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Trapped
between a hard wall and Butcher Dan, poor Daisy cowered in fear as she waited
for her impending doom. The killer
approached her with an unusual gait and a demented smile. As he lifted his
bloody butcher knife in the air, Daisy closed her eyes and thought of her
long-time boyfriend to whom she would be marrying in a few days. A tear rolled
down her cheek as her final thoughts were filled with her soon-to-be husband.
The tranquil night was briefly filled with deafening screams as the killer
mercilessly slashed her flesh, living up to his notorious name. This short
fiction is personally created in spontaneity. In my head, I am always inventing
ideas for my future stories and I get excited to pen my thoughts down on paper.
I love to write my own fictional stories but I tend to face problems before I
begin to write.
Firstly,
I personally feel that I would be unable to express my thoughts into written
form well. It is incredibly difficult to write a story with a smooth transition
from scene to scene and with a perfectly developed plot on the first try. As
such, it is important to plan a draft outline for the whole story. The downside
is that it can be time-consuming and inspiration can strike at any time so I
will continuously spend my time revising the draft thus it takes a long time
for me to be satisfied. Even with a complete draft, it is hard to tie all loose
ends of the story and to not leave any unanswered questions. Also, I tend to
compare my stories with other stories written by professional authors which
makes the quality of my stories pale in comparison. For example, my favourite
fictional book is Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher. I think the book is a masterpiece as he made a depressing topic
such as suicide really interesting to read about and I could easily relate to
the main character of the book even though I had no suicidal thoughts before.
As such, I aspire to reach Asher’s level of writing. Previously, I tried to
replicate his style until I realized that copying another author’s style is not
the right way and comparing my stories with his stories is simply unfair as he
is a professional writer with years of experience. Even though it can be a
challenge to pen down my thoughts coherently, I have to be patient as in
reality, a lot of drafts have to be made to achieve a satisfactory end-result.
Secondly,
I tend to suffer from lack of motivation and inspiration to continue writing.
This is called ‘writer’s block’ and the feeling of not knowing what to write
can be terrible. When I open a word document or I am holding a pen poised on a
clean notebook page, my mind simply freezes and that is a scary feeling. If I am inflicted by personal problems, I
will have no mood to write. Even if I were to force myself to write, the
feelings would come out as insincere and that would only lower the quality of
my story. Besides that, the topic of the chapter or story can be tough to write
about due to my lack of experience or first-hand knowledge about certain
subjects or topics. For example, when writing a romance story or sub-plot, it
can be a challenge to me as I have no first-hand experience about love. As
such, I am unable to convey the romantic feelings genuinely. Despite that, I
try my best to accurately write about such subjects by basing those feelings
from other people’s experiences and I would definitely not go to the extreme
and forcefully get a boyfriend just to get an idea about love for instance.
Therefore, it is hard to spur myself to write when I am faced with a lack of
motivation and inspiration leading to procrastination.
However,
there are ways to counter these problems. I can read more books and improve my
vocabulary so that I am always inspired to write better. As I regularly expose
myself to a wide variety of stories, I will have an active imagination and have
endless amount of ideas for my stories, broadening my mind. Also, improving my
vocabulary would also help me express my thoughts more coherently and
effectively. Instead of comparing my work with others, I have to learn to
accept that each writer has a unique way of expressing themselves. As such, I
should constantly try to find my personal voice in my stories and subsequently
set myself apart from other writers. In addition, I can set aside fifteen
minutes every day to write so that I would grow accustomed to writing.
Regardless of my location and the medium where I write, I can write anywhere at
any given time. This will then lower the occurrence of having writer’s block when
I am face-to-face with a blank page or word document. Thus, all of these
solutions will help boost my confidence levels for writing.
It
is normal to encounter problems when it comes to doing things that you like. In
fact, these problems are actually important as they ultimately test the level
of seriousness and passion you have for a certain interest. For me, my love for
writing and the excitement I get from writing allow me to successfully counter
the problems I normally face before I write. Without these problems, I would
not be able to grow as a writer and learn that everything in life require a
certain level of commitment, even the things you like. Admittedly, there is a
small number of things that make me very proud of myself and one of them is
when I manage to write a complete chapter of a story after spending hours on
it.
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