...is that if I start an entry without finishing it, it's never getting published...
All of that is weird, though, because I'm normally a big fan of the editing process... which brings me to today's topic: editing.
[yes, I know -- this isn't directly related to the #100daysofwriting prompts. sue me... actually, please don't; I don't think my malpractice insurance covers me for writing-related infractions.]
--
I'm pretty good on a first draft*. [I'm very humble, too; can you tell?]
Since I started writing, I've been able to do it without a huge amount of fuss. If someone needs a single-draft whatever I can do that almost as easily as I could speak it, which highlights something else -- I'm an excellent speaker. This wasn't always true, though.
Back in high school and early undergrad, I used to absolutely panic if I was asked to give a speech. I'd prepare extensively -- write down every word I was supposed to say and print it out in gigantic font so I could read it without picking up the pages from the podium. Still, my voice came out high and pinched; I rushed through emotional impact points and tripped over simple words. To put it simply, a person who knew me as a teen would never believe that I'm an adult who authoritatively speaks to (and writes at) hundreds of people I don't know every week.
So what changed?
I practiced. And a huge part of that was the practice of writing fanfiction. [Oh my god. I'm about to come back to the official prompt of today, utterly by accident -- creating characters.] When I first started writing fanfiction, the characters were me -- almost as close to reality as I could manage, with a couple of major exceptions: they, by and large, had penises... and they had no problem expressing themselves. Now, sometimes they didn't, but that was optional; it wasn't because of a deeply held terror.
...and in the process of developing these characters -- these enhanced versions of myself -- I learned a lot about writing down what I think in a tangible, relatable way. In fact, I said so many things I'd been terrified to even think, that the fear lost its teeth; through manufactured graded exposure, I healed.
So... I'd be willing to say that the characters I choose to write -- to create -- all have to do with self-actualization... that they're therapy, in and of themselves, rather than story vehicles... and through the process of creating these characters, I've given myself the confidence and ability to say what I think when it counts, whether or not that opinion is "I'm a good writer" in this blog, or giving myself advice in the voice of The Iron Bull, "You need to stop making assumptions about how other people live — you aren’t the arbiter of what’s right, you know**," or even telling the University of Michigan why I should be one of their post-doc health infrastructure students:
All of that is weird, though, because I'm normally a big fan of the editing process... which brings me to today's topic: editing.
[yes, I know -- this isn't directly related to the #100daysofwriting prompts. sue me... actually, please don't; I don't think my malpractice insurance covers me for writing-related infractions.]
--
I'm pretty good on a first draft*. [I'm very humble, too; can you tell?]
Since I started writing, I've been able to do it without a huge amount of fuss. If someone needs a single-draft whatever I can do that almost as easily as I could speak it, which highlights something else -- I'm an excellent speaker. This wasn't always true, though.
Back in high school and early undergrad, I used to absolutely panic if I was asked to give a speech. I'd prepare extensively -- write down every word I was supposed to say and print it out in gigantic font so I could read it without picking up the pages from the podium. Still, my voice came out high and pinched; I rushed through emotional impact points and tripped over simple words. To put it simply, a person who knew me as a teen would never believe that I'm an adult who authoritatively speaks to (and writes at) hundreds of people I don't know every week.
So what changed?
I practiced. And a huge part of that was the practice of writing fanfiction. [Oh my god. I'm about to come back to the official prompt of today, utterly by accident -- creating characters.] When I first started writing fanfiction, the characters were me -- almost as close to reality as I could manage, with a couple of major exceptions: they, by and large, had penises... and they had no problem expressing themselves. Now, sometimes they didn't, but that was optional; it wasn't because of a deeply held terror.
...and in the process of developing these characters -- these enhanced versions of myself -- I learned a lot about writing down what I think in a tangible, relatable way. In fact, I said so many things I'd been terrified to even think, that the fear lost its teeth; through manufactured graded exposure, I healed.
So... I'd be willing to say that the characters I choose to write -- to create -- all have to do with self-actualization... that they're therapy, in and of themselves, rather than story vehicles... and through the process of creating these characters, I've given myself the confidence and ability to say what I think when it counts, whether or not that opinion is "I'm a good writer" in this blog, or giving myself advice in the voice of The Iron Bull, "You need to stop making assumptions about how other people live — you aren’t the arbiter of what’s right, you know**," or even telling the University of Michigan why I should be one of their post-doc health infrastructure students:
"...Shrouded in manufactured mystery, the majority of medical concepts are delivered in Latin, communicated from behind surgical masks, and further complicated by electronic healthcare systems, which have been developed for the benefit of corporations, rather than patients or healthcare providers. In this quagmire of jargon and technological complexity, sources which help the public to differentiate truth from hype are few. It was with this concept in mind that I cemented my goal of always remembering that healthcare providers are teachers, first and foremost, tasked with the awesome responsibility of explaining that esoteric concept of health in a constantly changing external environment."
So... thanks, I guess?... to all the fanfic writers out there who existed before I got here. I never knew I'd get a voice like this, and all of you helped by paving the way.
---------------------------
*watch, there will be a bunch of typos in here....
**From Don't Stop Me Now on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384473
**From Don't Stop Me Now on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384473