Written Whispers

Style Or Something Else

September 19th, 2007

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It seems that everything I write lately or attempt to write as it may be is not my ‘usual’ style. I’m beginning to wonder if I ever really truly knew what my style was in the first place.

I have a theory. I’ve been writing ever since I could read, and I’ve been making stories in my mind since, well, all my life. When I was in fifth grade I wrote a short story that might well be termed as extremely violent for a child my age. Mind you, the way I’ve grown up I’m a little more mature than I should be. Well, I was proud of myself and showed it off at school like every other happy fifth grader and ended up in the school counselors office. My mother didn’t care much but everyone else treated it as if there was something seriously wrong with me. It was taken away and disposed of. Since then I was very careful about what I wrote. Romance, language, violence, have all been toned down throughout the years. I can make the scenes in my mind but I wouldn’t type them up, thus they were not part of the plot and the story lacked and major possibly offensive thing I feared to get in trouble for.

Nowadays, I’m a bit older and no longer bound by the rules of society. Well, I am still though I try not to be but you know what I mean. I’ve lived without parents for several years now though I’m only 18 and I’ve been out of public school for two years. It doesn’t matter if someone finds something I’ve typed up and it has a little bit of this or that in it and I’m beginning to think my trained mind has just realized it.

The story I’ve recently (two months tops) started to get into writing has quite a bit of blood in it and violence though those two are rarely connected (< it’s complicated), and more romance than I’m generally comfortable talking about. It’s almost a relief to be able to allow myself to plan out a story that has these things as key plot elements. It’s not the usual fluffy ‘morally’ bound stuff that I restrict myself to.

My theory: My thoughts and feelings have been so restricted throughout the basis of my life that I am only just beginning to know where I stand and what style fits me. Perhaps someday I’ll write a horror story or a romance novel. I have doubt on both of those but who knows in the end? Violence and romance are key parts of everyday life. To take them out of writing is just foolish.

Perfectly Legit Fear

September 19th, 2007

1

Okay. My outline for that short story is done and my outline for BD is well under way now to get seriously into writing. It’s the best part, almost orgasmic to one as easily pleased as I but… one problem. I’m almost afraid I won’t be good enough, like I’ve lost something.

See about a two years back I wrote all the time. I didn’t bother with what I would have deemed ‘that outline crap’, nope not me. I wrote the stuff from start to finish. Mind you, nowadays I’m better at planning my plots and having things make sense but I’ve done very little of that straight out writing. The stuff that makes books, the stuff that matters the most. Then I went back into foster care and I’m sad to say it but it only took a year and a half to break my spirit, my new found self, and when that happened I slowly stopped writing. I was not permitted to express myself spiritually and though they could never take what’s inside me away- expression is like breathing. You take all that is around you in the world and sift through till you find your particular brand of oxygen and take it within yourself. Eventually what is within must come out in order for flow to continue, in and out, in and out. Expression must eventually take place. Thus I would be punished in an assortment of ways though I’m certain it was not looked upon that way and I almost don’t blame them for doing what they thought was right, only for what they knew was cruel.

Anyways, so I shut down. I stopped writing all together because I couldn’t. It hurt. For example, if you are trying to hold your breath and you let just a little escape it’s almost impossible to keep from letting the rest out. Or if you are a dying man in a desert, to come across a single piece of chocolate like a diamond in the rough. You eat it and then find yourself starving even more than before, tortured almost. I was like that and so I could not write. Escaping into my world of fantasy became a forbidden fruit that I willing forbade for the sake of my survival. I had to do it. In the end I took up journaling. It was less creative and every entry sounded suicidal. I took that journal with me everywhere. It was my only relief and I write everything in it, guarding it with my life- with good reason.

Back to the point. I’ve been out now for a year. One blissful, dream come true, I thank goddess I’m alive kind of year. I’ve gotten back into writing even more so than before since then but I’m still afraid that I’ve lost a certain special spark. I know I can do this though, it’s just hard making myself. Like diving in the ocean when you know you haven’t swam in 50 years. That’s a bad analogy for me as I can’t swim but whatever.

I was going to call this post ‘Unreasonable Fears’ but after writing it I’m pretty sure I have a perfectly respectable and legitimate reason for being afraid that I may have lost some talent so I’ll call it something else. Whatever the case may be, even if I have lost some of my flow- I’ve learned so much. How to better plot, make my characters more in depth, take breaks to eat and sleep between writing periods, and how to find my narrators voice. Heck, my spelling has even improved though if I can help it you’ll never know how bad it truly is. Goddess bless spell check on blogger. Really an ingenious idea.

Muse of the moment: Kitten. He’s all tuckered out from playing fetch with little sponge ball like toys. I don’t know if cats can see in color but he seems particularly fond of the pink one. Right now he’s sleeping on my Hunny, all stretched out and using his paws for a pillow.