My First Story

My first real story was a screenplay I wrote in 7th grade. My friends and I wanted to make a movie, and we came up with a title - Defy the Line - that we thought would make a great film.

Trouble was, we didn't have a storyline to go with it.  We all wracked our brains trying to come up with something, but there were no ideas, no sparks, no inspiration at all.

Then one night, while I was just hanging out at my grandmother's house, a wonderful idea for the story just materialized in my mind out of nowhere. I was so excited that I started writing that night and finished the first scene.

This was my first experience with the amazing rush of excitement and possibility that comes with sudden inspiration.

I'd had no idea that inspiration could work like that.  I'm sure I'd heard people talk about it before...how you sitting there thinking of something completely pointless and then BAM!  Something beautiful just unfolds in your brain, and you feel the intense creative energy running through you.  You know it's a good idea, and it comes with this craving to get it down, to remember it, to do something worthy of such an idea.  Defy the Line was one of those ideas.

Unfortunately, I never finished writing it.  I tried for a long time, but I loved my idea so much that I couldn't get past the feeling that I wasn't doing it justice, that I simply didn't have the ability to pull it off.  So I finally gave up and pushed it out of my mind.

But it refused to go away.  I thought about it often.  Every now and again, I would find myself itching to try again, but I haven't yet reached a point where I feel like I'm ready.  Still, Defy the Line is a story that’s been in my head for eight years now.

I keep writing in the hopes that one day I will finally be good enough to tell it.

Writing Matters.

http://blog.lettersandlight.org/tagged/my-first-nano

Goings On

So I've given up on this blog twice now, but I'd like to give it a third shot.  I kinda stopped during April because I was so busy writing...you know, my novel.  But maybe I can try to multitask this time.

In April, I started a novel that I eventually named The Window of Impossible Things, and I actually won April's Camp NaNoWriMo, which I didn't honestly think I'd be able to do.  Camp NaNo's July session starts this Monday, and I plan on using the month to finish up this novel and finally begin the much-anticipated editing process.

I really really REALLY like this novel, which is kind of a new experience for me.  Normally when I write, I constantly ask friends or family to read bits of my work or I post pieces on the internet and various things like that.  Basically, I constantly need someone to tell me that they are interested, that what I'm writing is worth finishing.  With this novel, though, I don't want anyone to read it until it's finished.  I really can't wait to finish because I can't wait to share it with people in its entirety.  I don't want them to have a small piece, and I don't need anyone to tell me it's good.  I actually like it and enjoy reading it myself, which is so beautiful and crazy and wonderful to me.  I'm so confident that I will finally finish something, and I'm incredibly excited about it.  I also haven't hit a point throughout this writing process where I believe that everything I'm writing is absolutely horrible and should just be thrown away.  I've felt a certain level of confidence in myself throughout the entire thing, and when I did start to doubt my abilities, I went back and reread some of my writing, and it actually made me feel better.  I'm not used to this.

I really enjoy writing, and I can't wait to get back to it.  I'm a very lazy person, so sometimes, even when I actually want to write, I can't make myself sit down and do it.  Having a deadline over my head will be a nice change.  I'll finally be able to convince myself to sit down and do it.  Especially since my goal is not a word count this time but actual completion.  It'll be a challenge, but it's one that I am eager to begin.

Happy writing,
Victoria

PS: I convinced my brother-in-law to write with me this month, and I'm so happy to see that he's almost as excited about this as I am.  It's going to be an awesome July.