It's not so strange though, really, studying math and wanting to write. Lots of mathematicians are great at music after all. Think of the shapes and interlocking patterns of a piece of music by Bach. Then imagine them in words. Imagine the arc of a story like a parabola; watch its equation; make sure there aren't any sudden twists and turns that don't belong. Then look at the characters and make sure the logic's secure in the ways they interact.
It's not so strange studying math when you can't add up either (I love calculators). Real math isn't numbers; it's shapes and interlocking patterns; it's music and myth and magic; it's beautiful! And that's how you know when the answers are right, when you're taking your finals and there's fifteen questions of which you've only done three. If the answer's beautiful you've got a high score, and you've won; you'll graduate with honors as a wrangler (because it's Cambridge, and wranglers rule!)
Is it strange being a writer when you can't spell? I love spell-check and dictionaries too, and words are fun to carve into beautiful sounds.
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
My Writing Life - a logical lapse
I had to do another set of entrance exams to get into Cambridge. There were papers in math, creative writing, general intelligence, etc. I wasn't quite sure why they wanted to test my writing to teach me math, but I wasn't too worried. I'd already convinced myself the real achievement was simply in trying; I knew I'd not get in.
After writing an essay entitled "the sound of one hand clapping" without ever recognizing the philosophical reference, and scarcely even realizing one hand doesn't sound the same as two, I was even more sure I'd never get accepted. But somehow I did.
I bounced with excitement in the principal's office the day the acceptance came. I phoned my Mum and Dad and talked to my Granddad. And I set my feet on rather strange path for someone who wanted to write, because that's still what I wanted; I just thought I'd be a mathematician too. For my day-job maybe...
After writing an essay entitled "the sound of one hand clapping" without ever recognizing the philosophical reference, and scarcely even realizing one hand doesn't sound the same as two, I was even more sure I'd never get accepted. But somehow I did.
I bounced with excitement in the principal's office the day the acceptance came. I phoned my Mum and Dad and talked to my Granddad. And I set my feet on rather strange path for someone who wanted to write, because that's still what I wanted; I just thought I'd be a mathematician too. For my day-job maybe...
My Writing Life - choosing to win
Picking math (and physics) for my A-levels really wasn't so hard after that. When I took my O-levels I liked to go back through all the questions on each paper in the final five minutes. I'd check my answers against how much I knew and work out a range for my probable score. (Strange child; yes, I know.) It was easy in math--you can tell something's right because you get the same answer whichever way you look. It was okay in science--if the answer makes sense you've probably got it right. It wasn't too bad in foreign languages--I either knew the words or made a good effort at choosing sensible replacements. But in English? In English, how could I ever know how my story would be scored? Will examiners like those imaginative arguments, or will they, like brothers, think I'm just a pain
In writing I never knew if I'd won or lost. When it came to planning what to study all the way through college... well, that was my future and I definitely wanted to win. So I chose math.
Of course, the other reason is I kind of thought math was easy--foolish thought.
In writing I never knew if I'd won or lost. When it came to planning what to study all the way through college... well, that was my future and I definitely wanted to win. So I chose math.
Of course, the other reason is I kind of thought math was easy--foolish thought.
My Writing Life - Studying math?
I wrote stories from the day I learned to write and told them as soon as I could talk (maybe even earlier). But somehow I ended up going to college to do math. Not only that, I ended up doing maths, physics and further math for my last two years of high school, and nothing else. So why math?
I think it all began when I was about ten. I had to do an entrance exam to get into my high school. One of the papers was on mathematics. It had strange-looking questions about x and y and xy. Since I'd never seen any algebra before, I deduced that xy meant 10x plus y and solved all mysteries accordingly. I was hugely embarrassed when my school-friends explained my mistake.
Years later, the teacher talked about imagination and math. He said how he'd once had a student do an entrance exam with lots of imagination but completely the wrong idea. Then he offered us the chance to do a page of exercises for homework, or write a "mathematical essay." I wrote about waves. Math and imagination--and beauty of course; I was hooked.
I think it all began when I was about ten. I had to do an entrance exam to get into my high school. One of the papers was on mathematics. It had strange-looking questions about x and y and xy. Since I'd never seen any algebra before, I deduced that xy meant 10x plus y and solved all mysteries accordingly. I was hugely embarrassed when my school-friends explained my mistake.
Years later, the teacher talked about imagination and math. He said how he'd once had a student do an entrance exam with lots of imagination but completely the wrong idea. Then he offered us the chance to do a page of exercises for homework, or write a "mathematical essay." I wrote about waves. Math and imagination--and beauty of course; I was hooked.
My Writing Life--spare time at college
In high school I wrote my first serious novel. Unfortunately I hadn't heard of fan-fiction then, or maybe I'd've written something publishable--well, maybe not. Instead I wrote my own version of Star Trek, where earth isn't the center of the universe and the heroes don't all look like my brothers' best friends. I called it "The Day the World Died," and just to make sure earth didn't get to be excessively important, I destroyed it in the first hundred pages.
In college I wrote my first version of Nalya's Sunset--a story, much rewritten, that I'd really like to get published. I also became very active in the Christian Union, and my subtle symbolism left rather a lot to be desired. Still, it had its good points. And I wrote songs, but couldn't write music so I scribbled the tunes with jagged lines that looked more like used graph paper.
In college I wrote my first version of Nalya's Sunset--a story, much rewritten, that I'd really like to get published. I also became very active in the Christian Union, and my subtle symbolism left rather a lot to be desired. Still, it had its good points. And I wrote songs, but couldn't write music so I scribbled the tunes with jagged lines that looked more like used graph paper.
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