In all of my early childhood innocence, I used to think I could do it all. I was going to be an actress, a singer, a fiction writer who was going to rake in the dough--you name it, I was going to do it. Yet as I got older, one by one, those ideas seemed to fall away.*An actress would mean doing some things in movies that I wouldn't want to do.....so I ruled out that idea.
*Despite getting solos in kid's choir, and my delusions of being American Idol quality...my mom gently, though not always with subtlety, told me I didn't have that great of a voice....it took a little bit of reflection, but I saw she was right.
*Fiction writing was plagiarism in my hands. I couldn't come with an original idea to save my life and when I did, my writing just felt flat. My dialogue didn't have anything special; my characters couldn't convey the depth that I wanted to. After a lot of tears, and a lot of head shaking at past stories, I discovered that non-fiction writing was the way for me to go. The "fun stuff" had to be left to someone else.
But in the past few weeks, I have been silently wishing I did have the fiction writing talent. Have you ever had a story idea that you just have to write down?! I have--SO MANY OF THEM. Between the story line of a woman inflitrating a mafia family to my romantic comedy to people meeting in an elevator....I have wanted to put them all down. (After all, they are consequently turned into Oscar winning Best Screenplays in my head ;-)
I have to remind myself that the Lord knows best. He didn't have that talent for me. He gave to others; I was just not one of them. I might be upset at that from time to time....do you ever have those moments? I recognize that if we were all blessed with the same gifts, life would be extremely predictable and boring. Maybe a Pulitzer is in my future? LOL
So if any of my readers are writers--good for you! Maybe you can write my ideas for me! =)
3 comments:
Non-fiction writing is JUST as important as fiction writing. In fact, I'm at a point in my life where I actually prefer non-fiction writing.
You write non-fiction beautifully, so you should definitely continue doing that. However, if you have stories in your mind, you could always record them in a notebook or journal just for YOU. Not to be published or for anyone to read. Remember, it doesn't matter how large your audience is...do it for yourself. So, if you want to play around with fiction, do it, but just keep up with your beautiful non-fiction as well.
I love you!!
Mom
Just because you aren't destined to be a novelist doesn't mean you cannot write fiction. Writing, like anything else, improves the more you practice. True, some people are just Gifted at it, but that doesn't automatically rule everyone out. Try writing short stories rather than novels -- you never know. =)
I hope you get something down on paper YOU are happy with because that is half the battle. I have "written" one story and one that is a work-in-progress. Actually meeting all of my "blog friends" has inspired me and I am attempting something new.
You could always try recording your voice on a tape player if getting it down on paper doesn't come naturally. Or like Charity mentioned try short stories - or children's books.
You DO have talents, Ella, you just have to find them, and then everything else comes easy. Best of luck! =)
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