How I started writing

I started writing semi-spontaneously. It was during the end of my junior year in high school when I was writing an email to a friend. I had finished my email but I suddenly got inspired to write a little bit of fiction at the end of the email. I was listening to the Beastie Boys "Sabatoge" and feeling inspired. I possibly wanted to hear my friend's feedback on the story. So I wrote a little story then and quite enjoyed it. I continued writing a stories.

What I wrote in high school

Most of my stories around high school revolved around conflicts between groups of super powered individuals and a lot of property damage. Some stories were really poetry in the form of prose about school and the feelings invoked from going to school and my own personal state of being at the time. These stories were pretty intense because I put a lot of heavy energy and emotion into them. I am very proud of these stories because of that energy and vigor.

What I wrote as an undergraduate in college

Now my stories began to look for antagonists that reflected my worries and concerns. It was at this time that I created a recurring antagonist that at first was simply the darker side of the protoganist. This character challanged the protagonist's thoughts and beliefs. Eventually this antogonist evolved into a companion and mentor to the protagonist.

During this time I also created the Thought'se'jin species of characters. My protagonists became pawns and players in a civil war between the Thought'se'jins. They eventually helped end the war but I haven't written that story yet! The Thought'se'jins continue to exist in my current stories but their civil war is no longer a plot point.

In college I also began to focus more on stories that centered on internal conflicts. During my third year in college I also began work on my novel. I have made six drafts of the novel since I started then.

What I am writing now as a graduate student

Until very recently, I had gone through a "writing burn out." I stopped working on my novel at the end of 2004 after having written six drafts since 1999. I had attempted to sell a few short stories a year or two earlier but was not successful. I wanted to continue to write but I had no direction in my writing and I wanted to sell a manuscript but I didn't feel motivated to write a story that was "sellable."

This funk occured through most of 2005 and I had attempted different ways to overcome it. I had cooked up different ideas for new novels and new interpretations to the themes I wanted to convey in my first novel. Ultimately I decided that I wanted to sell short stories because that was an immediate and attainable goal I could set right now.

I scratched my head on what would be a "sellable" story I could write and this frustrated me because it seemed to take the creativity out of the whole process and made it into a semi-mechanical method with little enjoyment. After some more frustration though, I decided that I would go back to the very original formula that made me enjoy writing: heavy character conflict and a lot of property damage. I would write about what I was feeling and worried about and not about what I think would sell.

What a wonderful formula. So now I'm back on the saddle and my protoganist is running into rogue Kami and Thought'se'jin. All the while he wonders about the decisions he's made in his life and reflecting about his life through the people he meets.

This is a good time to be writing. I feel some of that energy from the early days of my writing career.

Here I come! Haru Ichiban!