Me, the Writer

 

Me, the writer

What was your writing identity prior to the course?

Back in grade 8 I bought a journal in hopes of starting up journaling; however, many times it was forgotten and buried in the deep corners of my desk. Prior to creative writing class, writing was an art that I admired, something I wished I could do and be good at. But reality was that I struggled with writing, especially with time constraints, and that greatly disappointed me to the point where I ignored and avoided writing as much as possible. I thought writing was a magnificent skill that was owned by people who were incredibly skilled. Creative writing changed that.

What is your writing identity now?

  • Through the creative writing course, I have been exposed to a variety of writing styles, techniques, and forms that has helped me identify my voice and strength in writing. I was once an admirer but now I am one that creates pieces of my own. That being said, I am nowhere near as skilled as my peers and I have many skills to learn and develop.     
  • As a writer, I identify myself as one that believes in writing pieces that communicates the human condition in one way or another. Whether it be poems, short stories, emulations, and articles, every piece stems from the purpose I wish to tell the readers.
  • As a writer, I have now began to pay keep attention to every detail that is included in a piece. Every image semicolon, and words must leave the reader thinking. Personally, I find this skill to be challenging to master as it can become very subjective. As I continue to write, one of my main goals is to further develop this skill and use it successfully in my pieces.     

Reflect on your development as a writer

  • Genre: I have explored a variety of genres as distinct as fiction is from non-fiction. Through in class journally, I’ve writing snippets of romance, a failed attempt of horror, and even science fiction. Most of my best writing pieces come in the form of poems that have been inspired by my religious belief; thus I lean more towards the non-fictional spectrum of things. My favourite books are historical-romance novels and in the coming future I would love to explore the genre of romance and possible write a historical – fiction inspired short story.     
  • Ideas: Christianity is a prominent factor that has influenced various different aspect of my life – even in writing. As I mentioned before, I want my writing to leave an impact on every reader and I believe that that is attainable when writing about something that I am deeply passionate about. “Voices of the Persecuted”, “C is for Church”, and “Agape Love”, are three prominent pieces that were inspired by the ideas and values shared in my religion.  In the future, I wish to create pieces that have been inspired by various different ideas, most that appeal to the youths.
  • Details: this is something I have been working on every since the very beginning of creative writing. As a writer, I have to be conscious of how much detail I provide in each piece. For me the amount of detail depends on my writing topic. Say for an example my anecdote, “We Fall Some”, has much more detail than what my poems would have. I am yet discovering the power of detail and how it can elevate a boring piece into something that is much more intriguing. It is certainly something I am working on improving as I have noticed that my writing sometimes lacks sufficient amount of detail.  
  • Structure: Throughout my pieces I have experimented with various styles of structure, incorporating different text alignments and visual effects. Sometimes it can be very difficult to find the perfect picture, so for the time being, I’ve substitute pictures which I hope to replace in the future. When looking at my pieces most of them are structured chronological or sequential, this is mainly for my article, anecdote, and A-Z assignment.
  • Voices and Style: Initially I thought formal language was what makes a writing piece excellent. However I have discovered that sometimes to much big words loses the meaning of the writing piece. Therefore, in creative writing class my voice has developed to being very casual and conversational. I have noticed that a lot of it tends to flow and has a hint of lyricism.   
  • GUMPS: Since a young age I have been working on my grammar and is still continuing to do so. Over the past couple of months, I have improved; however, I still have GUMPS in my writing that needs fixing. I would particularly like to work on the use of punctuation, especially colons and semicolons, as it helps with the flow and connection within the writing.

 

 

How would you explain your voice? What is stylistic of you?

As mentioned above, my voice tends to be very casual, conversational, and lyrical. A conversational, causal voice is most evident in my piece: “L is for Library.” My main objective with the writing is for the readers to feel connected and understood. I am working towards creating a soothing voice, one that provides comfort and softens the sharp corners of any harsh topic. As for stylistic choices, I have noticed that I have short bursts of detailed imagery, this is especially evident in my anecdote, “We Fall Some,” and my poem, “Agape Love.” In the future I hope to strength and hone my stylistic choices to include a variety of techniques like foreshadowing, motifs, the use of parallelism.    

As a mentor writer, what advice would you give to future creative writers?

Don’t ever think that you cannot write. Get past that fear and being writing. Yes, you may not start out being the excellent writing you aspire to be; however, keep write and never give up. Overtime you will discover you voice, you will develop different skills, and most importantly you will improve significantly. The only advice that I can give is read read read and write write write! And most importantly enjoy this incredible journey!

Future goals and plans regarding writing?   

Now that I have started writing, I don’t every want to give up. My advice to future creative writers applies to me as well in that I hope to pursue writing and developing as a writer. I have so much more to learn and in the future I wish to develop new skills and grow as a writer. These are a few goals that I will be focusing on:

  • Improving on GUMPS
  • Continue blogging
  • Incorporate a variety of stylistic choices in my writing

 

featured image: https://www.the-rampage.org/2216/opinions/midterms-at-ramaz-should-there-be-other-options/

Image 2: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/on-writing/writing-life/nov/05/diana-gabaldon/

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