Stealing?

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I was reading on Saturday about the idea of stealing from other writers…..noooo, I don’t mean plagiarism I mean, stealing an idea, stealing a character.

Take Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which is most probably the most famous example.

The novel is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The story of Mrs Rochester, before she became the mad woman in the attic.

My favourite example though is Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin. It’s tells the Jekyll & Hyde story from the viewpoint of Dr Jekyll’s maid, Mary. A wonderful book (and film btw) that I found fascinating, after having read the original Stevensen book.

I would love to use a character that another writer created, and tell their story successfully. But who? Where do I start?

How about Miss Haversham, the story of her ending up in that big old house in her wedding dress. Or Mrs Dalloway’s wild teenage years? And what actually happened to Holly Golightly, now that would be fun! 🙂

What famous character would you like to steal?

How many times do you come across a minor character in a book who intrigues you? Who you’d like to know more about?

Today’s prompt about a diner turned into a story about a waitress who bumps into her male childhood playmate 😉 Tomorrow’s prompt is on the eve of the wedding which I kinda already did a few weeks ago….. Hmmm, will need to think about that one

Reading

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Philip Roth said that reading was a way to keep the circuits open and to think about the piece he’s working on while getting a little rest from the actual work in hand.

Sooooo, the question is….should I join a book club? I’ve been thinking about this for over a year now, but never actually done anything about it. “Mount Toobie” (sorry, slipping into BookCrosser mode there), my to be read pile is huge, verging on thousands, which is what has always put me off….but.

My writing style is very similar to my reading preferences. I tend to read what I call “real life stuff”. No fantasy or sci-fi. I’m not even keen on crime either. I like emotional character driven stories, about people, their lives, and how they overcome obstacles. Which, is kinda what I write about.

But does that allow me to grow as a writer? Am I missing out on the opportunity to “broaden my horizons” so to speak? Also, would joining a book club/reading group give me an insight to what readers want from their books?

Jack Heffron says “Don’t try to write a short story until you’ve read fifty of them, preferably a hundred. Don’t try to write a novel until you’ve read fifty of them, preferably a hundred. The same is true for scripts, essays, poems and so on.”

I do copy writing I like into my note book. I collect pieces that I think are powerful. I did at one stage start doing book reviews, but now I just use Goodreads.

Are you a member of a reading group/book club? Do you feel your writing benefits from it?

Whilst compiling this post an update email hit my inbox from Kitty Hietala’s blog which I found very interesting.

Here’s a pic of just one of my book shelves lol.

I wasn’t really inspired by today’s prompt, the emergency exit. I ended up writing a story about 2 young girls running out of the ice rink because the boy one of them fancies comes in. Today’s prompt is eating at a diner so I’m hoping I’ll be a bit more inspired today 😉

Generating Titles

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

As I said a couple of days ago, I love finding names for my characters, but, what I love even more is finding Title Ideas 🙂 A good title idea can prompt a story in itself, and often does for me. An interesting title will intrigue a reader, I know it does me. One of my 2 favourite examples from successful books are:

If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things
and
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime

Both, fantastic examples of how a title can sell a book. Imagine if Mark Haddon had just called it “The Dog” *yawns*

I’m sitting here at the moment, in front of my sons birthday cards. It was his birthday on Wednesday. I found one of his cards very inspiring.

Bam! “Dressing Like Dad” what a great title for a story. I’m conjuring up the scenes in my head as I type lol

I find title ideas absolutely every where and I allocate a page in my note book where I write them all down, the minute I spot one. So here are a few tips on finding those titles…..And the stories to go with them 😉

1. Lines from poetry.

2. Quotes.

3. The Titles given to pieces of art, especially modern art.

4. Writing prompts. I often use words from the actual prompt I’m using as a title.

5. Flick through a non fiction book, the titles of the chapters (even self help type books can be good for that!) or go to the library and look at all the titles of non fiction books.

6. A Theasaurus is brilliant. Think of your title, then look up the words to see if you can make it better, a different word can add so much more meaning to the title.

7. Newspaper headlines and magazine article titles.

8. Subjects of e mails….I know, you’re looking at me strangely lol…. Try it! I had an e mail yesterday from a web site I subscribe to and the title was “Hire a Hooker for Your Husband” *snigger* Now you’re looking at me like I’m a real weirdo lol.

9. Song lyrics and titles….the song itself could inspire a story.

10. Eavesdrop on people’s conversations, in cafe’s, shops, sometimes, someone will come out with a gem. If you don’t get out much TV and films are good too, even the news programmes. I wonder if Lionel Shriver overheard someone say We Need To Talk About Kevin ?

So that’s where I get my ideas from….I could sit here and type out my current list, which stands at about 30, but hey, you might steal one 😉

Today’s prompt about sinking turned into a tory about a guy, in sales, who’s wife has left him and he’s been called to the bosses office as his figures are going down. Lots of options on how to end that depending on how nasty I’m feeling 😉 Tomorrow’s prompt is an emergency exit which sounds good 🙂

Fishing…For Ideas

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

You can’t force an idea can you. William Stafford once said that the creative process is like fishing. You cast a line and then sit patiently, waiting for a nibble. You have to be still and quiet because if you make too much noise the fish won’t bite. With time and experience, you learn the right moment to land that baby.

That kinda goes against what we want as writers. We want results and now. We want proof we are making progress and being productive. We want finished pieces and strive for each one to be better than the last.

So what if, we took one day…..Just one day a month as an Ideas Day? To go fishing, metaphorically rather than actual in my case 😉 No actual writing, but you’re allowed to write ideas in a note book.

If you could have one day a month as an ideas day, what would you do?

Me? I’d spend the day at an art gallery or sit on the sofa watching old black and white films all day 🙂

Ahhhhh….. Peter Jones would be so proud of me!

I don’t often suffer from writers block, I have too much whizzing round in my head, what with the daily prompts 😉

But…..if you ever find yourself staring at a blank page, try the 7 Minute Story technique by the Limebird Writers Blog. Brilliant 🙂

I spent most of yesterday editing 2 stories. I want to send one off to a competition and the other to a magazine. I also spent an hour or so on Title Ideas (post on that tomorrow).

Yesterday’s prompt was about being lonely, so I came up with a story about a woman who has everything apart from one thing…..love…..sounds like that Beatles song lol. Today’s prompt is write about sinking. Gawd, this is all very depressing isn’t it lol.

The Naming Game

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve had this post in my draft folder for a couple of days, and yesterday morning, I sat, with my cup of tea (every morning I read other peoples blog posts while I drink my first tea of the day lol) and discovered that a fellow blogger was talking about exactly the same thing…. spooky!

Check out journeyofjordannaeast where she talks about the struggles of naming characters 🙂

Anyway, as most of my regular readers will know, I do a prompt a day, a short story or the start of one. So everyday I’m trying to come up with names for characters. Every couple of weeks I sit and dedicate a whole page in my notebook to ‘Name Ideas’ so I’m always on the look out for methods, tips and resources 🙂

So here are some ways/places I get my character names from:

1. The credits on a film I’ve just watched. (I’ve been known to play the end credits frame by frame before now lol).

2. Books on quotations. I’m currently using a battered old copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations that I picked up in a charity shop for a quid 🙂

3. Wikipedia which is a great source. Say I needed the name for a male character of a certain age who comes from Brazil. Search for the Brazilian football team and bobs your uncle! (English version of hey presto lol) You have a list of all the players 🙂

4. One of my absolute favourites…..any excuse obviously lol…..FaceBook! If you’re the member of any groups, check out the members list, you can usually see how old people are from their photo’s. Or if you have a friend (or family member) who has millions of friends (like my daughter who I think has about 800), check out their friends list.

5. Here in the UK a lot of our local papers have a Births, Deaths & Marriages section. Can be quite useful as you will know exact ages (as too can be the reporters names in the same paper).

6. Stuck for a surname? Google Maps 🙂 Pick a town, city, place…..road/street names are excellent for surnames. Or even a paper map (they do still exist you know lol)

My favourites from this one: Green – Ridley – Addington – Hartley – Cliffe – Halling and of course Rochester (hasn’t that one already been used? Lol)

7. And finally, name generators online. I don’t often need to use these sites, but if I do, my favourite is Seventh Sanctum which has loads of links to creativity generators.

Obviously you can use baby name books, but I find the modern ones hard because a name that is listed may have only been in existence for a few years. No good if trying to name a 45 year old.

One final thing about using real peoples names>;;>;;>;;>;;>;;>;; When I use FaceBook for name ideas I’m very careful to mix up surnames with first names. I don’t ever use their first name and surname combined. That could get you in a lot of hot water. But, if you think about it, whatever name you choose there is bound to be someone out there who has that exact combination of first and second name.

One last tip…..make sure all your characters names all start with different letters and don’t sound the same. Your reader will be way confused. I recently read a story where a dog was called Taylor and the baby was Tyler. I had to re-read a whole section as I thought it was still talking about the dog, and wondered what it was doing in a cot 😉

So how do you come up with your characters names? I would love to hear yor ideas/tips and resources.

Yesterday’s prompt was write about fruit flesh. Yuk, that just sounds wrong! lol. I know it is flesh, but….. Lol. Anyway, I came up with a sweet little story about a girl on a bench eating a pear. An old man sits down and chats and it turns out he’s a retired market stall holder (his son has taken over the business) who use to sell fruit and vege. That’s as far as I got, but I’m thinking there’s a romance there, especially as the son is a hunky barrow boy *sniggers*
Today’s prompt is this is how lonesome feels which is already depressing me and I haven’t even started writing yet lol

The “Place” Experiment Part 2

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

The second place in my experiment 🙂

Location: One of the piers at Chatham.
Time: 11am
Date: Monday 12th March

I listened to the seagulls sqwarking (sp? Lol) overhead and watched the small group of swans on the edge of the mud banks stretching their wings. They eyed the passing tug boat with suspicion. In the distance, the silent cranes rise up through the mist, waiting for the next cargo ship to arrive. There’s an eeriness to this place. I could imagine sitting here, developing the plot for an intricate thriller. A body, washed up on the mud, it’s bare white limbs a stark contrast against all the shades of grey. The whole area seems frozen in time. It could be 2012 or 1912, I don’t think the scene would have changed. Embedded in the mud, an old shopping trolley, the only trace of modern life. I was intrigued by the wreck of a small fishing boat, it’s mast and a small part of its hull poking out through the mud. I wonder what happened to it. Did it set adrift on a stormy night? Or a more sinister explanation. Regardless of the reasons it’s fated to stay embedded, a reminder to all of the dangers of the river and mud banks.

WOW….. This was a great place to write 🙂 I’m not sure it would have the same eery feeling on a warm summers day, so I’m really glad i went when it was misty. It was freezing though, so I didn’t stay long. Definitely inspiring, not for a romance, but if I was writing something that needed lots of atmosphere, this is the place to come…. I will be returning 🙂

I managed to get both of the prompts done yesterday. The one about the voices in the night prompted the start of a sorry tale about an overweight woman who’s husband leaves her. My hubby gave me that idea as he said about food calling you from the fridge in the night he he he 😉 The one about a ceremony was fun (as I expected), I now have the start of a story where a woman is attending the wedding of her ex, the one that got away if you know what I mean 😉

I spent yesterday afternoon editing and rewriting a couple of stories, and then submitted them for comps. So my “out there’s” now stand at 17 *squeals* Today, I’ll be trying to make that 20 😉

Second Campaigner Challenge

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Today the 2nd challenge was set for the Writers Platform Builders (see tab above).

I chose to do:

Prompt 1 – Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One persons leg is cut, the other person has wet hair.

Option 2 – Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the chosen prompts.

Here’s my offering which came in at 197 words 🙂

As the sky rains fire they shelter from the falling debris at the remains of the old bridge.The smell of diesel and burning plastic stings their eyes and chokes their lungs.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Tom pushes his wet fringe away from his eyes.
“I know Tom, but I don’t think I can….my leg.”
Tom looks down at the gaping wound in Zoe’s leg, the blood pooling on the concrete.
“If we stay here, we’ll die Zo.” He pleads.
In the distance they hear a piercing scream. Zoe’s heart beats in her throat as she notices the sound of dull thuds.
“Tom, what’s that noise?” She whispers, but before he can respond a body lands a few feet away, it’s limbs twisted and broken.
Zoe screams as Tom wraps his arms around her and shields her face from the horror.
He then grips her shoulders roughly.
“Listen to me Zoe, I don’t know what the fuck is happening here, but I think we need to leave…now! If something hits this bridge…”
Tom is unable to finish his sentence as a large object hits the bridge and Zoe is plunged into darkness.

please let me know what you think, all critiques welcome 🙂

And, if you like it, please vote for me on the link above. I’m number 26

Pocket Novels

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Today, I will be spending a considerable amount of time reading a pocket novel 🙂

Why? Because I’ll be attending a workshop hosted by Sally Quilford all about pocket novels on Saturday. I’m hoping Sally can help me write stuff that is a bit more lighthearted….a bit more along the lines of my Flash piece I did the other day.

I uploaded my final Reflective Commentary to my Blogspot blog. It’s sad in a way. I’ve spent 11 months studying creative writing and I’ve learnt so much. This final 3000 word assignment will be to show everything I’ve learnt. I’m thinking of doing the story I wrote Tuesday, about the young guy and his boss. Should be able to drag that out for 3000 words 😉

Yesterday I attended my writing group, with my head held high….because….. I now officially have an “out there!” lol. I sent off my Swanwick competition entry, it’s gone, on it’s way to the judges via Royal Mail. It was a good night…..we have some very talented members 🙂

Two very interesting articles I stumbled upon yesterday…..Self Editing and Writers Checklist will be consumed with relish today. I need all the help I can get if I’m going to start submitting lol

Yesterday’s prompt was to write about a lovers pillow. I found it really hard. It brought up/back an old wound thats still smarting, so I only managed about 100 words before I gave up…. Onwards and upwards yeah? 😉

Today’s prompt is it was a lie and all I’m gunna say is ouch lol….not looking forward to this one either lol

Plotting

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

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 😉

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 😉

The Wrong Way

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Vikki Thompson

I spent most of yesterday finishing A Walk Between Heaven and Earth and making notes in my notebook. To say that I found it ‘unputdownable’ is an understatement 🙂

There are so many interesting passages and inspiring ideas, too many to mention, but the one that really struck a cord was when Holzer talked about ‘the right way’……

She says that too often we focus on learning the techniques of writing, that this overshadows the writing itself. She goes on to say that “It is hard to get excited about writing, when 90% of what comes to mind is not good enough, or not right somehow.”

Is this the rut I’ve got myself into?

Am i no longer content to just write, for writings sake? I’m constantly trying to improve, do things right, learn the rules…..punctuation, grammar, syntax, nouns, adjectives…..*deep sigh* It’s hard work….. 😦

But, is it still exciting? Does having the constant pressure of having a ‘right way’ and a ‘wrong way’ take away the pleasure? And, if that is indeed the case, whats the answer? Quit my creative writing courses and just write for me? Give up any ideas I have of publication?

No, sorry, I don’t agree with her. I’m enjoying learning, I want to improve my writing. To do that I need to study and I need to do things the ‘right way’. I’ve always been fascinated by learning, eager for knowledge about everything around me.

Yes, having a ‘right way’ and a ‘wrong way’ leads to self criticism and self doubt…… But don’t we need that to strive to be better? Wanting to be good at something and succeed isn’t a bad thing is it? 😉