I Haven't Written in Weeks (and I'm not even sorry)

7:00 AM Gemma Fitz 18 Comments

I had this month all planned out.

I was going to pull Splitting Atoms out of its dusty hiding place, go on a rewriting blitz, and have this new edition at least halfway done by the 31st. And yet, here it is the 22nd (as I write this), and I've got 1.5 pages of complete and utter trash which haven't been modified in weeks.

Go me.

But, honestly, I'm not bothered. I'm not beating myself up about it. (or at least I'm trying not to) I'm not even sorry.

I hear a lot about "writing everyday", "not waiting for inspiration to write", and "write even when you don't want to". And, in general, I agree. Normally, I believe in forcing myself to write-- because if I didn't, I'd never get anything done.

But this month, every time I opened the document and looked at that blank space on the screen, perfectly complimented by the blank space in my mind, I didn't feel just indisposed-- I felt paralysed. Completely overwhelmed and stressed out and incapable of making my brain create words and transfer them to the keyboard.

Life has been hitting harder that usual, I guess. I feel like I've been drowning in school, and my Mom just keeps putting more pressure on me, academically. Which is a good thing, but it's stressful. Church and youth group have been intense lately, which is a good thing, but it's stressful. We're renovating our basement, which means strangers coming and going constantly and lots of loud noises coming from beneath my feet-- it's a good thing, but it's stressful.

And, outside of a couple minutes to talk to my friends at church every Sunday, my social life has been practically non-existent, which means my extrovert soul has been running on empty, which makes functioning in general just. hard.

With everything that's been going on, I don't really feel like forcing myself to work on an already complicated and stressful WIP. And honestly-- right now, writing isn't my first priority. I'm just a kid in high school, and if I don't write for a week or two, it's not going to kill the rest of my writing life. (probably)

So I've taken an unofficial break from writing. And I think that's okay. I don't think we need to beat ourselves up when we don't write regularly or when we don't accomplish our goals. Sometimes we need to step back and reassess what's really important.

Writing, or a much needed seven hours of sleep? A good night's sleep.

Writing, or a long overdue time to read God's word? The Bible.

Writing, or the loads of school work sitting on your desk? School.

Writing, or six hours binge watching Netflix? Uh-- probably writing. But not necessarily.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't stress it. There are things that are more important than writing-- like your physical/mental/emotional/spiritual health-- and if writing is getting in the way of one of those things, it is entirely justified to take a break.

Do you think it's ever okay to take a break from writing? Or do we need to write everyday? Are there any things in your life you've prioritized over writing?

18 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Nobody's Perfect

9:18 AM Gemma Fitz 6 Comments

Believe it or not, writing fan fiction really did teach me a lot of things. And it only took me a few months in the fan fiction community to learn the ultimate, number one rule of writing (fan fiction or otherwise):

The Mary-Sue is fatal. Avoid her at all costs.

My friends and I made a BIG deal out of this on FF.net-- maybe a bigger deal than we needed to. But then again, my fandom (Lord of the Rings) was renowned for churning out endless piles of 197 chapter fics, chronicling the tales of gorgeous teenaged elleths, bestowed with never-before seen powers (never-before seen in Middle Earth, anyway), who swooped into the Fellowship of the Ring and saved Frodo multiple times before finally destroying the ring themselves and riding off into the sunset with Legolas or Aragorn (or sometimes both).

It was stories like these that gave fan fiction a bad reputation, and we were determined to redeem ourselves. So no more Mary Sues. In fact, in my time on FF.net, I really only saw maybe five or six Mary Sues. Not so when I turned my eyes outside of fan fiction, and looked around at all the so-called "original" books and movies that were coming out.

Last night I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the first time. And I should stop right about now and say there are going to be spoilers in this post because I'm assuming everyone's seen it by now. If you haven't, stop reading right here.

So you've seen it? You sure? Okay, keep reading.

I don't tend to like the girl characters in movies. They're usually wildly unrealistic, arrogant, and really only there for all the guys, both those in the movie and in the audience, to stare at. Girl characters usually just annoy me to death, because so few movies portray them correctly. And so something that really got me excited near the beginning of Star Wars episode 7 was Rey.

She was kind. She was feminine. She was good with machines and robots and space junk. She wasn't really that pretty and she definitely wasn't objectified. She was a perfectly normal and awesome human being (or alien, more likely), and it didn't take long before I was cheering wildly for her, screaming "You GO, girl!"

I liked how she was good with parts and machinery. It made up an interesting part of her personality and actually contributed to the storyline, so I was totally on board with it, in spite of the subtle hint at trying to be that strong female character. I didn't totally buy it when she beat up two guys at the same time in less than two minutes, but I supposed that it was probably good they didn't make Finn have to save her. I was extremely doubtful when she turned out to be a great pilot and a little bit upset when I found out that she had some kind of connection to Luke's lightsabre. But I still clung to the hope that eventually she'd get some flaws that would help even it all out.

And then turns out she's strong in the force-- stronger than Kylo Ren, who I'm assuming has been training since childhood (right? right?), and just-- nope. I was done.

And I'm probably more upset with Star Wars episode 7 than I would have been if Rey had just been the stereotypical strong female character that I honestly hate a lot, because instead, they created a really likeable, compelling character that I desperately wanted to be on board with. And then they ruined her, because,

a) she had no flaws, and

b) she could do anything

Nobody's perfect. I don't care if you need a mechanic AND a pilot AND a talented jedi. I don't care if you think that it will make the feminists happy to see a Mary Sue on screen. I don't care if you're trying to represent women in a positive light.

Representing women as perfect is every bit as annoying as representing them as weak. Want another shocker? We're human beings, people. We're aren't objects only there for the sake of men, but we aren't goddesses, either. We have character and personality and interests and hobbies and likes and dislikes and strengths and flaws and skills and things we're just downright bad at. Just like everyone else.

Of course, it's not just women who get painted perfect on screen. The Gary Stu counterpart isn't quite as common, but he still makes an appearance. He's still annoying. Surprise, surprise-- guys can't do everything, either! Guys mess up sometimes, too! Everybody does.

Just because you're not writing fan fiction doesn't mean you can get away with Mary Sues and Gary Stus. Thankfully, it's not that hard to avoid writing these types of characters. There's just one simple rule you have to keep in mind.

Nobody's perfect.

Nobody. Ever. So your characters shouldn't be, either. It's that simple.

(And, for the record, I did love the new Star Wars movie-- and I'm still clinging to the hope that Rey will shape up-- or down, in this case-- in the upcoming films. So don't kill me, please.)

So, what did you think of the newest Star Wars instalment? What are some Mary Sues or Gary Stus in pop culture that annoy you personally? Do you think it's ever okay to write "perfect" characters?

6 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Old English, Immature Shadows, and Cheesy Threats: Snazzy Snippets is Back!

11:48 AM Gemma Fitz 12 Comments

Oh, look what's back!! It's Snazzy Snippets, the bi-monthly link-up hosted by Alyssa and Emily, in which I get to throw cake and snippets and whatever else I feel like at you guys. But mostly snippets.

Technically, this month I'm rewriting 'Splitting Atoms', so I probably should be posting snippets from that novel. But I'm not. Because it stinks and it's really embarrassing. Instead I'm giving one last, long HURRAH for NaNo and my novel, 'Shadowwhisper'. So here goes.

a snippet from page 16

As surprising as it is to find out that the first person you've ever thought of as your best friend isn't actually your best friend at all, but somebody else's, I've never actually minded being third wheel in this crazy friend triangle. It might have something to do with the fact that best friends and boyfriends are two totally different things and Micah was always the former. But besides that, Glenn is a really great guy and he's actually a lot of fun.
I mean, most people might think of a dude with six siblings, an obsession with videotaping literally everything on his phone, a penchant for texting only in Old English, and a totally serious aspiration to slay a dragon as just plain weird. But then, I'm weird. And Micah's weird. And it's kinda nice to have other people to be weird with.

~~I'm kinda in love with Glenn~~. Rae, Glenn, and Micah make up my dynamic trio (if that's a thing). Micah and Glenn have always been best friends, while Rae just kinda tags along, but that doesn't mean that she isn't an important part of the team. They've all been friends for years and they all love each other so much and it's so fluffy and MORE FLUFFY and aaarrggh. *buries face in pillow because FLUFF*

a snippet of 16 words

"You're so immature."
"I'm a shadow. We aren't confined by human concepts like maturity."
"Go figure."

Have I mentioned that the relationship between Rae and her shadow is probably my favourite part of this story? IT PROBABLY IS. That's all.

a snippet about something new

"--Oh! But I'm forgetting. I don't own you."
"That's right," I whisper. "You really don't."
Another pause. "What if I told you Darryl was right?" it asks at last. "That I really am dangerous?"
The way it says it is so different from how it usually speaks. Colder-- almost savage. I feel a chill tingle through my body and pull my blanket tighter.
"Anyone can be dangerous if he wants to be," I say. "Even me. But you and I are friends. I promise."
"I want to be your friend, Rae," says my shadow, "but you've got to stop pushing me."
"I'm not trying to push you."
But it doesn't answer. The conversation is over. And the silence feels-- dangerous.

I'm probably cheating, but I guess you could say that this snippet is about a new threat. Up until this point in the story, Rae has seen her shadow as harmless, friendly, even cute. This is really the first time that serious doubts as to its motives come into her head. (Because she's kinda dense. Sorry, Rae.) From here on out, it only becomes more obvious that something needs to be done about this creature that's dogging her footsteps.

Okay, so now it's your turn-- Share a line or two from page 16 of YOUR novel. Bonus points if it's sixteen words long! And if you did Snazzy Snippets, maybe leave me a link, so I can check it out?

12 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)