Too Many Ideas

Well, I've put off this post long enough. When you continue to think over anything this much there is a danger that you will never get around to actually doing anything.

The writing course brought up a lot of things for me, definitely shook off a few cob-webs and re lit a few old fires and perhaps it even opened up somewhere new. So I was happy with it. Happy I took the plunge.

I'd like to talk about some of things that it brought to my attention. Rather than muddle them all together however I think I'll just pick one for today and run with it. To follow on smoothly from my previous post I'd like to delve into the idea of criticism.

So, I had a few pages of a short story in front of me. The task was to read and give feedback. I instinctively leaped into the text and started rewriting it in my mind. Almost subconsciously, I was changing words and restructuring sentences until by the second page I had to stop. What was I doing? I was treating it like it was my own work, I was trying to reshape it to reflect my message, my style.

This has a deeper meaning for me. For so long I've held very strong, negative feelings for certain authors which I won't go into here. But, I think I understand why now. I was judging them by own standards and my own concept of what writing should be like.

I started reading the story again, from the beginning. And I attempted to take it as it was, with some difficulty. I feel this is some facet of my character, to attempt to force my own templates of perfection upon the world and to despise anything that doesn't fit.

Anyway, to wrap it up. It wasn't appropriate to qualify somebody else's work in that manner and I realised that. Perhaps it is not the right approach in general, it is, however, what I am predisposed to. So, I'll have fun coming more to terms with that side of myself I suppose.