Hello. My name is Scott Varn, and you have stumbled upon my creative writing page from my senior year of high school. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to grow up to be a writer. Every once in a while I will think on this again, but I am never really serious about it. I don't believe I am a very good writer, but I still had to write for this class. Some assignments were difficult, whether it was due to writer's block or a lack of motivation, but others were quite fun. When I write, I don't try to incorporate some deep meaning, or use a lot of symbols and metaphors. I do not want to create something that could be studied in a high school English class. I prefer to create stories that are simply that: stories. That being said, let me tell you about three pieces I wrote this semester.
The first piece is my 55 Fiction story. We were challenged with writing a story using only 55 words; no more, no less. I loved the idea for this assignment, so I instantly began brainstorming possible plots. I knew my story had to include some kind of twist. It was difficult to come up with a good idea for a plot that I could establish and then twist in only a few short sentences, but ultimately, I figured it out, and I am pleased with the result.
The next assignment was the Beautiful Word Breakdown. As a class, we were tasked to identify each of our favorite words. I had actually known mine for a while so I had a head start (my favorite word is myriad, by the way). Once we chose our word, we had to create a guide on how to physically say the word, describing how one's tongue and lips move to form the sounds. Next, we created our own origin for the word. And finally, we wrote the actual etymology for the word. I liked this assignment because it was simple, yet gave us a chance to create something fun and unique.
Finally, the last piece I am going to talk about is my Six Word Memoir. Oh man, did this assignment give me some grief. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could meaningfully and interestingly describe myself in 6 words. Give me only 55 words to write a story, sure, I can handle that no problem, but 6? I found my friend, Ben Sewell's memoir appropriate: "I am not so easily summarized." Not that I'm an extraordinarily complex person, but I just was not able to come up with anything for a long time; however, I landed on something that I thought worked. "Still waiting on my quest, Gandalf." The Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favorite films, and some of my favorite books. I took combined the love I had for the series with my desire for a less mundane life and got my Six Word Memoir.
Ten Commandments
Great writers don't cheat, they steal: Don't plagarise someone else's work, but feel free to borrow ideas or styles and incorporate them into your own style. We were given an assignment in which we were given several poems and we had to create our own poems incorporating elements of the ones given to us.
Listen to the voices in your head: If you have a gut feeling about something, whether it's telling you to do something or avoid it, just listen. I didn't originally want to make my 6 Word Memoir about Lord of the Rings even though my gut said I should, but I went with it anyway.
Ignore the voice that says no: don't be afraid of being judged for your work. That was what almost stopped me from making my 6 Word Memoir, but, like I said, I did it.
You do not choose the subject of a poem, the subject chooses you: You can't force yourself to write about something that doesn't inspire you. You have to feel it for the piece to work. I felt this constantly with journal entries. Some I could write about easily, others just stumped me.
Don't over-explain a poem, avoid footnotes: Don't try to force everyone to get the meaning of your poem. Some people will get it and others won't. I feel like I did not follow this rule with my Open Poem. At the end, I just came out and stated what the whole thing was about.
Show, don't tell: Use your words to help the reader discover what you mean, not blatantly state it. Like commandment 5, I broke this one with my Open Poem.
Writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net: writing free verse can take away the challenge of writing a poem, just like removing the net from a tennis court makes the game quite simple.
Thou shalt not have a large 4-wheel-drive truck run over your characters: Don't suddnely end your stories by killing off the main character. It isn't fun and it can upset the reader. I originally wanted to write my 55 fiction story with an ending like this, but I had to completely start over with a new story when we learned this commandment.
Quality over quantity: If you can say what you need to say quickly, then do it. Do not stretch what you're saying out just for the sake of making it longer. A few sentences can be much more interesting than a few pages.
Write for yourself: When you write, you shouldn't do it to impress others. You should do it because you have something you want to say, or some story you want to tell. This is kinda like my writing philosophy. I write because I want to create a story.
Introduction
Hello. My name is Scott Varn, and you have stumbled upon my creative writing page from my senior year of high school. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to grow up to be a writer. Every once in a while I will think on this again, but I am never really serious about it. I don't believe I am a very good writer, but I still had to write for this class. Some assignments were difficult, whether it was due to writer's block or a lack of motivation, but others were quite fun. When I write, I don't try to incorporate some deep meaning, or use a lot of symbols and metaphors. I do not want to create something that could be studied in a high school English class. I prefer to create stories that are simply that: stories. That being said, let me tell you about three pieces I wrote this semester.The first piece is my 55 Fiction story. We were challenged with writing a story using only 55 words; no more, no less. I loved the idea for this assignment, so I instantly began brainstorming possible plots. I knew my story had to include some kind of twist. It was difficult to come up with a good idea for a plot that I could establish and then twist in only a few short sentences, but ultimately, I figured it out, and I am pleased with the result.
The next assignment was the Beautiful Word Breakdown. As a class, we were tasked to identify each of our favorite words. I had actually known mine for a while so I had a head start (my favorite word is myriad, by the way). Once we chose our word, we had to create a guide on how to physically say the word, describing how one's tongue and lips move to form the sounds. Next, we created our own origin for the word. And finally, we wrote the actual etymology for the word. I liked this assignment because it was simple, yet gave us a chance to create something fun and unique.
Finally, the last piece I am going to talk about is my Six Word Memoir. Oh man, did this assignment give me some grief. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could meaningfully and interestingly describe myself in 6 words. Give me only 55 words to write a story, sure, I can handle that no problem, but 6? I found my friend, Ben Sewell's memoir appropriate: "I am not so easily summarized." Not that I'm an extraordinarily complex person, but I just was not able to come up with anything for a long time; however, I landed on something that I thought worked. "Still waiting on my quest, Gandalf." The Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favorite films, and some of my favorite books. I took combined the love I had for the series with my desire for a less mundane life and got my Six Word Memoir.
Ten Commandments
Selected Works