Aug 9 2013

Image

An exercise in using photo apps.

Mar 28 2013

I’ve reached 30 writing tips so I’m reposting. Please feel free to share any new tips in the comments & if I’ll add w/your name.

Keys to the Universe

Writing tip #35: Does each of your scenes advance the plot, develop the character(s), illustrate your theme or help contribute to suspense? How can you make it do double or triple duty?

Writing tip #34: Even when you’re not feeling the muse, get something on page EVERYDAY.

Writing tip #33: Do you know what your beloved character just would not do? What happens when she does it?

Writing Tip # 32: It isn’t what you, the writer. wants to tell your readers (all that juicy backstory and details floating through your head)….IT’S what the character desperately wants the reader to know.

Writing tip 31: If you are not happy with a scene, figure out why. Does it drive the story forward and/or deepen the character?

Writing tip #30: Be on intimate footing with the elements which create the heart of your story for this is your ‘Throughline’ and it shall…

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Mar 20 2013

It is truly amazing the wealth of information one can find with the many blogs at our fingertips. And how easy it is to get mired under taking note what works for others.

Then sometimes you stumble over a blog filled with such simple truths you can’t help but feel invigorated.

That was me this morning. I found myself pulling up my manuscript (which I’m currently revising) to see whether I had all this “holy grail” of steps.

Nothing like getting zapped by inspiration in the morning along with a good cup of coffee.

Pixar’s 22 storytelling tips have been cir
Before I jump into my writing day, I’ve taken to skimming blog entries and found this one about agent searching along with 10 legitimate links to find them.

Nov 6 2012

The way

Plowing through a manuscript as its creator can be likened at times as being a babe lost in the woods. It isn’t until the theme, the true heart of the creation has been realized before the forest’s creaky trees and underbrush pull back to show the roadsigns and a clear path.

Sometimes, you could be stunned at how far you traveled on the forest path and not even known it – But more importantly – you can see the random deer paths leading nowhere, even if they lead to beautiful groves and waterfalls.

The wondrous part, a beautiful waterfall or grove isn’t locked down to particular plot of ground. As the creator you can move it up by that forest path. But the important part is that path. And who knows, there could better greater scenery up ahead.

And that is my task at hand.

Nov 4 2012

Picture book

Each picture can be a story. That being said, who can you imagine walking and viewing this sight? A little girl in a red hood…a caravan of medieval merchants… a lone highwayman…a pair of star crossed lovers….an unbeliever looking for something real…a faerie queen on a tour of her kingdom?

The father of logic, a Greek from a whole country of stories which continue to pass through the ages, used syllogisms to show connections and I propose if all pictures are worth a thousand words it makes up a story and stories illicit images…pictures.

What story jumps to mind at the sight of a young handsome youth clutching three golden apples or a road with a rabbit and turtle or one glass slipper on a outside staircase or a girl in her night clothes on a balcony by moonlight?

And I wonder if every story has a picture, if one picture would sum up an individual’s story, would we be able to identify our own. What would it be?

Do these story images come from when decisions are in the offing or decisions have been made or when possibilities are at their highest. Does grabbing the brightest, the most profound picture that touches our hearts and soul and willfully imprint upon it give us an edge to be the best self we can be?

There’s a power in visualization, in believing, in stories. So I say paint your image, hang on to it with both hands and be the best story, the best picture you can be.

Oct 31 2012

Quantum physics in heaven

Of course we who are on the physical plane really can’t know what happens when we die and where we go. But I wonder like so many others do.

It’s been said that in the afterlife we are reunited with loved ones… And our true loves. But what happens for those who love deeply more than once within a lifetime? What happens to those who have experienced marital bliss with more than one spouse? More than one lover? It is said there is no jealousy in heaven. How does that work? Is everything possible?

From what I understand with quantum physics, everything happens at the same time. It is only after it is observed that all possibilities snap into only one.

Could that mean in heaven there is no linear processes? If that is true then all possibilities happen at the same time. It means each soul is with each beloved at the same time. A soul could be chilling out with friends at the same time as taking a romantic walk with a loved one or three, checking in on those left behind in the physical plane as a guardian angel perhaps, sitting alone pondering God, and be nonexistent.

Perhaps our souls choose life on this planet and are born so we have the experience of a linear process. Sort of like one of those books that you read and the story can be different each time by picking another option at a crossroad decision…only our story has billions of crossroads or more. All possibilities until an observer observes.

So who constitutes an observer? Our departed loved ones watching over us? God? Angels? Devils? Ourselves? That which we call to ourselves?

I mention God only because to be the observer would not he/she be interacting with free will? Our greatest and most challenging gift.

If all things are possible can it be true we could fold space and time? Stand before our departed in the spiritual realm before death or millions of light years on another world.

Do we live in a land of observers and observers influence possibilities? Do our perceived limitations become a sel-fulfilling prophecy?

Sometimes I feel if I think too much on it I could pierce the veil and fall off the world.

Where do we go when we die? Living on in memories, of course and in everything. Could we be that which makes up the universe. If all possibilities be endless, is each one of us an infinite burst, a long note in the cosmic choir eternally? We could be subatomic particles which stunned the science world with the trip down the rabbit hole sparking the concept of quantum physics. We could be all and everything or nothing all at the same time. Where do we go? Do we become?

Dec 15 2010

Sharp introspection by steel or ink?

So what are the similarities of wielding a sword and wielding a pen?

Both hold a sharpness: the sharpness of prose versus the sharpness of steel.

One bleeds ink while the other draws blood.

Both can cause an injury or a death…fictitiously or by fact

This last item is what inspired me to take up fencing. I wanted to write better battle scenes. I knew strategy, teamwork, talent and proficiency make up a good battle, a good melee. I knew each contributing member will boost or take away from the group but I only partially understood it. What I wanted was to soak this in. To become…so when I looked out through each character’s eyes, I could do just that…become each character, experience each aspect, without this veil of mystery shrouding an important facet. I thought how much personality and integrity that I could boost by describing my characters in flight or fight situations.

So I took up fencing to be able to describe the mechanics, describe the strategies… What I didn’t think of was coming away with describing the heart.

I’m sure we all can recount experiences we’ve had which show our ‘metal’ in stressful and/or dangerous situations. For example, I can show you the scar I bear from saving my three year old’s sister’s life when I was ten. But experiencing the adreline spike with comrades at arms surrounding you, parrying and slashing as a team makes me realize how much of life I’ve been handling on my own.

Whoever thought that fencing would lead to introspection? I already knew writing would and has. So, I’m adding another similarity between fencing and writing…both when used correctly will allow you to know yourself better.

I’ve heard the maxim, “write what you know.” I say “Write what you desire to learn.” That tact will take you unexpected places, if you let it. What do you think?

Oh, and feel free to pop in to see the Write Stuff Conference Blog http://glvwgwritersconference.blogspot.com/

Happy Fencing, Happy Writing!