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Writing Sample from theProse

  Writing Sample from the Prose The following was written for a writing challenge on theprose.com. The prompt was as follows: Grey Wall  Check out the original over at  Grey Wall . Grey Wall Towering over everything was the Grey Wall. For a thousand generations the Grey Wall had separated the worlds, looming above each in silent threat of what lay on the other side. Looming in the heart of the unchosen. No being had every crossed the Wall. No human would try for the abject terror it brought the imagination. Even the birds, circling and wheeling about the azure sky would not cross the line of demarcation. The Wall meant safety and the Wall meant death. Zenyassa did not care for safety and she did not fear death. She was Unchosen. What did it matter? What was life without the risk of losing it? She could not feel alive sitting before a thatch hut milling grain while the men of her village hunted wild yissana beasts. Their hunt brought them adventures and risk for the great ...

What am I working on? I wish I knew...

  


Ok. You got me. I actually know what I am working on. I suppose I should say something about it, so it appears like I am not completely bullshitting this whole wannabe writer schtick. 

A writer, even an unpublished one has to be actively writing something. It can be a poem, a short story, a screenplay, or a novel. Anything will due, just write. That is the page I am on right now.

In grade school and high school I rarely paid any attention to our grammar lessons and did not put much effort into writing my assignments. I regret the grammar part, but not the assignments. Their, either the teacher or the curriculum, choices of topics and genres did little to allow my imagination to flow free. I did try. When we had to write an argument essay in 11th grade, I argued for the existence of the Loch Ness monster. Something like that was not the intent of the project. I always tried to force my interests into my assignments like forcing a square peg into a round hole (get your mind out of the gutter...there isn't room for both of us in here...). The teachers more often then not disabused me of such notions and thus killed my will to write.

Over the last few years, I have started several projects without any idea how to go about starting and planning a book. I would just write, which is not entirely wrong, and not plan anything for characters and their story arcs. It was not something I thought about. My ideas are based on my interests and on what I have read in the past. I want to re-tell stories that I love, but with my own take on how things should have gone down. I like genre clichés. I do not get tired of them and will seek books and shows that are similar to my favorites. I know everyone always wants something new, but everything is cyclical and whatever you are interested in writing may suddenly be in vogue again.  

    The three different books I am working on are throwbacks to my favorite genres, the Pulp Adventure Novels mixed with some action thriller. Think Indiana Jones, Uncharted, and Michael Crichton (he was way smarter than me and did more work in and hour then I do in a year so...grain of salt) The names are all working titles and are subject to all that copyright nonsense.

  • Jewel of the Sahara
  • Caribbean Gold
  • Below: Into the Hollow Earth

I plan on writing a post about each story I am working on or even thinking about working on. I also want to do status updates for my main working projects and talk about where I am getting hung up, like actually sitting down to write. Hopefully someone will follow this and comment with their own experiences and give some constructive help. If not, then I am getting in some good practice.


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