Technically today is the last day of my honors blog. From here on out this may continue or they may not but chances are it will be far less frequent and far less focused. My apologies. However I would like to say that this has been an excellent endeavor. I've realized a lot of things about writing, and even though I have not suddenly become a better writer, I know that the things I have discovered will equip me to sometime in the future, most likely gradually and many years down the road, improve upon my writing.
I have addressed within this blog over the past few months the subject of methodology or the steps I plan to take to improve my writing. In that I have noticed a trend. Basically there are three categories that these methods fall in to:
- A revisionary to-do list,
- Intentional pre-story planning,
- And reading.
A revisionary to-do list. I know that somethings may not every come naturally to me when I write. So that's how the to-do list comes into play. When I've finished my first few drafts I will need to consciously look over my creation and make sure that it meets all of the standards that I as a writer am concerned about. I may ask my self (broadly here, but more specific during actual revisions) if the story I tell is interesting and has tension, if the characters are as real as they are on the page as they are in my mind, or if my word choices and sentence/paragraph structures reveal artistry and true literary skill.
Intentional pre-story planning. If I honestly want to create a piece of good literature then my stories can't just be 2D. I need to know before I write where I'm going, who my main character(s) is(/are), etc. Obviously not completely fleshed out, because that would sap all the joy out of the creating process of writing, but enough so that my story has purpose (from my point of view) and an evident intention (from the reader's point of view).
And reading. I know I've said it plainly before but it is true. Reading is a huge part of what makes us better writers. I thank my writing professor for making that clear. Even if its not exactly the kind of writing I hope to create, having that experience of seeing and asking why its NOT what I would want to duplicate is important. I've done a lot of reading this semester and not all of it was stuff that made me say "this is something I wish I had written" but still everything I've read has made my view of what I do want to write much more evident. And that's been super cool. I hope that my reading habits continue even after the threat of a poor grade ceases.
In summary, that is all I have to say. I've appreciated this time and am glad that I took the time to teach myself (in conjunction with what I was being taught in my classes, too) and grow.
I don't want to leave without my usual commentary on the things I've been reading but since I'm still not finished with the other two pieces I'm reading for class I'll keep it to a minimum. So, Jane Eyre and Gulliver's Travels:
I am not as thrilled with Gulliver's Travels as I was hoping to be. Swift has a lot of themes that exist under the surface that I feel like I can't appreciate since I know so little about his culture. Because of that it seems to make his story, even on the surface level, less entertaining. I hope that as a writer I am able to write things that can bee relevant to all people for all times. Even if my works never become so renowned I hope to write with that intention. (this one would fall into the to-do list category since I know how easy it is to speak to your generation when you write.)
Jane Eyre is magnificent. It definitely is the opposite of Gulliver's Travels in the fact that it is a timeless tale. No we don't have horrible schools like the one Jane is in but the way Jane narrates and speaks so truthfully about her thoughts and emotions helps us understand where she is coming from and we are even able to relate to her as a person, even if we are not orphans.
On that note I will leave you. I appreciate you taking the time to read these often times aimless ponderings and I hope that the various things I have learned could in turn help you, whether it be your writing or just in your general understanding of literature.
Goodbye for now,
Jessica
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