I write in short sentences. Not necessarily on this blog, where I can be myself, but in my fiction writing, when I'm being somebody else. It's starting to irritate me, actually. I would like to write long sentences full of dependent clauses and adjectives. But my main characters just don't think that way because I'm in love with unreliable narrators.
My main characters lack focus: one gets in trouble at school for angry outbursts and not paying attention. They all struggle with schoolwork to varying degrees and don't see school having any connection to their future. None of them see themselves as very bright.
I'm not sure why I like to write from this point of view. I was a good student in high school myself, an honor roll student who couldn't wait to go to college. Most of my friends weren't though, and my high school friends didn't stay in college for long. I never clicked with the rest of the kids in my AP classes. The things they cared about seemed trivial to me, I guess. In their quests begging for two more points on an English essay, they seemed worlds away from the things my friends worried about: sick family members, money, substance abuse, car crashes. The kids pursuing nothing but grades didn't seem to have the same level of maturity or responsibility. In retrospect, I can see that they most likely did have the same problems the rest of us did. But they sure knew how to hide it from me.
And I guess I'm not all that interested in writing about kids who don't have problems. Who is, right? When you're smart, the world is easier. When you make good decisions, your problems are fewer. So my main characters may not be the sharpest knives in the drawer, but I have fun writing about them. I just have to figure out how to get them to be more descriptive.
What about your main characters? Are they as smart as you were?
-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages
6 comments:
"when you're smart, the world is easier." WROOONNNNGGG. If anything, it is harder. Introversion goes with being smart. Being lonely goes with being smart. Social anxiety goes with being smart. Social shunning goes with being smart. Feeling ugly, even though one may not be, goes with being smart. A quest for constant perfection goes with being smart. Insight into the world's unsolvable problems goes with being smart. Insight to one's dysfunctional family goes with being smart. Confusion goes with being smart. Being naive goes with being smart. Being totally stupid goes with being smart. An intolerance for stupidity goes with being smart. Knowing how much you don't know goes with being smart. The list goes on and on... At least if someone is not smart, they don't realize what it is to BE smart...
My tirade for the day... lol. the first anyway... who knows where the day will lead.
read my blog:
http://blog.wynneproof.com/
thanks!
My coworker saved me once bc he had the tire pump in his trunk and my tire was flat! :)
Kat, I'm late but I have to totally disagree with you. Social shunning and social anxiety, realizing your family is dysfunctional, being confused and naive ... you don't really think these things are the sole possession of smart people, do you? Isn't it better to understand what's going on around you and have some skills to handle your problems than to feel helpless in front of them because you don't understand them? But maybe we define smart differently. I don't see it as a social stigma, and if it is in some times and places, it's a very temporary stigma.
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