Through the Pages

Two male college students sit with laptops in Starbucks enjoying their over priced "artisan" coffee's. And of course they have full beards that disturbingly become soaked in the very same drink they are sipping on. The friend that can be easily described as the leader of all hipsters looks away from his laptop to engage in what some might say is a boring conversation to the non-millennial ears, though I am unfortunately a part of this category. "Have you tried Austin's coffee?" "No, I haven't but I think I know the place you're talking about. They have like open mic nights and poetry right?" "Yeah man that's the one." Both men begin texting as though it had just been created. "Dude I just got the dunkin doughnuts job in Casselberry." "So free doughnuts for life right?" "I wish man, that would sick." A text drives one of the friends out of the conversation. "Allie just tex...

Part 2: a.) The characters I usually write about are more tied to real life and most of them have some kind of struggle. In one story I had a detective that was an alcoholic and had lost his son to tuberculosis. I am drawn to these characters because they are gritty. They have faults which is how actual people are. b.) My characters seem undeveloped in complexity. I would like to have very rich, complex characters but that has always been something I struggle with. f.) I like creating characters out of nothing. Making an entire "person" with words and giving them room to move around in is very interesting. Also the fact that somebody else might read my story and find commonality with the characters would be amazing. Part 3: a.) W. Somerset Maugham was raised in the UK by his uncle. b.) Maugham had a large family. He had 5 other siblings though one died only a day after his birth. The family was also very distinguished with Maugham's father and three uncles be...

By Andy Montes de Oca Through my very limited knowledge on this writer, there are a few things I do know. Maugham was a novelist, a playwright, and a short story writer. As his works go, I get the impression that he wrote a lot about the multitude of emotions people go through at different points in their lives. As a person Maugham appeared to be a complicated man and brave since he was "Bisexual" in the early 20th century.  I feel very inexperienced since I have never written a blog nor thought about it, but I'm actually enjoying it so far. Sharing what I learn about fiction is something I'm actually looking forward to because I know have a place where I can be honest and hopefully see what others are learning as well. I do have some apprehension. I seem to frequently feel as though my writing is not up to par as those of my peers. With that said I hope to gain a lot more confidence in my writing, and to finish this class with an array of newly gained kno...