Can you believe that we started this 3 month journey in March and it is almost June? Absolutely amazing! I believe the first question was would I survive an all Spanish Speaking/Writing creative writing course based in Madrid? I’m not quite sure yet. You would have to ask some of my classmates to really measure my success or failure. One thing I do know for sure is that forming an intimate relationship with the creative writer within is akin to trying to form a balanced level of intimacy in a relationship with the Freudian “Id.”
I’m not complaining… no not me. I mean I love the results but must I suffer over every word, syllable and contextual meaning. I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, “but Baba that is your choice!”
Notice the “exclamation point?” I put that there because I can hear most of you screaming.
Ok, at first glance it may appear that I’ve got complete control over this creative process, but I have found that not to be quite true. Being woken up at 3 or 4 am by epiphanies or awesome revelations about your characters is not really my idea of “living la vida loca.” I mean, maybe it is for some people but I would prefer to be one of those cool dudes like Cyrano for whom words have no mystery. But, alas, I’m me.
Anyway, I know you’re probably saying, “then why the hell do you do it?”
Allow me to share a little secret with you that many writers refuse to let the public know. I will probably have my “Stratford-on-Avon” card pulled for sharing this with you guys but you must know the filthy, nasty, dirty truth about writers and writing. Here it is:
Writing is a drug and “all” writers are junkies.
There… I said it and I ain’t ashamed! I even used to the word “ain’t” to upset my 9th grade language arts teacher so you know I’m serious.
Yes, writing is definitely a drug and if you approach any writer and ask them they will all have to tell you the truth. Poll any/all writers and you will see that 100% of them will not deny the addictive nature of writing.
Ooops… I’m ranting.
About the assignment. The assignment due tomorrow (Madrid time) was equally as challenging as the previous ones. Since I always “nutshell” it for you, it won’t be any different now. In this assignment we had to create a scene that needed to be played out in real time. That means we had to provide the scene, introduce characters, reach our conflict and close with a resolution in “real time.” Think “sit-com” with substance for you television junkies out there.
I chose to pay homage to a piece I read when I was really really young. I was actually to young to be reading this book but that made it even more of a treat. The author I payed homage to in my short story is Claude Brown and his book Manchild in the Promised Land. It was easy giving my piece a title in English, I call it Manchild in the Land of Promise. The problem arises when you try to translate concepts such as a “manchild” into other languages. I think I suffered more trying to figure out how to convey the idea in Spanish than I did actually writing the piece.
Enough of this, alright already! Here you go. Below are two links if you’d like to download the stories and read them at your leisure. For those of you who would prefer to just read them online, you’ll find the full text of each version below in preceding blogs (yes one in Spanish and one in English).
As always, write me and let me know what you think. Whether in Spanish or English feel free to make corrections. I’m here to crow, not be coddled (well… ok, coddling is good sometimes.)
Hasta luego mi familia de lectores y escritores,
RECENT COMMENTS