Why I Fight Write
Big Daddy has a post about writing, inspiration and style.
I’ve always loved writing. As a teenager, it was an outlet for timidity; as a young adult, an outlet for frustration. And as I approach middle age, it’s more of a means to let out the parts of myself that tend to frighten or confuse others in person.
My mom says that all of her children are good writers, but that I am the only one that seems to enjoy it.
Style? I speak in nearly the same manner as I write. If I read the written material aloud and it sounds good, onto the “paper” it goes.
The thing that writing does for me—and I know I’m not alone—is that it helps me flesh out what I’m thinking. If I have some vague “feeling” about a subject, instead of saying “I can’t put it into words,” I actually do put it into words. It helps me to put “feeling” in its proper place and to actively think. I’ve got a hard drive filled with illogical discarded “feelings.” (Some might say that I have blog filled with such. Oh well.)
If I were to list the number of writers, authors and novelists, that have influenced my style, I would likely bore myself to death, not to mention my readers. You’ll notice that, on my sidebar, I’ve listed favorite fiction. The list is not fixed—except for One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Dahomean--but merely some of the ones that I’ve read more than once, which is a great indicator of how much I enjoyed it. The fiction writer creates his/her own world. If that world is a place that I want to go back to, over and over again, then it's a winner.
AFTERTHOUGHT: The most handy writing tool is, taa daa! A dictionary. No, not a spell-checker, not an online dictionary, but a big, dead-tree dictionary. I keep a ten-year-old Webster’s Third under my desk: hardback, split into three volumes. It’s great but it’s strange how the letters in it keep getting smaller every year. ;-)
Have you read any Stephen Crane? One of the funniest writers I have ever read. I laughed myself silly reading "The Red Badge of Courage." I know it's supposed to be a "serious" war book and all, but I dare you to read it and not laugh.
Posted by: Chunky Monkey | December 02, 2003 at 05:25 PM
I know what you mean about the dictionary. I'm going to need a magnifying glass to see mine in another year or so.
Posted by: Acidman | December 02, 2003 at 07:38 PM
Congrats, Juliette, you won an award at Right Wing News...keep up the great writing/work!
Posted by: Blackfive | December 03, 2003 at 07:01 AM
I thank God every day that my parents, for some reason, saw fit to stock the boys' bathroom in the Card household with multiple issues of Reader's Digest. Not only did I get to learn about body parts (I Am Joe's Brain...I Am Joe's Lungs), I also gained a vast vocabulary (Increasing Your Word Power) and actually knew what the words meant and how they were pronounced.
Posted by: Marty | December 03, 2003 at 02:13 PM
I still have a Webster's New Collegiate at deskside - 8th edition, 1981.
After all, I've posted half a million words online; surely one of them is askew. :)
Posted by: CGHill | December 03, 2003 at 05:44 PM
I still have a Webster's New Collegiate at deskside - 8th edition, 1981.
After all, I've posted half a million words online; surely one of them is askew. :)
Posted by: CGHill | December 03, 2003 at 05:44 PM
Hmmm. Everything I tack onto a TypePad page is duplicated today. I must be living wrong, or something.
Posted by: CGHill | December 03, 2003 at 05:48 PM
MB has both a Webster's and a Chambers [UK] right next to the comp!
Posted by: MommaBear | December 03, 2003 at 07:02 PM