Monday Musings

Before I launch into my thoughts today, I think I should explain a key difference that is to be very obvious because it is relevant to my life. It is not, however, what I would consider common knowledge.

In college, if you get a major in creative writing and are in a fiction writing class, you don't write novels. First, there's not really enough time (I mean, according to professors. As we NaNo veterans know, that's bullshit) and second, a very small percentage of people in fiction writing classes are capable of finishing a full length novel. (I plan on writing a post about why that's true at a later date.)

So instead, you write short stories, which basically pushes you right smack into what is called literary fiction. Literary fiction is the difficult to read, not a good beach read, sort of stuff. Think Hemingway's short stories. That's not to say literary fiction is unpopular because I'd call Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See literary fiction and it's obviously very popular. But literary fiction aligns more with poetry when it comes to attention to language and the conflict/drama is downsized considerably.

Basically, the fiction I write for my advanced fiction class, is the exact opposite of my novel(s). Which brings me to today's episode of writing thoughts, specifically about my first short story which is due on Thursday.

It's almost done, so that's good. I mean, the first draft is almost done. Hopefully there will be one revision before I turn it in for workshop.

It's been a really long time since I wrote with a first person narrator (or, in narratology terms, an extradiegetic, autodiegetic narrator) and it's proving...let's say interesting instead of difficult.

Writing a character who's a little bit of a bitch is a lot of fun but not as easy as I thought. Maybe that means I'm not as mean as I think I am? *she wondered hopefully*

Besides when I write in the morning with my coffee, the time inspiration is most likely to strike is twenty minutes before I plan on going to bed. 

And last, but not least, my neck still hurts from hunching over the LSAT on Saturday and I am not thrilled.