Beginning of Writer's Workshop

Whew. Let me just start off by saying that writing a story is tough! Not only is it time consuming, it requires a lot of imagination and skill. I give credit to all the authors out there!
So reading this book, "The Modern Library: Writer's Workshop," I feel a little more inspired. I have read the first chapter--it basically encourages writers to get started, pick up the notebook and write, NOW. The major thing that I agree with is that good storylines come from childhood memory. Flannery O'Connor (one of my favorite authors), said that "anyone who survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life" (13). I totally agree! When I began to brainstorm ideas for writing, I took the advice of this book and wrote down MANY childhood memories. I seriously wrote on the front and back of a piece of paper! Even though I had so many ideas, I ended up taking a totally different route, but it was a lot of fun to think back to my childhood anyway (and will probably come in handy next time for story ideas). It is kind of like how Flannery O'Connor wrote "Good Country People," which by the way, if you haven't read it, read it--I loved it! She had a girl character with a wooden leg and a bible salesman meet, and suddenly decided at the last minute, the bible salesman would steal her leg! That made me chuckle outloud because this is probably so typical of all writers. A story with all of its elements doesn't just come at once, they come in spurts!

There are a lot of quotes from various authors in this chapter that give some good advice and interesting comments. One thing that I really liked was how Kurt Vonnegut said: "When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away--even if it's only a glass of water." He was trying to tell his students that stories have characters who want something, but face trouble (conflict) to attain what they want, and go through a series of events until they get what they want. What a great way to put it!

I totally agree with the fact that our memories stink when it comes to ideas--especially in writing. It is always good to get your ideas on paper. Don't try to remember it later! Have you ever had a REALLY good dream at night and told yourself that you will remember it in the morning, only to wake up and totally forget? Point proven.

So far, I really find this book helpful. It's really hard for me to keep up with the reading madness of this semester, but I am loving this book. I'm on to chapter two... !



^^A sneak peak of "Good Country People." I'm telling you, read it because of course, this clip isn't the same or nearly as good!