confident personality, and they do what she tells them. (Mostly) But then there's a more subtle sort of leadership, leading by example. Jana's kindness and willingness to help others revives Daira's ideals and inspires better actions from most of the men in camp. She becomes as much of a leader as Daira, though each with different strengths. Daira is the sword; Jana is the heart. Together they are a powerful force.

I've always wanted to be a dynamic leader like Daira, but I've come to know that not all leaders have to lead in the same way. Jana is a reflection of my ideal self in the lead-by-example manner. This story is probably dearest to my heart of all of them. I work on it, feel incapable of expressing it, work on other projects, learn more, come back and work on it. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I won't give up on their story. This is the one especially for the girl I was many years ago and all other girls like her.