Monthly Archives: February 2012

Synesthesia

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I’ve been doing a bit of research on Synesthesia especially trying to find examples (which is proving difficult) and create my own (which is even more difficult lol).

So far, my list is:

A saxophone sound of midnight
The taste of yesterday
Violet hour (TS Eliot)
Brassy blonde
Buttery sun
A lilac whisper
The silent sun

I cant possibly imagine what it must be like to actually suffer from Synesthesia, but there are many famous people who have, and do, and it seems to have added to their talent.

A bit of a link fest lol…….

Thanks to Victoria Mixon I have now added another 2 books to my Amazon wish list. I really shouldn’t read posts like that lol

I love What The Dickens as they produce an online magazine that you can download on Kindle, and also have this lovely shop! I will be buying something lol

Third and final link (you’re relieved aren’t you?) is from a fellow Maidstone Writer on our FaceBook page. Storybook looks really interesting. So I’m waiting with baited breath to hear what the general consensus is before I download it.

Yesterday’s prompt about counting breaths didn’t actually get done lol….but I have a really good excuse…..I spent most of the day going through all my short stories and typing some of them up 🙂 today’s prompt is the skin on her cheek and I already have some ideas 😉

Prompts…..Good or Bad?

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An update from a blog I subscribe to hit my inbox a couple of days ago from Courage to Create.

Now, it is a great post, well written, and obviously the authors opinion….but, then I read the comments…..everyone agrees with him, whereas I read it and was like *ahem* no way!!!!!

Sooooo, go read, What Moves You Most Right Now? and tell me what you think? Am I one lone voice among thousands who uses prompts and feels that she actually benefits from them?

I use prompts because I have a hectic life. I use them to get my brain working, for direction. Yes, I’d love to walk with nature and be inspired. Why does it matter that the destination you arrive at never looks like the original prompt?

If I sat at my table every morning and just asked myself “What moves me the most right now?” well, I would probably end up writing about the shopping, the fact that I’ve got to change the bed linen, how many baskets of clean washing have to go upstairs, and how much my psoriasis is killing me on my hand lol. I’m positive that the 6 weeks worth of stories I’ve come up with so far this year would never have been written if it wasn’t for using prompts *folds arms and stamps foot*

Ok, rant over, apologies for that 😉

And now……

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It’s by Tad Hargrave…..I got it through a FB friend….made me chuckle and calmed me down from my rant lol

I spent most of yesterday editing and re-editing my short story called Eating Out. Initially it was a story about a husband and wife, but now I’ve changed that to mother and son, so that it will fit I with the competition Swanwick are running on the theme of A Sense Of Duty. I have to be honest, I prefer it as husband and wife, but, as my homework for The Write Place was to find a competition and write an entry, the Swanwick one is the one I want to try 🙂 If it doesn’t get anywhere I’ll revert back to husband and wife and submit it somewhere else lol 😉

Went to The Write Place class last night where we mainly looked at fillers and checked through magazines looking for writing opportunities…..really enjoyed it 🙂

My prompt yesterday about living as he did turned into a piece about a detective going into a guys rented room as the guy had been found murdered…..really enjoyed writing that one 🙂 Today’s prompt is counting his/her breaths which sounds interesting.

It’s Just Not Working

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This whole story board malarkey lol. Perhaps it just doesn’t really work with a short story. Anyway, here is my 2000 word short story, split down into scenes of a story board.

Eating Out

Not much of a plot exactly is it? *snigger* 😉

After a really unproductive day, I had a really productive evening. I managed to extend “Eating Out” into a 1100 story and even used Autocrit to check it over, which was very interesting LMAO…… I’m now hooked, paid for an annual subscription, and will be using it a lot 🙂

So I guess the Mslexia competition is out the window…..I’ll just have to find one that’s up to 1200/1500 so that I can use this story. Will spend today doing some more editing before taking it to The Write Place tonight.

Yesterday’s prompt was eating out, and developed into the story I’ve been using today. A couple in a restaurant, and I’m not saying anymore 😉 Today’s prompt is living as he did…. so I haven’t got a clue where to start with that one.

I finished note book number 9 yesterday. It’s sad finishing a notebook, but soooo exciting starting a new one. I’m now using a lovely purple one 🙂

Story Boards

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Yesterday I tried my hand at using a story board to plan a story. I have a 300 word piece of flash fiction that I need to turn into a 2000 word short story.

The story board template I’m using (which I found on a Google image search) splits the story into 6 scenes. The 300 words I already have is basically 1 scene (but i can split it into 2) so I have to come up with another 4 lol. The problem is, what I have written so far puts my character into a particular situation, so now I have to come up with a reason as to why she’s there in the first place…..

…..and I’m struggling…… Perhaps this isn’t the right story to extend?

I’m trying to kill multiple birds again (not literally, obviously!) as my next part of the course is to use a method for plotting that I don’t usually use (the story board) and The Write Place homework is a short story to enter in a competition.

So, is it really the story, or the method that’s letting me down? Lol.

Yesterday’s prompt about bad blood ended up being a 1st person POV about a serial killer *snigger* and today’s prompt is eating out and as I do a lot of that I should find it pretty easy shouldn’t I 😉

Auditioning Words

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I came across this quote yesterday (thanks to Judy Reeves):

“Writing is not a visual art. It is a symphony, not an oil painting. It is the shattering, not the glass. It is the ringing, not the bell. The words you write make sounds, and when the sounds satisfy the readers ear, your writing works.” Gary Provost

……and that’s why it’s so important to read your work out loud to yourself 😉

The Thesaurus must surely be the most powerful writers tool (apart from paper and a pen). I have one as an app I use on my iPad. Bloody handy I must say……why say red if you can say crimson? Why say walked if you can say shuffled?

Good writing (IMO) is all about the image you create for your reader, to draw them in.

Sooooo, I’m creating a list of words that excite me…..wish me luck 😉

Today’s prompt was about someone reading a poem. I’m beginning to get increasingly concerned that because my stories are so dark, I’ll never have anything to submit to the women’s magazine market. So today I thought I’d try me hand at a bit of romance. It went quite well, I’m kinda pleased, and it was prompted by Sally Quilford’s recent blog post.

So perhaps I can actually write something a little more lighthearted 😉

Today’s prompt is write about bad blood lol….oh dear, it looks like I’m back to the dark side 😉

Such A Shame

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A friend on Face Book posted a link to this Guardian article Friday. Sooooo sad….but there’s a story there if ever I saw one 🙂

If I see an interesting article in a newspaper or magazine I either tear it out and stick it in my notebook, or, if it’s online like this one, I write down notes about it, and list it in my notebook as a story idea 🙂

Then yesterday, this e mail hit my inbox…….and I totally agree. I will never, ever be completely ‘book-less’ 😉

I managed yesterday’s prompt, even with images of Edward Cullen floating round in my head lol. I did a short piece about a woman getting ready for her wedding.

The Write Place homework this week (the session I missed) was to find a current short story competition and start writing the short story. I’ve decided to go for the Mslexia one and use my prompt story from the 2nd January. I wrote a piece of flash fiction that centred around David Bowies Ashes to Ashes song. It’s gunna need a heavy re-write to extend it to the 2000 words required in the comp, but, I’m up for it 😉

Tomorrows prompt is someone is reading a poem which shouldn’t be too hard. At least I haven’t got any visuals influencing me 😉

Today looks like its going to be a good writing day…..there won’t be much else to do lol

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Plotting

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I’ve recently subscribed to The New Writer magazine. Really impressed with it, lots of info on competitions etc. I shall be reading my copy cover to cover and possibly submitting, if I can find the time 😉

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I did some more work on my course yesterday, which was to look at all the different techniques people use for outlining their plot. For example:

Diagrammatic Maps (web/spider or cluster)
Lists
Index Cards
Whiteboard
Fragmented Notes
Storyboarding

I guess, at the moment, I’m a fragmented notes kinda girl….but, I can see the benefits of using the other methods. My next exercise is to actually use one of the techniques I’m not familiar with…..that’ll be fun.

I have managed to get up to date with my prompts. The one about the button being undone turned into a sordid little tale about a guy in a hotel with an obsession for the receptionist and the crack in the door one is about a woman who goes for a job interview. Yesterday’s one, about the instrument was hard…. I spent some time researching Stephane Mallarme, hoping that would inspire me, and it did. I ended up writing about a guy in a wheelchair committing suicide lol

Today’s prompt is write a twilight memory and all I can think of is Edward 😉

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E Mail

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I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to catch up reading my e mails. I must get about 60 a day from all the different blogs and web sites I’m subscribed to, and that’s not including Face Book notifications lol. On one hand, sometimes, I feel a bit overwhelmed, but other times, I’m so glad I subscribed to a particular blog as I get to read some fantastic posts 🙂 So I won’t moan ok lol.

One of the emails that hit my inbox yesterday talked about Henry Miller’s On Writing book. Now, obviously, I’d heard of Henry Miller but I didn’t know he’d written a book about writing. Seeeeee, I learnt something lol.

Apparently (I say apparently, as I haven’t personally got a copy of the book, although I have added it to my Wish List lol) Miller had what he called his ‘Writing Commandments’ which were:

1). Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2). Start no more new books, add no more new material to Black Spring
3). Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4). Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5). When you can’t create you can work.
6). Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilisers.
7). Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
8). Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9). Discard the program when you feel like it – but, go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10) Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11) write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

Thanks to Gretchen Rubin for Miller’s list :o)

I could relate to almost every point, but I especially like No 7 😉

I managed to catch up with the prompts last night so I’m pleased 🙂 Today’s one is write about “The instrument of the sorrowful” (after Stephane Mallarme

Hmmmmmm…..interesting…….

Southampton

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Posting today’s update sat in the bar at a Premier Inn hotel in Southampton 😉

Went with my daughter last night to my first ever uni gig *snigger* Panic At The Disco were excellent and I was glad not to be the oldest one there. I was there because I wanted to go and my daughter came so I wouldn’t look like an idiot, whereas the other *ahem* older people there were accompanying their sons or daughters. So i just pretended I was just like them lmao 🙂

Didn’t manage any writing yesterday and today it’s going to be a bit thin on the ground. Luckily hubby is going to chess tonight so I’ll be able to catch up with my prompts. Today’s one is through a crack in the door which I might be able to incorporate into my ghost story….which still isn’t done 😦

Right, gotta dash….brekkie is calling 😉

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I wish I’d taken my DSLR lol

A Productive Day

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Yesterday was a good day on the writing front 🙂 I managed to get up to date with my prompts and do some studying!

My next OCA exercise was to take a character you’ve created and apply a ‘What if?’ to them. I had a choice of four ‘What if’s’. I chose a character I’d created recently and one of the prompts just completely jumped out as being the obvious one to use. So I then, had to write how that would affect my character. Really enjoyed doing this….my ideal writing task. Creating a character and then completely mucking up their life *evil snigger*

Go have a look at how poor Stephen Saunder’s life is just about to crumble around him. Does he deserve it d’ya think? 😉

The prompt about watching someone sleep ended up being about a jilted boyfriend who appears in a woman’s bedroom. She wakes up to find him sitting there holding a knife. The one from yesterday about the grandmother, a sorry tale about a girl being warned about men who’s eyebrows meet in the middle (what film did I get that from? Lol)

Today’s prompt is her button was undone which sounds very interesting.

Went to see The Importance of Being Earnest in London last night, and I have to admit, I wasn’t too impressed with the first half. The second half was much better, but all in all, very good 🙂

I’m off to Southampton today…..more about that tomorrow 🙂