Well, now. I'm back. I have literally just sat and read through my friend Lesley's blog, and it has (unwittingly) bullied me into being more blog-active. I would like to think this is the start of a very long and fulfilling internet endevour, but who knows? In a week I expect I'll have given up, because that's what I do. But anyway. It might be a nice idea to check back here every now and again, and bore you all senseless with useless anecdotes and meaningful rants about the state of literature/television/cinema these days. Maybe. We'll see.
So anyway. Today I made a start on my FYP. (That's Final Year Project, if anyone cares - I'm about to embark on my 3rd year of university - I know. ARGH.) Since I don't really like the idea of failing my degree (anything less than a 2:1 is a fail, in my world) I want to make an early start on it, and - hopefully - have a first draft sortofmaybeprobablynot done by the time we go back in September/October. I've managed 200 words, and I'm stuck. The story is about missing children, who aren't really missing, but lost, having "fallen through" to an alternate reality that's pretty much a universe minus adults. In doing so, I'm trying to channel the voice of my protagonist, an eleven year old girl, whose brother has disappeared. Here is my dilemma; I am not eleven. I do not have a brother. I have never experienced the pain of losing a sibling, or the subsequent resentment that comes from realising that your parents seemingly loved him more than you.
In short, then, I'm writing about something I know nothing about, and I'm not entirely convinced this is a good thing. And so, as I think I've mentioned in a previous post, as writers, should we only ever write about what we know??
Quite the dilemma. I'm having lunch with Lesley (my friend, fellow-blogger and potential business partner) tomorrow, and fully intend to bend her ear about this.
Also, if anyone's interested, her blog can be found here: http://liesandothernonsense.blogspot.com/
It's very good, I highly reccommend it.
Over and out.
Fingers crossed that this comment finally works...
ReplyDeleteIT WORKED! Must be my laptop that hates your blog, not the internet in general. Weird. Will leave a proper comment tomorrow. Bed now.
ReplyDeleteI'm flattered! I always knew my writing would touch someone's life and change it for the better. I just didn't think it would be you.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think it sounds like a good idea, and I'm a firm believer that you don't have to know what you're writing about (until I realise that I'm stuck, in which case I blame my lack of knowledge/aversion to research for the fact that I'm quitting).
And I'd just like to add that having a brother is a lot like having a sister, until you become teenagers, at which point the brother stops talking to everyone and starts to smell bad. That's really the only difference I've noticed.