Writing freely, truthfully, and honestly

I was faced with many difficulties when I sat down to write my first 1000 words of my non fiction major piece of work. My topic is mental illness, in particular anxiety and OCD, which I suffer from. I found it really hard to try and mesh my own thoughts with those of the people I interviewed, so that there was a coherent angle and line of thought through the piece. It was also really hard for me to write freely and truthfully about my experiences with OCD, as it's not something a reader will hear about every day and some would feel shocked when reading it. When I was first writing this piece I chopped and chose certain sections of my experience with OCD that I felt comfortable including. My piece is going to be about mental illness and its negative stereotypes, so I began to question whether I was buying into the stereotype of mental illness sounding 'crazy' if I was too afraid of the judgement I would receive by putting in some of the more disturbing parts of the illness. So I took a shot at it, and wrote down the truth. I still have a long way to go to be able to write honestly and truthfully, but I think I made a good effort when I posted my 1000 words with information I would not usually share or write about. It feels good finally getting it out, and getting my voice heard, even in a small way.


Image: http://www.apronsandapricots.com/tag/toronto-food-writing/

I want to master the English language

I want to be able to write confidently and well. This means producing grammatically correct writing, as I believe that this an important skill, as I outlined in a previous blog. I have a desire to master the English language. I do not know any other languages besides English, which I feel strengthens my need to use it well and know it inside out.
I believe that grammar is not taught well enough in Australian schools--at least this was the case in the high school I attended. Grammar books were left at the bottom of the pile and none of the teachers desired to teach it. However, they expected us to use the comma, capital letter, apostrophe, and period correctly. How are students expected to build a good piece of work if they are not given the tools? I think that students should not only be taught how to use grammar correctly, but also why the rules are there.
I am interested in becoming an editor as I would love to have a set of skills that could be beneficial for many work places. I think that the ability of people to use language correctly and appropriately is lacking and that people should not shy away from grammar, but tackle it.

I want to write what I want to write

Essays, exams, discussion board posts, reflections, and speeches. Uni really takes its toll on a writer. It feels like I am writing all the time, yet I don't fell like I am writing what I ought to be. What I want to write. Words are caged up inside my head while I choke on assessment for university. But will it all be worth it, I wonder. Do the essays sculpt me into a better writer? Does writing 2000 words of a chapter of a novel steer me toward some day a novelist? I think it can help, but you need your own passion first. It can be hard to write this first chapter, to immerse your entire self into an idea, only for the semester to end and for you to have to quickly get a new idea and do it all over again. All those poor little uni pieces that get stamped with a grade and then forgotten about- I am sure there are best-selling stories among them.

When you are writing all these pieces of assessment for university it is hard to find time to read what you really want to read, let alone write what you really want to write! I don't think I could sit down and begin a screenplay about the zombie apocalypse when my English essay is guilting me into paying it attention--an annoying little voice in the back of my head. With uni there I don't think I could really put my whole self into writing something. But maybe I should try. I feel like I need to develop the kinds of things I want to write, so that after university I have direction and focus. But the essays and readings will always be there, and unfortunately I can't ignore them!

Using real people in fiction

During the semester in 'Creative Writing: Non Fiction' we have learnt that you have to be careful when you write about family members and friends, yet you need to also recognise your role as a writer and be brave and tell the stories you need to tell. As I am also doing 'Creative Writing: Genre Fiction' I have been wondering how this relates to the writing of fiction. I am currently working on a low-fantasy work for uni in which I want to use a real character from history- a painter and schizophrenic named Richard Dadd. I wrote about Dadd in my story but was unsure if I should change his name. I don't want to infringe on his rights and his families rights... but he is dead and from the 1800s. This then makes me pose the question as to how long someone has to be deceased to make it OK to use their name in your fictional writing? His circumstances and background fit so well into my piece that I wanted to keep his name and background true to reality. My tutor said that I can use his real name if I don't 'soil' it by making him evil, and a murderer. But he was a murderer... so would he really mind? Then there is always the risk of making his character the antagonist and getting haunted by his ghost. Though that would make a good story for non-fiction if it happened...

I thought that fellow writers would find this amusing!

It also relates to my previous blog about the importance of a writers knowledge of grammar and word choice.

You're going to use your grammar well!

In our tutorial we all had to come up with an interesting idea that we could write a personal essay on. Megan's idea- how important is correct grammar usage and knowledge for the creative writer- really got me thinking.

I believe that even creative fiction writers, even amateur writers who are unpublished, need a solid grasp of correct grammatical usage and word choice . If they were unsure about what words would best describe an a scene, or if a semi-colon or colon should be used they may omit a sentence altogether; such a sentence could have made an important contribution to the story. If a writer has a sound knowledge of grammar and word choice then they will be able to write more freely as they will not have to be thinking is this really correct? Without this set of skills then the writer could become lack confidence, meaning they may never reach their full potential as a writer.

Although creative writing allows you to play with form, style, and the mechanics of writing more than non-fiction I believe in order to successfully pull this off you need knowledge of what rules you are breaking, and why you want to break them. Without this knowledge it will just look like you do not know how to use grammar and spell correctly- which may in fact be the case!

However, don't despair. I believe that in this case practice really does make perfect (or close enough anyway!). If writers stop replying on spell-check (which causes many bad habits and stunts learning) then they will really have to think about what they are writing and why. A dictionary or the internet to look up grammatical rules to make sure you are using everything correct can be a great way to speed up the learning process. As can having a great written reference such as The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron. Writing courses at UQ, including the fundamentals of writing and writing for the professions, have heightened my love of the english language and made me want to know as much as I can about how to use it correctly.


In direct relation to this course, grammar is even more important in non-fiction writing (especially when it is published in magazines etc) and I believe that journalists and travel writers, for instance, need a developed understanding of grammar and word choice. Both fiction and non-fiction writers may  argue that it is the editor's job to fix grammatical errors. I believe this is lazy and that if you think like this you will never produce a work that really reflects what you are capable of.


Although I am still at the beginning of my learning in this area, and there are probably many embarrassing mistakes in this very blog, I have improved a lot over the past year and believe that all creative writers should put in a solid effort to get their grammar up to scratch if they're serious about getting published.

Image: http://www.happyplace.com/14389/comic-strip-illustrates-how-bad-grammar-can-kill-you

Interviewing

This semester I have enjoyed learning about the interview process in both Writing Non Fiction and a religion and writing subject called Writing Religion and Spirituality. For the latter I interviewed a Christian friend about how Christianity is represented by the media and how it has been commodified and commericalised. The interview process interests my greatly- I love seeing how the interview takes unexpected turns. It was particularly interesting being in a more formal and academic space with a friend. You can really learn a lot about someone's values and interests if you ask the right questions and make them feel you are really interested in what they have to say.

Some things that I have learnt are very important for the interview process and writing up the interview are:
- Take the setting into account; including how the interviewee enters the space and holds themselves. Write this into the interview to set the scene and develop character.
- Look at the interviewee's body language and emphasis they place on certain ideas and topics. Tone and body language, not only words, can reflect a person's feelings (especially in regards to what they feel very strongly about).
- Ask the interviewee to expand on things. Even if you have a time limit you should not try and rush through all the questions as often the answers that are interesting take a bit more effort to get out of someone.
- Straight after you do the interview write up your mental notes about the setting and interviewee. Add any interesting points that you may not have been able to write down. If you recorded the interview then listen to it as soon as possible and take some more notes.

Time was my biggest issue when doing the interview- it went so fast and I did not get to ask as many questions as I would have liked. I also found that the interviewee had a strong focus on how people should live their lives around Jesus- I think this is because he is used to spreading the word of God and trying to get people to come to his Church. However, he still provided me with some great answers. Looking back on the interview, I wish I had recorded it as I did not get to take down many direct quotes as I was trying to paraphrase a lot of what he said so that I got all the information in writing to use later.

I really loved the interview process. It is a great change to write non-fiction (I have done too many short stories at uni!) and I hope that in the future I will get the opportunity to interview a variety of people about issues that I feel strongly about.


Image: http://effectiveonlineteaching.org/2012/03/28/how-to-cure-the-talking-head-syndrome-creating-online-videos-for-deeper-connection/