State of Affairs

[apple_pathways]

Note to self: you are not allowed to buy cowboy boots. You do not, in the strictest sense of the word, need cowboy boots. You have to buy books for school, and gas for the car so you can get to school and also to your job so that you can buy more books and gas. It doesn't matter that they're on sale and quite a good price and they actually have your size and OMG LOOK HOW GORGEOUS THEY ARE! None of that. Now put your debit card away, and move on.

Ahem.

So anyway, for the first time in a long time, I have an idea for an original (not fanfic) story. The more I think about it, the more I'm falling in love with the idea, but I'm a bit nervous about starting it for a couple of reasons:

1. To do it properly, I'd need to do some research; quite a bit of research, actually. Specifically, research on old Southern United States architecture, a certain type of insect, and a refresher course on literary symbolism. This is worrying, because I'm back in school this fall, and will be busy with legit schoolwork, and also because...well, it's not that I'm bad at researching; I have been selected to present my research in symposia before. It's just that I'm rather undisciplined, especially if it's just something for myself, and not for work or school.
   
2. As I mentioned, I think the story idea I have works best if set in the Southern United States. I do not live in the Southern U.S. I love the South, and I've travelled all over, but it's not quite the same. I'd hate to write something set in what's essentially another culture and get it wrong. (Although, on the other hand, there would only be a handful of characters in the story, and no real interaction with "Southern society".)
   

I really want to find a good writers' group to join. If I'm going to get back into writing, I'd like to do it properly with a real support system. Which begs the question: would it be taking on more than I can handle? History has shown I'm not the best at dealing with multiple pressures.

But the desire to write...SO...STRONG!!

Comments

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

The more I think about it, the less important the "southern culture" angle seems to me. The idea I have involves a couple of teen runaways stumbling across an old, crumbling estate and setting up residence for awhile to sort of play house. I want to compare the decaying state of the house and grounds to the dysfunction in the two kids' relationship, so it will be necessary to know a bit about the architecture/layout of whatever style of estate I choose.

Anyway, research is the best part! I am horrible at it though, because I always get distracted and find myself so far afield I don't even remember what I was looking for in the first place.

This is one of my main problems with researching! One subject leads to another, which segues into another, and another, until I'm reading about Medieval medical practices when I was meant to be looking up the name of a common shrub that might grow in the South.

That, and the difficulty of having to sift through so much information that's irrelevant to what you want to know in order to find something useful are my main downfalls in research.

Good luck with your writing, and with work tomorrow!