Insecure
Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should
be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy
with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your
insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't
they?
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
I have to keep this post as short and sweet as I can because I've been sick for the the past month, but here's my response to this month's question:
Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? (For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in?)
I happened to be very recently reading a short play I wrote for a literature class I took way back in college--the class being centered around studying English drama from the Restoration Era, or the early 1700's. The professor assigned us students to write our own original play as an alternative option to writing an essay. Naturally, I chose the creative writing option, as I always did back then.
So, my play did a lot of interesting things that I didn't remember after all these years (sixteen, to be exact). I lampooned the actual drama of that era itself, which was given to lampooning everything in sight and tended to be comically bizarre, and mocked a lot of the typical tropes found in drama of that period and even from Shakespeare. I was astounded I was able to handle the comedy so well, and one scene of my comedic timing was so well-done, I had to read it a few times because it made me laugh so hard!
Mind you, I have virtually no memory of the specifics about this play any longer. I only have a physical copy of it--that's how old it is. A printed-out document that was originally typed up in WordPerfect from the late 90's or early 2000's. WordPerfect! That cracks me up.
At some point after I finished college, I got it into my head that I have no capacity to write comedy. I'm eating those words, though I still don't know HOW I wrote what I wrote, even though I can clearly see how hysterical this silly little play actually is. The me of today is not the me of that time period whatsoever. Maybe some people don't change much over the years, but I have, radically. Maybe that's why I can't, as the me of today, understand what I did back then.
Anyway, if anything, it does bolster my confidence that I can write something worthwhile. My professor was completely in love with the play and I remember having a table-read of it in class with my classmates reading the parts of the characters listed in the Dramatis Personae. I remember everybody in the class laughing a lot as it was being sort of "acted out." I guess I managed to create something good once upon a time, and if I haven't changed too-too much, maybe I can do it again.
Have you written something many years ago that you actually liked after years of it sitting in a drawer or on a shelf? (I'm probably weird that it worked out positively for me.)
I used to write plays when I was a kid. They were terrible. That's awesome that you wrote something so comedic. I bet you still have that comedian inside you.
ReplyDeleteThey probably weren't as terrible as you think, Jenny! We always assume the worst of our past selves.
DeleteOur views change which would affect what we write. I think you still have it inside you as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alex! I hope so....
DeleteI loved WordPerfect. 5.1 on DOS with a blue screen. I rocked the sh*t out of that when I was a teen; I would still use it if I had a copy and a computer that could run it.
ReplyDeleteI once wrote a story totally aping and very carefully copying the style of Charles Dickens. It came out really well but it was a lot of hard work. Some people thought it was great, others thought it was a "rip-off," but I don't think anyone appreciates how much work it is to capture the pacing, style and vocabulary just right. I was just thinking about it the other day and have no idea where the story is, maybe one day I'll stumble upon it like you did yours. Hopefully I will see it in an equally positive light, and not just be horrified.
IWSG September
I don't remember using WP back in the blue screen days, but maybe I did and forgot. It was my parents' word processing software of choice.
DeleteThat's so cool that you used to write like Dickens! I love Dickens and I used to try to copy him, too. I did something for another class in college where I wrote an alternate ending of Great Expectations, lol! I forgot how I chose to end it, but I did get an A on it. It was my attempt at being Dickensian. :) Here's hoping you find the story so you can read it and be amazed at your young self!
I've not written as much as you, so no, I haven't written anything so radically different. Awesome that you wrote a play. My boyfriend is into community theater so I've been getting involved in some of the productions.
ReplyDeleteAre you an actor in those plays? I'm no actor, but I do admire anyone who can do it, especially for live theater. I love attending live theater with a truly worthy production.
DeleteYou've shown you can do it once. That means you can do it again.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried writing a play, probably never will. I'm still learning the mechanics of writing fiction. Trying to write nothing but dialogue scares the heck out of me.
I hope you're right. Thanks!
DeleteI love writing dialogue. If I could write almost all dialogue in a book, I'd be pretty happy, indeed!
You can definitely do it again! I hope you're feeling better!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your encouragement! I truly need it. ;)
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