The great aspiration I've harbored for a long time - but have started to accept probably won't happen - is to write a really great novel. That could mean a lot of things, but to me a great novel is one that is structurally/grammatically well written, but more importantly, one that has well-developed characters, is so rich in detail that it transports the reader into the world inside the novel, and moves the reader in some way. Middlesex comes to mind, but so does Divergent, and Eleanor & Park, which most people probably wouldn't categorize as high literature.
But the sad truth is that every time I sit down to start my novel, 2-3 pages into writing I realize that what I've written is a thinly veiled fictional account of my own life. Ugh. The last thing I want to do is write a piece of crappy chick lit.
Veronica Roth was 22 years old when Divergent was published and I think she's now just 24 or 25 and has written three excellent books. It's enough to make you wonder what the hell you are doing with your life. She's so young and yet not only writes well (keeping in mind that her audience is YA) but distills the best and worst of human nature so well in her series. I'm still suffering from Divergent withdrawal - trying to get over not being in that world anymore and being in the real world.
I had a long conversation about writing yesterday with a friend who is an aspiring writer and enrolled in an MFA program and when I told her my secret little dream, she asked me why I don't try and write my novel.
I think that there are people who want to write a book or screenplay or whatever else (in fact, most lawyers I know secretly harbor the desire to be a writer instead) and then there are those people who need to write because they have something on their soul that they need to get out on paper, in words. And I think it's usually the latter who end up writing things worth reading. To me, a writer is an artist like a painter or sculptor - the true greats do it not because they want to make money or create a piece of art for other's enjoyment or any other reason than that they must, or their soul will wither. And I've realized that's not me. I enjoy writing but I don't have a story to tell burning on my soul. I don't have an imaginary world inside my head like Hogwarts or post-apocalypse Chicago or even the hallways of high school. And I don't think I've experienced enough of life to write any interesting fiction. But I hope that one day, a thought will blossom in my mind that I can't forget - a character or a world that becomes so real to me that I must give it life in words.
But the sad truth is that every time I sit down to start my novel, 2-3 pages into writing I realize that what I've written is a thinly veiled fictional account of my own life. Ugh. The last thing I want to do is write a piece of crappy chick lit.
Veronica Roth was 22 years old when Divergent was published and I think she's now just 24 or 25 and has written three excellent books. It's enough to make you wonder what the hell you are doing with your life. She's so young and yet not only writes well (keeping in mind that her audience is YA) but distills the best and worst of human nature so well in her series. I'm still suffering from Divergent withdrawal - trying to get over not being in that world anymore and being in the real world.
I had a long conversation about writing yesterday with a friend who is an aspiring writer and enrolled in an MFA program and when I told her my secret little dream, she asked me why I don't try and write my novel.
I think that there are people who want to write a book or screenplay or whatever else (in fact, most lawyers I know secretly harbor the desire to be a writer instead) and then there are those people who need to write because they have something on their soul that they need to get out on paper, in words. And I think it's usually the latter who end up writing things worth reading. To me, a writer is an artist like a painter or sculptor - the true greats do it not because they want to make money or create a piece of art for other's enjoyment or any other reason than that they must, or their soul will wither. And I've realized that's not me. I enjoy writing but I don't have a story to tell burning on my soul. I don't have an imaginary world inside my head like Hogwarts or post-apocalypse Chicago or even the hallways of high school. And I don't think I've experienced enough of life to write any interesting fiction. But I hope that one day, a thought will blossom in my mind that I can't forget - a character or a world that becomes so real to me that I must give it life in words.
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