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A blog tracking my journey as a writer. |
| Week 60 / Prompt 6 - Have you ever been told you "think too much" or are "too much of a perfectionist?" Just the other day Collin told me I'm thinking too much about my writing. I've been struggling a lot lately on it. I haven't been able to duplicate my efforts from November at all. And when I look back at what I've written over the past month, I mostly don't like it. Funny enough, I like a lot of what I wrote in November during the mad dash of NaNoWriMo. But now that I'm out of the frenzy, my writing gets worse? That just doesn't make sense to me. I can only think to blame it on the fact that I'm not focused enough any longer. My head isn't in my book where it needs to be, so my attempts at writing are half-assed and it shows. I told him the other day that I'd realized a major flaw in my writing of late -- too much dialogue, not enough description. And I'd gotten pumped after reading a few things that made me consider ways to fix that balance. But then, when I went to try and make those edits.. I looked at what I'd written and was filled with such despair that I had to set it back down and not touch it. It then went further and made me second guess myself, question whether I could really finish this novel or not. Collin tells me I'm crazy, and I'm thinking too much. He has faith in me, knows I can do this, and thinking too much about it will only preclude me from finishing this amazing goal I have set for myself. He's likely right. I'm just really struggling right now to get words onto the page. I'm in the middle of my book, almost exactly, which is the hard part to write because my characters haven't reached the big climactic end yet, and are really just moving through the world trying to learn things. I love my outline, and think it's got a great story. But writing my characters through it is really difficult. I'm second guessing myself throughout everything -- are my characters strong enough? do I need to add (and focus on) more flaws? is this boring? And it's really hampering my writing flow. UGH. Writing is Hard. Week 60 / Prompt 3 - Write a book review for the last book you read. The last book that I finished was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It was suggested to me by Collin who loved it, and I could see why as I too fell in love with the book. I couldn't put it down! The story is set in a futuristic world where a virtual reality gaming system has been developed, and as the real world crumbles, the majority of people spend all of their time within this game world. The game world has in many ways superseded the real world, including currency valuation and job opportunities. The creator of the game has died and left his entire fortune up for grabs in an elaborate scavenger hunt. The story follows the progress of one teenager as he attempts to beat everyone in the biggest 1980s scavenger hunt of all time. This book is absolutely perfect for anyone of Generation X or the elders of the Millennial Generation. The scavenger hunt depends on the character's knowledge of 1980s gaming, movie, book, and music knowledge. It is a homage to that decade in all ways (both within the story and as a book). I can almost guarantee that the book will mention obscure references to things that even the most hardcore 1980s fan will not be aware of. But it is fun to recognize those items from your youth that you do remember. Cline paints a very bleak image of an American dystopic future. But some of the images are totally believable and interesting to consider. His revamped trailer parks, bus rides, and corporations are impressive to read about. He does a great job of going between real world and virtual and explaining how the characters exist within his dystopic virtual world. If you enjoy the 1980s, or the history of gaming, or video games in general, I highly recommend this book. It is a fun read and poses some interesting considerations for future societies. |
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