Step 2

I took a leap.

With the amount of writing that I am doing and the amount of time that I am devoting to my text, I figured I should probably make sure it's any good. It would suck to spend so much of your life pursuing something that you totally, invariably suck at. Yes. That would be no bueno.

So. I decided to join a writing group. I'm meeting them on Thursday. We're going to see if there is chemistry. I'm holding back my emotions, and my actual writing, for now, and am going to give my criticism and comments on their works. Ideally, if things work out, we'll meet again next month, 15 pages of written work in my hand, and totally ready for the red ink. Wish me luck.

The Escalation

This weekend was a very productive one for my writing. Not only am I beginning to learn how I write as a method and process, I am beginning to see what areas need improving and forming strategies to tackle those areas. For instance, today I hit 20,000 words on my text and I'm excited to see it coming towards the the peak of the plot. However, I am rereading my work and finding that I leave out large parts of description, or that the reading pace is wrong for the given scene. I'm both excited and nervous to begin revising possibly within the next three weeks but I am also trying to figure out why I can't hear the breaks in narrative while I write it. I'm sure that this just comes with time and will become easier as I progress.

I'm also excited to begin reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist a book that resembles my plot in terms of real-time or near real-time story telling. You may have seen the movie and recall that the entire story takes place in one night. I'm also looking forward to casually beginning Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. My goal is to have them all read before the last movie comes out. Do you think I can finish the remaining 6 books within 2 and a half months??? I'm thinking that shouldn't be too difficult.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Yes, it is with mixed emotions that I review J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Why would I do such a thing, fifteen years after being released, and after millions of people have already read it? Well, for one, I like critiquing and it is the most recent book I read. Two, I think it's important, personally, to see what it is about this book that has so enchanted its readers (pun totally intended).

So, of course the book follows a young boy who thinks he's a muggle but really he's a wizard and his parents are dead and he goes to a big magical school and he's a bit of a prankster and he makes friends and finds out mysteries and wins games on broomsticks. Now that we got that out of the way...

The style of this book is PRO READER in every sense, as if offering up continual bounties with each page. The sentences are simple, light-hearted, and fairy tale-esque. The characters are archtypical, easily categorized. The plot is fun, easy to follow, and provides some sort of surprise each chapter. But most of all, the entire Harry Potter Universe is our own, simply amplified.

I think this is the real key. It's as if J.K. Rowling has taken the sensation we have when, every blue moon, we decide to buy a lottery ticket and bottled it up to sprinkle on the pages. We read the story of a lonely child longing to have a better life, and when he finds it, he discovers that every single childhood fantasy is real. We constantly ask ourselves, whether we know it or not, what if that was real? What if I could fly on broomsticks? This boy came from a "muggle" family, what if I'm a wizard too? In that sense, the story is not so much a "fantasy" as it is an "augmented reality." Obviously, there is a bit of this in every fantasy, but here we don't have to start off accepting a new world or new behaviors or new circumstances. Yes there are trolls and ghosts, but we know what trolls and ghosts and unicorns are. But even more, we know what it feels like to be in the first day of class, yet this book takes that feeling and throws in the ability to become invisible and make fires appear from magic wands. The closeness to reality really makes this book approachable.

Having said that, I really felt there was a lack of character development. Characters didn't really grow on me as they simply kept reaffirming, more and more evidently, the stereotypes which they had been born into. Yes, we all had the genius girl classmate who was smarter than us and that upset us. And yes the characters grew and matured through the book, but that's not real character development. I didn't feel the change I just saw it. And unfortunately the times I did feel I was getting closer to characters, the methods used were plot driven. Hopefully this changes in her later books which, all in all, I'm excited to read.

I feel this book is also a great gateway book to other fantasies. I am dying to read the Lord of the Ring trilogy and compare writing styles (knowing full well they are leagues apart). It will be interesting to see how two very different authors were both able to entertain so many readers.

10 x 10

Today was a downer, I came down with sore throat 2.0, apparently last week's version was insufficient. Still, the day job must go on! But, after a sleepless night I had barely any energy today to read, let alone, write. I did get some diagramming of my text's plot and development down though, I think I have made some good progress using "The Snowflake Method" as discussed here ---> CLICK ME!!!! (note that the diagramming and the snowflake method are distinct from one another, the diagramming, however, was useful for me after using the snowflake method nonetheless).

In other news, I saw in Twitterland that Writer's Digest posted a contest to see who can write the top ten best poems using a rather clunky structure: 10 lines of 10 syllables. See here --> CLICK ME TOO!!! Being the go getter that I am....I decided to take a stab at it. See here:

Sunriver, 1997

The Summer had warned with her painted art,

Yet we failed to note the crimson brush strokes.

The cracked gold hay and milkweed in our hands

had kept us there wrapped up in that moment,

My barefoot brothers had turned stones into

Ships and cannons on the dark water’s edge.

And then, “all heed the signs we’ve been given!”

As they hoisted their arms to the heavens;

The stars had replaced the scarlet canvas.

And we raced home: three boys and three captains.

-Kevin Zimmerman

Also...Pictures of the fam!

Book Review: "Will Grayson, Will Grayson"

I'm excited to post my first book review on an excellent young adult fiction, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, a collaboration by David Levithan and John Green; I'm pretty sure that as my first book to review here on Moving Metaphor, I have been very spoiled.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson follows the lives of two boys, each named Will Grayson, as they meander their way into an understanding of mature friendships, relationships, loves and heartbreaks. The story is told uniquely, with the point of view and first person narration shifting between the two Wills chapter by chapter. The first Will Grayson we meet is regimented, straight, from an affluent household and lives under the massive shadow (literally) of his ironically named friend, Tiny Cooper. The second Will Grayson we meet struggles with depression, is gay, lives meagerly with his single mom and is infatuated with his online boyfriend, Isaac. The two Wills' lives remain detached for the first few chapters but then collide suddenly in the middle of a Chicago porn shop. I won't say anymore because, really, the entire book is so entertaining both on an emotional and humorous level that each scene should be left untouched.

Overall, I am extremely happy to know that books like this exist. The world that Levithan and Green create is raw: we learn about the sex lives of most all of the major characters in high school and we are presented gay and straight characters who are not perfect, in any way, who struggle with both stereotypical and atypical issues of their times. It is candid: the voice used by both Wills is dripping with profanities, sarcasm and digital abbreviations and we see high school students being, well, high school students flirting with the law and the consequences thereof. But, the story is also larger than life, like the confocal character, Tiny, who decides to turn his entire life into a fabulous musical. The melange of rawness, candor, and hyperbole make the story rich with flavor and variety and in the end you truly feel you have journeyed with the characters and have learned a little more about love (and even "capital L" Love).

I highly recommend this book, if nothing else, for the laughs. Know going in however, that it is on the "edgier" side of young adult fiction so if you enjoy your pristine image of high schoolers running through forests and lying under the sun (with a solid two feet of distance between reproductive organs) then you might want to avoid this one. Or, you could loosen up a bit and have a lot of fun too.

Revising

Yesterday was a great day for me: I finished a 2 month long stint doing contract work at my day job and am now look forward to a change of pace. Hopefully, the shift in hours/responsibilities can open up new ideas for me and also provide me with a similar spurring of creative output.

In the same vein, I decided to spend today (Saturday, which happens to be my day most conducive for writing) revisiting the text I'm working on and incorporating an organization method I found to outline the plot, character development, etc. It has been a great exercise to really dig deep into the components of the story and see it unfold in my mind. It's great when you "uncover" what your character is thinking in certain situations like there could be no other reality. I hope the prep work (which obviously I should have done before starting) turns out to be beneficial.

Oh, and there's lots of coffee.

Restaurant Week

In Seattle, it's "Restaurant Week!" The ironically named event is eight days spread out over two weeks where the best restaurants provide three course meals for under $30 to attract new patrons who are curious what Seattle's cuisine scene has to offer. Last night, my miniature partner in crime and roommate, Tina Rozul, and I decided to check out Place Pigalle (pictured).

It was a wonderfully quaint French restaurant situated behind Pike's Place Market overlooking the Puget Sound. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an intimate setting over an extended meal with wine. It made both of us think of "The Windmill" from Amelie and we inevitably reminisced on our shared French experiences.

I hope to post more pictures from other restaurants we find out; Seattle is an endless source for great eating spots! Also, stay tuned for updates on my writing, new ideas for stories continue to distract me from my daily tasks, which is warmly welcomed!

A midnight memory

"Her words were soft"

Her words were soft, fragile, and tender.

They travelled to me as if cargo in a sheep’s saddle bags:

Hardly heavier than the plush wool of their courier.

But no less valued.

They seemed to ring with a visible echo,

Or so my ears heard.

Like a pixie heralding the arrival of morning dew,

She whispered,

“May I ask you something?”

Her words were precise, resounding, and decisive.

With a touch to the keystone they dismantled me,

As if years became days, and all a guise,

Having the gall to lilt lazily before falling.

Like leaves which vowed life everlasting,

Now lying, lying under colorless limbs.

Yet, the sound of her voice was calming.

“What were you missing from the Lord?”

My armory could find nothing,

So cunning, grand, and subduing,

As the barrage of attacks it had seen.

Nor did it want to.

It surrendered, “nothing,

But the Lord was not mine.”

-Kevin Zimmerman

For all the poets out there, here is another poem of mine. This poem captures a brief five minute conversation I had with someone very close to me and the unbelievable weight I felt getting through it. I remembered this conversation stayed rattling around in my mind for some time, even after I was forced to put it into poetry to try to settle the spirit. I hope it conveys some of the feeling I felt that very memorable day.

All Rights Reserved.

On the Lighter Side

After yesterday's novella of a post, I thought I would shorten up today's and post a fun, Sunday afternoon poem I had written a couple weeks back. Comments and criticisms are very welcome! (This one was mainly just for my own humor though, not too deep.)

"The Month Of May"

By chance if you have seen my mate,

Perhaps beneath your dinner plate,

Or striking up a lengthy tale,

While drinking with the head of state,

Please could you ask him for his name,

In print, upon the card the same,

Provided in the month of May,

Last year, the birth of endless shame?

That month, I fail to undertake,

That pesky chore for hunger’s sake,

The edifice and with its place

The fire atop the birthday cake.

For, on that day I do restrain

From building such a sight profane,

That lest I ever find a male,

He does not take me as insane.

-Kevin Zimmerman

Drawing from Experience

So, as I previously mentioned, I like to retell stories. There's something that I find exhilarating about taking a true story and turning it into a shared memory "based on a true story." Whereas, creating a story from scratch may be the song, spinning a yarn is the remix. I like to exaggerate the emotions of my friends and enemies, gloss over the lulls and force people to the punchline before they can tell that they're laughing; create a world that may have existed and superimpose it over the one that certainly did. But, in order to retell stories, I need my source material.

I'm currently working on a book that I have tentatively labeled an LGBT YA fiction. It is more or less a hyper detailed look at the climax of two young boys' rite of passage into the gay world, i.e. "coming out." For inspiration, I'm reading "Will Grayson, Will Grayson," a collaborative work in the same or a similar genre by John Green and David Levithan which, after just the first few chapters, I have already started recommending to my gay and straight friends. For me, the characters in my book take on traits and perform actions that I have both experienced myself and have seen transpire around me. It's as therapeutic as it is artistic, to recreate the world that I wish I could have lived in, or at least the world that I would like to have people remember.

And with that, I write this to say that instead of punching my clock sitting at the laptop after work today, writing out another chapter for my text, I decided to take a field trip of sorts. On the whim of my friend (pictured), we decided to scoff at the notion of a weekday and hit up a new Japanese Karaoke Bar just put into Capitol Hill, Seattle. Just for fun. Just because.

We had just gotten done with a little girl chat over some cheap Asian Fusion (read: we don't know how else to incorporate hamburgers, Talapia and pho onto the same menu) and decided the night wasn't over yet. As we stumbled up towards a bar where regrettably we have become regulars, we noticed a swanky window displaying the tell tale swanky vertical wood paneling of a for sure swanky bar. We decided to ditch the usual and waltz in, not knowing what The Rock Box would contain.

Sure enough, it was a bar for drunk, loud, obnoxious, vain, people to sing like, yes, that song was about them. And that we did. At the top of our (recently recovered strep) throats, we were belting out Top 40 hits like it was no one's business (while simultaneously proving that it would never be our business). If those walls could talk, they probably would have been judging us.

Katy Perry? Yes. Rihanna? Yes. Natalia Imbruglia's Torn?... unfortunately...yes. It was like being a rock star, ON A MONDAY! We left, emboldened, sore, and with a new weapon in our arsenal against weekend monotony.

All of this to say that despite not making "progress" on my text tonight, I stumbled upon a McNugget of a story that I'm fully ready to chew on. I've already begun thinking of ways I could incorporate it, the bar, the Monday caprice, the horrible song selection, more fully, into a larger story.

What do you think? How do you best incorporate your own experiences into your works?

Step 1

Hello! Welcome to "Moving Metaphor," where after 24 years, I decided to do something that my mother suggested.

This blog will be following my creative endeavors while I strive to become a reputable author, poet, lyricist and/or any other label I decide to pursue. Writing has always been a passion of mine, although it has always also been laden with a feeling of impossibility. However, after the prodding of my family, friends, and even online acquaintances I have decided to pursue writing properly and see what may come.

What can you expect from this blog? If it becomes an extension of my personality, you'll be intaking large amounts of snark, wit, poetics, and religious commentary. I am a people watcher, first and foremost, and I love to reconstitute my sights into appealing stories. You may read examples of what I'm working on and be asked to comment. Hopefully, this blog will become a launching pad to my works. All of this and more!

What should you not expect from this blog? Working a demanding day job, this blog may not be updated as often as it should. My goal, currently, is to add a post five times a week, but will strive for daily entries if possible. I hope you don't mind.

I am still deciding how to present myself in this medium so bear with me as the format, themes, etc. change to better reflect my intentions. All in all, I hope you enjoy walking with me as I dissect my surroundings, and my own peculiar, evolving situation, on Moving Metaphor.