Monday 26 April 2010

where you go when you're born

It occurs to me that I've almost finished a creative writing degree and I haven't posted any creative writing on here. I'm not really going to start now, this is still Mildly Interesting Films (even though, technically, I haven't made a film in about a year). But I've just finished my final writing project, an epic little story about things happening to people. With a 6000 word limit, it turned out to be an exercise in compressing a novel into a tiny space. As a result some of the chapters are no more than a few lines long, and at their most no more than 700 words. The thing is, it turns out I like writing like this. There's no room for filler. It just has to get straight to it. Some of the chapters are so short they read like little prose poems. Now I've written like this I'm not sure I can go back to the proper way, with all those extra words.


I've been told I have a fear of adjectives. I don't know why. I like to write with a childlike simplicity. I switch off with flowery language. I've been told my words are good, but I'm convinced I just don't know how to use the ones that are longer than two syllables. The writing project is called where you go when you're born. It's a semi-serious fantasy about sad and funny things. I'm not sure the internet is the best place for it, but then where else is it going to go right now? Maybe in some years I'll start writing longer things. Right now I have a collection of speedily written short stories and one longer chunk of words. I don't want to be a writer though, I just like it when a story comes together.

4 comments:

  1. So...would you planning on posting chapters here from time to time? This is lovely.

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  2. I'm wondering about the best way to present it. Maybe in three parts. I'm thinking about it.

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  3. There is something artistic and noble in keeping things simple. Writing flowery words for the sake of writing flowery words isn't a great thing. It's about what you, as a person, have to say, would like to express. Words are powerful, language is fascinating and if you don't need adjectives to explain it, then don't use them. I think of it as "style." You have a certain style to your writing that is uniquely yours...like an artist and their brushstrokes.

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