Fiction Workshop

We had our last day in Fiction today. We did the final workshops, and discussed three stories, with my novel excerpt “Selling the Farm” being one of them. The class seemed to like it. Once again I took a cliche idea and made it original, which I am glad that they thought so because I wasn’t so sure if I succeeded into making it my own or not.

My strengths were pretty much the same as in my previous story. I did well at characterization, especially with Wayne and Addy. I was able to show that Wayne was a creep without saying it, letting him show it for himself. I made Addy into a heroine, which is why the story wasn’t cliche because it was an early 1900’s story, and females generally needed saving by protagonists. I let Addy be her own hero.

I struggled with some of the details, such as the time period. The workshop helped out a lot with that. My class mates gave me a lot of suggestions on what I should do. First off, I should have my story be in the 1930’s, during the depression. It will add to the idea that it is a poor family, but also allow the wealthier people to have cars, and for there to be phones. Also, Addy should not see Wayne pulling Charlotte in the way of the bullet. Perhaps Addy should close her eyes for longer while before she pulls the trigger. I am going to have to work on this a little, and play with different idea. Also, Addy shouldn’t wipe of the gun. For one, she probably wouldn’t if her daughter had just been shot, and for two, she may not have needed to in the time period.

I am glad that I got good advice on the story. This semester went well. I would have never thought that I would have been good at writing fiction. It seems that I do have some talent in characterization. When I work hard I am capable of writing good short stories. I still have some work to do, but I am happy with the progress that I have made.

Gathering Information

I am currently getting ready for my physical science exam that is tomorrow at 9 AM. I am hopefully more ready for this test than I was for the last one. I just finished completing the online portion of the quiz, and I scored 86 percent, which is not terrific, but I’ll take it. It seems odd that we are having a test 5 so late in the semester considering the fact that we are also having a final.

Poetry Conferences

I had my conference with my poetry professor yesterday. It went well, it was only supposed to be a 15 minute conference and we talked for over a half hour on the concepts of poetry as well as where I am at.

I have grown a lot over the past semester as far as poetry skills. My professor has seen that, and is surprised that I am a beginner. In my poetry, my strengths are mood and tone, and my subject matter is usually strong.

My weaknesses are my eye for poetry. I have some more work to do before I can get to my class mates level of reading and understanding poetry. This comes from a lot of practice both reading and writing poetry. I guess when it happens I will know.

Another one of my weaknesses is writing a complete poem. I understand this, but because my “eye” is not fully developed I do not know how to do this. One way to look at this is that it is not more than just the content of the poem, but the “sub-text” or the poem underneath the poem. This is something that I haven’t broken through to yet.

On the bright side, I have written a few complete poems in his eyes, such as “Grandma’ Cigarettes”, “Wild Flowers” and “Prescriptions”.

I am saddened that there is not a Poetry 3 course. I am afraid that I may not be able to develop my skills if I am not constantly exposed to poetry. I guess one way to do this is by buying books that contain great poetry and continuing to read and reread them in a way that I may be able to fully understand them, and of course, I need to keep writing. Another thing working for me is that the BFA in writing program has decided to let students take courses up to two times. This means that I will be able to take Poetry 2 again. My professor has advised me to wait until I am a senior to take it again, this way I will come in with more writing experience and hopefully a better knack for reading creative writing. I will definitely take his advice, and will be waiting in anticipation to take this course again.