Friday, July 20, 2007

Foray Into Fiction

So for several years now I've wanted to attempt writing a book. Inspired by my grandmother's life as a child and teenager, my intended original project (a "roman a clef", fiction based on fact) has been pushed to the back of my mind for instead a completely different project.

Either way, what little I've written only emphasizes how truly difficult it is to put onto paper, what's going round in your head. And that's just the words! Now imagine trying to remember grammar lessons that were much less interesting than the the cute guy sitting in front of me in class, with his curly, blonde hair and bulging 16-year-old biceps. Sorry, I've seemed to have gotten off track just a bit!

Back to grammer - FOCUS - just today I learned from a New Hampshire Rock Station of all places, that you use "a" if the word following begins with a consonant. Alternatively you use "an" if the following word begins with a vowel. Who knew?!?! Probably most of you, but it was completely lost on me. Oh well, so if I ever do get published, I'll have one over-worked editor correcting all my errors!

But in reality, what's stopping me from really writing either story are two concerns. The first, plagarism, be it actual sentences, characters, tone, you name it! I'm terrified that if I'm reading a dime-store novel, while creating my masterpiece, that suddenly my project has morphed into another author's already published piece of work.

My second fear, and my biggest, is what will people think? Will they think I've lost my mind when reading what I've created, or will they think I'm writing about my own experiences guised in a fictional character? Bottom line - what will people think?!?! This fear I will have to find a way to get over on my own, as the first fear is more easily avoided as I find my own voice over the next couple of years.

For now, both projects are on hold until I put more practice into the simple act of writing. I've created a 2nd blog frontseatfiction.blogspot.com where I'll be posting stories, the first of which was posted today "Miss April Showers". This initial short story may become a serial novel which I hope will help me in developing characters.

In my mind, I'm this fabulous writer (ala Joan Wilder in "Romancing the Stone") who has been approached by Kellogg's - yes the cereal company, because they want to publish my serial novel(s) inside boxes of "Special K", wrapped in that crinkly cellophane of course! Imagine, a new chapter available to muse over every 4 weeks or so while you eat your breakfast.

But in the meantime, slide on over and read "Miss April Showers".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's really great that you are writing. Finding a creative outlet is something everyone should have. I think you definitely have the imagination and insight to be a good writer. What you might do is get a grammar book and try to learn some on your own. I'm a huge grammar dork. Writing with complete sentences can help your text flow better.