2008 writing goals

[opera142]

A lot more writing

Writing makes me happy. Writing fulfills me. More of that, please.


Improve

Specifically,

a) rein in some of my bad habits: my tendency to force metaphors and similies into conceit wanna-be constructions, over-reliance on chatty dialogue (this will be hard, I <3 my gossipy characters), telling instead of showing.

b) loosen up my style. I want less writing in my writing. More flow and rhythm. I want my stuff to read as natural as a contented sigh.

c) write thicker stories: more description, more 5 senses. more here-n-now instead of backstory, more character influence on the plot than just the simplistic effect from protagonist and antagonist.


Balls out writing

This feels like the next step after my goal of "honest writing" last year. I'm looking for the next step. What kind of stories can handle unflinching narration? What kind of stories am I trying to find inside me, now that I've scraped off the easy drek? What makes for 100% pure, full blast Operafic? Just how Holy Shit! can I write?

Except, eep, I don't know if I want to self-identify as "an edgy writer" I tend to believe that anything you have to announce, you aren't. And, oftentimes what's declared as edgy writing

a) isn't.
b) wants "edgy" to be a synomym for "incomprehensible mess"
c) might have been at one time, but like a knife it's gotten dull because no one bothered to sharpen it after overuse.

I'm also waivering on whether or not it's a good goal. A lot of that comes from C above. At what point will I begin protecting the first products my goal rather than innovating beyond my "edgy" comfort zone? And, am I even as edgy as I like to believe? The more I read, the more I run into others' takes on my brill ideas. Am I calling non-mainstream writing "edgy" when it's simply different or less common?

Also, ultimately, despite my attempts at and minor successes with "edgy" writing, I'm a conservative storyteller. I like good good guys. I like morals and reprecussions and tragedy. Even if my antagonists and awful stuff are (sometimes) presented as cool or badasses or whatever, I want the standout point to be: look at the heartache caused by this.

So how far can I push boundries, really, when in an odd, roundabout way I'm content with their placement?

To complicate edgy matters further, I still have a crush on Iowa-style writing. And while Iowa-style is many gorgeous things, it's a bloodless and tamed way to write. All those labored-over sentences, so much craft and dedication. So well-grammared and subtley puntcuated. I've learned so much while lingering over them, but soon I'm going to have leave them behind. The revolution can't be workshopped.

Which brings me to the scariest part of this Balls Out goal. No guides. No roadmap. No blueprints. Yikes! It's like, I haven't really conquered traditional genres and the basics of storytelling yet, and now I want to subvert them?



Get Bullheaded About My Awesomeness zomg


Self-doubt was the subject of a sermon at church a few weeks back, and my pastor said, "Self-doubt is a needless hurt." That was so empowering to hear, that one telling adjective: needless.

Seems so simple a notion. For the longest time writing missteps and errors made me feel like such a fraud. Rather than feeling pride that I noticed clunky spots, or that I just knew there had to be a better word out there (and so spent two days hunting for it), I felt ashamed. The very work habits that make for greatness I did out of fear and self-doubt instead of joy for writing.

I've worked hard to accomplish the level of ability I have, and I've earned the right to be proud of that. I comb through my writing because I am a good writer. I am willing to rewrite, recast and rip out entire pages in order to snare the rarest of fictional butterflies because I am a good writer. I am a good writer. I don't have to sing of my gloriousness from the mountaintops, I don't have to bore anyone with the details, but I have to believe in myself. No reason not to.

Comments

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

despite my attempts at and minor successes with "edgy" writing, I'm a conservative storyteller. I like good good guys. I like morals and reprecussions and tragedy

I don't think "edgy" means amoral writing. "Edgy" is going where the story takes you, without flinching. Balls-out, like you said. But that doesn't mean chaos and bloodletting. Or having the bad guy win the day. Sometimes I think there's too much of a tie made between being edgy and writing morally questionable content. Writing sex and violence doesn't automatically make a story "edgy". I think writing consequences is far more daring.

I find it fascinating that you would call yourself a conservative writer, especially in terms of morality. I think you're certainly conservative, but not in terms of values, but you conserve in your prose. You're not spartan, but you're certainly far less cluttered than I am. There's an emotional conservation in your writing and in your characters, too, for better or for worse. But I don't think I would ever term your stories as conservative in terms of moral values.

[opera142.livejournal.com]

This has inspired much thinking! I haven't quite figured out how I want to reply yet.

[opera142.livejournal.com]

But I don't think I would ever term your stories as conservative in terms of moral values.

This was a good lesson in author vs reader perception! Or maybe fiat? Because when I write nasty characters or bull-in-the-chinashop situations, I intend for there to be disapproval. I want my characters to be called out on their failings (which I think might be directly at odds with the concept of fanfic). I try to guide readers to certain reactions, and most of those reactions are based from a conservative moral code.

Also, though I write characters who are indifferent to mainstream moral codes, they do have their own codes and they follow those through Hell and high water. I feel that's a form of conservative storytelling, to create drama and plot from a characters choosing to value a moral code more than the easy pass, no matter how non-traditional that moral code is.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

Took me a long time to sort out my thoughts. -_-

Anyway, I think I might be conflating "conservative" with "conventional" which resulted in my saying what I did, about your writing not being conservative in terms of morality. Because I think you're right. Moral values = conservative. I have a knee-jerk reaction to "conservative" that colored my answer. You may have conservative moral for your characters, but you don't express it in a conventional manner, hence it doesn't feel conservative to me. "Edgy" is morals AND conventionality in question. And I think this - "to create drama and plot from a characters choosing to value a moral code more than the easy pass" - is unconventional, and oftentimes more complex and difficult, both to write and to read.