Brad looked over at Jim. Brad was holding his sixth beer in one hand and paint brush covered in pink paint in the other. “I think it blends right in, don’t you?”
Haiku to you Thursday: “Flaps”
Wind slaps the darkness /
folding into noisy flaps /
pieces of the night.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Writing tip Wednesday: “Conflict”
On Saturday, February 1, 2014, I took a workshop sponsored by the Knoxville Writers’ Guild (www.knoxvillewritersguild.org) and led by nationally published author Pamela Schoenewaldt (www.PamelaSchoenewaldt.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pamela-Schoenewaldt/158580547517755?ref=tn_tnmn).
Even a friendly game of cards might harbor some conflict.
CONFLICT WORKSHEET
Answer without worrying about grammar or logic. Emotions can be messy and illogical. The point is that they MATTER.
1. More than anything, my character wants. . .
2. Getting it matters so much because . . .
3. But the problem/obstacle is . . .
4. My character feels (use 4+ adjectives)
5. Giving up would mean . . .
6. To “win” the character must overcome . . .
7. Who will help and how?
8. Name 3 possible LOCATIONS where this conflict will play out. What OBJECTS will be important?
9. The outcome/ resolution will change the character. Now s/he will . . .
Filed under writing tip, Writing Tip Wednesday, writing tips
Monday morning writing joke: “new cliché”
A fellow writer contacted me the other day and said he needed a new cliché.
A new cliché? I asked.
Yes. His editor had told him that it was okay for a character to use it in speech, but the character couldn’t use the one the writer had chosen. His editor said younger readers today wouldn’t know what “When my ship comes in” means. But, the writer said, I can’t think of a newer cliché. Even a made up on that might work. But it has to involve the arrival of something big. Can you help me?
I told him to call me back in a couple of hours and I would see what I could do.
A couple of hours passed and when he called back, I said, I have it.
Good, he said, what is it.
I said, Have your character say, “When my plane arrives on time, I’ll be a rich man.”
That’s about as likely as my ship coming in, the writer said.
Exactly, I said.
Filed under Monday morning writing joke
The 101 Most Insane Things That Have Ever Happened In Florida
The 101 Most Insane Things That Have Ever Happened In Florida.
Need inspiration for your next story or novel. Take a look at the link above.
Sample:
1. Accused Florida man says his cat downloaded child porn, not him.
2. Florida man calls 911 80 times to demand Kool-Aid, hamburgers, and weed
3. Man says cocaine in his buttocks isn’t his
4. Man stabbed in confusion over harmonicas
5. Drunk woman calls 911 to say she was lost in woods, did not know where to urinate
6. Trapper trying to catch elusive loose monkey gets death threats
7. Sex-doll threesome man gets off
8. Florida man has sex with pit bull in his yard as neighbors beg him to stop
And each entry on the buzz feed page is linked to an article with more information.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-101-most-insane-things-that-have-ever-happened-in-florid
Filed under true life humor
AP removes distinction between ‘over’ and ‘more than’ | Poynter.
AP removes distinction between ‘over’ and ‘more than’ | Poynter..
Sample:
Poynter’s Vicki Krueger shares some news from the American Copy Editors Society conference that will rock copy editors to their very cores: AP Stylebook editors said at a session Thursday that “Over” is fine when referring to a quantity; you don’t have to change it to “more than.”
The news elicited a gasp, Krueger reports.
[Editor’s note: Unlike the Onion article, this one is true.]
Related article at: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/244265/more-than-my-dead-body-journalists-react-to-aps-overmore-than-change/
Filed under AP, style guide
4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source
Sample:
NEW YORK—Law enforcement officials confirmed Friday that four more copy editors were killed this week amid ongoing violence between two rival gangs divided by their loyalties to the The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual Of Style.
[Editor’s note: this is humor. It is on the Onion. Click on the link above for the rest of the story.]
Filed under writing humor
Sting tells TED audience of the only way he could overcome writer’s block – The Globe and Mail
Sting tells TED audience of the only way he could overcome writer’s block – The Globe and Mail.
Sample:
Sting is a prolific songwriter, author of a decades-long career first with the Police and then on his own, filled with pop-chart toppers, platinum records and music industry trophies to show for it.
Then came the drought.
Sting explained at the TED Conference in Vancouver how he fought his way back to his art after a prolonged period of creative darkness, when the songs stopped coming. Hint: it took him back to his hometown, and ends where the neon lights are bright.
Filed under TED talks, writing tip, writing tips
4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back | Cracked.com
4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back | Cracked.com.
Sample:
It’s tempting to look around at today’s literary scene, with its Twilight and its Fifty Shades of Grey, and wonder if we shouldn’t just flush the whole goddamn concept of written language down the toilet — maybe start again with some sort of hybrid colorwheel/odor system for communicating thoughts. Strangely, the one genre thriving in the swamp of modern literature seems to be science fiction. It’s kind of appropriate, actually: All of our crazy high technology has made publishing and distributing books about crazy high technology much more approachable and widespread than ever. But even the best works could stand to learn a little something from the past, so here are a few things that I miss about old science fiction, and would like to see come back.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-science-fiction-needs-to-bring-back/#ixzz2whMw9XfP
Filed under science fiction, writing tip, writing tips
Photo finish Friday: “Symbolic”
Buddha on a plate.
There is a Buddhist saying that if you are a Buddhist and you are you meet Buddha on the road, kill him. This is an old koan (Buddhist parable) is attributed to Zen Master Linji, (the founder of the Rinzai sect).
It is not to be taken literally. The three elements: road, killing, and Buddha are symbolic. The road is the road the Buddhist is traveling toward enlightenment. The Buddha is whatever concept of Buddha he or she might be carrying. That concept is wrong, a false idol, if you will, and to kill it is to ditch (by the symbolic roadside) that false concept as part of the road to enlightenment.
But it does bring up an interesting corollary. To wit: if you find Buddha sitting on your plate, are you supposed to (symbolically) eat him?
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday
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