Thursday, December 11, 2008

Creative Writing & Blogging

This semester has indeed been an adventure in the fictional writing process. I have learned more this year, a great majority in this semester, than I have ever learned in the past several years. I haven’t always been interested in writing—much less the process of writing. To be honest, writing was always looked at as something quite demanding.
So why do I write?

I wish I had a simple answer to the question being asked, however at this point, I don’t really think I have a concrete answer but that at this point in my life, it soothes my spirit. It is an internal passion that wants to be released—to be exploded out on paper. It always came somewhat easy to me, but an extremely tedious endeavor that I embarked upon only when forced by teachers or professors. I’ve always had a great sense of childhood fantasies and imaginings—always creating a world of my own filled with my own environments, people to put into those environments, and ways for those people to interact. I guess as I matured into adulthood—manhood—my fictional world became too much to contain within. Consequently, my only option was to free it in the form of words.

So what inspires my writing?

Well, besides the childish simplicity of my mind to be able to formulate a fantastic place in time without much thought or energy, I would say my inspiration comes from what I see in movies, as bad as that may sound. A movie always has a way to spark some kind of creativity within me or make me think about all possibilities of a given situation. For example, after watching Tom Cruise’ “Legend,” a tale of unicorns, demons, and other mythical creatures, I was inspired to embark on my own journey of fantasy and adventure. I am also inspired by music. A great melody, depending on whether it is slow or fast, can set the time, place, and characters for my work. This class has taught me, however, to dig deeper, to explore another area for inspiration and structure—the area of reading.

Why read?

Reading, undoubtedly, has the ability to train your talent—to make you a better writer. Truly, I was a little slow in learning this fact. I’m not a reader. Nevertheless, because I thoroughly enjoy writing and deem to better my skills, reading has become a necessity. In addition, during the semester I have had simple structural problems that could have been easily fixed or avoided had I been a more of a reader. Reading is also useful for writing in that, by reading different works of fiction by different writers you get an overall knowledge of different writing styles, what may or may not work for you, and various ways of expression—which brings me to the fascinating world of blogging.

Why is blogging exciting?

Blogging was unapparent to me before this advanced creative writing class. Sorry to say, I’ve never had any interest in posting my work online for the world to see, enjoy, or not enjoy. I will admit though, I was intrigued and open to the idea when first presented to me as a requirement for this class. Blogging is a fun and innovative way to get your work to a mass audience—whether friend, family, or other that’s what makes it exciting. Blogging, for me, is like expressing my writing in a whole new way, at the same time opening my mind and inner passions.

In all, writing and blogging this semester has been a great enjoyment to me and I truly am saddened to say farewell. I will take the experience with me, along with all the knowledge and intense feedback that I received from my professor and peers. I will continue my adventures in creative writing till next we meet. Till then look out for further works from The Mind of Eldon.

2 comments:

A Quinlan said...

This is a marvelous essay: orderly and clear and strong. It reminds me of the etymological root of the word "essay" which comes from "to try" or "to attempt." A good essay is always an attempt to answer the unanswerable questions, or to approach the insoluble. You have danced around the issues very nicely! Thanks.

WILSON MODELS said...

Thank you professor...I really appreciate the kind words and I'm going to really miss this class. Have a happy holiday.