Yo, dig my shades?
Yo, yo, I don’t know
but I’ve been told
mean ol’ homework
will rot my soul.
Yo, yo, I don’t know
but I’ve been told
mean ol’ chores
are an empty bowl.
Yo, yo, I don’t know
but I’ve been told
walkin’ to school
is hard on the sole.
Yo, yo, I don’t know
but so it goes
I done counted
and I have ten toes.
Yo, yo, I don’t know
and may never be told
when this silly rhyme
starts to get old.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday, poetry by author
“Well, Captain, she’s either the biggest lump of coal Santa ever brought, or one of the largest dilithium crystal piles I’ve ever seem. Would explain what powers those eight tiny reindeer.”
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday, Uncategorized
A kiss is just a….
The Borg and the hologram went out on a date.
The Borg and the hologram were told not to stay too late.
At 7 of 9, things that night were still fine.
At 9 of 7, things next morning were not heaven.
A doctor was called; he appeared out of thin air
He examined the patients with a gruff, “I don’t care.”
“The Borg’s done for,” he said with a grin
For you see the hologram has gotten under her skin.
So let this be a tale of dating across lines
Because once you do cross, you may come back realigned.
[Editor’s / author’s note: This photo above appeared on Facebook from the Star Trek web site with a caption me request. My response was the poem, which just flowed out in about 10 minutes. I am not saying it is great quality, just a bit of rhyming whimsy. Strange how sometimes that happens.]
Filed under Photo Finish Friday
Hail, hail, the holiday gang’s all air. Blown up for the holidays.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday
Even Darth Tater is not immune to the “Christmas Eve Force.”
Even young Darth Tater is not immune to the Force known as last-minute Christmas Eve shopping and must venture out into cold and unknown space to find those special spud stuffers for his Mom and Dad.
Filed under Christmas Eve, Photo by author
A Blue Christmas?
Are these blue lights draped around a motorcycle engine the sign of a holiday police dragnet? A sudden K-Mart blue light holiday special buy? The remains of a collision of a motorcycle and a Christmas tree (including the candy cane)? Picasso in a new blue period just in time for the holidays? A physical manifestation of the ghost of Elvis opining that he will have a Blue Christmas without you? Whatever it is, it is a little larger than your average stocking stuffer.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday
What every best-decked-out holiday bike rider needs for an evening-ride: a lamp on the back of your bike with a leg-in-stockings base. An extra leg in case one of your own gets tired.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday
The baaaad are everywhere.
“Listen up, boys,” the head sheep said. “We have one chance to get this right. The sow keeps all her money at the Piggy Bank on the corner. We show a little backbone and knock it over and we’ll never have to cower again. You with me?”
Filed under Photo Finish Friday
6 Ways to Write Better Bad Guys
by Laura Disilverio
Luckily, transforming your antagonist from a one-dimensional paper doll into a force to be reckoned with—and remembered—is completely possible if you implement a few simple but powerful methods for creating antagonists and expanding their roles. You can build a worthy adversary during the outlining process or beef one up when you revise your already completed draft. It’s never too late.
Make your antagonists as interesting as your protagonists.
The antagonist must act to prevent your heroine from achieving her goals, whether that action is whispering reminders that she’s totally useless, plunging a knife into her back or anything in between. The type of action your antagonist takes will depend on his nature and the kind of story you’re writing. But your story must have an antagonist. (In some stories—Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes to mind—the protagonist is actually his own antagonist.) Without an active antagonist, your hero could take a leisurely Sunday stroll toward his goal. Lacking the obstacles a worthy antagonist would provide, he would also lack the opportunity for growth or the necessity to change, and his character arc would flatline (as would your sales).
With the following tips in mind, reread your manuscript with an eye toward making your antagonist as compelling as your protagonist. Some effort on your part could even put your villain in the heady company of Professor Moriarty, the White Witch, Simon Legree and Nurse Ratched.
1. Remember that Antagonists are people, too.
I stop reading novels in which the antagonist is obviously nothing more than a device to move the plot in a certain direction. If I can’t empathize with the antagonist, believe in her motives or understand why she’s dishing out evil, I put the book aside. Flesh out your antagonist. Give us an origin story (how she became the way she is) or show that she regrets something and might change if given a chance.
If working with a nonhuman antagonist, personify him at least a little bit. Think of Frankenstein’s loneliness, HAL’s (the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey) jealousy or Shere Khan’s hatred of the “man cub” (The Jungle Book). Show the antagonist doing something nice. Even villains love their mothers or cockapoos, volunteer at soup kitchens or help snow-stuck motorists push their cars out of intersections. Do this early on. Give him believable, even laudable, motives.
Inspector Javert from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a strong antagonist because his obsession with finding Valjean stems from his belief that stealing is wrong. How many readers would disagree with that? Javert’s insistence that theft is always, without exception, wrong, however, turns his crusade into persecution. His inability to believe that good and evil can coexist in a single man leads him to suicide. His death is one of the story’s tragedies because he has been so thoroughly developed as a character and because we have, from the beginning, understood his motives and his flaws.
Other was include:
2. Eschew the totally evil antagonist (except, possibly, in some horror or monster stories).
3. If you’re tempted to say your antagonist is a corporation, disease or war—don’t.
4. Make your antagonist at least as smart, strong and capable as the protagonist.
5. Keep the tension strong when the antagonist is a friend, ally or loved one.
6. If your antagonist remains hidden for much of the story (as in a mystery), give him proxies or let him work behind the scenes.
For more on these other steps, go to http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/6-ways-to-write-better-bad-guys?et_mid=636328&rid=239626420
Filed under Photo by author, Writing Tip Wednesday
Sometimes you feel like a pumpkin; sometimes you don’t.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday
