Memoir of creative writing

By: Natalie Reed

Okay, so, why did I choose to take a writing class when I typically avoid writing
like the plague? Well it was because I wanted to take more than one class and it was
the few that catched my attention. To me writing was always a late night, last minute,
gotta write a thing I spent 1 hour researching, type of ordeal. Writing dull and soulless
essays that I was only writing because I had little to no choice. But there is the inner
artist in me that cries for artistic words. Reading classical theater, poems, scripts and
fantasy books.

So I decided to give creative writing a try. I had little doubt that I would
procrastinate, but hay, as long as I am having fun, It doesn't matter. It started as it
always does. On the couch in the bassment. Curled up around my laptop as the clock
ticks to the dead line. I quickly read examples of what I’m supposed to write, find
inspiration, and start writing. It was to write about an object, and turn it magical. Okay I
thought, what object do I have that is magical to me. I look through my room and find a
cracked pink box that I basically turned into a time capsule. Inside was a bunch of toys,
pictures, letters, coke bottles and other objects from before I was in high school. I
thought of the memories associated with that box, all the words associated with growing
up and I started to write. It ended up kinda sad. It was my reflection on how I have
grown up and how things from my childhood don’t matter much. What I didn’t write was
how I am still fond of those memories, as distant as they seemed. But I wrote what I
could and that was that.

The next project was writing a fictional piece. Now I am not unfamiliar with writing
fiction, as I have written the occasional script in various theater classes. But this time, I
had to truly think about the elements of the story: Characters, Setting, plot and
pacincing, themes and so much more. Now I was on the fence about whether I should
try writing a new story, or take an old script and turn it into a story. First I used a
generator to give me a prompt, it helped me greatly with making new characters and a
world. I had the whole first scene written and a vague Idea for the ending. But
unfortunately I could not figure out how the characters would get to point A to point B.
So reluctantly, I scraped the story and went to transform the old script into a story. The
old script was full of middle school humor and little to no message other than mcdonalds
is bad for you. I had to do a major overhaul of the dialogue and was able to give
characters more depth than I had in the original. I gave the main characters more
backstories, gave the reasons why they did what they did. The story changed from pure
ridiculousness, to ridiculousness with a serious side. The two main characters are both
trying to just go on with their lives as usual, but the various circumstances get in the
way. The story is almost unrecognizable, but it still has that middle school zaniness. I it
was fun to go back and try to revise an old piece to make it better. I still have some work
that I need to do on it, but it has a special place in my heart.

So as the fictional story came to it’s close, Nonfictional piece came to light. For
some time I wanted to write about my experience with grief in the last few months with
my grandmother. It was difficult to write such memories that are still painful. Most people
feel grief after a loved one has died, but most of my grief was before she died. It was
strange to grieve a person that was still alive, and feel a huge sense of relief when she
finally passed away. Cleaning out her home when she was still alive was the most
painful experience I had faced. That was when I finally realized that she was going to
die. This story was to go back and process all those emotions I faced. I Decided to
combine the hermit crab and braided essay format into my story. There were three
sections of the story, the stoic detached essay on the stages of grief, my personal story,
and the lyrics of a funeral song that I sang for my Grandmother before she passed. The
stages of grief essay gave me a break for emotionally charged writing. The song is one
that I feel like my grandmother is speaking to me when I sing it. This story is very dear
to me and something that I never want my family to read. It is very personal, almost like
a diary but more poetic.

Now the poems were not difficult at all. As usual I wrote them at the last minute
and I have written many before. Though it was new to do a freestyle poem. I am more
used to writing formal poems that rhyme or have a specific rhythm. I was mostly writing
what I felt at the moment and it was liberating. I didn’t have to look for inspiration and
have constraints. The formal poem was a little more tricky. It is based off a video game
that I have been playing, and I wanted to somehow tell the underlying story of the plot. It
was kinda tricky thinking of symbolism and words that rhyme. While these poems were
tricky to write, I found that I could make songs for them and have kicked off my interest
in singing again. Songs are often just poems with singing after all. I am glad to have the
push to write these poems in the first place.

Everything I have learned this semester has been wonderful. I plan to take these
lessons with me into my life. Writing has always been a great way to think on things I
would never think of, and as well as a creative outlet.