It has
definitely been an interesting ride this term, and I’ve had a lot of fun
working on my story. I know its sounds cliché, but its kind of like a journey. It’s
the journey to the destination that’s fun. I’ve basically finished my project.
It’s printed, finalized, ready to be handed in, and now there’s nothing to do.
The problem is, I read it again and notice MORE changes to be made, places I want
to go with it, and the only reason I’m not handing in a newer version is
because I don’t want to go through the hassle of nicely printing it as a final
product again.
At the beginning of the term I only knew one
thing about my project; I wanted to write. My first story idea was wildly
different than this, and as I tried to write I realized my motivation wasn’t
there. So instead I read my old draft for my short story from fall term, The Great Grey Ghost. I loved where I went
with it, and while in some ways I was satisfied with the ending and I thought
it worked out very well, I wanted more. I really wanted to uncover the history
of the well and why Jayne fell into it. I wanted to explore the landscape
around him, add characters and a story with thick character development. But
the problem was, I only had a month and a half to do it, and I knew it’d be a
challenge.
I went to my family’s house near Arlington , Vermont
I returned to school and began writing. I
pictured a woman in the garden Jayne had stumbled upon, but different. I began
to follow the woman, and rather than writing a story, I wrote what I saw as I followed
her. I began to realize that I was no longer writing a second part to my story
from before, but I was writing a second chapter with many to follow, and by the
third chapter I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell the story as I’d like in the
time given to me.
So I finished my fourth chapter two weeks from
the deadline and spend as much time as I could editing and reworking what I had.
I wanted an ending that would leave people questioning, but still could sum it
up in one way or another, so I added the ending with the owl and Daniel as it
has now. Now I had a draft to hand around and get feedback. I had edited it the
best of my ability (which is poor in some ways), and it was time to get a
second and third party involved. Mr. Igoe had already read the second chapter,
but I still gave him the entire draft and waited for his feedback overall. He
actually understood the story, which I was proud for, but gave me back a lot of
feedback as well. It started to make me realize my faults in writing, and made
me more alert to my mistakes to come. I often repeated words much to often, and
since then I’ve been trying not to as well. I also noticed how I can even be a
bit over descriptive of certain things, and I’ve started to fix that as well.
But as I work on it still, I especially try to get to know my characters. While
I want the reader to know and understand the plot, I really do want to develop
characters that will be loved and missed. I can see now the faults in that, and
I’ve tried to fix them the best I could.
My thought process is wild and impossible for
an outsider to understand, nor should they, but I’ve learned that longboarding
is one of the best ways for me to think. I skate off, rolling for miles, and
the constant rhythm of my wheels on the asphalt helps me gather my thoughts. I
thought about how I’d like to see the story, or how I might change what I wrote
the night before. I rarely take notes, and if I forget anything it’s my loss,
but I’ve developed a belief that anything important enough I won’t forget. The
reverse in that if I forget something it probably wasn’t crucial enough from
the start.
At night or in class I’d take the thoughts I remembered
and worked them into the story the best I could, and usually it worked.
Sometimes on my own I’d even read certain parts aloud to see how they flow, but
sometimes I even stumble on the most grammatically correct sentences, and I’m a
bit nervous about reading aloud, even to the class. At midterm it went alright,
but I’m always telling myself to slow down. However, I can honestly say I haven’t
found a way to work in listening to my project. I guess the closest I have to
that is listening to the feedback I get from Mr. Igoe and my peers. But I haven’t
interviewed anyone like many other people, but I focused on the writing as much
as I could.
I really enjoyed working on this as a senior
project. I like writing a lot, and while it’s not going to play a major part in
my college life, I still enjoy it in my free time and hope to continue it. I
think this as a project has really improved my writing skill and my vocabulary,
and I hope to get something published eventually.
