This week, I opted out of doing a story retelling in pursuit of something more stimulating like superheroes and vampires. Lucky for me, the Writers Write have both! This website has a bunch of useful tips and guidelines on how to achieve a certain type of story or perspective. The first article I read initially tempted me because it said it had a 10 step formula for writing a love tragedy, perfect for Valentine's day next week (which I have never and will never partake in because it is a consumerist holiday meant to take money from people trying to buy affection). It basically spit out the plot of Twilight mixed with Romeo and Juliet, so that was fun.
From there, I went on to learn from a man we all know and love, the creator of the MCU. Stan Lee himself (RIP) gave six steps for superhero writing, and these are super useful for this class I think. One that stuck out to me was "write what you love to read". I sadly judge a book or writing rather quickly; if the writing style seems repetitive or I'm not engaged early on, I'll often give up. I try to avoid these own pitfalls in my own writing by acknowledging that I'm writing for a very intelligent audience and need to attract them with what I'm writing. Just like chefs need to think, "would I eat what I'm serving to people?", writers need to consider if they'd want to read what they've written if it came from somewhere else. I also really liked the iconic line of "with great power comes great responsibility". Creativity has a responsibility to be shared! It deserves to be harnessed and and have something made from it.
This website truly has so many interesting articles that I know I'll just spend extra time browing for fun this year. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this one among the many options for lab! While it may target more advanced writing audiences than this class will emcompass, all the articles have a sense of support, encouragement, and challenge to improve wiritng and creativity. Also, the occasional back to basics for the old-schoolers out there (ie, how to use a fountain pen). These articles are like a conversation; I can't wait to spend more time with community on here in the future!
From there, I went on to learn from a man we all know and love, the creator of the MCU. Stan Lee himself (RIP) gave six steps for superhero writing, and these are super useful for this class I think. One that stuck out to me was "write what you love to read". I sadly judge a book or writing rather quickly; if the writing style seems repetitive or I'm not engaged early on, I'll often give up. I try to avoid these own pitfalls in my own writing by acknowledging that I'm writing for a very intelligent audience and need to attract them with what I'm writing. Just like chefs need to think, "would I eat what I'm serving to people?", writers need to consider if they'd want to read what they've written if it came from somewhere else. I also really liked the iconic line of "with great power comes great responsibility". Creativity has a responsibility to be shared! It deserves to be harnessed and and have something made from it.
This website truly has so many interesting articles that I know I'll just spend extra time browing for fun this year. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this one among the many options for lab! While it may target more advanced writing audiences than this class will emcompass, all the articles have a sense of support, encouragement, and challenge to improve wiritng and creativity. Also, the occasional back to basics for the old-schoolers out there (ie, how to use a fountain pen). These articles are like a conversation; I can't wait to spend more time with community on here in the future!
Stan Lee photo by Alberto Rodruigez with personal editing; source
Hey, Moriah!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great tip from a man who knows his superhero writing -- if you don't enjoy what you're writing about, your audience won't buy into either. Stan is absolutely right. We love what other people are passionate about and, if our author doesn't seem to have a passion, the text comes off as cold and clinical. Great advice!
Hey Moriah,
ReplyDeleteI checked out both of the websites and they were very helpful. I have never been one to write about romance, but after reading this I may have to give it a shot. I really appreciate you providing the links also as I saved them on my google doc and will reread them if I do end up doing a romance story. I also am a huge fan of superheroes and honestly haven't found a story in that realm that I don't like. I hope you have a great rest of the semester and looking forward to seeing what other stories you choose to write about.
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ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point about writing what you'd want to read - I hope everyone in this class aims to make the blog comments assignment easier by keeping their readers engaged, haha. I haven't checked out this story lab assignment yet but you've definitely piqued my interest! Also, I love that you make the comparison between folktales and superhero stories. There are so many parallels in different types of hero stories.
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