In my first fiction story “Daddy’s Little Girl” I really enjoyed writing that piece because I wanted readers to get a glimpse of what The Gambia is like in terms of culture , religion , food and language . I am sure people have their stereotypes about Africa and whats its like their so I wanted to shoot that down and show that Africa is just like everywhere else and not what people see on the television . I also wanted to address the issue of female genital mutilation which I feel really passionate about it not only because it happens in my country but it violates female’s rights all over the world . As the author I was able to live through each character and moment . I was born and raised in New York and didn’t go to Africa til I was 19. It was amazing to see where my parents grew up so the settings and scenes that i put in my story were things that I’ve seen when i visited The Gambia. Moreover writing this story gave me a chance to see what someone’s life is like that’s different from mine . Writing this story was only difficult because I made it difficult by saving it for the last minute because I didn’t know what to write about . And when I finally got the idea to write about this I didnt know how to end it . I had so many ideas to choose from in my head and couldn’t pick one solid one at the time .
I learned that I have potential to write a good story and I learned that I actually enjoy story telling . I also learned that writing is about perspective as the author you have to be able to live through these characters by emotion and words that they exchange with each other. Like i mentioned earlier I need to learn how to incorporate emotion in my stories . It makes the story more interesting and readers will get a stronger connection to the characters. I like that my classmates were able to critique my work which made me grow and see what mistakes that were made .
In my second fiction piece , I also enjoyed writing it because it was something I never wrote about which is thriller like and I wanted it to take place on a college campus . I was never able to live in a college dorm or be the only child so I wanted to incorporate that in my main character .She also has a close relationship with her mother and looks up to her mother because she raised her alone . I have a good relationship with my mother because I am her first child . She usually explains a unique relationship with the first child so I wanted to express that in my story. I also enjoy watching scary movies . I like the excitement that I get at the climax and see what happens next . Most of the situations that I write about I am usually passionate about it . The main issue for the protagonist Jas was abuse . Whether it’s physical , mental , emotional abuse I feel that it’s never okay . Especially when most of the time woman are victims of abuse . I wanted to show how powerful minded my character is . This wasn’t difficult I definitely wanted it to be a completely differently story from my first fiction piece that was initial goal when I was first writing this story . As soon as I thought about what my story was going to be about kept on thinking about what will be an interesting way to end it . I learned that I am able to write about anything as long as I put my mind to it . I have definitely grown since taking this class and learned how to improve my writing .
