Devin's Creative Writing

  From Hate to Love     Writing in any form was never a joy that I had from the start, it wasn't until recently I discovered that it's something I enjoy.  In high school writing papers was something that we would have to do maybe once every couple months. When we did have to write a paper, it was never more than a couple pages. For someone who would despise writing anything more than a paragraph, this schedule made it easy for high school me to get by. I could never find the patience to sit down and focus long enough about what I needed to write. I would basically free write my papers letting the final product be it. Proof reading was a myth in my eyes. Once I got to Heidelberg, it didn't take long for me to realize that way for writing will not get me far. Having to force myself to have patience and write three or four page papers only made me hate writing more. It wasn't until I switched majors to becoming a Communication major, that I found a new love for writing....

  Embrace the Cringe I'm nearing the end of my college career and while reminiscing on all the classes I've taken, I decided to look at some of my previous writings from earlier on. Oh my goodness. I've never read something that made me feel physically uncomfortable.  For a couple minutes I wondered if it was actually me that wrote these papers. Grammar was all over the place and made no sense at all. I jumped from one point to another just to come back to the point before. I don't think I could write at that level even if I tried to, but without trying Freshman me did it with ease.  At first I completely regretted every second of looking at those pieces of work, feeling embarrassed I even turned those in for a grade. After a couple minutes passed I began to realize the strides I've made in my writing abilities. It was something I've never noticed through out my college career until I took the time to look at my old work. Then the feeling of embarrassment went a...

  Make Them Rounded       When writing a creative piece containing characters it can be difficult to bring them into fruition. There can be a lot of things that go into making a round character, their development and how they can grow on the reader.    Having a rounded character can bring a lot of depth and emotion to your writing that the reader can feel while reading. Having a rounded character can make it easier for the reader to attach themselves to that character, because they can see themselves in that character based on the decisions and emotions they have. Now, every character doesn't need to be a rounded character, but having more rounded than flat characters can help your story. The protagonist and antagonist should always be rounded but not limited to only those characters. Sometimes side characters can hold a lot of power on a story and its plot. Leaving side characters as flat character only leaves limited choices for the reader to attach ...

  It's Not Going to Finish Itself     As you sit there, scrolling through social media, you know that work needs to be done. You still sit there scrolling and well aware that if you just started it right now, you'd be done and the worry is gone.. but you still have a couple days, so ehh it can wait.  This is probably a conversation you've had with yourself more times than you can think of and you aren't the only one. Procrastination is like a virus that can plague anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Some struggle with it more than others but at one point n your life you will hit a wall of depleted motivation, leaving you wanting to do anything but what needs to be done. It can bring unwanted anxiety and stress all because you hit a point where you just need a minute, and sometimes it's okay to have those needed mental health days. Sadly, procrastination can become a habit if not taken serious and lead you to digging a hole you need an all night to get out off.  If...

  Watch Your Tone Tone is arguably one of the most important parts of any kind of creative writing.       Without a tone being felt in your writing then it's almost like is a soulless piece of work, just words on paper. I would compare a lack of tone in writing to an actor playing an emotional scene with no emotion. To the watcher of the movie they would be confused on how to feel during the scene, because so much is happening but with the lack of emotion it wouldn't hold the same impact. The tone is the emotion in a piece of writing, it gives the reader an idea of how they should feel while painting a mental image for them to follow.       The tone of a writing isn't set and stone to just one emotion. Again, comparing it to a movie, there can be constant changes in emotion and tone throughout the movie based on what is happening. So, in creative writing the tone can change based on what is being written and how the writer wants the reader to...

  The short answer is, yes, freewriting absolutely works.  As someone who loves writing and being able to put mental images into words, it can be more than annoying when you try to think of new ideas and you are met with mental T.V. static. That mental static is the killer of all motivation for me for trying to put words on paper.  Whenever I found myself lacking creativity I often times just walked away from my computer and assumed it was a classic case of writers blocks. I struggled with this for years until recently, when asked to start freewriting for this class.  The first time I ever did a freewriting exercise was in middle school. I never saw it as a serious exercise because of that, instead more of a silly assignment for kids.  After a few weeks of freewriting for class, I've noticed that the mental T.V. static I usually struggle with has transformed itself to creative shows that seem to flow from my fingers. Even without an idea in mind, I just start wr...