How does Christmas inspire your writing? Does all the magic and glittering and sparkling send your mind off to magical places like the North Pole or Narnia? Or do you turn into an absolute Scrooge and all your writing turns cynical and dark, reflecting on how the world is like the dirty, crushed snow in the street gutter?

Most likely all the holidays do to your writing is taking up time and distract you from it.  With family members coming in, finals just wrapping up, last minute shopping, turkeys you have to remember to get out the oven and everything else going on it may feel like there’s not extra time to even sit down much less write.

I encourage all of you to find time to write though. Sit down and just write something. I find it’s a wonderful tool for stress relief. Of course I’ve always used writing as a procrastination tool so I may not be the best person to listen to. I’m right about this however. Don’t forget to write even with all the craziness going on. 

Bonus homework: Write a holiday story. Just like I talked about in the beginning, write something magical, a recapturing of your childhood or maybe something cynical reflecting the stress that suddenly appears as an adult around holidays. Or do something in between. Whatever you’re inspired to do. The important thing is just write it. 

Sometimes you need a break

What I am writing on tonight is also what I am going through. First off: apologies. I’ve been under a lot of stress and illness lately and haven’t had time to dedicate to my weekly postings.

That said, it made me think about my topic. I haven’t been writing much for myself this semester. I’ve had too much on my plate. But now, finals ending, I find myself flooded with ideas I can barely wait to type out.

People who hand out advice like Tootsie-Rolls will tell you to always write. And you should, as you should practice an instrument or your painting skills. But any artist knows sometimes you need a break from the big stuff. I pushed all of my major stories aside and instead would jot down snippets when I needed to write. Because forcing myself, stressed, anxious and unwilling, was only going to harm my stories and make them convoluted. A frustrated artist always makes frustrated art.

So chill. Step back from what you’re laboring over for a while. When you come back, it’ll still be there. And better for the break.

Sometimes you need a break

What I am writing on tonight is also what I am going through. First off: apologies. I’ve been under a lot of stress and illness lately and haven’t had time to dedicate to my weekly postings.

That said, it made me think about my topic. I haven’t been writing much for myself this semester. I’ve had too much on my plate. But now, finals ending, I find myself flooded with ideas I can barely wait to type out.

People who hand out advice like Tootsie-Rolls will tell you to always write. And you should, as you should practice an instrument or your painting skills. But any artist knows sometimes you need a break from the big stuff. I pushed all of my major stories aside and instead would jot down snippets when I needed to write. Because forcing myself, stressed, anxious and unwilling, was only going to harm my stories and make them convoluted. A frustrated artist always makes frustrated art.

So chill. Step back from what you’re laboring over for a while. When you come back, it’ll still be there. And better for the break.

Writing Advice - Experiment

Experimenting is an important part of growing as a writer. And it’s fun. Not everything you write while experimenting is going to be brilliant but sometimes it’s interesting to break out of your usual zone and try something new.

What I try to do every so often is find an idea or style that I want to try and just work with that. For example I once wanted to try writing one of those stories where every description and metaphor was part of a longer theme of imagery. One example that comes to mind is in Eliot’s The Wasteland, one of the sections of the poem is about an afternoon hook up and all of the adjectives, while fitting the setting, also have sultry or sexual implications as well. Since I had been watching abundant amounts of Doctor Who at the time I decided to go with space imagery. I wrote a brief sketch about a boy and a girl hanging out in a park at midnight. I tried to make all the images I used sound celestial and extraterrestrial. Using words like dusty red, to invoke images of Mars, or describing green eyes as tractor beams. It wasn’t my usual style but that was the point. I was trying to break out a bit.

This past week I decided that I had been too busy writing stale, homework papers and doing boring editing, I wanted to write something new. I tried a new experiment because that released me from the pressure of creating something phenomenal, or even usable, and allowed me to just have fun with it. What I tried to do was write a completely generic story. I only used personal pronouns, none of them with gender connotations and avoided all gender stereotypes or identifiers as best I could. No skirts, heels or ties, long hair or short. I tried to create to protagonists who could be anyone. It was an exercise in realizing how much gender comes into play when choosing adjectives or personality traits. 

Experimenting, writing something for the style rather than the story, probably isn’t the best thing to make a habit of. The story is important of course but sometimes it’s a good idea to practice just your style as well.

I can't stand horror movies. I think they're silly and rely too much on creepy visuals. However I've always loved a good horror story.

I distinctly remember reading Poe's The Black Cat and being terrified. It was during the day, it was still light but there was no one else in my house and I was so scared.

Written horror stories leave much more room for imagination which will almost always be more terrifying than what Hollywood is capable of.

So this Halloween, pick up a good scary book. I'm going to be rereading Ray Bradbury'sSomething Wicked This Way Comes which I do every year.

I have a problem with characters. Or rather I’m simply picky about them. I’ve written about token characters on here before. I’ve always been drawn to character driven stories more so than to other stories. 

We live in a society that revers individualism and unique personalities, at least in fictional characters. You can see this attempts in many movies and televisions shows now. I believe it started with the indie films which developed the conventional “indie girl.” There was Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a woman full of quirks. She was a great character but she wasn’t the exception. The new television show The New Girl also has an abnormally quirky female lead. Numerous other currently popular shows have this same thing, shows like Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Community thrive on extreme versions of stereotypes. Some of these shows realize they’re doing it and create a sort of parody of themselves in the acknowledgement but others try to still be taken seriously as a show, pretending the universe they exist in is completely normal. Often the leads are exaggeratedly quirky while the minor characters are normal. 

I have a hard time with characters like these because it ruins the verisimilitude of the story for me. I sit there during the whole show thinking that no one could be like this and still functional and I can’t get into the show. Fortunately this is a lot less common in literature. Television shows and movies are stories too though and they deal with characters. They should be dealt with properly instead of taking the easy way out when writing them.

Today all of my school work has risen over me like a great tidal wave of assignments. Feminist theory, language in Shakespeare, describing fictional interactions with people.

Today I am wondering how important it is to take time out for yourself. I wrote a sarcastic note on tumblr recently about aspiring students who think that their English major is going to make them into a writer. I can tell you from experience, my English major has done little to foster that.

I am a writer though, because at some point I took up the backside of my math notes and began a story. And I fell in love with it. And I could not stop. Soon I wrote on the back of all of my notes, and on envelopes, napkins, scraps.

It is important, of course, to hone your skills to the best they can possibly be. I just worked with a mentor long before I set foot in college. So, I blame little of my development on my schooling. As I am swamped with assignments, lack of sleep, caffeine withdrawals, and all of the irrationality that comes from being a college student (though luckily I don’t live in the dorms, so I still have some solace) I realize that I have not written, let alone read, anything for myself in almost two months.

I begin to feel cracks in my mental state, in my whole perception of my self. And this is why I think you are not a writer unless you truly think you are one, classes notwithstanding. I do not feel human when I am not writing on my own, for no purpose than my own pleasure.

Write on, Octopi. Hopefully I’ll make it through this semester alive!