Yay

Yay for the last group meeting on Tuesday...I wonder what everyone's project is going to be like? I'm still stumped, but I'm brainstorming...I only have one more weekend to pull it all together.

Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Cristina

Reading

The reading was interesting. There were certainly a lot of different styles and different people with those different styles, and it was my first time doing anything like that, really, so it was an experience, to say the least.

On another note...

Don't you hate it when you're drinking hot tea, but it's not really hot at all and in fact it's so cooled down that it's actually quite cold, but you don't realize that before you drink it, and then you do drink it and it's disgusting so you spit it out and accidentally get it all over yourself?

Yeah, just happened to me.

CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE OUR THESES ARE ALMOST OVER?!

Unbelievable.

Cristina

Soundtrack

The unofficial soundtrack to my story thus far is as follows:

Jay Chou: Secret (entire album)

Kwon Bo Yong: My Wish

Paramore: Decode

Loveholic: Crazy

Cecil Brooks III: I'm a Fool to Want You

Dido: Thank You

Flyleaf: So I Thought

Meg & Dia: Roses

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Cat and Mouse

Sugizo: Synchronicity

30 Seconds to Mars: The Kill

These were the songs I listened to most while I was compiling my work. The beats helped me visualize actions and exchanges, and even helped bring out appropriate emotions for my characters while I was writing.

Thanks to the talented artists out there who inspired me!

Cristina

Good Writing

A good piece of writing to me is something that captures my attention. I have read "good" pieces of literature that I find so, so, so boring. Though to the rest of the world thinks a book is a piece of art, it won't be in my library.

When I read, I look for well rounded characters. If the characters aren't dynamic or interesting enough, then the book is lost to me. I like to be able to fall in love with characters when I read, and when I can't do that, my interest wanes.

Also, if the author cannot coherently explain him/herself (i.e., the book is just too damn hard to read), the book is lost to me in that case, too. Basically, I just like to know what's going on.

The works that inspire me are works that have distinct narrative voices, works that tell a story in a comprehensible fashion, and works that have characters in whom I can become emotionally invested. It always helps when there's a scene or two to which I can relate (it makes the whole "emotional investment" aspect of reading that much stronger), but that's not always necessary.

Few books have made me cry, but those are the books that I treasure.

Cristina

??!

Well.

Happy Daylight Savings!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Samhain!

Happy...other end of October/beginning of November holidays!

Um,

Writing together was fun again. I got about 2.5 pages done, but I came in super late so that's alright. It's basically a scene, so it works, yay.

Rough drafts are due this Tuesday right? Good times.

(...We're supposed to post every week but I really don't know what to say this week...I tried anyway.)

No difficulties in writing, really, just working on revising what I already have and working my way to that 50 page point.

...So...

Looking forward to writing together again this Tuesday, and reading everyone's rough drafts.

See you then~

Cristina

Critique

I really appreciated everyone's comments. I felt that I left the critique with lots of substantial suggestions to help me better my piece. Especially comments about exaggerating characters, and differentiating the voices between the writer and the pianist. I find it difficult to revise my own work after working on it for so long, so I appreciate the fresh perspectives. I definitely intend to dive into exaggerating characters and their voices, priority number one.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I can't wait to look over what I've done with a new revisions in mind.

And now for the part about what I will not change. It's an interesting feeling to actually announce what it is that I will not change in my story.... Usually it's easier to just not change it, and let the critiquers roll their eyes when they realize my decision.

The transitional shift between the meeting of the writer and the pianist, and the actual establishment of the relationship:

Yes, I will try to stick a transitional sentence or two to make the shift more fluid.

No, I will not elaborate on how they got to that point. They just kind of do.
I mean, the fact that everyone was so curious as to why in the hell the pianist likes the writer so much, that's exactly what I'm going for. The writer doesn't even know how, exactly, she got into this relationship, but she did. The pianist is the only one who really knows how it happened, and since the narrator is more of a close third to the writer, well... I hope you see where I'm going with this.

Anyway, thanks again.

Cristina

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from that exact business of everyday life.

It can be pretty random...I'll be reading a book for a class--literature or history or something random--and I will like a scene or circumstance or character so well that I imagine my own characters taking part.

Or, I will be writing an essay for one class, and an idea will just pop into my head. Ctrl + N for a new page, and I start typing away.

Maybe I have a conversation with someone, and that person's words or opinions inspire me to create a scene.

Or maybe I'm just daydreaming, and suddenly a brilliant idea comes to mind. I haven't had much of a problem with inspiration itself, but getting a change to write it all down is a different story.

Most of the time, though, I find myself rereading what I've written so far, and I realize that some parts need to be expanded, or something needs to be explained at a later date, and so forth. So, sometimes, my inspiration comes from just reading what I have.

I tend to write when I don't want to do anything else. When I'm tired of reading textbooks or writing essays or planning presentations or balancing my finances, I tend to take out some drafts and revise, or just continue writing.

Sometimes, writing just makes me happy, and that's good enough for me.

Cristina

Writing Together

I have to admit that I was really skeptical about writing together how we did, but it worked out so well that I hope we can do it again!

I've never timed myself writing before...it was rather surprising to find that I only got six pages in 2 1/2 hours. I suppose that's about average, but considering I can read a full page in a minute or two...I felt a little...strange. Like...cheated somehow. Hm.

But anyway, it was nice to just sit down and write, after all. I started and completed one scene, and finished a previously unfinished scene. Yay, progress. Now all I have to do is make the scenes flow smoothly together...which is certainly not as easy as it sounds. But doesn't everyone have trouble with transitions? Maybe not everyone. But it is a common...concern. Or so I've heard.

Cristina

Criticism

How to accept bad criticism:

First off, you must, must, must make sure you are in the proper mood for receiving criticism, negative OR positive. If you are floating on a cloud of glee, thinking that your piece is fantabulous and everyone in the world would love it...that is not the best time to read other people's opinions of your work. You need to be receptive to constructive criticism in order to get the most out of comments.

*Note: If you are on a time constraint, or you tend to float on your cloud of glee for extended lengths of time, perhaps you cannot afford the luxury of waiting. For this, I do apologize, but I have no better advice at this time.

Once you are in the appropriate state of mind, take each critique one at a time. Typically, a bunch of people tend to love your work for the exact reasons others don't like it at all. You can't please everyone, so remember the most important thing about writing: for whom you are writing. Whether you are writing for yourself or for an individual, or even if you are writing for a specific audience, consider how the person/people will enjoy your work, and edit according to that alone.

Also, keep in mind that not everyone will like your style of writing. Goodness knows there are authors out there where I would sooner stick a hot poker down my throat than read their work. But a couple people must like these authors, because they did get published, after all...and to my horror, are being taught in school curriculum. Yet, like I said--some people love a story for the same reasons others hate it. What can you do?

So, in conclusion, take criticism with a grain of salt. Even if you receive a criticism that is purely negative, try first to take anything remotely constructive from it, a side comment that could potentially better your piece. But don't take negativity too seriously. Like I said, think back to those horrible, published stories you were forced to read during school (because I doubt everyone enjoyed every single story they were ever told to read). What would you say to one of the authors if you could critique their work?

If you can see a new angle of your work from a negative critique, great. If not, well, your critique-r can save his or herself some agony and find something else to read.

Cristina

Metaphor

I am a shattered mirror.

Not in the dreadful, "abyss" sort of way; of course not.

A shattered mirror with tiny reflections of the same person looking back at me, each representative of a different part of my life, a different facet of my personality.

The good-student Me. The club-going Me. The movie-loving Me.

The loyal employee. The financially independent. The failed musician.

The writer. The actor. The Scorpio. The aspiring world traveler. The sex addict.

The smoker. The coffee drinker. The avid reader. The democrat.

The bisexual. The caucasian. The woman. The paegan. The Northern Californian.

Previously anorexic, vegetarian, cutter, self concious,

Unconfident, ashamed, violated,

People-hating, shoplifting,

Child.

Currently:

Self-loving, accomplished,

International Study Peer Counselor, Academic Records student assistant,

Brave, make-up selling, video-game playing, college student, and study abroad returnee.

A shattered mirror, each aspect of my personality reflecting back at me. Every reflection is of the same person. How complicated it is that people are made up of so many different faces that look excatly the same.

Cristina

Revision Process

After organizing my computer files, I've realized that I already have 30 pages of my thesis written!! It was a process in itself, collecting my files from various folders and labeling them correctly. Naturally, some siginificant revision is involved with some segments I wrote a year ago...but it was a pleasant surprise to find so much already written, nonetheless.

As I described before, my writing process is a bit...random...but my revision process is a bit more structured.

First, after initially writing my piece, I immediately read over what I've just written to catch spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.

Then I leave that piece alone for at least one day, and sometimes even longer than that.... I've spanned a year before looking at something again. But, usually, I wait at least a day, and sometimes a week. Then I reread it again, catching any errors I missed the first time around, and just generally revamping the piece to make it sound better.

And that's usually how it works for shorter pieces. When adding to a longer piece, however, another step is added.

I again leave the writing alone for a day or so. The next time I look at the segment, I have it attached to the larger piece of work. I do not read the segment by itself. I read the whole thing at once, which helps me add transitions and connecting segments to obtain fluidity.

After taking the whole piece of work into consideration and editing in this way, adding where necessary (and possibly deleting, too), I, again, leave my writing alone for a day or so before looking at it again. I continue editing and then ignoring it until I am satisfied with what I have written.

I know for myself that I can think something is an absolutely fantastic piece of work one day, and then the next day realize that it's embarrassingly low quality and incomprehensible. The trick is, for me, to write something that I continue to find satisfying day after day.

I've unintentionally memorized some of my writings before by following this procedure. Ah, well.

Cristina

Process

Our small group meeting went quite well. We (as in Suki, Alana, and I) read an article by Edgar Allen Poe; he discussed the process he used when writing his poems. This article specifically focused on "The Raven", and Mr. Poe went into great depth in describing the structure he used when writing the poem, from determining the feeling he wished to invoke in the reader before even considering the context of his work, to playing with vowels and sounds in order to find the kind of word he wanted repeated throughout his novel.

Although it was certainly interesting to find that he wrote his poems in this way, I absolutely cannot relate to that method of writing at all.

I write a story when a scene comes to mind. If I think too structurally about a scene or a plot or a character, my ability to creatively write wanes. Given an essay or a critique, I can use a "fill in the blanks" pattern quite well, but as for creating stories, the method simply does not work.

I have written scenes at the oddest times--in the middle of writing an essay for a class, in the middle of watching a rented movie at home, at two o'clock in the morning after awaking from a dream.... Occasionally, I do get into moods where I just want to sit down and write. Scenes come to me fluidly, and I can, with ease, express them in writing. However, most of the time--especially when I am working on a lengthy project, such as this thesis--scenes that I can absolutely not live without come to me at random, and though it may be inconvenient for me in the moment to write out my thoughts, I know that if I do not, that part of my story will be gone forever.

The most inconvenient place for this to happen is in the car, while I am driving. And it happens more often than is reasonable or fair.

I can think much better than I can speak, so voice recording my thoughts would do me little good. I often get distracted by certain words, trying to phrase what I want to get across--which is much more difficult out loud than it is in my head--that I forget the scene in the middle of my describing it aloud. Therefore, I have come up with a technique that helps me remember scenes quite well, even after the initial inspiration has dissipated. I listen to music.

When I think of my scenes, I often think of them as if I am watching a film. When I write, I simply describe what I see. Listening to music while thinking of a certain scene is like adding a soundtrack to a movie. Then, when I find myself with a sheet of paper or computer access, I simply replay the song and write.

Inspiration is a tricky thing because it often just pops up without an invitation, and leaves when it pleases. I can't count how many stories I've lost because inspiration decided to hang out with me for an hour and then disappear as soon as I had the utilities I needed in order to write out my thoughts. Wasteful.


Cristina

Journey

It is on the New York Times Bestseller list, but the title is only an embellishment to the cover, because most books nowadays seem to have that claim italicized on the front.

The cover artist has done a beautiful job. The cover is drawn, but edited to look glossy and fuzzy so that exact features of those pictured are indistinguishable. A profile view of a female with dark hair pulled back in a bun is sitting on a couch, resting her head on her hand, pen between her fingers. She is holding up a book, reading it. A coffee table is in front of her with magazines strewn about, and a vase sits in the center of the table. The flowers are pink, drawing attention to color in an otherwise ivory room. Behind the couch, through an archway, viewers can see the next room over. They see the back of a man, his hands spread over a white grand piano. The words “The Writer and the Pianist” appear at the bottom of the cover, embossed, in lower case font.

The book first appears on a table at Borders, under a sign that reads “New Arrivals”. Two women walk by the table, one noticing the cover. “Oh; I’ve heard of this one,” she says, and discusses reviews with the other woman. She decides to buy it.

Critics publish their reviews in a newspaper column. One critic says, “A compelling story with elegant language. If she spelled ‘realize’ with an ‘s’, and ended ‘defense’ with a ‘ce’, we’d never know she wasn’t European.” Another says, “I really tried, but I just couldn’t get past the first chapter. The language is gaudy and tries way too hard to sound like something it’s clearly not. Spend $7.95 on coffee and a bagel instead.”

A wife tells her husband about the book, claiming it is an excellent read. She says the title quickly, too quickly, and her eavesdropping teenage son hears “Pianist” with a dropped second syllable and a missing ‘t’. He eagerly tells his friends, and they venture to the bookstore together in search of newly released erotica. They are disappointed to find that their friend misheard the end of the title, but one of the boys buys the book anyway. He likes the story, but doesn’t tell anyone.

Friends of the author are horrified to find that she published under that ridiculous penname after all. No one believes them when they say that they know her, that she is their friend, and that this name isn’t really hers. The author’s photograph is missing from the “About the Author” section of the book; in fact, so is any useful information. The section simply indicates where the author lives, where she graduated from college, and that this is her first publication. She declines interview after interview, so her friends are out of luck, unable to associate themselves with someone published.

One copy of the book is stolen, stolen by a young girl with too much make up. It is her first time stealing anything, but she does not have the money for the book, and she owes too much money in library fines to borrow it. She reads it once, twice, thrice, and then again and again after that. She carries it with her until the pages are bent and the cover is worn. The story inspires her to create her own.

Cristina