What a novel idea!: Part I

"The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean."

-Robert Lewis Stevenson (that guy who wrote Treasure Island, I guess.)


So I got a bright idea about two months ago. As I examined my first semester of school, I started realizing it was a great story. I caught this hint because I found myself telling people the story over and over. Now, not the entire story, of course. I'd tell bits here and there. But I realized two months ago that each event tied to another event, and they all tied into a larger story.

That's when I got it: write a story about your first semester of school.

Well, I'll assure you, this idea was not strongly executed right off the bat. However, in the month of November, I somehow managed to scrap up about three chapters. They were total crap. I put it down because I got busy. Also, I was still attached to the story, if that makes sense at all. The tale had not resolved itself properly yet.

I sat at home over Christmas break, and out of sheer boredom, decided to give this another shot. So far, I added a prologue and revised my first chapter. And it's much more entertaining now.

So here's the trick; I have to figure out what I'm going to put in and what I'm going to edit out. Names for sure fall in this category. If you know me, and when you read the little portion about me writing a story the thought of "oh crap," popped in your head, I've changed your name. In addition, I've gotta figure out how honest I'm actually going to be. The full potential of the story can get messy because 1) misery is very entertaining and 2) I don't tend to share every thought in my head, even if it is profound.

So we'll see how this turns out. I'm not sure that I'm about to become the next Fitzgerald or Kerouac. But I'm curious.

Why do people climb tight wires across buildings? I have no idea. But it sure is amazing. Maybe they do it just to prove they can. That's how I feel. I want to write my story because I think it's worth telling and to prove I can do it.