Friday, February 21, 2014

My Inspiration

Well, to me this is a kinda a touchy subject. I can't point to a specific author and say they are the reason i write. Though i should be able to. To be completely honest i never thought writing would be something that i enjoyed. I was always better at math and science rather then English. Because of this i had a sort of hatred for books and literature. And that may be one of my biggest regrets. Now, i wish i spent more time reading, searching for books and pieces of art that i enjoy. Reading to me was always an assignment, the same goes for writing.It was always "sate the facts" and to me that is just as boring and un-creative as it gets. Write the standard essay. I do understand the importance of essay's though. They relay a great deal of information. But i don't think they need to be as cut and dry, let alone boring as they are. The first time i started to see writing as entertainment or something that i might want to pursue was during my senior year of high school. I took an elective English class which covered graphic novels and dystopian worlds. The first part of the class we went over imperfect worlds and we read "A clockwork Orange" which is one of those must reads. But that didn't make me want to write.

Half way through the year it switch over to the graphic novel portion of the class. And that is what it sounds like. Comic books. We read comic books. We read batman and a bunch of others, one being "Watchmen" which is amazing. Then one of our assignments was to write our own. And i did. I wrote out the story, and even what the pages would look like. How many panels the pages would be. Whether or not the pages would be a splash page or have a mirror effect with the next page. It came out to be around 20 pages. I got an A+ on the paper and on the back my teacher wrote "This could be published." I was so ecstatic. I hand crafted this world, this universe with these characters and someone enjoyed it to the point of wanting to see it actually printed out. That to me was amazing.

I then thought about how i actually came up with the story. It was nothing brilliant, it was a basic revenge plot. But i could vividly see the characters in my head. I could see the actions unfolding, to the exact position and placement of miscellaneous items. To me it looked like a movie.

So now i'm currently stuck as to what i want to do with my stories. I don't know whether or not i want to turn them into novels, comics, scripts or cartoons. But what i do know, and for for a fact is that I want people to be entertained by my stories. If i can make you smile, cry or express any emotion through what ever from i decide to put my stories in, then i will have achieved my goal, as an entertainer.

I want to make people put down the book and say "Wow!"    

  
I just recently sent in some of my poetry and other writing to the campus's zestiest and one of my poems is going to be published in their next magazine!

 Here is the poem! 

Cliché
by
Rafael Gonzalez


Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Once upon a time,
I cared about you.
But then I saw,
Who you really were.
And that's why I left you,
For Her. 

Friday, February 14, 2014

Story beginnings

           Personally I like stories that either start at some crucial point then explain certain things as the story progresses. Or they give you the background and setting up front then the story unfolds as you read. In the short story "A Temporary Matter" by Jhumpa Lahiri, the opening seemed kinda of standard. Just basics, setting the scene. There is no crucial matter or point made, just the fact that "The notice informed them that it was a temporary matter: for five days their electricity would be cut for one hour, beginning at eight p.m."(321,Lahiri) Now this alone doesn't really hook me. I don't have a hook until the bottom of the next page. "The baby was born dead."(322, Lahiri) Now, if that doesn't hook the reader then i don't know what will.
          The rest of the story is basically introducing you to the two characters: Shoba and Shukumar. Then all we have to go on is the fact that their baby is dead and that there is this unrest or awkward presence among-st the husband and wife now. They avoid each other. Then they have the talks in the dark about their flaws. Then we find out that Shoba wants to leave. And Shukumar says, "Our baby was a boy."(334,Lahiri) The story feels slow paced until we reach those two points the one hooking us into the story and the other being the outcome. Usually i don't like these kinds of stories but, this one was enjoyable. Then ending was something that i didn't see coming and it was a very emotional part. As opposed to the middle of the story which seemed bland.


     One of my favorite books has an intro that just tosses you into the story. The book is Halo: The Fall of Reach, by Eric Nylund. This is the intro: "Contact. All teams stand by: enemy contact, my position." The chief knew there were probably more than a hundred of them-- motion sensors were off the scale. He wanted to see them for himself, though; his training made that lesson clear: "Machines break. Eyes don't." Four Spartans the composed Blue team covered his back, standing absolutely silent and immobile in their MJOLNIR combat armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war gods in the armor... but his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than Homer's gods had ever been.

    Now how could you not want to finish reading that?