Real Kato Blog: Creative Writing 101

By request, I've posted a story I wrote ten years ago.

In a comment yesterday, Jen mentioned a story I wrote a very long time ago. As far as I know, Jen, you're the only one who's EVER read this story before now. I had never really thought enough of the story to post it anywhere; it always struck me as a fairly mediocre, teenage-y, Creative Writing 101 kind of thing. But, my legions of adoring fans have asked to see it, so I'm posting it. Well, actually, only one person has asked. And she's more of a bemused observer than an adoring fan, I think.

The story is called Bitter, and it's up on my Creations page. As I was posting it, I was dying to edit it; but, I decided to keep it real, and post the original version in all its amateurish glory. So there you go. Try not to laugh too much; it's not supposed to be funny.

While you're there, crank up the volume and listen to the "Gorilla Fanfare and March". It's the theme I composed for the Flaming Gorilla Theater Company, a troupe that performed shows in the early 1990s written by our very own, now-world-famous, Javier Grillo-Marxuach. The song is, admittedly, also somewhat amateurish, but that's largely because I was working with a toy keyboard and a 12 MHz computer at the time I wrote it. (That computer, a Macintosh II, was literally hundreds of times slower than the computer I now own. Isn't that amazing?)

For quite a while now, I've longed to write the Great American Novel, and then turn it into the Great American Screenplay, and then write the Great American Soundtrack. I frequently have ideas floating in my head of universal soul-searching themes, clever and sarcastic dialogue, and various emo-pop and trip-hop songs breathily performed by angst-filled female singers. Maybe I should start with the soundtrack and work backwards... I was never very good at raw prose, anyway.

Any angst-filled female singers out there?

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: life

Comments

Comment #1 from MonoCerdo (Guest)
2005 Apr 13 - 12:15 pm : #

Thanks for posting the story. Establishing mood can be challenging in a short work, but you really did a nice job of turning the tables on your narrator by the end, leaving him in a position we've all probably been in once or twice. I agree with Jen that the last line is particularly strong. Hats off to the Great American Blog.

-an adoring fan

Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Apr 13 - 6:13 pm : #

You're very sweet, MonoCerdo. :)

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