Story Sharing: Let Wolves Eat Your Babies

What's kicking, punk dogs?

Story sharing. It's probably the scariest thing any developing writer could ever do. I'm not talking about the, 'wook what I wote, mommy' kind of sharing, either. I mean the story-shredding, red-pen-slashing, wolf-editor-ravaging kind of story sharing. I remember the first time I ever shared a story to my editor, I was extremely happy. He had told me it was a nice story and that I had potential to be a real writer. I was in happy land.

Then, he laid it on me. He told me the plot was weak, the characters sucked, the setting was underdeveloped, my voice didn't fit the story, the hook made him gag, the ending was pathetic and my sentence structure was third grade. My happy high dropped harder than the bass of any dubstep song.

But if there was one thing that kept me going, it was my willingness to be a better writer. Despite the harsh criticism, I wanted to prove that I can write a story so good, he'd criticize his own criticism. So, I took it with a grain of salt and asked him 'what made the story so awful?' and 'which points need work?'. From there, I just re-edited, rewrote and reread. And again. And again.

Honestly, nothing is more devestating than having someone one doesn't really know tell them how much their story sucks. The truth is, criticism will always be there. One may have written an awesome story, but there's always something that needs work. I think the instant a writer learns to accept that, criticism becomes less heart wrenching (I won't lie, it still hurts). Soon, the writer just starts craving for that kind of critique and wants to know how their story can grow.

Back when I was in creative writing, we'd have a writing workshop. This was fun and all, but difficult. I wanted people to rip my story apart, to honestly tell me why my story sucked. But as I read and edited other people's work, I felt too awful slashing their awful stories up until they bled. I ended up stamping little smilies on their papers and jotting mundane compliments like, "good job", "thumbs up" or "10/10".

The experience, however, made me realize that all these other classmates would do the same to me. And, sure enough, when I got my edited story back, it was as if I had edited the story myself without knowing. There was this one guy who decided to rip my story apart, and I really appreciated it. We went on to be good friends until he slipped on a banana peel and flew off the third floor of the school. I'm kidding. After my course on creative writing, we went our different paths. He liked journalism and pursued it. I found it dull and repetitive, no offense.

I went on to start writing on Wattpad (it's an on-again off-again relationship, but we're working it out) and I remember posting one of my stories, asking for harsh criticism. And I got it. This user popped up and just clawed at my story. After he was done, I almost wanted to give up and Kobe my story (this was after multiple critiques by my editor and two semesters of creative writing, mind you). No matter how much experience one has with harsh criticism, it will still hurt.

To be honest, despite the heartbreak it gives, criticism helps everyone in the long run, the writer and the story. I'm going to use an analogy that I feel everyone uses and is pretty cliché but just go with it. Our stories are our babies. We create these living, breathing worlds and put them down into a physical form. We treasure these stories and hold them close, protecting them from the outside world like upper class mothers. But, honestly, all that ever gets achieved from this is a spoiled story, a rotten story, a weak, selfish story with no backbone.

I believe that stories really are babies. They are young new ideas blossoming and hoping to become a great piece of literature. But you can grow in a sheltered environment. Soon, those ideas will have to face the outside world and experience it for themselves. They will have to make a name for themselves. They may come back to you for help and that's when you help them and show them what they can do. Then you send them out to the world again.

I mean, who doesn't want an independant offspring who can help himself in the world? Or a story that can please everyone with its good qualities? The truth is, no one likes a spoiled brat. So, let wolves eat your babies. As hard as it may be to watch, just know that your story is growing stronger and becoming an independant piece of literature that you can appreciate and converse with, rather than nurture, yourself. 

Let me know some experiences you've had or whether you agree or disagree with what I had to say. Thank you and safe travels.

Don't Kobe Stupid Story Ideas, Keep It

What's kicking, punk dogs?

I got to thinking about my last post on deleted ideas and wondered, 'what drives us to make such a stupid decision like tossing a page full of ideas and characters into the trash?' (Kobe!).

Don't get me wrong, I've written a ton of stuff that was just vomit-inducing awful. I knew it the instant I would finish writing it. But what drives us to just toss that nasty plotful (Get it? No. Okay.) idea out?

When I was digging through my box of spirals and stuff, I happened to run across a ton of old ideas, characters and spur-of-the-moment, teen-angst-er stories (only like ten because I had thrown the other halves of my notebooks away). Again, I'll admit, they were bad. But I was actually able to see the stories potential, and, regardless of how bad it was, I was still able to pick up on the things I liked most of the story.

Sadly, I had gotten into the digital ways of writing, which lead to easy deletion. I don't mean to hate on technology, in fact, I prefer to write in a digital form over physically writing it on paper (except when it comes to outlining. I need my paper). But this lead me to effortlessly delete multiple stories that I just couldn't stand for in the past. Now, I regret my decision. Sometimes, I stay awake in the middle of the night wondering what thoughts those past stories told.

Luckily, I was able to salvage some old outlines I had written in those journals, so I got the jist of a couple of those stories. But, even the outlines inspired me to write. It's a strange thing when one looks through old ideas and all that other stuff. I mean, I recognized why I thought it was bad, and found it to be worse now. But it revived my old thoughts on why I believed these ideas would become great stories.

If there is one thing that a writer regrets but seems to never learn from, I would say it's the Kobe-ing of "bad" ideas. I know that by next week, I'll be tossing out some ideas and by next year I'll be regretting it, but maybe that's just the cycle of an idea. Maybe these ideas are meant to be tossed out, withered and forgotten, to remind us that our imagination never stops, or that story telling is forever. Maybe they choose to be discarded for the use of another author in the later years, for an author who is sure to nurture and truly develop them into a beautiful story. Maybe they vanish from our lives for a bit, only to be discovered later in our memories and smelted down into a better idea with more potential. Or maybe its as simple as my ideas really do suck.

Be sure to comment your thoughts, ideas, and experiences. I'd like to hear about them. Thank you and safe travels.

A Writer's Blog

What's kicking, punk dogs? I'm doing awesome!

It's going to be my first time blogging, and I'm nervicited (kudos if you pick up on the reference). I decided to try this out only because I am currently working on a trilogy, and my mind needed a break from all the outlining. I still wanted to improve my writing skills, so I decided 'why not start a blog?'.  But my slow mind suddenly realized, 'what would it be about?'. So, after I gave it some thought, I finally concluded, 'why don't I just write about the stupid things I'm always rambling about? Writing. People seem to tune out when I talk about it, anyway.'

You see, growing up, I loved writing stories and, eventually, I decided to pursue writing and learn the most I can on my own. The more I learned, the more I got interested. Eventually, I got to talking to people about writing. I talked to teachers, family, friends, strangers; just about anyone I ran into.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people did provide support and encouraged me to continue learning (Thank you, teachers and mom). The majority of these people, however, never really found interest in what I had to say. And I don't blame them. All I ever talked about was character development, plot situations, sentence structure and other seemingly boring things for normal people. Also, when it comes to talking, I can't shut my mouth.

I figured a lot of writers must feel the same way (not the can't-shut-mouth thing, the feeling-left-out-on-conversations-because-no-one-can-relate thing). Thus, I decided I would write  a blog on random thoughts and experiences I have encountered in writing.

Except, I don't just want to ramble on about what I have to say. I'm hoping these posts will inspire other writers, both developed and developing, to post their thoughts on the posted subjects. I want these posts to encourage those who are just starting out in writing. I want these posts to relate to developing writers. I want a blog that can teach me about writing as well as teach others.

I hope you all will enjoy what's to come. I look forward to these irrelevant conversations that plague the mind of a writer. Thank you and safe travels to you all.

Why Journal?

What's kicking, punk dogs?

So the other day, I dug around my dump of a room and found a had an absurd amount of binders, notebooks and journals packed in a box (several boxes, actually). That left me wondering why are we, as writers, so fascinated with journals and notebooks? Are we so enthralled that our ideas can be physically stated? Are we so inspired by the empty pages that just beg to be scribbled with information? I'm serious. Even as a kid I would marvel at new spirals with empty, lined pages like they were the latest transformer, or whatever.

I'm not sure what it is, but, for some reason, every time I enter any store, I have to stop by the office supplies aisle, simply to admire the crisp and fresh journals they have on display. It's exciting to look through the different kinds of notebooks and I to think of all the fascinating ideas I'd fill them with. Eventually, I end up walking out with maybe five journals (exaggeration). But, rather than overfilling them with incredible character outlines or plot ideas, I just end up filling each one half way or ripping up almost half of them, tossing out the majority of my pathetic ideas (understatement).

Anyway, I spent the majority of that afternoon looking through said ripped-up and half-filled spirals and journals and read back all the things I wrote in the past. It was very nostalgic. Every written document, every stated idea, every half finished character outline was all there. And it made me sad that I had turned to digital forms of writing, where a simple unfavorable piece can be forgotten with a simple button. Despite the simplicity digital writing offers on removing a writer's work (Both willingly and accidentally. Good job technology.), journals offer a solution as well; ripping pages and tossing them into trash bins. Which I've done a lot of in the past and painfully regret.

As a developing writer, I would highly suggest, which I never thought I'd say, to keep a journal. I remember back when I was starting out as a writer, I disliked, no, hated journaling. I don't know why. Something about writing what you feel and what had happened during your day just seemed so dull. I just wanted to write some intense, elaborate and fantastic story that could keep me entertained.

I eventually got into journaling (still found it dull). But I kept it up for a while and didn't really specify much. As I discovered all these notebooks, however, I happened to stumble upon this particular journal. I found that it was really amusing. As I read each entry, I wanted to know more about it. Why I had felt a certain way, or what I did after a certain action. But my lazy, past self decided not to get into the details because he was not amused at the time.

The truth is, journal entries are extremely exciting, especially after a passing of time. One comes to learn about an old character of the past whom they had known. One gets to watch it grow day by day, entry by entry, and watch as it accomplishes achievements, makes mistakes and how it reacts toward them. One gets to see what hurts and what builds this character up. And at the end of the journal, one sits and wonders 'what happened to that character?', 'What made it change into the person I am today?'.

Journaling is a strange thing that, at first, I never thought could aid in my writing. If anything, I thought it was a waste of time. But, given some effort and dedication, I've come to learn that it aids in developing one's own unique voice and helps to recollect a person's own thoughts. But journaling still has its challenges, especially for people like my old journal self.

Something that really helped me during those times were scheduling and consistency. I made it a habit to write every morning and kept a schedule on it (That was one of the reasons why I eventually stopped, my schedule flipped and my consistency flew out the window).

But the thing that really helped me to journal was writing as if I was talking to a friend. I wrote about anything and everything; my next story idea, a new guitar song, the girl who sat two rows in front of me, why I don't want to write in a journal. Despite all the entries I obligingly wrote back then, I came to find how interesting it was.

What about you guys? Where do your thoughts stand on journaling? Do you feel it's built you as a writer?

Thank you and safe travels.