Pardon the bad pun, ladies and gents. :)
So, as I said on Saturday, I'm finally redrafting that short story I started a few weeks back. It's not a good idea to be doing it just now if I'm honest, because I'm supposed to be up for work in five hours. But it already feels like I'm getting somewhere, like I'm finally able to cut out the crap and tell a coherent story.
See, as I've vocalised on here plenty of times before, I actually hate writing short stories. Well, I did anyway. To me, short stories were an academic thing and my intention in life was always to write novels. It still is. But for some reason, I'm still firing blanks with a lot of long ideas. I've apparently improved as a writer - says the CW tutor I grew to trust the most during my four years at uni - but whenever I wrote a short story I never bothered redrafting it, because I'd never use it again. But I'm redrafting this one. The thing is, I'm actually liking writing it. It's an idea I'm passionate about, the first I've had for ages. Plus, I've hardly written a word in the last couple of months - I've been so busy with starting two new jobs, plus graduating, plus getting all this excess reading done. Keep in mind that some of the books I've been on lately (current: 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie. Next up: 'The Devil Wears Prada' by Lauren Weisberger) are ones I collected as far back as late 2008 / early 2009 and really should be read by now. At the same time, though, I've noticed that during periods of doing extensive reading, I do very little writing and vice versa. Well, again, now that I'm not at uni I'm going to need to get back into all that stuff properly. It'll be nice not to have someone putting a grade on what I write for a change.
Hi, Hannah - like the blog. Just a few comments. Firstly, redrafting is so important, whether it's in poetry, short stories or novels. More often than not, you'll end up with something completely different to what you started with, but that's where the fun's at, believe me. Also, your comment about not having someone putting a grade on what you write. That's because you're not writing. Be prepared for the Pass/Fail rejection slips - no grade, just yes/no. Unfortunately, this isn't where the fun's at. Stamina. Courage. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteAndy