AuthoressThere is really nothing in a name, except that I have come to terms with my own. My name is Genna, which has been open to myriad interpretations of pronunciation by some not very smart people. I am twenty years old and a sophomore at Bowdoin College, where I am majoring in English and beating people over the head with grammar. People make me nervous, and so I write. Characters are far easier to manage.Writing is indeed my life. If I cannot write, then I wander aimlessly about and try to find something to fulfill myself. If I didn't write, then I would be crazier than I already am. I'm not good at writing about myself (it's like reliving a not-very-exciting movie). All I can talk about are vices, likes, dislikes. How do people ever write whole autobiographies? I was going to say that I write about things that are intensely personal to me, but that is really a dumb thing to say. Doesn't everybody write about things that are intensely personal to them? There is something in myself in all my characters. My vignettes and poetry are vague enough for me to express myself without damning whomever I happen to despise at that time. I write about pain and happiness and sorrow and love, because that is who I am and that is what I experience. I like movies. I adore music. I would like to consider myself socially conscious. I read as much as I can. One cannot be a good writer without reading a lot, so I keep reading in hopes of getting a better idea of what I'm doing. I go through cycles with what I read and what I write. My favorite book of all time is Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, the first of the Gormenghast novels. It is not fantasy, or realism, or a Gothic novel--it is pieces of all of these, the beginning of a Bildungsroman series that transcends categorization. Roman Catholicism has been my religion for as long as I can remember. I don't preach, but I do feel that belief in God completes some part of me. My patron saint is Joan of Arc; ever since I first heard her story I have been inspired by her. She is the symbol of undying faith and breaking out of a mold to do something spectacular. My beliefs affect how I feel about certain issues, but I try not to judge based on the beliefs or preferences of others. That's not my job. I don't take myself very seriously. I still do things like a child; I'll cross campus wanting to play in the leaves, and I've never had a relationship (serious or not). I like to maintain some level of maturity and self-suffiency in my life, but I refuse refuse refuse to panic and like to do stupid things. My writing, however, I do try to take pretty seriously. septameter AT gmail.com |