Weekly update 2

Welcome to my weekly update on my writing, readings, and other interesting ideas. If you like what you're reading, make sure to subscribe to receive the next newsletter!

Writing Journey

• Similar to the previous week, there's not much update in my creative writing journey.
• What I want to do these days is to find stories surrounding topics I know about, topics I understand already, such as growing up with helicopter parents, small conservative communities, tech, the business world, corporations, and interesting/annoying coworkers.
• I know writing stories is not limited to what we've experienced first-hand, but I need to approach writing "bird by bird." Decreasing the research time sounds like an acceptable trade-off to make.
• Next, I'll read some sci-fi short stories similar to what I want to write to help me better articulate my story.

Notes and posts

• Recently, I published a note called Separate drafting from editing
  • In this note, I explain my approach to a stress-free and balanced writing system that works for me.

Learnings and ideas

• I am continuing the "Masterpieces of World Literature" course on EDX, which is highly insightful and joyful.
  • Last week, I watched the lectures on "1001 Nights." Some of my learnings about this book are:
    • The "story within a story" in this book is a technique called "frame tale narration."
    • One of the points of these oral folktales was to fix grand political issues through storytelling.
    • It expands through a vast area of Asian and Middle Eastern culture, from Indian frame stories to Persian origins and names, Arab curators, etc.
    • Some of the most famous stories in this book, such as the story of Aladdin and Alibaba, aren't original Middle Eastern/Asian folklore! They were added to the book in early French translations, and the current Arabic versions are, in fact, translations from the French!

Books

• I'm continuing to read fantasy/sci-fi books through my fantasy tournament
  • I read the first 10% (free Kindle samples) "The Darkness That Comes Before," "The Blade Itself," "The Three-Body Problem," "The Emperor's Soul"
    • You can check out my overview of these books and the chosen books for the next round at the link above!
• I'm usually too tired before bed and read these heavy fantasy books, among others, at different times. Sometimes, I crave something lighter to read before going to sleep. In search of such a book, I remembered I'd started "The Count of Monte Cristo" at the beginning of the year but couldn't prioritize continuing it recently. This looks like a proper option to read a few pages before sleeping. I'm happy I finally found time to continue reading this exciting adventure!

That's it for the past week's updates. If you want to support this newsletter, please make sure to subscribe. Comment on your thoughts and ideas on what I shared; I'd love to read them!