What Will I Create?

I've been thinking lately about what kind of  material I've been writing, and although I know I haven't been writing a lot lately, it's been all factual reporting. I know there's nothing wrong with journalism and opinion writing-I love it- but the truth is, it's easy. It's a lot easier to simply write your opinions as they develop, and to report on what's already there.

It's too easy. It's been bothering me lately, I need to truly create something new. I had a lot of fun making my short story, Heavy Rain, but besides that, I haven't really dabbled in creative writing for a long time. But writing that story showed me what I'm capable of. It pushed me to try something new, and it let me see that I have enough imagination to create a story with some significance. I really want to do more, but at this point, I don't know what I want. All I know is that I want to create.

Short stories are fun, often more powerful than novels, and are an easier way to express quick thoughts. I could write an episodic novel, releasing chapters one-by-one. I could even write a full-length novel and try to get it published, but I doubt I'm ready for that yet. Then there is always the question of what kind of world to create. I guess that's really the biggest question for me, and one of more awesome things about writing. There's really nothing like creating your own world, your own characters, and your own storyline, and it's a scary thought to think that you are the one who has to figure out how much to borrow from real life and how much is going to be pure fantasy.

I could write a story about real-life, or it could any kind of science-fiction, or anything in between. I  have to choose what will happen, how it will happen, where, and who wil be involved. It's a daunting task, but it's great fun. The question is whether I have the imagination to come up with a story. I've never thought of myself as someone who has a whole lot of imagination, but once I get past the initial writer's block, I find I can come up with a lot more than I would have expected of myself. But writing like this is easy, and it's too easy to get stuck in a rut of what's familiar, so I need to launch myself into a project that requires more than simply reporting on games or typing down thoughts.

I'm going to draw inspiration from somewhere; I don't believe anyone really creates something from scratch without having read anything before, and even if the material seems very original, it's been inspired by someone or something, however subliminal that influence maybe. Who would my influences be? I'd have to say C.S. Lewis and Chris Walley, author of The Lamb Among The Stars series have both had a profound influence on me, not visible in my writing yet, but I'm really thinking of creating something along the lines of The Lamb Among The Stars trilogy, probably my favorite books. It's a perfect blend of fantasy and science-fiction, with the suspense of a horror novel. I could go on with the interesting utopian setting, but I'd be gettting distracted.

Just as school starts, though, with University-level english and the school newspaper, I wonder if I'll have the time to write much. I haven't really taken advantage of the summer, I've wasted a lot of my time watching 24 and gaming, and I could have written on them, and I didn't. I need to get myself back on track for the school year, and I hope by being more organized I can also spend more free time writing and less gaming.

There's also a correspondance-based creative writing course at school, something I'm considering to replace my spare next semester. But having a free period could be good for studying or writing a book, even simply blogging. I'm thinking going for the course could be benificial in the long run if I plan on writing, so I'm leaning toward that.

At this point another thing I need is a base of readers. I know there's a few people that read my blog, but I'd appreciate it if you guys showed some signs of life! Blogging is, I'm afraid, becoming less popular. People seem to enjoy watching a video review or movie instead of reading a written work. Or, more likely, they just want to be entertained. I'm no less guilty of that myself, I just wish people would read what I'm blogging.