Hello. I am an author in progress, working on a novel. I've loved reading since I learned the craft. The first book I read by myself was "Put Me in the Zoo." This taut tale of intrigue -- would the critter ever be accepted in the zoo? -- left me with a taste for mystery, excitement, and adventure in books. And, a love of bright colors.
I enjoy words, and writing. The first lesson in writing I recall came from my junior high school biology teacher, who informed me that my paper on photosynthesis was "verbose." While I respected her knowledge of the inner workings of plant-life, I dismissed the idea of there being such a thing as writing too many words. I continued to turn in 4 pages of writing for every 2 pages assigned in all my classes. I skated through high school essay assignments with endless prattling, getting good grades for writing due more to volume, and word usage, rather than content. Until college.
My college creative writing professor sang the praises of the first short story I turned in to him. My word usage! My colorful, and descriptive, prose! My thrilling use of words with more than two syllables! At the end of his praise, he asked me what the theme of my story was, as stories should have a point. This was news to me. Previously, I had either been spoon fed a theme, and wrote copious pages about it, or just wrote copious pages. I began to learn about the craft of writing, although I struggled over the concept of a "theme." Many years, and books and web sites on writing, later I began my novel -- there are three friends, and stuff happens to them. Yeah... I have expanded on that basic idea, and am forming, and populating, a world for my story. I'm happy with the plot and characters I've developed. I also have a vast amount of respect for every author who creates a new world, or new rules for the contemporary world. My novel-in-progress even has a theme. Probably. I'm pretty sure it does.
