by Naomi L. | April 24, 2013 | Blog |
OK, so I’ve already talked about how I started writing and what sort of writing I’ve done in the past. Now, looking back on those topics, I realize there’s one more subject that went only partially mentioned and which I feel deserves a post of its own: the question of why I write in the first place. So just for fun, I’m going to complete my introduction with a brief summary outlining the main reasons I choose to pursue creative writing. In truth, this could probably be considered a generic list for art in any form, so if you’re an artist, maybe you’ll have fun identifying with some (or even all) of the items mentioned below. And if you aren’t, I hope you’ll still have fun catching a glimpse into the mind of someone who is.
So without further ado, here are the reasons I love to write:
1) Writing makes me happy.
This is easily the simplest and most important reason I can come up with to explain why I write. In fact, I don’t even need another reason; every other item on this list connects back to this one. I enjoy writing. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it. Doesn’t get much simpler than that, right?
2) It’s a great way to express myself.
Here’s a fun fact about me: I’m extremely shy. Back in school, I could barely bring myself to make eye contact with people, let alone talk to them. I’ve gotten much better at socializing since then, but shyness has still been my main defense mechanism for as long as I can remember; to protect myself from judgment, I avoid conversation with people whenever I can help it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to be heard. Writing is my preferred means of communication for various reasons: I don’t have to speak directly to anyone; I have time to organize my ideas before sharing them with others; and I usually don’t have to deal with live conversation when receiving feedback, something I absolutely dread. I feel safe when I write, and that gives me more freedom to be myself.
3) It’s my artistic release.
This one is really more of an extension of the previous item. The only real difference is that as a form of expression, writing is an outlet on a more intellectual level, while as an artistic release, it liberates a deeper energy in me that can’t quite be defined in words (at least as far as I’ve ever been able to tell). It’s the kind of energy that I imagine drives anyone who can call themselves an artist. We create not just because we want to, but almost because we have to, because something deep inside us tells us we should. We can’t rest until our hunger to create is quelled, and even when it is, it doesn’t take long for it to return, sometimes even stronger than before. Or maybe that’s just me.
4) It’s something I can do on my own.
I’m an introvert, which means I draw my energy from the time I take for myself. This makes writing a perfect hobby for me, as it relies heavily on the ideas born from the time I spend alone with my thoughts. Not to mention, one of my favorite solo activities is daydreaming; at least as a writer, I can pass the habit off as a productive pastime, as opposed to just a waste of time.
5) It’s a means of escape from reality.
While the first item on this list may be the most important reason I write, this one is by far the most fun. Let’s face it: to us fiction writers, the world is much more interesting inside our heads. Not that my life is depressing or uninteresting in any way; I just think it’s nice to take regular breaks from the minutia of the real world and let imagination take the wheel for a while. I’ve always felt this way, ever since I was a kid; that’s why I spent so much of my childhood reading books. They transported me to faraway lands full of magic and mystery, and the best part was that I never even had to leave the comfort of my room. The advantage of taking up fiction writing is that this time, I’m in control of the stories and the places they take me. I have free rein to go wherever I want whenever I want, and to me, that’s one of the most liberating feelings in the world.
6) It’s a way to inspire people.
Here’s where I finally start to deviate a little from the more selfish aspects of writing. We all want to leave our mark in this world, be it big or small (though I’m sure most would prefer the former). So how do we do that? Simple: we reach out to people. As a social species, the entire premise of our existence is based on interaction with others of our kind. One could even go as far as to say that this is a fundamental part of the meaning of life (if one subscribes to such a notion, of course). Think about it: without having made a difference in any other person’s life, can we really say that we ever truly existed? This is my motivation for writing: if my words can make a significant difference in just one person’s life, I will have succeeded in leaving my mark. I will have truly existed.
What about you? Are you a writer or an artist of any kind? Why do you enjoy your art? How many of the items on this list apply to you? Can you think of any more you would add to your own list?
by Naomi L. | April 17, 2013 | Blog |
In a previous topic, I told the story of how I got started in the world of creative writing. In the interest of constructing a more detailed description of myself, I would now like to follow up on that subject to talk about the sort of writing I’ve done in the past, such as the types of pieces I’ve created and the genres of writing on which I’ve been focusing. Let me tell you, it’s been quite an interesting journey of self-discovery…
Ancient History
The composition notebook from my elementary school days
As I mentioned in the last post, the first stories I can remember writing were the narrative assignments given out in elementary school. These came with all sorts of different prompts: the world from the point of view of a shoe, an adventure in the rainforest from the perspective of one of its resident animals, an extraterrestrial telling about his visit to Earth. I greatly enjoyed these exercises, and I was even praised by my teachers on several occasions for my creativity. Pretty soon, I found myself looking forward to Composition class as that brief time when I was actually allowed to get lost in my own imagination during school hours. Unfortunately, it turns out I needed much more time than was provided in class to actually finish the stories I started, as many of my narrative assignments weren’t completed on the same day they were given. Maybe I had too many ideas, or maybe I was just a slow writer, but either way, I had much to learn about creating a full piece within a time limit. Still, I had plenty of fun with these prompts, and they certainly inspired me to continue writing outside of school, which led to the next phase in the honing of my craft…
My parents bought a computer for us just before I reached my preteen years. While I don’t recall very much about the first time I actually started using it, I do remember that I was using the word processor software long before I even had a decent grasp of the basics of surfing the Internet. I wanted to create stories, but without the pre-made prompts handed out in English class, I found myself faced with a new challenge: coming up with original ideas.
Because another major interest of mine at the time was video games, I decided I would start off with some short stories centered around a cast of Yoshi characters, somewhat like a spin-off series from Nintendo’s Mario franchise. Though I didn’t know it yet, this was my first shot at a type of creative writing that I would eventually grow to love: fanfiction. Somehow this sort of writing came easily to me; I went on to turn out numerous stories starring several different Yoshi characters, a few more based on the Pokemon franchise, and even a short piece or two based on J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. Of course, I never actually shared any of these stories, neither online nor with my family. At the time, I was content just to be able to get the many ideas in my head out into a visible medium. They were just for me.
So why did I like writing fanfiction so much? Perhaps it was the convenience of “plug-in” settings and background profiles that appealed to me most; as a preteen with a limited attention span, I wasn’t always willing to go through the often arduous task of creating completely original details for my works. That isn’t to say I never did so; in fact, my first attempt at writing a novel was when I was only ten years old, and though the end result was pretty lame even by my own amateur standards, I was still proud of myself for having created a lengthy piece of original fiction. The trick now was to take the writing skills I’d been told I did have and learn to perfect whatever else was lacking so that one day, I might turn out a novel that would actually be worth reading. But that would be a challenge for much later in my life.
The Dark Ages
Major life changes in my early adolescence prompted me to stop writing as a hobby for some years. The beginnings of novels I had written as a kid sat untouched and incomplete in our classic iMac right up to its last days. Meanwhile, my interest in books persisted through the years; I read many novels as a teenager, most of which were fantasy-themed. Among my favorites were the Harry Potter books and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon saga. But reading wasn’t the only interest of mine to last beyond my childhood…
Another major hobby of mine growing up was gaming. I played many computer and video games through my teen years, and it didn’t take me long to decide which genre was my favorite: the role-playing game (or RPG). My addiction to these games coupled with my love for medieval-themed stories eventually led me to discover the traditional tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons, and though I never actually played a real session, I did absorb myself so deeply in learning the structure and details of the game that I soon became inspired to create stories around it even without the help of other players.
At last, I was writing stories again, this time with a medieval fantasy theme. Among these were a series of short pieces about the adventures of four friends in the world of D&D, as well as an incomplete novella depicting a star-crossed love story between a paladin and a necromantress (which in retrospect was rather clichéd and melodramatic; in fact, I actually plan to use it as a reference in future topics for examples of what not to do when writing). While this collection didn’t yet reflect the peak of my potential as a writer, it did serve as a stepping stone back into my old passion for creative writing, and that alone made it worth all the effort I put into it.
Renaissance
The RPG phase of my writing passed right at the point in my life when I was graduating from high school and entering my freshman year of college. Interestingly enough, my chosen major was not in creative writing (as most of my family probably expected), but in my other passion: biology! For years, while I was studying to become a scientist, I continued to pursue writing as a hobby, turning out several short stories based on my interests in my spare time. But creating for myself wasn’t enough for me anymore; I wanted to take my craft to the next level. If I was going to follow my childhood dream, I needed outside help to learn how to improve my craft. Fortunately, my dad had the perfect recommendation.
In 2011, I enrolled in a six-month online creative writing course through UC Berkeley Extension: “Exploring Your Creative Writing Potential”. In this class, I learned about several different forms of writing – from poetry and short short stories to scripts and novels – and I experimented by creating a piece for every single module. Throughout my experience in the course, I came to discover a lot about myself and my potential as a writer: my strengths and weaknesses, which formats I enjoyed the most, techniques I didn’t yet know I could handle, etc. As far as I’ve determined, I love novels and short stories, I show promise with short short stories and (to my great surprise) book reviews, and I struggle most with first-person essays. Basically, my true creative potential lies in fiction writing.
Modern Age
And now? Well, you’re looking at it. After years of writing creatively for fun, I’m finally ready to start taking my craft more seriously, and this blog is the next step in the pursuit of my childhood dream. As an aspiring writer, I plan to combine my passion for creative writing with my knowledge in biology to create science fiction and fantasy novels, though I’d also like to turn out shorter pieces of assorted genres while those books remain in the works. In the meantime, writing regularly for a blog seems like a great way for me to keep up the practice and continue to learn everything I can about creative writing. But even if it weren’t, I’m still having fun, and in the end, that’s all that really matters.
That’s the history of my writing: what I’ve written and what I hope to write in the future. Now how about you? What sort of writing/creating have you done in the past, and what do you create (or hope to create) now?
by Naomi L. | April 10, 2013 | Blog |
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu (604 BC – 531 BC), The Way of Lao Tzu
OK, I went with a cheesy quote to start off my introductory posts. So sue me. I know it’s a little lame, but hey, at least it’s true, and it certainly applies here.
Every journey has to begin somewhere, right? Mine as a creative writer started in my childhood, though the exact moment is difficult to pinpoint. I guess it depends on how one would define the real beginning of the journey: if it was the time I first started reading, it would be before my preschool days; if it was when I read the first book that inspired me to create stories of my own, it would be when I was about nine years old; if it was the first time I actually took a shot at writing a short story, it was sometime in my elementary school years. All I know for sure is that the moment I decided I wanted to be a writer, I knew I was making a choice that I was going to stick to for the rest of my life. So far, so good.
According to my parents, I started reading at a time when I was still sleeping in a crib. Most children my age were put to bed with toys; I was put to bed with books. Of course, it didn’t take my parents long to discover that I was mostly using them as a staircase to escape the crib, but that’s not the point. What’s important is that I was exposed to literature at a very early age, and for that, I will always be grateful to my mom and dad. Many of my childhood memories are filled with the stories I used to read in the countless books I collected over the years. My parents had always told me that anything I wanted from the toy store had to be earned first… except for books, which they would always buy for me the moment I asked. Because of this, there is a huge selection of books on which I can look back with fondness. But there is one in particular that holds a special place in my heart as the story that first sparked my desire to become a writer myself: Roald Dahl‘s magnificent and highly-acclaimed children’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
When I was nine years old, my mother came to me with a book recommendation. “I read this when I was a kid”, she told me as she handed me a paperback copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “I think you’ll love it too.” So I read it, and sure enough, I soon found that – like many of the things my mom says – she was right. I fell in love with the author’s wonderfully imaginative world, filled with intriguing characters and wild adventures that kept me hooked until the very last page (he wasn’t known as the world’s most scrumdiddlyumptious storyteller for nothing). When I reached the end and finally managed to put the book down, I realized that in a way, I had been left in the same state as after finishing one of my mother’s home-cooked meals: satisfied, yet disappointed that it was over. I wanted more.
So the following Christmas, I received a whole collection of children’s literature by Roald Dahl, from short books like Fantastic Mr. Fox to longer novels like Matilda. To my immense delight, every story I read pulled me deeper into the world of fantasy and imagination in which I’d been longing to live for years, and still I wanted to explore even further. Soon, I was losing myself in other fantasy stories, such as J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter books (which, I’m proud to say, are from my generation) and Eoin Colfer‘s Artemis Fowl series.
And then I realized: maybe I didn’t always have to rely so heavily on someone else’s stories to take me to that world. Maybe I could get there myself, by telling my own stories. Yes, I thought, that’s exactly what I’m going to do: I’m going to make up stories and put them in books so I can share them with the whole world! I’m going to be a writer.
With my heart set on that goal, I started writing my first stories as narrative assignments during composition class in school. Of course, to say I wrote stories may be a bit of an overstatement, since I never actually finished most of them due to lack of time. Clearly I still had a lot to learn about brevity in writing… That’s probably why I soon took to writing stories on the computer instead; now I had all the time in the world to be as creative as I wanted. Trouble was… I couldn’t really finish the novels I started there, either. That was possibly my first lesson in the concept of planning before writing… but more on that subject another time. The point is, my early preteen years were when I first started seriously considering creative writing as a possible career path, and for that, they may well have been the most defining years of my entire life.
So now what? Clearly, my journey hasn’t ended yet. But I’ll spare you the obvious “it’s only beginning” line, not just because it’s terribly cliché, but because it isn’t even true. I’ve been writing fiction for years (what, exactly, is a subject for next week), long before the blogosphere even emerged as an array of outlets for creativity and individuality, and much less as a potential source of income. No, my journey is not just beginning here, nor do I expect it to end here; this blog is actually one of those more common but lesser known “intermediate stages”, somewhat like the train stations between Point A and Point B that are never mentioned unless something happened at them that’s important to the traveller’s story as a whole. Hopefully this will be an important point in my story, but only time will tell. Of at least one thing I’m certain: with countless hours already invested in my craft, I won’t be giving up on my dream of becoming a successful writer any time soon.
So that’s my story, or at least the first part. But enough about me for now. So what about you? Are you an aspiring writer too, or any other type of artist? How did your journey begin?
by Naomi L. | April 3, 2013 | Blog |
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.”
– Albert Einstein
Hello, friend, and welcome to my little corner of the virtual world! You can call me J.C. Wolfe (or Jay C. Wolfe, J.C. or even just Jay). Who am I, you ask? Well, I’m a writer. An amateur writer, that is, with big dreams of turning my lifelong hobby of fiction writing into a living. That’s why I created this blog: to take my next step on that daunting yet (hopefully) rewarding journey of becoming a professional fiction author and making my childhood dream come true. Welcome to the Wolfe’s Den!
Follow me as I explore the many levels of creative writing, from poetry to flash fiction to short stories to novels. My Den is pretty small right now, but as I start to expand it, you’ll find a growing collection of my own fiction works, as well as an archive of posts in which I give my own perspective and opinions on a variety of creative writing topics, which I hope will help other aspiring writers in their own endeavors. I’d like to start off slow with a few introductory posts about myself, and once those are out of the way, then I’ll start getting into the more interesting topics illustrating the wonderful world of creative writing from my own unique point of view.
Of course, my real goal right now is to learn more than to teach, and what better way to gain valuable experience than by creating a blog? Here, I’ll be free to express my thoughts through my writing while also being able to interact with other artists like myself. How cool is that?
So if you have dreams of becoming an established writer – or even if you already are and would like to help someone else achieve the same dream – I hope you’ll take the time to read my work and join me on this adventure. Have fun, and happy reading!
– J.C. Wolfe
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