Reflection
I noticed that I unintentionally shifted tenses. It was not anything major, but after rereading it, it was pretty noticeable. It also felt like I could have added a bit more detail (which I did). But it is not as obvious in the original piece. I added in more setting and some characters to give off that bar/ strip club kind of vibe. I would like to improve on detail. I know I have trouble with it a bit. It is so easy to just “tell” but I try not do do that in my writing anymore, unless necessary. I primarily want to focus on “showing” and not telling to make my writing more fun and vivid. My goals were essentially just to improve. My writing from day one to now has improved significantly, I would say. “Not Me, Not Us” was the most challenging to revises because it was originally just dialogue and action. I had to set up more than just what those two characters were saying and doing. The “Zombie” piece was probably the easiest because I was just recalling a situation that had already happened. I was just trying to give life to that story because the actual one is kind of dead. I currently do talk to the person the story is about but the rest of the Dropouts have gone their separate ways for the most part. We'll all talk now and then but I doubt it will ever be like it once was. I think experiences like that are great fuel for writing. Yes, they're probably going to suck, but at least you can get some good writing material out of it.
Photo used under Creative Commons from NASA Goddard Photo and Video