Where Is My Fiction Headed.....

Writing Fiction is a lot harder than I expected. I am very used to writing Non-Fiction which is easy for me cause all I have to do is draw from my memory and fill in the blanks with my imagination. I've always been able to make up stories, which I am pretty sure I get from my Irish roots. =P But now to try and write a story of substance, that is Fiction, is harder than I imagined. Every story needs to have a good plot (events/action) to move it along which I thought would be easy to come up with because it's not relying on the truth of the past but rather simple imagination. I'm having a hard time deciding what stories are worth writing, how to go about telling the story, what perspective I should tell it from, and where I want the story to go. I think the later is the hardest part for me; I just am not sure where I want my Fiction stories to go. I'm not looking for the next Da Vinci Code but I am looking to write something that people would read or wouldn't mind reading. I'm also trying to avoid cliched stories because that is the last place I want my stuff to end up! Mark Twain once said that "Writers should write what they know". This is something I try to stick to in my writing but writing Fiction makes this harder for me. Then again I guess that is the point. If we never step outside ourselves we will never learn anything new.

May i Prompt you....

I think writing prompts whether for poetry, short stories, novels, etc. are a invaluable tool for every writer. The mind is something that easily becomes overwhelmed with the tasks and responsibilities of everyday life which makes it hard for your creative and worthwhile thoughts to push their way to the forefront. Writing Prompts or Poetry Prompts are designed to help get your creative juices flowing!
I was observing a 12th grade AP Creative Non-Fiction writing class the other day and the teacher was actually doing writing prompts with the students. She was giving them the beginning of sentences like: The time I felt the happiest, the time I felt the happiest, the time I laughed so hard I cried, etc. And then the students would complete the sentences drawing from their memories. She then had them write about one of the stories from the list. She also had them each bring in a picture of one of their favorite memories and then they were to write the scene of their favorite memory. I thought she was very creative in trying to get their little minds working.

I think poetry promts rule!!!!!!!!!

Aloysius...O'Donoghue...Similarities???

James Augustine Aloysius vs. Deirdre O'Donoghue Kelly Carroll Julia Falt

I just thought instead of posting boring facts about J.J. I would see how his brief synopsis is similar to mine. Let's see how Aloysius matches up to O'Donoghue... (my middle name sounds more Irish already)

James Joyce was born James Augustive Aloysius Joyce in Dublin, Ireland...The same county my relatives are from...Up Dublin! (it's an Irish thing)

Like J.J., I have rejected Catholicism, in certain aspects, but also adore the works of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Unlike myself J.J. was quite a good singer; he even won a bronze medal (no not in the Olympics but that would have been cool) but rather in the Feis Ceoil-that's Gaelic for Festival of Music.

J.J.'s lady was named Nora which just so happens to be my mother's name...I also have a sister named Norah but my mom added the 'h' to it so it would be different from her name.

I was born in 1982...that was the same year the Stephen Joyce burnt most of the letters, that were preserved, of J.J.'s that were between him and his daughter Lucia (these letters were believed to show that Lucia and maybe even Joyce were schizophrenic).

Eugene Jolas, who cared for J.J. in his years in Paris, has the same first name as my sister Siobhan's (in English the name means Joan) boyfriend but he is Italian.

J.J. also suffered from a perforated ulcer whereas, my mother once had a bleeding ulcer...who knew! Thank the Lord my mother's ulcer did not kill her....sorry J.J.

I have frequented Ireland a time or two in my life and I plan to go back a handful of times before I kick the perverbial bucket (keep your fingers crossed) whereas, J.J. chose to never go back. I don't think I could ever right off the most beautiful and awe inspiring place in the world.

http://www.jamesjoyce.ie/