Even as a small child, I have had a passion for storytelling. From the orthodox array of fictitious companions that any only child creates for company, to pages upon pages of tales and plays. There was just something about writing that connected with me. I was comfortable with it the minute someone placed a pencil in my hand, jotting down fairytales and quirky little stories that drifted about my wild imagination. It’s only expected that I would choose to apply for Alabama School of Fine Arts!
In elementary school, I was never exactly a social kid. A little strange, a bit of a loner, but I didn’t mind it. Friends were found in books of all genres, in the pens and notepads stuffed in my backpack. And by being the outsider of the groups, I had a tendency to taking note of little habits and traits of my peers, forming new characters and creations on the sidelines. I would sit on a sidewalk while others played in the dirt, and scrawl simple things in chalk or on my arms, running from the bus at the end of the day to get it all on paper. All of that did not go to waste, either. There are boxes upon boxes stacked in my closet and under my bed of all the writings worth keeping throughout my years, and I have done all I could to improve my skills with every piece.
Over the past couple of years, however, I’ve found new inspiration, and things other than fairytales, other ways in which I benefit from writing. For one, where I sometimes stumble with explanations and spoken word, I can always find a way to get a point across somebody by typing it out or writing it down. It may not make much sense, most people would think someone whose life revolves around literature would be good with words, right? Well, I’m great with them, unless I have to speak aloud to someone. Therefore I have found ways to express myself best through my writing. Aside from that, around the summer before seventh grade I was introduced to Neil Gaiman, whose own stories have become a great epitome for what I wish to someday achieve with a creation of my own. I feel that the eerie, odd little things come to me easier, yet I am always open to new ways to ameliorate other styles. Which brings me to why I am applying for Alabama School of Fine Arts…
After experiencing Pre-AP English this year, and language arts and writing in seventh, I believe that the best way I can augment my talents is by attending a school such as this. In a normal high school environment, I will be limited in my ways to express myself, and won’t have the instruction to help me advance on my own. Being surrounded by peers on my level, who are just as fervent about the Arts and Literature as I am would be a positive and motivational change in my surroundings. Also, having a specific time for my writings to be critiqued and reviewed by fellow scholars should better my skills in quite a few ways. For instance, through writing both short fiction and prose, I hope to develop my abilities as a future cinematographer. I’ve been looking into a career with photoplay for years, knowing since around 5th grade that I was meant to be behind a camera, especially in areas of directing short films. I look up to directors such as Tim Burton and Dave McKean, with their creative, original pictures, and hidden themes in strange, yet thrilling, plotlines. I know it takes a lot of work to put together a script, and it is best to start off writing stories. One way I could take a step from a writer to a playwright, however, would be to enhance my use of imagery. Something that I definitely could not achieve through regular high school language arts and English classes.
(I can't sum find a way to sum this together and form my conclusion... Help? D: )
