Posted by Atticus on September 26, 2004, at 12:00:57
In reply to atticus part II, posted by karen_kay on September 24, 2004, at 18:47:59
Hi KK,
I really taught myself to write the way I do. I'm not sure where it came from. No one else in my extended family on either side has any interest in creative writing, in painting, or in drawing, and I'm pretty adept at all three. I'm kind of seen as the family freak. No one can understand where in hell these abilities came from or why I should want to pursue them intead of say, banking or law, like everyone else in the clan.
All I know is that by about fourth or fifth grade, I could write better short stories and poems than any teacher or other adult I knew. I think a lot of it just comes from being extremely observant (God is in the details when it comes to vivid descriptions) and being a kind of sponge when I hear language. Mostly I learned to write by reading really good authors, then deconstructing how I figured they put the thing together -- a sort of literary reverse engineering. It was all very clear to me. I guess it's the same way with engineers and machines. Then I took the bits I like best and threw them into my mental blender and saw what came out. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote, until I would get a handle on a particular effect, such as metaphor use or rhythm (my latest area of interest). Like my art, it's all pretty much self-taught. I just always liked doing it. So what else you wanna know? A lot of it's in my poems, dating back to July 19 or so on Writing. And what about you? You seem to have been around here for longer than me. What makes KK tick? ;) Atticus
poster:Atticus
thread:394682
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040923/msgs/395278.html