Monday, November 16, 2009

Brutality's End

I'm nearing the end of the semester. I knew this was going to be a busy time, but things have been brutal beyond my wildest expectations in my MFA program.

I suppose any program includes a bit of deconstruction. I passed that a while back, polishing prose and re-thinking scenes under an advisor's whip. Often I found myself combating my own hard-headedness.

I think I shook off my own form of writer's block this semester. I've long worried about writing scenes of too much brevity. I let go of that, and I agreed to reconsider the complex sentences I tend to love a little too much.

I reached the conclusion of my first draft on Saturday. I think I tied up all the pieces, though I have a great deal of revising to do. I need to move the beginning of one plot ripple back a little, and I think that will improve the overall pace of my story. Then there's the pruning of extra words and all of those other tweaks.

It's good to have an end in site, and good to have a moment to check in here and say hello.

Hope everyone's well, and that we can talk more frequently, at least for a while.

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I'll have to pick your brain about your experiences. I've several times considering getting an MFA but I don't know if I'd like all the work. Glad you are nearing a bit of a break.

Lana Gramlich said...

Hang in there. Hopefully you'll get some quality relaxing time in around the holidays.

Shauna Roberts said...

Sidney, you were a writer for a long time before pursuing the MFA. How do you know when to trust the teachers' judgments and when to stick to your guns? I would think that you probably have more publication experience than most of your profs.

Steve Malley said...

Oh, for the pleasures of a nice, finished first draft-- however much in need of revision! *Jealous* :)

Erik Donald France said...

Hey, man, sounds like things are going well (brutality goes with the territory, for hazing purposes if nothing else). Hard to beat Proustian sentences, for sure. But brevity works when it needs to, too. Cheers'

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