ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery

I can’t believe how easy it was to get wrapped up in my story. When writing from a character’s point of view (1st person narrative), it makes me feel as if I truly am the character. For example; at the end of my story, I was very depressed because it sort of felt as if my boyfriend had died. Once I started writing, it was hard to stop. Before I knew it, I was well over 800 words.

However, I sometimes found it difficult to constantly write in the present tense. I accidentally switched tenses quite a bit, but hopefully, I corrected these mistakes.

When adding a great deal of dialogue to a story, I find it to be more credible. When Kim and Travis spoke to each other, it was obvious that they were head over heels in love. When Joey conversed, one can tell that he is loud and obnoxious most of the time.

I also attempted to “show” and not “tell.” In the first paragraph, instead of claiming that it was a cold day in autumn, I described the cool breeze and the different color leaves. Also, instead of saying that Joey was loud, I tried to portray him as being obnoxious through dialogue.

I want the reader to feel emotional when reading this piece. I tried to make it more dramatic then my previous draft by adding more dialogue between Kim and Travis, and also by Kim constantly thinking about her boyfriend.

I now am satisfied with my ending. Kim lets out all her initial emotions. The scene just seems good for the ending because it isn’t yet interrupted by the roaring of sirens and the flashing of ambulance and cop car lights. Joey seems very sympathetic, and it is nice to see someone adjust their personality for such an extremely serious situation.

I plan on expanding this draft rather than my previous one. I was unable to completely describe everything in detail because it would have went WAY over the minimum word limit. For the next draft, I want to describe the party in more detail and how everyone was impaired by alcohol.