#when she joined Wattpad and wrote a pretty bad PoTC fanfiction that's in the hundreds of thousands of readers now

[littleblondesoprano]

Alright, y'all, if there's one thing I've learnt in these so many years of studying Creative Writing and just...being in school - speaking from a graduate level now, is: you've gotta write for yourself.

It's something I've had to relearn and retrain in myself, because it's ripped out of you when academic essays start rolling in, even more so at a 'higher level' because, ya know, if you're anything like me you want to bedight your stories with the gentle flourish and gravitas of a Baroque Era poet to seem, to be, "perfect" - but it doesn't help. It really doesn't help. All you're doing is working yourself into a hole.

Because the really great stories out there, the really great poets, especially now - are shedding the puritanical lens of years ago, especially in seeing what's being published - the raw, the bloody and messy, the casual, that's what connects to people. Not some heavily cleansed and perfumed work, if that's your tea though, go for it, but don't be afraid of mechanizing the messy and embracing what you want to see, even if it's 'cringe'.

Write self-inserts! Talk to the audience! Be overly-simplistic and vague! Explain dreams in stories! Be uuber detailed about a gore scene! Write for you - because, believe it or not, that's what people want, and that's what'll make you the most happy.

If you're still here, I'mma share a quote from the director of my program - also my professor - on the last zoom call. He said: "There are no rules in Creative Writing, only principles, and we can break them as much as we want. It's why we're all crazy."

Go, be free, be cringe, you won't believe how happy you'll feel.

#littleblondesoprano #writing #honestly #I'm still unlearning the proper essay-heavily-cleansed mindset #and reviewing books has done wonders for that #because I get to see all of these wonderfully messy - wonderfully real - stories #and so many times I've found myself saying: 'what - you can DO that?!' when reading someone else's story #'You can SAY that?? You can WRITE that?!'' #It's like opening a door I didn't realize was closed #It's getting back to that mindset of little Elementary School Jordan when she first started writing stories in her Undertaker notebook #when she joined Wattpad and wrote a pretty bad PoTC fanfiction that's in the hundreds of thousands of readers now #but she loved it - and that's why i fell in love with writing #It's like I'm rediscovering freedom #and for anyone else who feels like this - there are no rules #seriously - there are NO rules and that's coming from someone on the INSIDE of this shit - there are NO RULES