LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Student Journal / Portfolio Sample Submission 2003
Jason Honeycutt
30 November 2003
Journal Portfolio
Introduction
This journal contains links to two poems, one fiction scene, and one drama script. The journal itself contains essays on the poem The Ninth-Grade Hallway, the fiction scenes excerpted from A Day in the Life, and the script from Rise of the Kings. All three works that have been expounded on are written with the intention of being comedic and satirical to underlying social situations. While I cannot say as to whether I believe these pieces represent the pinnacle of my works I do believe they offer a good overview of my writing style and subject interests.
Throughout the semester I feel that I have learned quite a bit, not only about my own development as a writer but also as to the stage of my peers as writers in their own rights. I admit I was a little intimidated during the poetry section because that seemed to be the direction the majority of the class was inclined toward. I did not want to be the only one in the class who preferred humorous fiction to melancholy poetry. I learned very quickly that the class is multi-talented and could do both, and well.
Personally, this class taught me to write what I want to write. I do not have to be literary or avoid a certain genre because it is not deemed “worthy” in literary circles. I like that we were offered freedom to express ourselves in the fashion we prefer. I learned that there is not any one way to write, or any one style to write in. Basically, you cannot please all of the people all of the time, so please yourself and the rest will follow. I think that from the poetry to the drama I grew as a writer. I am more open to expression and not so worried about writing and presenting something that others may not particularly care for, though it also seems that good writing is generally liked, regardless of genre bias or subject matter. I am certainly more open to criticism and have learned to welcome it. In a setting such as the class the criticism is well-intentioned and workable. There was no simple dislike of another students work.
1. On Poetry
The poem I wrote for submission was titled The Ninth-Grade Hallway. Basically, this poem came from an idea of writing something unlike anything else likely to be written. This seemed like a good idea until I realized how bad I am at writing poetry. I asked my brother (also my roommate) how to go about writing a poem when the poems that had been read in class up to this point seemed to be pretty good. My brother suggested that since I have no poetic ability I ought to think about going the stupid route. He mentioned writing about the spoiled suburbia kids that believe they are teetering on poverty and hate their parents while they wallow in their suburban guilt (but aren’t about to up the perks). That seemed to be a little broad of a subject to me, so I began to imagine ways to whittle down the scope of subject matter into something that could be made fun of without causing too much confusion. I opted to write about a kid (or group of kids) I went to high school with that honestly believed the rest of us to be in awe of their “darkness”. They were the kids that wore capes and read Anne Rice novels and talked to each other in pseudo-Old English while dealing out the Magic cards. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that, if it made them happy, more power to ‘em, but to a kid who worried more about his skateboards than report cards they seemed more than a little strange. I got to thinking about the way I looked at those kids, and had a vague idea of how they looked at me (I thought they were delusional and they thought we were pot-head retards). I figured that would make a pretty good pair of viewpoints to play off of one another.
I wrote a simple rough draft and brought it in to class (due to my inability to master the internet) for David to critique. He went over the poem with me and we decided the satire was good but the structure needed work. He advised me to build more on the difference between the two characters. The ways David suggested that I create more of a difference between the characters were to give each one very distinct voice or speech pattern. One way that I attempted to do this was to make one character speak in longer, more literary sounding sentences while the other speaks in a short, slang, conversational sentence structure.
The strengths of the poem are in the brutal honesty of the characters along with the satire of modern teenager’s self-image. The weaknesses of the poem are most predominantly my lack of poetic skills.
2. On Fiction
The fiction piece I submitted and read half of to the class, A Day in the Life, is part of a larger, novel length work in progress. The story centers around a 12yr. old boy named William (my grandfather). The story itself is basically taken from my life and my experiences, and the way I see (or saw) the world. The fiction aspect comes in through the characters names and fictionalised scenes and acts. I do not have an older brother. The character of Tom is actually a compilation of my three younger siblings and their personalities. The other characters are essentially who they are written to be save name changes. My original intent when choosing this piece to present to the class was simply to entertain. I am not seeking to be applauded for using big words and writing with an overly literary style on subject matter better reserved for philosophers and theologians. It is my humble opinion that the most engaging writing is that writing which is extremely unpretentious, and overtly light hearted and entertaining. Sure, a group of psychology students could take my story and talk about the characters for weeks, but most people just read a story about a kid and are glad they aren’t him, and neither are their children.
My fiction submission respondent was Travis; he was more than helpful in the revision process. I gave Travis an eight-page submission (the one I turned in) and asked him to pick one of the two sections to present. The section we chose to present was the one we felt would best exemplify my writing style and would allow for the most discussion. While the presentation was a little difficult to follow without spending half an hour on background information, I think Travis was right, and the section presented was the most presentable as an individual piece.
In the revision process I opted to use many of the suggestions offered by the class. I revised Will’s love affair with his skateboard, to lessen some of the drama in the last page. I also added more depth into Will’s first meeting with Denise (the girl in the car). The changes were definitely for the better and added new dimension to the story. With a little more revision within the entire work I hope to publish it, as juvenile literature. I think I threw just enough big words randomly throughout the story to give a teacher an excuse to make the class read it. I know this is the kind of book I enjoyed reading at the middle school/junior high level, and I know how hard it is to find books worth reading at that age.
3. On Drama
The drama work I wrote to present to the class, Rise of the Kings, is, as should be expected by now, comedy. I have difficulty writing in a style that is not either comedic or allegoric and it’s a little tough to do allegory in a five-minute skit. My preference is to write something very simple and almost silly with very strong underlying themes (the kind of stuff that a literature class can argue about). At first glance the skit seems absurd, to the point of absolute ridiculousness, only after it is over can the seriousness of the socio/political satire be seen. That is what I was going for; it’s funny because it’s true. If people are busy laughing they tend to pick up on the message better, and seem to accept it because, “how could it be bad if it’s so funny”. The theme sentence suggests the impending absurdity by stating the skits will “charge heroically beyond the bounds of good taste and sanity”. This was of particular importance to me as I feel that to write something truly absurd is very difficult and to pull it off in a dramatic setting is even harder. The trick seems to be to get a few lunatics to act out in a set comprised of normalcy. The problem with that is people by nature are not normal, and life itself is very often silly and absurd. Absurdity really seems to lie in outlandish circumstances in everyday settings, or characters that are so normal they are beyond eccentric.
I really appreciated the response from the class. The criticism was invaluable and is used whenever applicable on the script. The major areas I worked on were the “speak-ability” of a few lines to make them more conversational and casual. I also added more stage direction, though I intentionally left it light so that the actors can allow more personal interpretation. I added more into the character of Laurie, in an effort to let her sarcasm and intentions of letting the two kings argue for her personal amusement could come through.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with the diversity and originality of the dram presentations as a whole. I don’t know why but I envisioned a series of cookie cutter skits that seemed to run together with a few that would be ridiculously literary and over acted. However, I was pleasantly surprised by each and every skit, even more, a vast majority were very humorous.
Summary
As I stated earlier, my progress as a writer has grown in the class. I have learned to appreciate many different styles and genres that I previously knew nothing about or was purposely ignorant. I learned that everyone has a different technique and view on what good writing should entail; no one idea particularly more valid than another. Personally, I never cared much for science fiction or fantasy type fiction. Class allowed me to be more exposed to the writing style and made me at least come to respect the genres. Until I heard Enrique’s and Travis’ fiction I never realized how much effort and planning went into that particular genre. It’s not just making stuff up and writing it down, there is an enormous amount of background work and knowledge of the subject matter that has to be examined before even beginning to write. If nothing else, the class gave me a new appreciation for all types of literature, though I may not be that interested in them, they are certainly deserving of respect. I also learned that writing in a purely literary style will most often only succeed in alienating the audience. No one wants to sit on an airplane or bus and struggle through a book full of words that no one uses and the author only used to flaunt a pseudo-intellect. What is the point of writing that purposely pretentious and confusing?
Through the assignments I came to the understanding that humor is definitely my strongest area. I prefer the more sarcastic or satirical humor with little bouts of complete absurdity. I, obviously, enjoy a writing style that is “Dead-pan” as you (Dr. White) put it, things that are funny because they are not supposed to be. I responded best to the fiction section of the class simply because I feel that is my strongest area. However, the drama section was very interesting and entertaining. I found the shift from fiction to drama natural, but I would not suggest switching the curriculum around. Many students suggested following a different order for the genres, I don’t think so. The poetry ought to be first because it, by nature, short. The poetry requires creativity but less presentation whereas fiction places many hours and pages of work out in the open. The fiction needs to be second as it offers a stable area for those not into poetry. The fiction section also provides a nice jumping off point for the drama because it gets the class prepared for dialogue. The drama should be last, it is the lightest of the three sections and every student is required to submit a piece for the class. The dram section is an excellent way to end the semester on a high note. Honestly, the only thing I would like to see happen is a second half to the class. One semester is just not long enough to cover such an open and inviting study.