Start Writing Fiction - Activity 5

I am now whizzing (haven't said that word in years!) through the start writing fiction module on the OU open learn website and am really benefiting from it. I have now completed Activity 5 which precedes a section discussing different ways of creating characters such as using yourself in an autobiographical style.

Activity 5:
'Imagine a character very like you but give him or her a dramatic external alteration. Write a brief character sketch in which you reveal the Character's appearance; their feelings about it, and their current circumstances. Use a third person narrative.'

I glanced at the clock; 5am. Sam lay on his side beside me breathing lightly. Even in his sleep he is overly conscious of my comfort and health, being careful not to take up too much room in our Super King size bed.

Another kick.  Deep in to the ribs this time. At least the sickness has stopped now, I have never been good at being sick, even as an adult tears involuntarily stream down my cheeks as I vomit.

I am finding it impossible to sleep. I feel and look the size of a whale, the skin on my stomach itchy as it stretches to accommodate the baby within. Stretch marks have already begun to appear, which I have grown to love but at the same time I frantically lather on layers and layers of baby oil to try and prevent more from appearing. I am excited to be a mother, but I am a wife and a lover too. I owe it to Sam, to me, to try to retain some of my hour glass figure which he fell in love with.

I have been a bit naughty here and have gone slightly older then my current age, looking at my life in about 10 years time. I have chosen a scene where I am heavily pregnant and unable to sleep and again have tried to show the reader this rather than tell them. Overall I think it is pretty good, but have literally only just noticed I wrote it in a first person narrative! This seriously backs up my previous post that I am more comfortable in writing in the first person. I will have a go at writing in the third person instead. Here is my attempt at writing it in the third person:

Josie glanced at the clock; 5am. Sam lay on his side beside her breathing deeply. Even in his sleep he is overly conscious of her comfort and health, being careful not to take up too much room of their super king size bed.

Josie winced at another kick, this time it was deep in to her ribs. The sickness had stopped thankfully; she was always a wimp when she threw up, with tears instantly streaming down her face involuntarily.

She had been finding it impossible to sleep recently. With only a month to go the baby had become extremely active, performing high kicks in her womb and punching her in the ribs. To Sam, she looked beautiful, in a way only the mother of his first child could. When Josie looked in the mirror, she saw a gigantic mass, unable to see her toes she quickly empathised with her sister who used to moan that she looked the size of a whale whilst she was pregnant.

Josie ran her fingers over the ridges on the skin of her stomach. She had tried to prevent these stretch marks through layers of baby oil, advice from her sister which hadn’t worked. She loved them of course, seeing them as a symbol of her motherhood, but she and Sam enjoyed a very physical relationship and she was keen to maintain some of her hourglass figure which he fell in love with.

I definitely found this more challenging and also kept having to check which tense I was writing in. I think the third person reads more like fiction though? Maybe I have over used her name a little too. Dean says it is more descriptive and he prefers it.

I will keep working through the activities and keep you posted, feel free to have a go too!

Activity 2 Re-Written. Character Building.

Ok so I have finally re-written activity 2 in the first person, trying to put my character in a sympathetic light by revealing his passion lies in his hobby whilst at the same time trying to make him sound interesting and intriguing by mentioning he has a wife whilst hinting that he is of course a drag queen. I read somewhere the key to fiction is to 'show, not tell'. Show the reader a something about your character, don't tell them. This is why I have not stated that he is a plumber or a drag queen and left that for my audience to discover as they read. I think this draft is better than the other and I do think my writing style will be more natural in first person.

Here it is:

It’s Friday lunch time and here I am, lying on a customer’s ageing linoleum floor with my upper body uncomfortably wedged under her kitchen sink. I would usually leave a simple blocked pipe like this to my apprentice but typically he is off today. I enjoy my job and am one of the best in my trade; however my passion, like many other people, is in my hobby, albeit a rather unusual one.

As I finished tightening the last washer on Mrs Jones’ kitchen sink pipe, I began to visualize my outfit for tonight’s extravaganza. I excitedly pictured a gorgeous red sequin dress with the slit all the way up the thigh and of course my glamorous new blonde wig. Hopefully Jane, my wife, will have picked up my shoes today, the gold glittery platforms which will complete the outfit. They have of course been specially made to fit a male foot and hopefully will fit like a dream.

It has been a while since LouLou Amour made an appearance, as myself and Jane have had a lot of family social events on, plus work is always busy in the Winter with people’s pipes bursting under the strain of frozen water. One thing is for sure, it will be a night to remember.

Work vs Reality

I have been a bit quiet over the past week, mainly because I have had so much going on! I officially live with my parents whilst I save money, but spend most of my time at my boyfriends. This means when I am with him I rarely get much done - we have been together 5 months so we are very much in the honeymoon period and love spending time together, so I always feel he is a welcomed distraction. This makes me feel so guilty though, I know I am not giving my course or my writing enough time and attention and know I would be really struggling right now if I was doing a bigger course, such as the 60 credit course I plan to do next. I am also doing a lot of exercise at the moment as am trying to lose weight and again this also takes up my time.

I am working through my course and enjoying all of it, which has really surprised me. The Poetry assignment went well and I am just about to start my assignment on the History section which I think will go well also. Surprisingly, I have actually really enjoyed the History section; I thought this would be the section I would struggle most with. It has absolutely confirmed my ambition to study. I enjoy it and gain a high level of satisfaction from it and am keen to complete the degree. The writing has come to a halt over the past week, I think mainly because I just haven't had the time.

The past week has highlighted that I cannot keep juggling everything evenly, something has to give a little to allow priority tasks to be completed. I definitely need to be much more strict with myself and managing my time, dedicating more time to doing my work. This is a habit I feel I must get in to if I am going to stand a chance of successfully completing my next course.

Unfortunately I think this means spending less time with the boyfriend, which I hope he will understand. I think this must be such a common thing for everyone with extra hobbies etc. There must be a lot of understanding partners and families out there, especially for eager OU students life myself!

Writing Research - Free OU Modules

Over the past few days I have focused on writing by researching tips and advice, doing writing exercises and studying a few free courses at the OU. I have found the more I throw myself in to writing, the quicker my creativity opens up and ideas have started to flow more freely. I knew I wanted to write but wasn't sure what genre or topic or even where to start. The following websites have really helped over the past couple of days:

Open Learn from The Open University: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/
This website is fantastic and provides various chapters from modules that the OU have taught over the years. It covers all kinds of topics from Science to Religion and also has quite a few writing modules. I am currently studying 'Start Writing Fiction' which begins by exploring character building and genres. The first activity was to write a scene where you portray a character who goes against it's usual stereotype. Here's my first attempt:

'It's been a very long morning' thought Martin as he finished his last job of his shift for the weekend. He had the rest of the afternoon off and could not wait to get home. He lay on Mrs Jones' yellowing linoleum floor, feet splayed, with his broad upper body wedged under her sink, whilst fixing her blocked pipe. This was easy enough to fix and usually would be a task for an apprentice plumber but Martin's apprentice was off today.
As he tightened the last washer he began to plan his outfit for tonight's show. It had been a while since LouLou Amour had been on stage due to his busy schedule, but tonight would be his best performance yet. He had a brand new long golden blonde wig and a red sequin dress with a thigh high slit awaiting for him to slip into when he get home, before beginning the hour long process of applying the make-up.

I think there could be a lot more description in there and the character needs to have more depth. The follow up activity is to re-write it in first person, trying to put the character in a sympathetic light or allowing the audience to identify with him. I will do this tonight and post up tomorrow.

Another great website I would suggest for ideas and inspiration is http://www.writingforward.com/. It provides lots of advice for new writers and also has some various writing exercises on there to open up your creativity. I will definitely explore this further tomorrow when I have a bit more time!

Travel Plans

Family.......you can't pick them unfortunately. My bank holiday was full of drama and chaos, I already feel like I need some time off just to get over it! I was also working Saturday and Monday which was rubbish and also completely pointless as I had nothing to do. Unfortunately working in customer services means rotating shifts and this week I am working 2pm to 10pm - nice. So I don't really have any exciting tales about my weekend unfortunately.
I don't think I have gone in to much detail about my travelling plans yet have I? Well, as of September this year I will be leaving the UK on an open ticket to THE WORLD :). Plans are to start in Japan then go to China, Hong Kong, Thailand, maybe Singapore and then Australia. After that, who knows! I am so excited about this trip, I will actually be visiting this place aka paradise:

I have been wanting to go travelling for a long time but never had the courage until my boyfriend suggested it. This is the perfect time in my career to go so I couldn't refuse, my only concern is it is going to be difficult completing my degree whilst I am out there. We were originally intending on going for 2 years or maybe go for residency in Australia but have now agreed to be open minded about it all as we may both want to come back after a year really. We are living separately at the moment which is a nightmare. Being a young and fairly new couple we are desperate to live together and set up our own home but know we have to be patient and wait until we have been travelling. It will all be worth it in the end!

Role on September!

 :) Stace

Going from Phoebe to Monica...

I feel tired today. Not physically tired but soulfully tired, like my soul has had a hectic week and needs some time to lick it's wounds and recharge. For me, re-cooperation is achieved through indulging in solitude, seizing a small pocket of time to relax in my own company and enjoying some welcomed silence and a much relished chance to zone out, daydream and gather my thoughts.

A remark was made about me today in friendly banter which has stuck in my mind and I cannot stop thinking about it. Wait for it... a colleague of mine compared me to Monica from friends. Now let me just clear something up - I have always been a mix of Phoebe and Rachel. I am ditsy, funny, spontaneous, random and love a gossip. I am not a control freak, overly competitive or an amazing cook for that matter. However, my colleague continued to back up his statement telling me that I most definitely am a control freak, just like Monica. My parents would probably find this notion hilarious, probably commenting that I have little control over anything in my life and am a bit of a chaotic mess at the best of times.

After the denial stage, I started to reflect on this further. I am completely aware that I adopt a different persona at work, I am after all a manager of a team and also part of a management team which runs my department and I do like a job to be done to the best standard and correctly. I have to maintain a level of respect through behaving as a role model to my colleagues and ensuring my team and department perform to our optimum levels, so I can understand how some aspects of my behaviour at work may have given my colleague the Monica idea. During the process of defending myself, I also went on to reassure myself that I am simply ambitious and tenacious and like to be the best that I can be - and there is nothing wrong with that, right?

But no, some other smarty pants aspect of my brain quickly jumped in pointing out that all of the above are Monica characteristics and yes - sorry love but you are indeed Monica. How could this happen?? I love being a mix of Rachel and Phoebe, I never even noticed I had become Monica! As I look back, I can now see at which points I started to change through the persona's. In my teens I was 100% Phoebe - ditsy, wacky and a bit of an airhead. In my early 20s I became Rachel, playing on the dumb blonde card, fashion conscious and a big gossip with a tendency to come across as stuck up. Now it seems I am Monica and it would appear that these have been my stages of growth through maturity as I have gotten older. I wonder if everyone experiences this?

Is it such a bad thing to be a Monica? Maybe it has been necessary to morph in to a Monica to be able to meet my own expectations of myself? I also thought I was very good at self-analysis but clearly not. Why does it take someone else's view of yourself before you realise your true traits? I think so many people must be living their lives under a misguided interpretation of themselves, what a world to live in! Now that I know this about myself, if anything I think it will just make me a stronger person. Being more self-aware allows you to be more confident as you can learn how to change your weaknesses in to your strengths.

As of now I will be super organised in my personal life as well as my work life - hmmm, maybe I won't hold out on that one too much... just in case.

Here's to the weekend...
:) Stacey.

Reading on a Rainy Day

Ah the rain. Last week we were screaming drought now we are planning flood control, don't you just love UK weather? On the upside it is actually the perfect weather for a snuggly day in. Mine has been filled with reading, studying and of course catching up on Desperate Housewives (I love that programme!). Plus an excessive amount of snacks and caffeine of course. I currently am not in a position to create my own reading snug, but if I did it would probably look something like this:

Amazing. I found this on the web and it almost exactly matches my ideal reading corner, including the dog! I am currently reading 'Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything' by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a journal documenting the author's travels through Italy, India and Indonesia whilst she searches for true pleasure and inner peace. You may have already seen the film, I haven't as I knew I wanted to read the book and don't like to ruin the novel by watching the film, which is almost always diabolical, with the exception of the Harry Potter films. I am half way through and have already been inspired by the book as I am now completely fascinated about Italy. I want to visit there, learn the language, eat the food and learn all about the history. It sounds like the most incredible country and I cannot believe I have never considered visiting there already.

I have also spent my day researching writing communities and sources of inspiration on the web. I have found a website called writerscafe.org which seems promising and a good place to share ideas with others. This is one issue I have at the moment, I know I want to write but I have no idea what about or where to start! Hopefully I will get some inspiration from that website.

I have of course also been studying the next section of my module - history. It is studying protest and is actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would and easy to understand too which is good. Overall I have had an enjoyable rainy day, tomorrow sadly I am back at work.... booo.

Happy Tuesday!