Great ideas within a Lacking Skill

I first tried to write when I was in 6th grade.

But I didn't know how.

Ideas where just there, coming out randomly, exploding like fireworks we see during holidays.

It bugs me so much, I couldn't write the way I wanted it to.

And if I didn't write it on paper, it will go to my dreams.

I'll dream of it.

Their life, their way of talking, their habits, the meaning of their names, their struggles, their adventures, their hopes and dreams, until it came to an end.

The last page of their journey ended in my dreams in a couple of nights.

And just like that, It will fade out of my memory ever so slightly in the following days, months, and years to come.

And I'll forget the life that only existed in my dreams and imagination.

I felt the need to write it on paper. Even if the only reader who would dare read it is my own.

And so, I tried writing, and slowly, I could somehow write the words in broken sentences. I somehow could write a scene, almost an ending, of a story which I couldn't think of a way how to start it with. So I managed to write an ending.

And it grew into paragraphs to few pages of my A4 sized notebooks.

Until I could write the summary of my stories.

I grew up reading a lot of random things.

My parents couldn't buy me books, so what I've read so far was hand down books or secondhand books.

Fables were the first ones that fascinated me then epic and myths, until a lot of what I've read leans to fantasy.

I didn't own a book, so I've read some excerpt stories on my textbooks. Especially my english textbook.

I could still remember a few of it like: 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson and 'The Cat' by Zygmunt Frankel (took me a while to remember the title so I ended up searching for it) or even an excerpt from 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo even a translated version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' in my language, I think I've also read two of Edgar Allan Poe's poem on my textbook. Shakespeare, you know one of the most popular work he had. 'Romeo and Juliet', which I had an honor for being a director, a scriptwriter, a designer, and a stage manager in a play we had in class (that's how hectic I was back then lol).

Then I got addicted to wattpad. I've read there a lot, stories in my language of course. That's what made me want to publish some of my works, which still lies in my drafts that never get to see the light of day. Then I got curious to western modern stories there. I mainly read dark fantasy, it got me into werewolves, vampires, and witchcraft (I don't currently read in wattpad nowadays). It get to the point where I borrow novels from my friend and relatives.

Then I started buying novels from a thrift shop for books. Started collecting books which I couldn't get to read lol and somewhere stopped doing it.

Until I discovered Ebooks which had a great contrast when reading a webnovel.

And I got influenced in their way of writing along the way.

Then I got interested in eastern literature. That's when things got mixed up.

Every books differ, like culture differs. The way a writer writes is influenced by what they've read, what kind of culture they had, and what kind of culture they were influenced with.

As of now, my writing style leans towards chinese literature (webnovel) and a minimalist korean literature.

The japanese literatures that I've read was influenced by western culture, so it didn't differ much except for mainly, the culture.

Eastern literature use a lot of metaphors, especially chinese. They had a lot of flowery words, an indirect way of writing something deep. Which made me do some research and it's historical relation.

Western literature had lots of slang or deeper words that I had to look up for their synonyms (In my experience).

The diversity driven culture made my way of writing, sometimes leaning to the former and sometimes the latter.

I've read books as an artist and as a writer.

Drawings doesn't have a lot of detailed writing, it's what you see in the drawings that hooks you in, so the details are in the drawings and the dynamic of angles combined with a good plot. Words had a lot of details to consider, to make your reader forget that they're reading, you had to make them see your words like a movie (That's where I actually struggles the most lol).

I somehow became the only reader, a proofreader, and an editor for my friend. And at some point, it became a habit to look into details and to feel the author.

It's like a skill every longtime reader acquired.

So what's the point of what I've been saying?

To sum it up,

In order to have a diversity in a storytelling, you have to read books in different perspectives. And learn along the process of the difference between the culture you have and the culture you're not familiar with.

The way I write in my own language had a different style than the way I write in english.

And the way I make a storyboard for my drawings differ from being a writer of words.

The way I write formally differs greatly when I'm informal. Writing an article differs from being a cartoonist. Even writing a study. Everything differs in every perspective you can encounter.

It's what you learn, that's why there's a diversity.

The diversity comes with experiencing the world around you and the universe you had in your mind.

Still,

I'm learning how to write.

I'm still learning how to tell a story in my own way.