4/25 Blog Post

Three Ideas for my audience to consider:

1. Starting out is the hardest
2. Research is a must
3. Writers live on Feedback

4/20 They Say, I Say

Chase Wilson

Perspectives

Becker

4/19/17

Fiction Writing “Rules”

Any site a person looks up for how to write a novel will have things like “NO PROLOGUES BECAUSE THEY’RE BORING” (Writer’s Digest) or “ADVERBS ARE A MORTAL SIN” (The Guardian). It turns out, a lot of people want to be thrown into the story head first, but as a person who likes prologues (both reading and writing them) this opinion doesn’t sit well with me. In the past, I have gotten nothing but positive feedback from my prologues, so maybe the people who hate them haven’t read the right ones? No matter the opinion, in my 20-time project, I decided to try to not write a prologue.

Novel-Writing-Help.com was a mostly unbiased site that I chose to look at more closely. It contained advice from famous and successful writers that readers could get inspiration and ideas from. Within the advice from famous authors was a quote by Stephen King, “When asked, ‘How do you write?’, I invariably answer, ‘One word at a time’.” You can ask 100 writers how to start writing, and you’ll get 100 different answers. Despite all the “rules” that people make up, there is no one right way to write something. It all depends on what you want to read, and it will show in your writing.

I agree that writing is different for everyone, but I am also affected by the strong opinions of many people saying what they don’t like in literature. For the most part, I say you get what you get and don’t throw a fit but I won’t straight up ignore a mass opinion. Ultimately I am writing how and what I want to write, all the while incorporating the “rules” of writing.

http://www.novel-writing-help.com/how-to-write-a-novel.html

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/how-to-write-a-novel-7-tips-everyone-can-use

4/17 blog 6

(The attached link goes to a google doc with a screen shot of the correspondence between myself and my Composition professor at Kirkwood.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17GVmPuIT78gD_XkCnD_ihFNhTk19mLI7tc0NBasMpKw/edit?usp=sharing

The tomorrow Ben is referring to is 4/18/17, which was the date for a writing conference I scheduled a while ago for this project. I can not update on how the conference was, for it has not happened, but I am very excited for it because Ben's advice has helped me so much for other papers in other classes. Because it is not an academic paper, I feel the conversation can be more open and ideas can flow more freely. I can always discuss this later too. Ben is an honorable mention anyway (he's such a cool person) so I will definitely mention him in my final video project because he has already influenced my writing through the semester.

Blog Post 5

                   The first thing I did for my project was create characters. It's my favorite part of writing. Right now, my characters are what's driving me to finish. Writer's block is halting the process, but I am slowly getting through it. It's important to me to work the plot around how I imagine the character's interacting. I do believe I'll have to change something about it, but I'm not sure what. Probably some aspects of the plot or the universe I set up for the story. I've some ideas I want to use, and I'm using them to progress the parts I need to fill the space between them as a solid plot line. I may need advice on plot ideas.
                     For the commercial, I want to try my hand at reenacting a scene from what I have written already. I think the perfect scene is my image of a watchmaker working on a mysterious device and when he finally gets it to work. I've got some actors in mind too, including my grandfather or a family friend I sort of based his looks on.

Blog Post 4

              "Why Kids Hate School Lunch" Response

                   Lunches aren't what they used to be. But what did they use to be? I never got to experience this for myself but my older cousin went to Kennedy and during her years, the cafeteria served Pizza Hut pizza on special days, along with Subway and some select others. Unfortunately the price got expensive and unhealthy so they stopped that in 2012. That's what the article in the New York Times reports as a problem with childhood obesity relating to school lunch. I agree that obesity is a problem, but the "healthy" food served nowadays does not seem like food at all. 

                    The mindsets of the people of America and France are different as well. Whereas America is calorie-conscious, the French see what they want to eat and they eat it. They have the lowest obesity rate in the Western world, so how does that add up? Americans over-eat and that leads to obesity and an obsession over calorie consumption. What I don't understand is how Americans care so much about the number of calories, but still have some of the highest obesity records in the world.

                    The article likes to discuss France quite a lot, focusing on how their food is made from scratch and is cheaper and better in most ways. Schools in France pay $7 per meal at the wealthiest, but no reports were given on the lowest paid for meals. More information is needed to create a more solid argument, but the highest provides that America can do the same because of wealthy families. I agree with that. But the problem is not with the article per say, but with the education system. I have a problem with the way that American schools are "solving" the problem of obesity by using low-fat, flavorless, and even gross processed foods in their lunch plans. There must be a better way. Also, children aren't eating the "healthy" foods because it's not what they're used to. New York Times reports that children learn eating habits from their parents, and if the food is different from what they're getting at home, it's probably why the children are not eating the food provided by the school system. Forcing kids to eat something they don't what doesn't really work, does it?

Blog Post 3

Progress--

                 I have started the first chapter. Pinterest has many boards to follow that have writing prompts, character banks, and other world building ideas for writers to use. One of those posts was the basis for the first line of the first chapter, which is: "No one was sorry to see him die except the little girl on the corner". Morbid already. They're gonna love it.

                 With the help of other collaborators/friends I've met online, questionnaires for character development are being completed by me. The site charahub.com is a great way to organize characters and find pictures that go with them. It's really helped me in the past with getting to know my own characters and see how they change. The questions are thorough and helpful for development. 

                 What I plan to do with the next few weeks is finish chapter one and get a feel for what I'm writing. I have scenes written out, but no way to get to them yet. I look forward to new ideas and suggestions. 

Blog Post 2

Blog Post 2

Research questions:

• What are the advantages of writing short stories vs. full novels?
• What are some theories of time that could inspire real life time travel? (Is it possible, and what ways would seem plausible in my short story?)
• What are some overused plot lines used in time-travel novels?
• How much is too much made-up "scientific fact"? (Like, made up societies in books have their own laws and even magic, but how much would make it feel impossible?

Checking in

Chase:

I am excited that you are going to be in your own element! Some things to keep in mind:
-Who might be a mentor for you?
-What materials are out there that can help you with your process?
-Who are potential readers you can have along the way whose opinions you value?

Let me know if you would like help thinking through some of this stuff. Also, Brandon Koch is doing something similar so you might share materials with eachother at some point. In the meantime, consider reading through this website about the Iowa Youth Writing Program.

Week One

         Week One Blog Post

         My proposal was writing a novel or a short story. I would love to write an actual long novel piece, but short stories are good too. My proposal at first did not have a genre included, but over the past few days I have decided that it will be Sci-Fi plus some fantasy elements. Also historical fiction features in the setting aspect. It's going to have time travel and everything. Probably will be set in an alternative timeline from ours.
         I have found sites that I like to use to gather some ideas. This one has been the best so far. The best writers use the successes of others to further their development. That is just what I am doing. While I want something completely different from what's been written in the past, I still wasn't decided on my idea. I'm still not, but I know some things. The most difficult part is coming up with a plot line for this story. A few ideas are running through my head but I don't know which path to take yet.
         Next week I want to start planning a plot. Or at least some characters and more world building. I've decided on a time period, but specifically I want to work on the laws that my "society" lives by. My most common writer problem is wanting others to read my story but wanting it to already exist...