Exercise One: Your Unique Writerly Attributes

Part One:

I like my analytical thought. I like the ideas I get by being still and thinking deeply about something.
My perspective towards the world is cautious optimism. I am both very aware that there is a lot that can go wrong or be dangerous but I also have faith in people to be good.
I tend to use poetic descriptions of things and but yet still use accessible language.
I am a teacher and like to teach. I also have influences from having family in the military and being a pastor’s daughter. This means that I like to explain things in a way that is easy to grasp. I have a very strong sense of comradery and Honor. I also value faith particularly when it is challenged in a variety of ways.
I am a very introverted person. Being around groups of people is really exhausting. I find it difficult to track conversations with multiple participants and I need serious alone time to recover. What people seem to miss about that is that I do enjoy spending time with people, and just because I have learned how to talk well in front of groups, doesn’t mean I’m extroverted.

Part Two:

I write fantasy and I use my analytical thought processes for world building and character creation. I don’t necessarily want it to be a dominant trait in the flow of my writing, because I don’t want to have tangents.
I think cautious optimism could be a useful trait for my writing. It will allow me to create a variety of darker contexts while still building in the hope that is often lacking in those settings.
I like employing my poetic descriptions in my writing, but it gives a tone to my writing that is more in line with styles from the past and I worry it won’t sit as well with modern audiences.
I don’t know if the teacher background is of full use in my fiction, but it will probably be handy in building my author platform. The importance of comradery, honor, and faith are hugely important to me. They are my key values and I believe they therefore, are crucial to my writing as well. I started writing to wrestle with the problems I was facing in real life and these pillars were consistently part of the solution to those problems. I want my writing to help my readers like it helps me, and I want them to inspire them to start writing too. I digress…
I do not think being introverted helps my writing in many ways. It helps me to get more writing done, and I can use my experiences to create a character. It would be a light sprinkles to taste scenario.

Exercise Two: Analyzing Inspiration

Bryan Davis

Bryan Davis’ writing is optimistic. Some of my love of his writing is nostalgia because his novel Raising Dragons was what made me like reading. He comes across as very knowledgeable because he incorporates elements of history and legends into his work accurately and in a way that builds interest and sparks the imagination. I believe that dynamic is what I like most about his writing. His language is very accessible and has a natural pacing to it.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

For me I would describe Coleridge’s writing as grey. It’s like a dreamlike haze you are floating through to just touch pieces of before they waft away in fog. His wording is airy and his descriptions strike me as being very direct. Something is a certain way or looks a certain way, but everything has a subtle darkness and depth of meaning. What I like most about his writing is the pacing and intonation to how the words flow that give the writing the dreamy grey feeling.

Lewis Carrol

Lewis Carrol is play time. He plays with language pulling apart words and putting them back together and there is a playfulness to his writing. I like the intonation of his pieces and how he plays with language. Although there are dark undertones and overtones in his writing the lightness of how he weaves in humor makes it enjoyable to me.

Jenna Moreci

There is a lot of grit in Moreci’s writing. Characters rebelling against the odds and a deep driven determination that I believe shows in her work. I admire how she renders her characters. She has very diverse characters that are all well developed. Her writing has many other positive characteristics, but the way she handles characters is what I like most about her writing.

NF

NF is the different one on my list because he is a rapper. His strengths are his relatability, musicality, and manipulation of language. He has relatability because he is very open about himself and what he deals with, and he fosters community in his fans. His musicality comes from how he creates his pattern of rhythm, pacing, and lyrical composition. He manipulates language by making use of metaphors, imagery, and allusions. What I like most is his relatability and musicality.

Part Two:

Similarities

Most of the authors I like have a dominant trait of pacing and intonation. I really gravitate towards poetical styles of writing with fluidic pacing and clever word play. I didn’t mention it above, but most of them also have strong character development that helps to drive the plot of their different stories.

Discrepancies

Although most of them had pacing I enjoyed they have different types of pacing and intonation. They use different levels of language as well.

Part Three:

Bryan Davis

Authentic
Knowledgeable
Optimistic
Spiritual
Readable

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Grey
Dreamlike
Phantasmal
Elegant
Sharp

Lewis Carrol

Lilting
Memento Mori
Imaginative
Tempered
Playful

Jenna Moreci

Determined
Smooth
Witty
Ardent
Accessible

NF

Gritty
Genuine
Passionate
Grounded
Assertive

Exercise Three: Who Do You Want to Be?

Voice – I want my voice to be authentic and accessible so that make work is grounded in a reality my readers can relate to and something that is easy to read while still using some more complex language.

Perspective – I described myself as cautiously optimistic and I want to stick with that. I want to acknowledge the dark parts of the world but also show that just because there is great darkness doesn’t mean that hope is a lie or out of reach.
Tone – I want my tone to be cheeky? I want there to be a mysterious mischievous humor to balance with my more straight-man poetic descriptions.
Sentence structure – I want to make use of different dynamics in my sentences so that my writing is a bit more poetic and flowy.
Word choice – I want to stick to more accessible language, so I don’t want overly complex vocabulary, although I don’t want to neglect some higher-level vocabulary. (Yes to “timid” maybe to “reticent” no to “”) I also want to omit swear words. I keep seeing writers say that stories aren’t realistic without swear words, but I believe omitting them will make it more appropriate for the YA audience, it’s more authentic to me, and because I write fantasy I find it annoying to see those words in most fantasy contexts. You went through all the trouble of building a completely different world, but they still swear like our sailors? To me it breaks some of the immersion. I do worry a bit that the writers I’ve heard that from will be right, but I also don’t want to sell out on myself because it might get my writing a slightly larger audience.
Humor – My sense of humor is largely on the dry/highbrow side. I want to expand my humor though because I want more diverse humor in my writing. So, I’m going to take some classes to hopefully help me in that area.
Character and setting descriptions – I want my characters to be complex, deep, diverse, and grounded. I want my setting descriptions to lean into that poetic side and become more like painting than talking.
Dialogue – I want to have engaging dialogue. I want to use minimal tags, omitting them when I can and incorporating more than the “he said” “she said” when I can’t. I want the dialogue tags to be purposeful in showing what the characters are doing or look like.

Themes and messages- I want to incorporate themes of comradery, honor, and faith into my stories. I want to explore the strengths and weakness in these areas and the unique ways that these themes interact with a variety of challenges.

Exercise Five: Telling A Story Out Loud

It was a story about a story I wanted to tell. It was important for me to tell because I believe in the power of sharing stories and that they hold meaning. The story itself was about a themes of loneliness and friendship which speaks to two influential things in my life. Perhaps what this story says most about me is that I like to day dream up possibilities.

My sentence structure was variable as was the pacing. I spoke with a mix of modern casual terms and heady terms. Perhaps there was a balance between the two. My tone was very light and happy even when I was talking about things I was insecure of and hopeful even if I was talking about something not so lighthearted.

By looking at this exercise I feel that my assessment of my story telling voice is fairly authentic to my own voice. Whether or not it is marketable, I’m not as sure of. It’s who I am, but I feel like the casual tones would push away the audience that is still keen on older styles of writing and vice versa. It definitely feels like it adds a uniqueness to my voice that might make readers interested just because it’s different. I’m just worried about it seeming sloppy form rather than personality.

Exercise Six: Imitation Practice

Bryan Davis: Teren rubbed his hands together, blowing on them as if he were cold. He was cold. The air had turned frigid since the first frost and he wasn't yet wearing a heavy cloak. But he was occupying his hands for other reasons. As he weaved through, head low, his training told him about every easy pocket he passed. Normally it would be a hard lashing when he got back if he passed them up. Today though, he couldn't risk the smallest attention, or heavy pockets of his own.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: None noted a lick as he passed

Just a lad warming his hands in the cold

Where he went to no one would care

He was just going to where he was told

Watch you lad do not go astray

Keep even time and pace and pass them by

Order your mind to the task ahead

The lad cared not but necessity bade him try

Lewis Carrol: Teren thought he would very much care for a winter cloak now that the first frost of the season had come in. He set about rubbing his palms together and thought to himself. “It is best to keep them busy.” For it warmed his palms and he knew quite well which pockets would be easy targets. He had a keen eye for such things. As he bobbed through the crowded streets, he could spot every change purse even if the owner had attempted to hide it. The masters were insistent that he made the most of this skill, so much so that it had become an enforced habit of Teren’s to leave no pocket untouched. However, on this blue afternoon, Teren could not afford to risk attention coming his way if he should become careless in applying his talents. He also could not afford to have extra weight on himself that might hamper him in the task at hand.

Jenna Moreci: Walk. Not much further now. The crowd thronged about him like a school of fish racing for chunks of bread on the water’s surface. The frigid air nipped at him, and he had to keep his hands busy as he passed by one easy grab after another. Why did no one know how to guard their pockets. But not today. Today he wasn’t taking small prizes to please the masters. Today his task was much more important; and dangerous.
NF: He was walk’n through town ignoring the bruises.

Teren rubbed his hands didn’t really want to do this.

But he just had to keep on move’n he knew it.

Naïve people don’t know participation isn’t a matter of choose’n.

Leave the pockets, know what you’re do’n.

One job at a time cuz don’t know what you might be lose’n.

Exercise Seven: Stream of Consciousness Writing

Stream: It’s interesting to watch outside my window. I am writing this in May and we are still mandated to travel as little as possible because of the pandemic. So, I am looking out my window down onto the streets of the small town I live in. I always forget how big this town actually is because of how far apart everyone is. Main street feels like a city. There is constant traffic even now. People just drove through blowing their horns like crazy. At first I was perturbed by the shock of the sound and that they weren’t ceasing the racket. Then, I read their cars. All of them had signs about supporting the local high school seniors. I went from annoyed to really touched. I can only imagine how the seniors are feeling now that the governor mandated school buildings to remain closed. The starlings are in the trees. I love those little oil spill birds. I’ve called them oil spill birds since I was little because of their luminescent green and purple feathers. There is something so magical about them. Maybe I should write a story about them. There are kids on the street. A girl with vibrant red hair on a bicycle. I wonder if they are as nervous as the adults are or if they are ambivalent. I want my books to get published. I want them to bring courage to people in times of uncertainty like these. The sky is so grey today. It looks like a canvas that would soak up all the ink as soon as you touch the pen down. I want to think of grand things. I want to sound smarter than I feel and write more beautifully than I think I look. Well, there’s the confidence issues. They can only stay away so long, eh? Well, what is to be done about it? If you spend a long time like I have building such a nasty habit. No one will want to read what I write anyways even if it is great and saying stuff like this would only be seen as begging for attention. Knock it off. Where were we? The cat is trying to climb inside my jacket she doesn’t realize she can’t fit. She just wants to be warmer. She’s a smile. The feeling of a smile. She makes me smile. I’m sounding like my character Justin. Maybe he just sounds like me. Maybe his voice is just my voice when I’m not trying to organized. None of this is organized. I wonder if this exercise will actually help? Should I share it like we were asked to? Oh goodness, get off this train track before you get hit. I wish the trees would bloom. It has been grey and cold but no snow for so long. It should be winter or spring as you see in the picture books, not this nonsense. Gracious, it’s May and still not above forty degrees consistently. I need to find more relatable interjections. I sound far too dated. Saying you sound far too dated is dated. Ack, and why do I have to learn social media? I just want to write stories that inspire people not sell my personality on Instagram. But taking pretty pictures can be fun. Well, we’re thoroughly off topic. Is there really a topic for these things? Stream of consciousness should be stream-y not edited “anything that pops in your head” she said. But is this really what she meant and do I sound too crazy? I’d never say all of this out loud. I want to go outside again.

Reflection on the stream: I don’t want my writing to sound like my stream of consciousness. It is way too flighty and I prefer my writing to sound more refined. It’s fine for a character voice, but I do not think it would fit well as my authorial voice.

Trying to Find a Voice - image 1 - student project

Erin Slegaitis-Smith

There is a Story Keeper in all of us.

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