Been a little busy writing, photographing and other stuff to pay the bills. I'm back on the wagon though. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more entries.
Read more...Read more...Vash managed to roll her eyes and glower at her parents at the same time. She sat on an easy chair, watching her parents alternate between pacing and shouting. They were quite simply being annoying. She came home with her first ‘B’ paper today, and this was their reaction. Lectures. Weeping. Hysterical accusations of drug addictions. Satanic music. Sex.“Look, you don’t understand.”“No, I understand!” her mom shouted, “you’ve never brought home a B before! There’s something wrong with you!”“That’s not mature,” her dad intoned as he wagged a finger, “you need to manage your time better.”Vash sighed, and tried again, “Listen—“Her mom interrupted, “Vash! I don’t understand! How could you get a B?”Totally irrational. Insane. Vash pinched the bridge of her nose.“We’ll get her a tutor, Pam.”“I don’t need a tutor. If you’d just let me explain—““Vashana is smart. She doesn’t need a tutor. Maybe a psychologist?”“Mom, dad! I don’t need help!”“She’s been argumentative.” Dad looked over his spectacles at her, “and surly. Backtalking.”“I was not!”“Ah! Ah! Don’t interrupt!”Vash groaned, running her fingers through her straight black hair in frustration. She rarely got angry, but she would lose it soon, she knew.“I’ve heard of this, but I didn’t think it’d happen to Vashana!”“What, dear?” he indulged his wife.“The teen angst!”Vash struggled to keep a straight face.Her mother continued her rant, “It’s the music she’s listening to! It’s a bad influence.”Exasperated, Vash groaned, “Mom!”“George, reason with her!He fanned himself, then loosened his tie, “it’s getting warm in here. Why don’t we take a break, and cool down…” He paused to chuckle at his own pun, “We can talk about this more later.”
Probably interesting to nobody: I have different allergy symptoms in different parts of the country. Here, my eyes feel so itchy and dry and I just want to close them and keep them closed forever and forever. Ok, not that long, but at least until the itchiness abates.
Makes it difficult to get work done.
It can be a challenge for people to think of how to photograph their families in a creative way and get near-professional results. How many of us have photos like this one (below)?
I can't find the file where I save my practice hooks, so I whipped up a few on the spot. As my interests tend toward fantasy, supernatural and the weird, these reflect that.
As Doreen walked down the aisle next to her father, she looked at the love of her life, and saw Death's superimposed over his face.Ok. Little wordy, could be better.
Doreen looked through her gauzy veil and saw Death's face instead of her fiance's.Shorter, stronger, better. But the usage of look and saw weakens it.
As Doreen lifted her veil, her eyes met Death's face in place of her husband's.This is much better. It uses different, stronger action verbs, and is more interesting overall. It tells the reader that a wedding is taking place, and begs the question of what's going on. Is she marrying Death himself who had been posing as a mortal man? Or is this some kind of omen she's seeing? What's going on?
Yvonne ran down the path.And??
Yvonne was out jogging and ...Passive verbs - avoid them if you can! It takes practice to break the habit of using passive verbs.
Yvonne jogged down a path through the woods and a dog tackled her.Better. But kinda boring. However, it's ok to have two or even three sentence hook sometimes.
Yvonne jogged through the wood and something tackled her. She crashed with a yelp, and then heard, "I need help!" There was nobody else around, except for a big red dog.More interesting. Yvonne is out jogging, gets tackled by a dog and it apparently talks. It still needs polishing, but this is the best hook out of the bunch. Read more...
That makes 10 in the year I've been here in Seattle.
Suspect attempts to elude police, gets shot and killed. Details fuzzy
You know how when you first crack open a book and read the very first sentence? Oftentimes that single sentence is what "hooks" you onto the book. It's what keeps you reading the next sentence and the next and ... It can be the deciding factor of whether to purchase and continue reading the book.
That's why it's important for a writer to start off a book with an effective hook. The old cliche made infamous by Peanuts' Snoopy, "It was a dark and stormy night," came from a real life book. It was written by English Victorian novelist, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton in his book, Paul Clifford, in 1830. It was such an effective phrase that it was borrowed from, reused, reinterpreted and quoted for the next 200 years.
As mentioned in a previous blog entry, one of the exercises I use to bust writer blocks is involves writing hooks. At very minimum, it flexes your creative brain. And sometimes a hook you've written in this exercise can spawn a new idea for another story. Challenge yourself to write 10 hooks in under 10 minutes, and then take 15-20 minutes to examine each one and ask yourself this: Is the hook effective? Does it make you want to read more? What can you do to improve it?
Check back here tomorrow for a sampling of hooks I've written.
Another (unedited) unfinished story:
Read more...She strained to retain her hold on the plastic rock while her other hand fumbled to clip the quickdraw to the d-ring three feet above her head. But no matter how heavily she chalked up her hands, the combination of a damp, humid basement and her own sweat worked against her. As her hand slipped off the rock, for a split second she had time to realize what was happening. “Oh shit,” Rose thought, oddly casual. No time to panic.And Rose fell. She plummeted nearly fifteen feet when the rope, attached to her nylon harness, arrested her fall. The slightly elastic cord stretched a few inches, and brought Rose to a stop safely, and she smiled, nonplussed.Fortunately, she had been trying to clip the d-ring on an arete, and instead of falling against the fake rockface, she fell straight down into the midair. Rose heard a startled yell over the pounding rock music, and grinned down at her friend, Kris.Kris shouted over the music, “Are you okay?” She looked worried.Rose laughed and shouted, “Fine! I’m going to try again!”
Waiting for inspiration to strike you? That doesn't work. I know all too well. When I'm stalled on writing or photography, "I'm so uninspired" and other variations like "I lack the motivation" is commonly heard in this household. But I'll be honest, they are lame excuses.And laziness is not a good trait to have.
Yes, getting stuck on a project is understandable. But there are ways to get past the block and get your creative juices flowing.
One thing I do to flex my creative brain is write short stories. They are sitting in my file rotting away, which is a waste. I've decided I'll start sharing some short stories and writing exercises, such as "hooks" - the first sentences for a fiction story.
I'll explain the hook exercise another time. In the meantime, here's an intro to a short story I wrote a few years ago. I have no idea where I originally intended to go with this story, it's unfinished.
High above a deep blue bay, a woman stands on a cliff. She leaps out, soaring in the air. More graceful than a sea gull, faster than a hawk, with more flair than a dolphin. Majestic! Then as she begins her descent, reality sets in, and she lets out a horrified squawk that echoes off the cliff walls. Instinct instructs her to curl up in a ball, and she hits the water at terrifying 62 miles per hour. Gravity wins.Read more...
"Dana? Dana? Are you awake?”
“What happened?” Dana mumbled into her pillow.
“You screamed.”
“I died.”
“Again?”
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