Learning from Woolf

In my British Literature class, we've started reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

This is my first time reading a Woolf novel, and it amazes me how well she can do stream of conscious. While I definitely will not pick up her writing style, I still greatly appreciate her characterization. In class today we compared her writing to other novels we've read this semester, and before her (and even now after her) sometimes authors tend to say, "This character is this way." But Woolf is able to show it, and she doesn't just stick to characters like Clarissa and Peter. She branches off into random people you'll never even see again, but in their brief moment in the stream of conscious, you gain a deep insight into that character.

I've always found it important to give my main characters a past. I mean, how else are you supposed to write them well? But in reading Woolf, I decided even my minor characters need something behind them, so I can grasp their character better. I'm sure it'll make them a lot stronger.

Cake

A random video on cake. Seriously random, but seriously funny.

Plays, Persuasion, and Pictures

This week I had a chance to go to two plays my university put on. The first was based on my absolute favorite Jane Austen novel Persuasion. It's definitely my favorite classic as well, and rivalling with Harry Potter for my second place as best book (I lump series together in one--you can't really get a sense of the entire story with just one book).

I love Persuasion so much. I think it's Jane Austen's most underrated work. Of course, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility which are probably her three most popular works are brilliant as well, but for me nothing tops Persuasion. We studied it in my British Literature class this year, and whoever thinks Austen just writes the female fantasy is sorely mistaken. And yes, her settings are small, but so is our life. Ah, I just love it!

The one thing about the play Persuasion that I didn't care for is the fact that they often had flashbacks to when Anne and Frederick first met. In the novel, that is brushed over in about three pages, and most of it is about how Anne had been persuaded to give him up. I just don't like the focus being on that. To me, as Austen told it, the story is about Anne and Frederick managing their new situation, not dwelling on the old one.

And last night there was a free performance of a play based on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I haven't read this book yet, but after seeing the play I definitely want to! It's been a long time since I've been so frustrated at a character as I was at Dorian, and I'd love to get into more depth with his character in the book. Plus, Wilde is just so clever!

Where do ideas come from?

Well you see, when a person loves to write very much, she has an idea. She loves this idea and nurtures it until it's fully matured and ready to take on the world on its own.

And that was my bad attempt at mimicking "the talk." Well, the one you give to a five-year-old.

No, I really do get asked this question often. When I say I'm a writer, people usually get pretty impressed (I don't know why, but they do) and then say, "Where do you get the idea for a story?"

I can only speak for myself, but most of the time when I get an idea, it's from "What if?"
What if a girl found out she had been raised by robots?
What if a kid went on a trip to Mars?
What if someone traveled back in time to the Old West?

Once a "what if" situation pops in my head, I think, "Well, this would probably happen as a result." And then the web just keeps spinning itself until I have a story. Sometimes the idea totally kilters off of my original thought. Once, when I was stirring awake one Saturday morning, I asked, "What if an angel fell in love with a human?"
Now, I quickly realized how sacrilegious that is (at least, for me it was, I couldn't make it coincide with my personal beliefs), but still, that idea intrigued me. So I now, I'm molding my story around the original idea I'd had, but with changes (there are no angels).

So most of the time, I just wonder what would happen in a situation and the snowball effects of it.

Poetry

I am not a poet, and yet we began our poetry section in Creative Writing. Our homework assignment: write a limerick or haiku on spam. Well, we can write it about anything, but our teacher is bringing in spam sushi for anyone who writes on spam. I've never eaten spam before. And so, this is my limerick on spam.

My picky mom loves me as I am
And so she has never fed me spam
This taste is still unsung
Upon my guarded tongue
I wonder if she'll lose her sanity
Should I lose my spam virginity

And there you have it. I'm unsure whether I'll actually try the spam sushi tomorrow. We'll see how adventurous I am tomorrow.

Why adverbs are bad

In the comments of the last post, WoollyBird asked why adverbs shouldn't be used in writing.

I think this is best shown in example. I've taken the liberty to take a paragraph from one of my favorite books, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and rewrite it with adverbs.

It's mayhem. The Careers have suddenly woken to a full-scale tracker jacker attack. Peeta and a few others have the sense to quickly drop everything and swiftly run away. I can hear stressfully called cries of "To the lake! To the lake!" and know they're hopefully trying to evade the wasps by hurriedly taking to the water. It must be closely located if they think they can firstly get ahead of the furious insects. Glimmer and another girl, the one from District 4, are unluckily left behind. They regretfully recieve multiple stings before they're even out of my view. Glimmer seemingly appears to go completely mad, yelling loudly and trying to furiously swipe the wasps off with her bow, which is pointless. She anxiously calls to the others for help but, of course, no one returns. The girl from District 4 limply walks out of sight,  although I wouldn't bet on her making it to the lake. I watch Glimmer suddenly fall, twitch hysterically around on the ground for a few minutes, and then go lay quietly. 

Now, read it as it's originally written:

It's mayhem. The Careers have woken to a full-scale tracker jacker attack. Peeta and a few others have the sense to drop everything and bolt. I can hear cries of "To the lake! To the lake!" and know they hope to evade the wasps by taking to the water. It must be close if they think they can outdistance the furious insects. Glimmer and another girl, the one from District 4, are not so lucky. They recieve multiple stings before they're even out of my view. Glimmer appears to go completely mad, shrieking and trying to bat the wasps off with her bow, which is pointless. She calls to the others for help but, of course, no one returns. The girl from District 4 staggers out of sight,  although I wouldn't bet on her making it to the lake. I watch Glimmer fall, twitch hysterically around on the ground for a few minutes, and then go still.

Now, which do you think is better written?
I suppose instead of treating adverbs like the plague, the better rule is to use them as little as possible. Here, Suzanne Collins does use two adverbs--"completely mad" and "twitch hysterically." But what adverbs do is slow down the reading. If strong verbs can be used instead, the writing comes quicker and the sight of what's going on is clearer to the reader. For example, which was better, "swiftly run away" or "bolt"? The strong verb "bolt" uses one word instead of three to describe the action of Peeta and the Careers, and does so with more power and action.