College Students Writing For Teens

I think I also really don't want to write this chapter, but feel like I'll be in trouble if I skip it. ...I've already skipped one chapter from this character's POV (with the intention to come back and work on it later), and doing that again just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Are you skipping the chapters from the POV of that character because you don't enjoy writing from his/her perspective? Or maybe you're not sure what to write because you haven't fully formed him/her as a character in your head? Not saying that's what's wrong, but I've had the above problems before. Just trying to throw out some ideas!

I have to get his voice and dialect in my head, and it's not working very well (he grew up in England before moving to the States when he was 18). I also always start worrying that the two different POVs sound too similar (which I've been told they don't, but I still worry), which then makes me stress and not be able to write. He's a totally formed character, which is unfortunate sometimes.

Arjabfkdfasakjf,sa!!!

My major assignments are due between today and next Thursday AND THEY ARE KILLING ME. And dreading exams which start in just over three weeks! Ugh hate this part of the semester so much

*hugs fredxgeorge* KICK THOSE EXAMS' BUTTS!! You can do it.

Anyone else finds it difficult to keep writing because of college assignments? I'm studying Computer Engineering and I'm SWAMPED with work at the moment - projects for Distributed Systems, Software Engineering and Compilers, all of them absolutely maddening.

Pinguicha said:

Anyone else finds it difficult to keep writing because of college assignments? I'm studying Computer Engineering and I'm SWAMPED with work at the moment - projects for Distributed Systems, Software Engineering and Compilers, all of them absolutely maddening.

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Welcome to why a lot of writers in college don't do much during the eight(ish) months they're in school. This past semester I probably wrote about 1.5k total. I've written double that in the past three days.

I was in English, which meant most of my writing got done in classes: I'm a terrible student, but a halfway decent author I think!

I'm English/History Ed, so I do *some* writing during the year, but 75% of it is for class, and I didn't have a creative writing/fiction class this year. If you want to count the papers I wrote... I probably wrote somewhere between 15-20k (give or take like 5k) this semester.

By my fourth year, the number of shits I gave about my college course was so few...

But by my fourth year, I had done all my "fun" classes and was just wrapping up GE that I didn't care about , so...

Zoombie said:

But by my fourth year, I had done all my "fun" classes and was just wrapping up GE that I didn't care about , so...

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Ugh. I've been in college for five years and still have to finish my Licenciatura (it's supposed to be three years, but most people take five or six to finish it due to the high amount of projects and the difficulty of the tests). I'm only getting "fun" classes next year when I head for my Master's in Multimedia Engineering >.<

Also, during NaNoWriMo, I wrote in classes. A lot.

Now, I have only three days before heading back for a single class (3 weeks of intensive GE credit, cramming 3 months into 3 weeks, with 5 hour classes every day of the week...fun).

But the good news is I wrote a 10 page long torture scene, where my main character was taken in and out of virtual reality, water-boarded, forced into a stress position, and generally fucked around with.

Fun!

Pinguicha said:

Anyone else finds it difficult to keep writing because of college assignments? I'm studying Computer Engineering and I'm SWAMPED with work at the moment - projects for Distributed Systems, Software Engineering and Compilers, all of them absolutely maddening.

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Yes. But I generally ignored my classes and wrote anyway.

Got a 90k draft finished my second semester of grad school. Wise? No. But at the time it was more interesting than bacterial genetics.

There were many days when my brain demanded a creative outlet, though. (There were also many days between class and WIP when I was completely brain dead.)

I studied English with a concentration in Creative Writing, so all I did was read and write for my classes. I put my writing and reading for fun on hold for the five years I was in college, except for a few summers I had off (I usually took summer school) where I would read as much as I could.

I worked really hard and graduated with a pretty high GPA, but I kind of regret it. I'm now realizing that my GPA doesn't really mean much, not unless I decide to go to grad school. I wish I hadn't dedicated myself so much to school and had taken time to write on my own more. Oh well...it's all over now!

I studied/study?* Creative Writing w/a minor in Literature. I got a kind of 'okay' GPA - I really wish it was higher as a grad school I am looking into accepts "3.4 or higher" I had an informal interview with them and felt like such a slacker. It sucks when you work hard and none of your hard work shows in papers/grades. *sigh*

As for writing/reading time - I'm lucky to live in a city so we have bookstores every where and I make sure to visit one a week, and read. *looks around* I mean I am soo doing my homework.


*graduation in 2 days does this to you. Am I still in college or done? lol

Smiley0501 said:

It sucks when you work hard and none of your hard work shows in papers/grades. *sigh*

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This is one of many reasons I love the professor I have for my creative writing/fiction classes. He doesn't believe in grades, and wouldn't give them if he didn't have to. So he does his grades a little differently. He has these grade sheets that have a bunch of things he's looking for (both in papers and in class), and then beside each thing there are three boxes. Above one box is a peace sign, the middle has a warning symbol, and the third has the symbol for toxic waste. Each item then gets a check in the box that he feels is appropriate. Then he writes his comments at the bottom. Then he looks at the progress you've made over the semester, and bases your final grade on that instead of what "grades" you would have gotten on everything. He's also really good about if you have to miss class--as long as you talk to him.

You know what's weird? I was writing A LOT during my late teens/early 20's - before I ever went to college. When I was in college I didn't write at all. I'm technically in college now (I'm a grad student) and I've started writing again. Though I don't think I could adequately write for teenagers of today. Not based on my Gran-Torino-get-off-my-lawn attitude towards them. I guess that's why my characters are just a few years younger than me (I'm 29).

I'm (re)discovering that I really don't like physical therapy much. It makes me so sore I can't even concentrate on Sherlock/Doctor Who, much less writing. (-_-)

Oh, no, Bookgirl! I've never had physical therapy, but I hear it's grueling.

All-night cram sesh tonight. I really should procrastinate less, but... too late for that now. A week from tonight I'll be done! And then it's edit, edit, edit. I really want to have my book ready to query in August/early-September. Anyone know if agents go on summer vacation?

PT is anything but fun, but it's good. I've been able to walk without a cane more today than I have in months (and some of those months I couldn't even use a cane. I had to use crutches).

Smiley0501 said:

Kat, you can get through it. Don't worry. I had a month of hellish school stuff (I didn't write or revise during that time); I know what it is like.

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Thank you for the encouragement! Still trying to write, a nicer way of procrastinating (which I would probably do anyway sooo...).

Bookgirl2021 said:

PT is anything but fun, but it's good. I've been able to walk without a cane more today than I have in months (and some of those months I couldn't even use a cane. I had to use crutches).

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Aw, I hope you get better soon! I had PT when I broke my elbow badly as a teenager and it. was. hell. But I think it was almost worse for my mom, seeing me in so much pain. But it is good that you can walk with a cane now, hopefully you will be back to normal soon

The Illusionist said:

Aw, I hope you get better soon! I had PT when I broke my elbow badly as a teenager and it. was. hell. But I think it was almost worse for my mom, seeing me in so much pain. But it is good that you can walk with a cane now, hopefully you will be back to normal soon

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Tell me about it. There are a couple of hikes I really want to do, and I need to practice my basketball so I can beat my friend when he gets back from Canada.

I GRADUATED YESTERDAY!!!!

Congrats! Graduating is always a good thing. But here's the big question: what are you going to do with your life now?

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