(Continued from Part 1)
The Good
I was in grade 11 when I took my first, much-loved, creative writing class. Except, I don’t actually believe that was my first class. I think writing fan fiction gave me a far earlier education in writing craft.
I truly do believe this, for writing fanfic offered me ready-made access to what is often the most difficult part of a story to devise from scratch.
Characters.
Why do you write?
This was the question written on a scrap of paper put forth for discussion in a Vancouver writers’ Meetup group to which I belong.
I’d previously made the suggestion that a possible method of stimulating conservation among the group would be for everyone to write down potential topics of discussion on bits of paper which would then be randomly drawn from a hat. In truth, the members of this group are already sufficiently comfortable with each other to freely converse without assistance. Still, we tried the activity anyway for the thrill of something new.
Hence the question: Why do you write?
You didn’t think The Rules of Engagement was just a name I gave this blog to make it sound kickass, did you?
Anyone who knows me (which, admittedly, not many do yet by way of this blog, but perhaps, in time, that will change) knows that I love rules. Seriously. Someone actually accused me once of taking the proverbial “rule book” to bed with me at night. It’s hardly something I can deny; I did already out myself on my “About” tab as being fairly left-brained, rational, and rigid, and to quote (or misquote) Popeye, “I am what I am”. But my love of rules is not because I lack sufficient imagination or ability to think for myself, but rather, I find that when the structure and consistency that rules promote is in place, creativity and imagination are able to flourish.
A Frame Around Infinity 