This is not my first blog. I am what some so endearingly like to call a "blog-whore." My first blog began when I was 13 years old in 7th grade. It still exists, I still update it quite frequently with a lot of personal thoughts. I have other blogs. A couple of personal journals, some art-related blogs, but this is the first blog I've ever started for a writing project. I believe I once began a livejournal for NaNoWriMo in 2007, but that was only one entry. I'm no stranger to this world, but this is definitely a new project for me.
I am starting this blog because I have a story I'd like to write. I woke up a few mornings ago with a brilliant idea in my head. If felt like a crystal hanging in a window, catching the morning sunlight. I couldn't ignore it. I really liked the initial idea, it was different and enticing, especially for me.
I've written 3 novels to date. All of them have been NanoWrimo novels, 200 pages and 50,000 words hastily pounded out in 30 days. All of them have been absolutely atrocious works. I think the only one with any redeeming qualities was my first novel, which had some interesting characters and character interaction. But beyond that, nothing I have written has come out the way I had hoped it would. There are a couple reasons for this.
The first is that they were all written too fast. I planned them out a few weeks before writing, and then just got through them as quick as possible. This is how I approach a lot of things. For example, in my painting class I tend to just go at it and finish as soon as possible. I usually reach a point where I decide I can't do any more with the work, and give up and move on. I never revisit work, I never go back and meticulously fix the small details. I think this is important to writing, and I have never had the patience to actually practice this habit. I think a slower initial approach would be important as well.
The second is that I have never seriously studied writing. I am an art student. No one cares what I put down in words really, as long as I can write a decent artist's statement, that's all that really matters.
It was a hard decision in the first place to chose art over writing. I hear a lot of stories from fellow students and peers about how they have been drawing ever since they could pick up a crayon. I guess I have too, but I don't really remember drawing a lot when I was little. I do remember writing all the time though. As soon as I could put together sentences, I was a powerhouse of short stories. I remember writing for fun all the time, and I've always kept an abundance of journals. I settled with pursuing animation with the thought that I would be able to explore both story and drawing. I think it was the right choice.
However I've had seriously little formal training in writing. I got A's in most of my english classes (except for one B my senior english teacher gave me out of sheer laziness to actually grade my work...this is no begrudged exaggeration, either. I got A's in literally every other class in high school. I deserved that A, dammit. I did all the readings, and then reluctantly summarized the chapters to my lazy friend every morning, and guess who gets the better grade? But I digress...) I never felt like I really knew what I was doing in those classes though, and we never studied the how to do any creative writing in class, just essays, which are about as fun as eating drywall. Hence why I decided NOT to become an English major or go forth in a university degree in the first place. Everything I've learned about writing has been through trial and error.
So I've decided to start this blog to keep track of my progress and journey through learning how to write. I don't want to fuck up another good idea on bad writing. I really do see this potential novel going somewhere if I pull it off right. I guess you could say it's been a lifelong dream of mine to be a published author. I didn't really realize it until not long ago when I was rereading Harry Potter and realized how much of an effect writing can have on the world. Writing is something I've just always done. I can't help but use written words...a lot. It's the only way I know how to communicate.
I plan to move at a crawl. Good things take time, and I want to put a lot of effort into this. I want to get started writing right away, but I need to take some time to explore different ideas, to figure out how to successfully structure the entire story, and how to make the whole thing appealing. The biggest problem is that it is a genre I have absolutely no experience with. Rather than a sci-fi or fantasy novel, this is going to be a love story. A psychological, surreal love story. Yipes. I have a lot of work to do.
