tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82395233196930436552024-02-08T13:41:29.774-06:00Wang-Senior ThesisJessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-63502150769764942172018-04-14T23:39:00.000-05:002018-04-14T23:39:13.868-05:004/9 - 4/11I'm starting to see the merit of writing these blog entries the day they actually occur instead of a week later so I actually remember what I did that day. I remember on Monday we as a class spent more time trying to convince you to not have thesis than actually working on thesis. I also remember actually working on thesis on Friday. Wednesday is a mystery lost to time and subpar memory.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-38839830718038173592018-04-05T13:54:00.003-05:002018-04-05T13:54:31.519-05:004/3 - 4/5On Tuesday I struggled to complete government homework. Today I am struggling to express memorize all the amendments of the Constitution. A Bad Time.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-84628166740731014282018-04-03T13:05:00.000-05:002018-04-03T13:05:01.937-05:003/27 - 3/29I was absent on Tuesday.<br />
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On Thursday, I wrote two sentences, realized I forgot to do homework, did that, and time passed. Please pass me in thesis, Ms. Dewberry so I can graduate.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-55279195749143702862018-03-25T15:57:00.001-06:002018-03-25T15:57:52.168-06:003/21 - 3/23On Friday, we went to the lecture series in the auditorium.<br />
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On Wednesday, I wrote three (3) paragraphs. Grammar is hard. What even is sentence structure.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-60397509417290897582018-03-19T18:29:00.001-06:002018-03-19T18:29:58.191-06:003/6 - 3/19 goodbye spring break :((((Lesson of the day: If I try to tell myself to only write a happy scene when I'm happy, it's never going to get written.<br />
Lesson of the day, part 2: Purple prose and regular prose do not mix well, but I'm going to mix them anyway. #innovation for better or worse<br />
Man, I wish I learned these lessons in September.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-47896725791207164192018-03-02T14:33:00.000-06:002018-03-02T14:33:46.947-06:002/28 - 3/2We should have more presentations because I've never been productive like in the 2 weeks leading up to the midyear presentation. I got more written in one night than I did in two months; it was an enlightening experience. I can't wait to write everything in a month, again. Woooooo.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-56539757993586924652018-02-26T14:19:00.002-06:002018-02-26T14:19:48.982-06:002/20it's presentation prep time!!!!! :):):)<br />
I made my slide, filtered my background images, and added captions to show what I learned so far and what I expect to learn.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-5722439926519407592018-02-20T13:14:00.000-06:002018-02-20T13:14:42.096-06:002/13-2/15The wild thing about writing on different days is that my writing style is a chameleon; it changes. Chapter one is written in purple prose, but it quickly morphs into regular prose. I definitely planned to write in purple, but it's hard to maintain the style in dialogue so I ended up switching between the two styles.<br />
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On Thursday I watched HSM. It was wild, too.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-5837997400937218262018-02-09T21:34:00.000-06:002018-02-09T21:34:25.106-06:002/7 - 2/9Today's the day I absolutely gave up on Everything and wrote with zero regard for planning anything. I wrote my epitaph poem for the beginning, though I'll probably have to revise it later to make it tighter. I also edited chapter one.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-23409597046634325152018-02-07T14:03:00.000-06:002018-02-07T14:03:00.215-06:002/1 - 2/5In which I finally realize a major flaw in my first chapter and fail to find sufficient motivation - it doesn't open with clear conflict.<br />
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Which means, I'll get to have the Great Fun of starting somewhere else in the narrative where a problem is a little more obvious, even if it's not the major story arc. I think I need one more major catastrophe, too...Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-37547535457009369082018-02-07T13:52:00.002-06:002018-02-07T13:52:33.767-06:001/26-1/30I read an interesting article today about how setting can reflect the story - which is something I'd never really thought about. Like, how a mystery story set in a place with winding roads and a lot of narrow alleys contributes to the milieu of uncertainty and indecision. I'm not really sure how to use this revelation to apply to my own though, without changing the setting. For a ghost story, it might be better to use a stereotypically haunted location, but oh well. Maybe I can build upon urban horror tropes.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-17230416297390235262018-01-24T20:22:00.000-06:002018-01-24T20:22:02.500-06:001/22 - 1/24Ah, yes. Another two days where I struggle to find inspiration for the story I created myself. The low point of today was when I forgot my own protagonist's name and couldn't find the last time I used it in narrative and had to go back to my synopsis to check.<br />
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'A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.' - Thomas Mann.<br />
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I definitely agree.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-22638328700809955462018-01-20T14:30:00.001-06:002018-01-20T14:30:43.719-06:001/16-1/18I decided to drop my old outline format since it wasn't working for me and the intense detail I was putting into it was actually kind of stressing me out since I didn't have the content of every conversation and interaction worked out. I had to gloss over some conversations I planned to happen, and I ended up pretty paranoid that not having everything planned was going to lead to disastrous plot holes later on.<br />
So I redid my entire outline, but this time more informally, under the assumption no one else was really going to use them except me, and therefore I'm the only one who really needs to understand what's going on.<br />
Hence, every outline major point is written as if it were a meme or a sensational newspaper headline. It's great. I'm kind of having a good time.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-79357096137017366522018-01-11T22:37:00.002-06:002018-01-11T22:37:46.083-06:001/9 -1/11On Tuesday I reread my work so far and found a couple plot holes and died a little on the inside. I corrected them. <div>
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Today I watched some videos and tried to write some of the skating scenes looking at some old performances. I also did some government notes.</div>
Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-69532246685258913172018-01-09T13:28:00.000-06:002018-01-09T13:37:50.407-06:00Nov 28-Dec 8 collective One Blog EntryWorked on college apps; mostly essays for MIT, Dartmouth, Harvard, Rice, Amherst, Williams, Columbia.<br />
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Over the break I worked some more on my outline. I'm really hoping to finish my outline in the next few weeks and go into a writing frenzy to finish it on time, or maybe downsize from novel into novella and make my life easier, so I would be writing maybe around 50-100 pages instead of 200.<br />
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I have... like half an outline done for 200 pages. I'll be a little sad if I have to delete parts of it in order to make room for the second half of a novella outline due to downsizing...Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-25600276214807593342017-11-15T13:31:00.001-06:002017-11-15T13:31:32.737-06:00I gave up on the outline for now and decided to revert back to my old method. I initially wanted to outline the whole book before starting the actual writing but after finishing half the outline I kind of lost direction. So I wrote the first chapter today and will write the last chapter next so I can hopefully figure out what to put in between. I have a couple of major events and a climax, but I'd like to have a couple more ups and downs in the denouement.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-52249946636092653652017-11-03T12:06:00.002-06:002017-11-03T12:06:26.602-06:00I finished my ED and EA applications this week so I plan to work on RD next so I can finish early and focus on thesis by December.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-19174207279177916452017-10-17T13:06:00.003-05:002017-10-17T13:06:25.414-05:00For the past two weeks, I have mostly been working on college app essays. I finalized my CommonApp essay, and wrote two supplements for early decision. I have edited both twice and plan to start my fourth CommonApp edit and start writing the last two supplements this week.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-62212595855717613372017-09-23T13:54:00.001-05:002017-09-23T13:54:30.693-05:00On Thursday I finally managed to tentatively name my protagonists. I did some research on figure skating costs for a minor detail that took more time to find than it should have. The blurb turned into an detailed outline. I haven't even finished outlining one chapter. I still don't know what I'm going to say in my thesis presentation; I'll probably make up a blurb and talk character sheets, if I get around to making them this weekend.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-5164771833621684562017-09-19T14:18:00.001-05:002017-09-19T14:18:33.351-05:00Today and during the last class period I wrote a pitch to make my own plot clearer to me, and also did some research on the ISU (International Skating Union) to check if my plot was realistic. I looked into the scoring systems and past scores of champions, as well as normal local competition scores, as well as the kind of music picked for routines. Honestly, I really like my current top idea and it requires less world building since it takes place in a modern world, but there are still new problems. I feel like this would work better as a TV show or something since it has so many visual aspects, but it just means I'll have to work harder at using imagery. <div>
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The "pitch" I wrote today will be uploaded in a blog post soon, though it isn't really a "pitch" as publishers and agents would refer to it as. It's like a blurb one usually finds on the back of books as a kind of summary that tries to hook readers, but mine is more for my benefit so there are spoilers and it's longer. Once I finish the pitch, I plan to create a more detailed outline before I begin actual work. I also plan to make a character sheet. The character sheet shouldn't be as long as the one I started out with since this story only has two main characters and the plot is less complicated. </div>
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... I still don't have a title and that really bothers me. I learned last class period that title generators don't really work when you already have a plot in mind. It's much easier to create a plot to fit the title than to create a title to fit the story. I feel like all the good titles have already been taken. Honestly, out of all the terribly cliche titles I've suffered through, the only one I think is remotely acceptable is Requiem. </div>
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Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-55962109828156648272017-09-11T22:50:00.000-05:002017-09-11T22:50:41.026-05:00Today I made some more outlines and crossed off definitively 2 ideas, including the one I came up with last class. I felt it was too vague and hinted at a lot but some of the tropes I wanted to use might have made it a lot easier for me to fall into plot holes. I returned to another idea I had considered from the beginning, but I haven't finished the outline yet so I need to figure out how long it will run and how confident I feel in my inspiration for the plot before I definitively commit to it. I also realized if I don't want to write 70+ chapters for my original idea, I could always split it into two books and just write one for my thesis. Also I'm having a hard time coming up with titles. I don't want to be ridiculously overdramatic, but I don't want it to be cliche or boring either.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-60971467542219656492017-09-06T21:07:00.002-05:002017-09-06T21:07:56.695-05:00Yesterday I tried outlining a couple of ideas to try to get an idea of how long each book would run if written. I realized my original top choice plot in mind might actually become a saga and decided to try considering other ideas that would run less than 1000 pages. The original idea, when outlined, came out to be about 70 chapters. Unless I figure out a way to condense it so I can finish it by springtime, I'm going to look into novella plots instead. I was thinking about writing an allegory instead in a dystopian setting. It might touch on religion, though, so I don't know if I'm willing to pursue any controversial topics on that end. I know if I go with this one, it will probably concern a challenge to age-old tropes and prejudices, like the association of good with light, and bad with darkness, or religious symbolism. If my outline doesn't change too much, this one should come out to just about 20 chapters at most, which is definitely doable by springtime I think.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-54756555089401317622017-08-31T23:05:00.001-05:002017-08-31T23:05:28.514-05:00Today I decided to write a novel for my thesis. I have a couple general plot ideas that I've been storing for a few years, but I haven't really decided which I'm going to use. I had a plot based in a fantasy universe and it's my favorite but also would be the hardest to write since building the entire world myself would create a lot of risks for plot holes and problems down the road. I was also concerned my climax would be too predictable, but I realized I might be able to solve this problem by using a first-person secondary character narrator, since I could use the unreliable narrator trope to help ameliorate the predictability. However, I don't want to introduce too many points of view and characters otherwise I risk confusing the reader and maybe even myself.<br />
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If I choose to use the unreliable narrator trope, I may reread books that have generally been agreed upon to have been successful in using this trope to study how the narrator influences the story and reader's perception of it. These would include stories from the Sherlock Holmes series since it is told by Watson, or The Great Gatsby, since it is told from Nick's point of view, not Gatsby's.<br />
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Then again, I might choose to write another story altogether, since this book has heavy romance undertones even though the actual plot is mostly fantasy adventure. I find romance hard to write well, especially with so many overused tropes.Jessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239523319693043655.post-40051542217012161712017-08-30T20:48:00.000-05:002017-08-30T20:48:01.434-05:00Welcome to my Senior Thesis BlogJessica Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18193735156552875707noreply@blogger.com0