Jeff Goins told me to share this, so I will 🙂
Soooooo…..
THE TIME IS NOW!
What creative thing will you do today?
Tag Archives: Inspiration
Where The Ideas Are And How To Get Them
No actual post today people, but I’m really excited!!!! My article went live on the Faber Website last night *grins* 🙂
So if you’d like to have a read (please do!) check out my article which they’ve entitled Get Inspired. Stop Waiting Around which is all about where i find my ideas.
Photo courtesy of winnond at freedigitalphotos
Read it here>>>>> Get Inspired. Stop Waiting Around.
Pop back and tell me what you thought 🙂
Related articles
- How Can I Turn My Mess of Ideas Into Something Organized and Useful? (lifehacker.com)
Which Comes First? The Story or The Character?
A recent session at Faber, Kidnapping A Character, brought up a very interesting question.
Most writers have their own way of working. They either start with a story idea, then make up characters to fit it. Or they start with a character and then make up a story that fits.
Personally, I’ve done it both ways, and I can’t really say which one I prefer.
But I’ve never tried the method where you come up with 2 totally unrelated characters and write a scene where they meet. It was amazing to hear the interesting stories that had started to develop from 2 complete strangers having a chance meeting (during a 20 minute writing session). It’s definitely a technique I will be trying out again in the future.
courtesy of jscreations/freedigitalphotos
Like most things in writing there is no right or wrong way to do things, but out of curiosity which do you start with?
Related articles
- I’m a pantser. (smpauthors.wordpress.com)
- Where to Get Story Ideas (shelleywidhalm.wordpress.com)
- Facing your character(s)… (diedreblake.wordpress.com)
- Know Your Character (thewearywriter.com)
- Writing Character: Challenge of the Character Most Like Yourself – Part 1 (elissafield.wordpress.com)
The Red Violin
I don’t often do film or book reviews, and this isn’t going to be one. But, I just wanted to get down on paper (so to speak) my thoughts about the storyline of this film.
The Red Violin is a prime example of “concept” and something that would definitely be of interest to a publisher. It’s the story line that I’m searching for….the story I would love to write myself. Inspired by true events, with those events twisted, slightly, to make for a more macabre tale.
Don McKellar & Francoise Girard (the writers) took their inspiration for the story from an Antonio Stradivari violin, the Red Mendelssohn (1721), which is currently owned and played by Elizabeth Pitcairn. Her grandfather bought it for her 16th birthday for $1.7 million at auction from Christie’s London. It’s called “The Red Mendelssohn” because of a unique red stripe on its top right side, but how the stripe came about is still unknown.
Now picture the scene….. McKellar & Girard, having coffee one day, the sale of the Mendelssohn on the front cover of the newspaper (bear with me, I’m surmising lol). One says to the other…. “What if that stripe is blood?…..what if the whole violin was painted with the blood of the makers wife who died in childbirth?” And viola! A story is born.
Damn! Why can’t I come up with something like that? Why do I always come up with the boring mediocre stories that just don’t excite? It’s not fair! *stamps foot and pouts* (just kidding).
I guess I’ve just got to keep reading newspapers and asking “what if?” All the time…. Maybe one day eh?
Tell me…..is there a particular story you’ve stumbled across recently that you wish you’d thought of?
Tales From A Notebook – Part 2
Some more notebook pages 🙂
Hope you enjoy! 🙂
ps….tomorrows post will be a little late, as I’m off to a Nano Writing Retreat 🙂
How To Turn eBay Into A Writing Tool
You Can Get Almost Anything on eBay a post recently on Writer Unboxed, got me thinking….. As soon as I saw the title I was inspired lol.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on eBay? Come on, there must be something? I once saw an old piece of rope. Well used, a bit manky to be honest, but, it actually sold.
I don’t know about you, but I’m conscious of the fact that every single item on eBay has a story behind it. Like the Wedding Dress – New/Never Worn or, more sadly, a selection of newborn baby clothes, with their tags still attached (ok, let’s not be too morbid there, and pressume the baby grew too quickly….but you get my point).
As I was mulling this idea over, and having a look on eBay (for research of course) I came across an article on List Verse about Bizarre eBay Auctions. Ha ha ha, wow! 😉
The following is an example from the List Verse list, written by Cedric Mandanas.
In 2005, during a live interview with Jodie Marsh, Kerrang’s Tim Shaw told the glamor model he was prepared to leave his wife and their two children for her. His wife Hayley was listening and said her husband’s flirtation was the “last straw” in their relationship. After having a few drinks and while her husband was still live on the radio, she listed his Lotus Espirit Turbo for sale on eBay with a “Buy It Now” option of 77 cents. The description read: “I need to get rid of this car in the next two to three hours before my husband gets home to find it gone and all his belongings in the street.”
The car sold in five minutes. Mrs. Shaw said: ‘When he said he would leave me and the kids for Jodie Marsh, that was it for me. I am sick of him disrespecting this family for the sake of his act. The car is his pride and joy but the idiot put my name on the log book so I just sold it. I didn’t care about the money; I just wanted to get him back. There is no hope for reconciliation.’ A Kerrang spokesperson said the DJ was ‘absolutely gutted.’
I’m asking myself was he gutted about his wife, or the car? Lol
Courtesy of M-Pics/freedigitalphotos.net
Wow! What a story *sniggers* 🙂
Have you ever been inspired by an item for sale on eBay?
Related articles
- 10 Bizarre eBay Auctions (listverse.com)
Faber Session 3 – Kidnapping A Character (or permission to stalk)
I never thought when I arrived at class this morning that I’d be asked to do some stalking lol
The ground floor Faber hallway.
But that’s exactly what Tim asked us to do today. We had an hour and a half this morning to go out, find a character (somebody we found interesting), and follow them. We had to make notes on their clothing, the way they walked, talked (which meant if we had to resort to asking them directions so be it!), what they looked like…. Everything we could possibly observe about them, to build up a picture.
I found a guy in the British Museum who walked in a very distinctive way. I followed him and his family around the museum, out to a book shop, and then through the streets until he got into a taxi. I learnt his name, who the other members of the family were, plus got most of the physical details Tim was looking for.
When we got back to Faber everyone admitted they had initially been apprehensive about the task, but most of us had loved it. It was really good fun! One girl even got on a tube to follow her character! There’s dedication!
Tims advice had been “try not to get busted” ha ha ha! And there was me wearing a bight red coat! Lol. I’m sure my guy was thinking “why is that woman in the red coat everywhere I go?” 😉
My classroom
The afternoon was spent doing work on our characters, including pairing up and creating scenes where our characters met for the first time.
So I had a good day, which included Sushi from Wasabi mmmmmmmm 🙂
Back home relaxing now….I’m shattered 🙂
I just can’t wait to go stalking again 🙂
Would you do it?
Faber – Introduction Session 1
Those of you who are on FaceBook will know what an awful time I’ve been having (and I’m still having) with my phone network since last Friday 😦 So the idea of travelling up to London with no phone and no map was not really a prospect I was looking forward to 😦 I jokingly say to people that if its going to happen, it’ll happen to me, and it usually does! Proven by the fact that hubby’s phone which is on the same network, same phone, same number apart from 1 different digit, is working fine!
I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked then when the moment i left the house it started to rain and when I got to the station i discovered that my train had been cancelled and that there wasn’t another one for an hour (I ended up taking a different route which cost me more money).
So I finally arrived in Bloomsbury, hungry, tired (I fell asleep on the train) and with frizzy hair! Lol
After a quick stop in Costa I made my way over to The British Museum, managing a trip to the loo and a peek at their wonderful jewellery collection in their shop, before being turfed out at closing time.
I then made my way over to the London Review Bookshop where I have a 10% discount card for being a Faber student. Yes, ok, I did buy a book alright 😉
Then it was time to ring that buzzer *queue dramatic intro music* The Faber building is stunning! From the outside a row of elegant Georgian town houses, but inside, modern, slick, and very very white. Our class is in the attic, on the 4th floor. I’m sure the view from the windows is stunning, but I was too engrossed in everything else to check. The class filled up quickly and there was lots of chair shuffling when Tim, our tutor arrived (we hadn’t left a seat for him lol).
I won’t bore you too much with the lesson, needless to say we had to go round introducing ourselves and saying what we wanted from the course. I said about my 2 novels and that I needed to be more focused. When he asked if I would be working on ‘But Not Forgotten’ I was a little bit chuffed, and couldn’t help wonder what he actually thought of it. I told him I wanted to start something new and he seemed to approve 😉 He went on to say, to all of us, that we were there for a reason. That he had read every single submission, and that we had been chosen because he saw something promising in every one of our pieces. That was good to know 😉
The rest of the lesson was taken up with writing exercises (I’ll share them at some stage), reading recommendations (books about writing) and a pep talk about sacrifice and commitment to being a writer. I think we all secretly squealed inside when he told us that a 3rd of the class from last year now had agents!
Homework for next weeks session is to read up about “planning” (a print out Tim gave us) and to read the other notes we were given. There will be a “peer critique” every week, where one students work is analysed *gulp* so I guess I better start working on my first piece. It has to be under 5,000 words so I’ll probably get cracking on the new novel…..exciting….and more about that tomorrow!
Right, I spose I better get some sleep, but I’m buzzing! A great night! Can’t wait till next week now 🙂
ps….I went for the red top 😉
Tales From A Notebook (part 1)
A few weeks ago (or was it months?) someone asked me if I could share some pages from my note books. I have 14 now that are completely full up, and another 7 currently on the go.
So here are a few pages 🙂
As you can see, I collect crap lol….anything I think might help or inspire me at a later date goes in my note books 🙂 I love flicking back through them when I’m stuck for a title idea, or need inspiration on a story.
so the question is…..do you want me to do a regular post, sharing the contents? Or shall I just leave it there because you’re yawning?
I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar
I read a book entitled that once, but anyway…
Thanks to Amy at Tao Te Ching Daily who posted a comment on my Celebrating Bloggers post a couple of days ago, there will be 2 posts today 🙂
Now, I don’t normally, as you know, but, I really enjoy these Blog Hops, I love the whole idea that people all around the world are blogging about the same thing, on the same day. So if you ever hear of any others, do let me know 🙂
Today’s Blog Hop is Celebrating Womanhood and is being hosted by the Living, Learning and Loving Life Blog which I’ve never come across before. What a great title for a Blog eh? 😉 I’ll definitely be subscribing!
So the whole idea is that you can write about anything, as long as it celebrates women. So after some thought I decided to tell you about a woman who inspired me 🙂
There have been many woman who have inspired me over the years (unfortunately NOT a mother or big sister, but we wont go down that road lol). The first two who spring to mind are Julia Cameron, (it was thanks to discovering Julia’s work that I picked up a pen after, ooooo, I won’t tell you how many years lol) and Judy Reeves (who is most undoubtedly responsible for my love of writing at this present moment in time). But, one woman, who’s story truly captivated me when I first heard about it (just as i was embarking on my writing journey) was Erin Gruwell.
Name not familiar? Ok, what about The Freedom Writers Foundation or The Freedom Writers Diary ? No? Ok, my last attempt to jog your memory…. Freedom Writers the film starring Hilary Swank, with me now? Finally lol 😉
If none of the above makes any sense whatsoever please do check out the links. In the meantime, I’ll fill in the details…..
In 1994 Erin Gruwell was a new English teacher at a High School in California, assigned a class of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day in class she discovered a note on which had been scribbled a racial insult and told her class that it was the kind of thing that led to the Holocaust (which most of the kids had never heard of!). The class then embarked on a study of Anne Franks diary, which led to the students seeing the parallels to their own lives. Gruwell gave them notebooks to use as journals, where they could record their own thoughts and feelings and they dubbed themselves “The Freedom Writers” after the civil rights activists the Freedom Riders. With funds the class raised themselves they managed to arrange for Miep Gies, the brave Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California.
Gruwell’s troubled teens turned into productive adults, some of them going into the teaching profession themselves. They now have the Freedom Writers Foundation to help share the methods Gruwell used with her students to other teachers and they have toured the world sharing the message of writing, which can lead to tolerance and empowerment.
It’s an inspiring story of “how a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them.” I was so captivated by the whole thing that I joined the web site, made a donation, and bought a handful of pens 🙂
I have one pen left now *sobs* but every time I write with it I think about those kids, inspired by one woman. Erin Gruwell, I wish I’d had a teacher like you, perhaps I would have started writing in my teens 🙂 I’m so glad there are women, teachers like Erin Gruwell out there who are encouraging kids to write, and that my friends is awesome! 🙂
Who are the women that you take inspiration from?
The View Outside 