Last Thursday, my friend Jasmin IMed me through Google chat to tell me that John Green (if you don't know who that is, please stop reading and click any of the following links: twitter, website, ning, vlogbrothers) would be speaking and giving a writers' workshop on Monday (yesterday). At first, I was a bit sad because I didn't think it would be possible to attend either of the events due to the fact that neither of us have cars. Fortunately, Jasmin happens to be a very persistent person.
Since we don't have cars, we had to ask around to people who do to see if they would be interested in going. Everyone said no, until finally, after much persuasion, her brother agreed. The only problem with him agreeing to go was that he drives a Miata, which - if you know anything about cars - is a two seater. We had to think and act quickly if we were going to secure our space at the writing workshop, so we decided that between the both of us, we would rent a car. From Enterprise, it's only about $45 for a compact car for twenty-four hours.
Now at first, we called our good friend Rebecca to ask her if she wanted to go. See, Jasmin and I had already seen John speak in Indianapolis the previous summer, but to sit in a workshop with your favorite author teaching you how to become a better writer is on a completely different level. Unfortunately, Rebecca had not been able to go the previous time, so we were really hoping she would be able to go this time round. Once we told her what was going on, she immediately agreed to go. With each passing thing, the trip was looking more and more enticing.
I think I should tell you a little something about Rebecca though. She tends to agree to do something, but then change her mind about what exactly she wants to do at the very last minute. There was a lot of arguing going on between Rebecca, Jasmin, and I about where we would stay the night before the trip, what the weather was going to be like, and whether we would make it to the workshop in time. It was very stressful.
There was supposed to be a big winter storm - "the biggest and worst winter storm of the year" according to Rebecca's mother - and Rebecca was scared that we would get stuck and be unable to make it back home. The only reason she was fearful of this was because she has a job at an absurdly over-demanding nursing home, where apparently - according to Rebecca and her mother - they would fire her if she attempted to call in to say she could not possibly make it to work due to the fact that she was physically unable to get her car out of her driveway.
In the end, Rebecca pulled out, so it was Jasmin, Isaac (her brother), and I going, which turned out to be very fun.
We drove about 100 mph the entire way there, so it only took around three and a half hours to get there. When we walked into the place, John was standing there. We quickly passed him, discreetly said hello, and made our ways for the restrooms. When we finished in there and came back out to where John and our fellow Nerdfighters were gathered, it wasn't long until they beckoned us into the room where the workshop was held.
John spoke about the importance of revision and the unimportance of ideas. He said it was ridiculous and absurd to sit around waiting for the idea fairy to bring you an idea: that the most important thing is to just start writing and discover where your story takes you. He noted that ideas are overrated with this statement: "Most ideas kind of start out okay, but by the end, turn into a big pile of poo. I mean, a sparkling, chivalrous vampire that falls in love with a clumsy plane-Jane is a good idea, but... man." This quote was immediately followed by a hair tug, causing puff levels to rise. He also said that a boy who gets kicked out of boarding school that walks around a city in a red hat isn't a very good idea, but then again, it's not all about ideas. (I suppose it would be a good time to note that The Catcher in the Rye is one of John Green's favorite books.)
After he taught us a lot more about writing, we went to eat, then went to the University of Indianapolis where he did a book reading and signing/Q&A session. Here, he read from his new book Will Grayson, Will Grayson. The part that he read made me want to read it terribly. He then proceeded to take questions and talk about how we often times fail to imagine people complexly. He said that we usually think of ourselves as this very insightful and complex person with an array of complicated feelings and behaviors, yet when we think of other people, our minds create this very one-dimensional picture of the very few things we see that person as. It was very interesting to say the least.
Alas, we headed back home where we hit a little bit of snow and ice on the road, but nothing for which we had to go slower than about 75 mph. So, it sucks that Rebecca didn't go not only because it didn't snow much and she could have, but also because I really feel like it could have been a life-changing event for her because about a month ago, she told me she would really like to be an author for a career, but now she says she's going to go into the medical field. I just feel like she's kind of throwing her dreams away so that she can get more money. I hate that more than most things.
And with that, I end this entry.
Writing workshop with John Green [and the adventures in between.]
February 9th, 2010 at 06:24pm