Leah, Assignment 0

I all! I’m Leah, and I come from a lovely blue house nestled snug in a suburb of the city of Rochester, which is in Western NY. Rather like upstate, I grew up with four-season weather that didn’t necessary stay in its respective season. Hail in summer, 70 degree days in winter… yeah, I’m used to it.

I am here at SLU studying English and Environmental Studies. Within English I am focusing on writing, and within Environmental Studies my focus (or perhaps I should say ‘primary interest’) is on environmentally sound agriculture/architecture. I am in Environmental Studies because I have a deep passion about the environment, always have, and would desperately like to do my part to help save the planet and humanity. I am studying English because I like nothing better than to loose myself in another world for a while, and dream of someday putting the worlds in my head out on paper for others to enjoy as well.

In the course of my writing career, I have received both good and bad feedback, and have had both good and bad experiences getting feed back. The worst experience has to be from the writing club I was part of in my early teens. I never was sure if my teacher didn’t like me, my writing style, or simply my subject, but every time we would take turns reading the stories we were writing she never let me read, sometimes even passing right over me to the next kid. In that case, actions really did speak louder than words.

The best, well, the best and most positive experience I have ever had came when my dad read the fairy tale I had written for my fairy tale class last year out loud to my family. It sounded so amazing being read like that, and my family was supportive and honest in their feedback.

Another really good experience with feed back is comes from my foray into fanfiction. Fanfiction, for the unenlightened, is when one takes another author’s characters/setting and builds their own stories or character studies out of them. Fanfiction lets people play with style and technique without also having to create their own worlds and characters. There are some huge communities out there, and they can be wonderful about critiquing works. They can also be nasty at times, but so far my experiences have been very positive and beneficial.

As you might be able to tell by my love of writing, I love to create things in general, whether it is through sewing, drawing, cooking, mad laboratory experiments, writing, sculpting, or any other activity that tickles my fancy. I profess to no great skill in all of these endeavors, but they amuse me (and hopefully others) non-the less. I also enjoy sports including downhill skiing, figure skating, snowshoeing, hiking, and target shooting. At school I am active in the Advocates, Class Council, and the Costume Shop.
But, of course, my favorite activity of all is reading. ^_^

My favorite book of all time is, without question, “The Deed of Paksenarrion” by Elizabeth Moon. This is a book that I have read faithfully in all its 1024 page glory every year since I was 12; the characters are fascinating, the plot totally engaging, and Ms. Moon manages to strike a wonderful balance not just in her levels of description, but also in her use of language and ‘world-building’. Other books I enjoy are the witty dialog of Aaron Allston’s “Starfighters of Adumar”, the “OMG!” ending of Timothy Zahn’s “The Icarus Hunt”, and the beautiful and believable world of Robin McKinley’s “Sunshine”. Finally, I have to say that some of the best writing ever, and more specifically the character examinations ever, belongs to Matthew Stover’s novelization of “Revenge of the Sith”. Read it, you will understand.

Though I am (clearly) a fantasy fan, I will admit it now that I simply detest the works of Stephanie Meyer. You know the ever-so-popular “Twilight” teenage-vampire romances? Yeah, I hate ‘em. I find her characters flat and 2-d, her plot full of gaping holes and moralistic objections, and her descriptions frankly pathetic. As a writer I would like to be the opposite of her in everything but her popularity. ^_^

In regards to ‘good’ writing, as I see it, there is a difference between good writing and excellent writing. Good writing is when you read a book, enjoy it, have no real complaints about it, perhaps even find it mildly interesting… but promptly forget it as soon as you finish it. Excellent writing is, in contrast, writing that simply sucks you in. It is the book that you cannot put down and rush back to your room to read at every available chance until it is done. It is the story you have read so many times that you quote it to your friends. It is the book whose spine is so bent, whose pages are so dog-eared, and whose cover has been so loved that the whole thing is simply falling apart. That is excellent writing, and that is what I dream of being able to create.

I want to learn not to be an ok writer, not even to be a good writer, but to be an excellent writer. I do however realize that this is not a goal that is feasible in one semester. That is why my hope is not so much for this class to make me into an amazing writer, but for this class to give me the tools needed for me to be able to constantly ‘tweak’ my writing throughout my life until I reach that wonderful, dreamy pinnacle of happiness I call “being an excellent writer”. I want to learn from this class how not just to write, but the mechanics of thinking critically about my writing so that I may constantly improve myself.

So, at 1000 words, can anyone tell why I chose the adjective “Loquacious” for myself in class the other day? ^_^