the schedule (written on may 1st):
so, I am currently writing two different projects: one is an epic fantasy poem, the other is a fantasy adventure told through letters, or an epistolary. you can read a draft of a letter here. with two different projects in two different forms, I tried to give myself a schedule for when I am allowed to write each one.
the epic poem:
writing this epic is more challenging to me than the epistolary. here, I have to be a lot more aware of my diction and syntax, line lengths and breaks. however, I have a lot more freedom to be creative and weird with it. I can play with language and sound in ways I can't in the epistolary. my epic poem is in a similar vein to that of the odyssey in that my poem is about my main character's perilous and colorful journey home after three years gone.
I only write my epic in the mornings; to be exact, 11:59am is the cutoff. no matter what. on the days I have very little motivation to write, I give myself a goal of one stanza at least five lines long; on those days where I wake up excited to write or wake up with ideas, I write until my typing starts to slow and eventually stops. I don't ever want to force myself to continue to write and bring about unexciting ideas or pages worth of material I will later delete. occasionally, I will do a writing exercise in the form of the ekphrastic poem (see more below).
as of now, my draft is still in its early stages. I have a pretty solid plot though, so it's just a matter of actually writing and expanding it.
the epistolary fantasy:
this one is in the vein of gulliver's travels except without the satire on the travel subgenre and reflection and criticism of the individual or the government. it is wholly fantasy and meant to entertain the reader. there will be no underlining message on any political theme in this epistolary.
the story follows the writer of the letters (I'm unsure yet if I want to name her or not) as she adventures across an unknown land. I would like it to be somewhat plotless so the reader can focus most on each individual letter. I'm not sure yet if I want each letter to have some sort of moral in it like in chaucer's the canterbury tales or marie de france's lais of marie de france. it is something to consider the more I write though.
this idea came to me during a writing exercise: the ekphrastic poem. I chose the following painting of odysseus and the cyclops, polyphemus; it is a depiction of a scene from the odyssey. I liked the little poem I was able to get out of this exercise that I decided to expand on it in prose form. again, the first of my "letters" posted here was an early draft that came from this exercise.
however (written on june 1st):
forcing myself to adhere to a schedule felt like struggling to write a college essay with a set word account. I began forcing myself to write without passion or creativity. it all felt like a chore. so, I abandoned the schedule and just wrote whatever whenever I felt the creative urge to do so. in the month since, I have a bunch of letter drafts that I'm proud of and can't wait to edit in the far future to see what else I can add to them. I experimented a lot with my fantasy poem to make the story and epicness more classical but current. many days I spent simply world building and practicing drawing more. it feels as if there is no more pressure for me to put something onto paper (or digital paper) everyday just to feel a sense of accomplishment. and, now, with the #1000wordsofsummer challenge, I won't be participating to the fullest extent (I won't be writing 1000 words a day) but more of a daily extent (write absolutely everyday—write something that will be part of one of these projects). today went well. I'm happy with the little notebook page worth of writing and can't wait what I will write tomorrow.
my journey:
I think it's hard for me to write in a dedicated manner because of the many years writing essays or creative writing pieces that are built off a deadline. after I graduated with a BA in English Lit, I took some years off before continuing my studies.
2018: I applied to a handful of local and out of state MFA programs with a packet of my most proudest and polished poems. most of them were about my time in Prague (2016-2017) and some were more focused on my perspective and person. I was accepted into an MFA program in Washington state.
2019: off I went to Washington where I learned lots about poetry and writing poetry. I learned how to find my footing and figure out what kind of poetry fit my writing style best and what poets could help me and inspire me most.
2020: the covid pandemic came and forced me to leave Washington for my home of California. writing classes were now on zoom and my passion for writing died a little. arts & literature really are subjects best taught in person. it’s where students can riff off each other’s ideas and constructive criticisms and suggestions. on zoom, where internet connections differ, the lag and waiting to make sure someone else isn’t about to talk at the same time as you wanted to really hindered the creative spark in me. writing, once again, became a chore rather than an exciting passion.
2021: after a long year on zoom, I graduated with my MFA and a manuscript I am still really proud of. it took a lot out of me but I'm glad that I did it. I learned so much and was inspired so much by my professors and classmates. I was introduced to many different kinds of poets and writing styles that have since influenced my own writing. submitting my manuscript that final day really reignited my spark for writing. and it gave me a skeleton to work with and build off of.
2022: a year off (ish). I decided to take a break from writing this year. but not entirely. I would go back to my manuscript and build off of one or two poems a week: expanding the poems, writing lore for them, writing them from a different perspective, or simply expanding on whatever imagery was originally written.
2023-present: so begins my writing journey to my first novel. I struggled a lot with whether or not I wanted to write in some classic poetic form or take a more approachable form with the poetic prose form. I chose the latter. it allowed me to write more freely than writing in a strict poetic form but also allow me to continue to play with language, voice, and flow
my manuscript: a lot of poetry is rooted in personal and lived experiences. but I was always drawn more to epics and surrealist poetry and poems that tell of fictional characters and adventures. so I chose to write my manuscript as an epic set in a fantasy land rather than myself in this very real world. I commend the poets of today who write with vulnerability about themselves and their lived experiences. being a mexican woman, whenever I write my fantasy epic poem, I always feel this sense of betrayal as if it’s expected of me by both my community and the world to write of my unique perspective and lived experiences rather than of fictional characters in a fantastical world. I'm all for diversity in all avenues of writing and publishing, but this sense of betrayal and regret is definitely an unexpected consequence of this situation.
my progress so far: I have about 100 pages of random drafts scattered in my files. it’s all so messy with maybe half of those pages lore and worldbuilding. I have begun writing in a more structured way and will be using the stuff I wrote in those 100 pages to build a more coherent story.
my goals for 2024: I don't want to put any pressure on myself to write x amount of words each day so I’ve opted for a simple *write at least something a day* daily goal. it takes the pressure off of myself a lot more by having this small, achievable goal to work towards.
I will also be using Reese Witherspoon’s LitUp and Stanford’s Stegner Fellowship as motivations to writing a solid first draft. I'm not sure when in the fall/winter LitUp’s deadline is but the Stegner deadline is November 1st. so, ideally, my first draft should be written, hopefully, by October time.
well, wish me luck on this writing journey, and I wish anyone who is also on their writing journey luck as well.
until next time,
mere
I like the timeline. This reminds me of something I wrote ~ a musical timeline about me and music. But anywayyy, I appreciate your honesty about doing your MFA on Zoom. Ugh. Astute observations. Makes me think about all the online teaching that still goes on around the world. Thanks, Pandemic.
I don't think you should feel a sense of betrayal that you're not writing "what you should" as a Latina. I think the greater betrayal and crime would be if you didn't write what you feel compelled to write. xo