Writer's Block or Editoritis?

When I find myself sitting in front of my word document or notebook unable to write, my first excuse is usually a case of writer's block. It's a comfortable explanation that no one can really explain away, because every writer has experienced it at one point or another and most of the time it is something that we need to get ourselves out of. However, to be honest in most cases it is actually a small bout of editoritis.

Editoritis is the annoying campanion on any of my writing journey. Whether it is my inner editor that comes down hard on me while I am on a roll, the bitchy voice in the back of my head vetoing my ideas before they even flow onto a page or biting doubt which hits me when I proofread a finished passage. It's definitely a condition which has cost authors around the world a streak of nerves that could probably wrap around the earth and sun several times. And it is unpredictable, yet if you realise that it is the actual problem that keeps you from writing then at least you are one step closer to getting back into the groove.

Like with the famed "writer's block" the best way to combat editoritis is by writing, because both problems stem from the same root: fear of producing something that you will only yank later on because it is crap. But really, if you write a scene and it is terrible then at least you know that is not the way to go. Often with my writing running straight into a plot cul-de-sac is the way to actually dissolve the creative knot in my head. Sometimes I have to take the story to places where it would (should?) never go to realise exactly where on the plot map my character belongs. Just like sometimes a character  can turn on you and your planning to react in a way you would never have expected. I mean, honestly, those are probably the greatest moments of being a writer.

When your character takes off on their own little mission and you suddenly find yourself in a place in the story that is unexpected, but in the great scheme of your plotline actually makes a lot more sense then what you had in mind. So my cure to writer's block and editoritis: realisation, stubborn ignorance in order to keep writing  and a willingness to look at the passage I wrote that day and say "Well, sh**. My protagonist just found a pub serving heaggis in the middle of a desert canyon? Truly, it can't get any weirder than that, so scartch that?" My inner editor might be starting to furiously nod his shaggy head at that point in an attempt to lure me back to the beginning of the whole dilemma. However, why would I want to miss out on the pure insanity of a confident desert warrior strutting into a pub with a pinewood bar demanding a bowl of haeggis from the rotund bar keeper? The sheer hilarity of that image was worth the detour. And that's what I discovered brackets are there for. Just bench the part that doesn't fit and go with the flow while your inner editor can keep bitching within the confines of the jailed passage.

So have you ever had a craving for haggis in the middle of a desert? Or what do you usually do when you are faced with a nasty case of writer's block or editoritis?

The Sweet Side of Europe

Paris, Bruges and  Brussels seem to form a triangle of sweet delights in Europe. Beside the fact that these cities hold a wealth of history, they are also a paradise for anyone with a sweet tooth like me: pastries, macarons, muffins, cupcakes, sweets, cakes... The lists seems to be endless and I am discovering new hidden jewels of the mastery of confisserie everytime I stumble upon a new coffee or sweets shop in one of these cities. On top of that, being from Vienna I seem to have inherited a sweets and pastries radar from growing up with Viennoiserie for kindergarten snacks and cookie baking for Christmas. It comes in handy a lot these days because I definitely think that the pastry culture is part of the experience when going on a trip in any of the Benelux countries as well as France.

On my last trip to Paris in February this year, my friend and I made a beeline for the La Durée shop in 21, Rue Bonaparte. We fell in love at first sight. The contrast between the vintage, pastel interior design and the colour explosion of the macarons was magical. That and the fact that my friend and I decided to settle down in the Jardin des Tuileries to get our first taste. Our verdict: delicious, although we recommend to stay away from any petal flavours like "fleur d'orange". They tasted decidedly like soap, yet I have to say that they made for a fun experience.

Which brings me to Bruges, where besides the big selection of pastry delights you can even get soap in the shape of an apple cake. Now that shows true devotion to the sweet bakery arts of Europe. While the soap was an exciting find, since I absolutely love quirky decoration goods, it was the cupcakes on our way to the Begejinhof and the hot apple tarte I had for tea that melted my sweets-loving heart. By then the Belgian hot chocolate I had with my slice of apple tarte was the veritable, calorie-heavy cherry on top. I guess, I have to confess now, that I only admired the cupcakes at the de Proverie Tea Room and the "Alice in Wonderland"-sweets paradise at Zucchero, but managed to pass by without trying them out. A good tipp for sweet toothed travelers: At Zucchero they had sweet making demonstrations. The place was packed during those, so you better come early, if you wish to see one.

Finally, Brussels wowed me with its abundance of choice in the department of sweet shops with a tradition. Leonidas is the name for Belgian chocolate in the Brussels capital and they really deserve their title. Their chocolate melts on your tongue, dissolving into a symphony of chocolately sweet notes. When in Brussels, you obviously can't miss Belgian waffles which are sold both in shops and coffee houses as well as by street vendors. You can find them in a multitude of varieties on practically every corner in the city center of Brussels. I also discovered a shop of La Cure Gourmande on my way to the Grand Place and while I didn't fall head over heals for their cookies, I was struck by their packaging. I just had to get myself a cookie box, which is now proudly sitting on my kitchen counter.

It reminds me of the colourful sweets and the fantasy worlds the interior of some of these shop evokes. While I miss the Belgian chocolate I luckily discovered a La Durée shop in the center of Luxembourg. It has become a pilgrimage point on most of my weekends, although I spent more time admiring the pretty shop window decorations than actually buying macarons, which is probably better for my teeth anyway. When you get the chance to visit any of these beautiful, historical cities, I recommend also keeping an eye out for the sweets. I promise you will discover a hidden, European candyland behind the beautiful facades of the pastry, coffee and sweet shops of Paris, Brussels and Bruges.

Luxembourg - New City, New Inspiration

New places are always rife with unexpected ideas and insights. Which is probably one of the reasons why I just love new experiences. I'm lucky that Luxembourg exceeded all my expectations concerning its potential for exciting stories. Coming from Vienna with its wealth of history, I wasn't really convinced that Luxembourg would have the same charisma. However, after a visit to the Musee National d'Art et d'Histoire this weekend, I'm thoroughly cured of all my doubts. Luxembourg's historical crux is just a different one. Where Austria is marked by the emperial power games of the Habsburgian monarchy, Luxembourg to this day lives a culture of multiplicity. While over the centuries it was continuously invaded by foreign cultures, more often then not caught in the geographical power struggles of the bigger European empires, it today profits from its multi-cultural and polyglot population as well as a striving financial sector. 

Since moving to a new city means making yourself at home in a different place, I find it important to find spots in my new hometown which anchor me. Little oases of serenity where you can feel all the little burdens of everyday life being carried away by the breeze... One of these spots is Am Bock in Luxembourg city for me. Situated at the edge of the city centre it boasts the ruins of Sigefried's fortress which gave Luxembourg its name. Beyond its inherent beauty as a relict of history, its location also yields an amazing, panoramic view over the city's different plateaus. 

If the view doens't succeed in lifting my spirits, then the Chocolate House in front of the Ducal Palace is only a stone throw away. There is nothing a chocolate spoon dipped into hot milk can't put right. Esepecially with the added entertainment of seeing tourists tease the palace guards. I think my favourite episode was when a hen night party tried to gain a smile by playing "Mother Duck" chase with the guard on duty, following him on his obligatory marches like a flock of obedient ducklings. The hilarity was even greater because they wore screaming pink T-shirts and feathery tiaras. Those are the moments you would normally only conceive when you are writing a humourous scene. It's great to see when they happen in real life! 

Life Taking Over in Luxembourg

Wow, I would never have imagined that I wouldn’t get around to writing another entry for this blog for nearly six months. I absolutely underestimated what it meant to move to a new city, start a new job and settle in. 

Esch-Sur-Sûre - Luxembourg

Since starting in my new position in March, this seems to be the first time that I have come up for air. I have had an amazing journey for the last few months. I tackled the challenges of suddenly working as an online marketing professional in a global company, went apartment hunting, explored Luxembourg City, my new hometown, and went on trips which took me as far as Chicago.

While I will continue to re-orientate myself towards this new stage in my life for some time, I finally feel like I have reached a stage where I can pick up my writing pen again. And I can tell you, my fingers have been itching for digital ink and paper in the last few months. Yet I was lacking the motivation to sit down and put the right phrases to the stories swirling through my mind. Instead, I filled notebooks with my plot bunnies, did research for “Chameleon”, visited friends, met new people, searched for and indulged in new experiences. It also doesn't hurt that Luxembourg has amazing landscapes and a host of castles to offer. In other words, I just let life take over and realised that I have been missing out on some things while worrying about finding a job last year.

However, now I’m back. So get ready to hear more frequently from me. In the next few entries, I will try to fill the gap between my last entry and this one by telling you about some of my experiences since moving to Luxembourg. Until then…Arwuar :)

Moving Base

Hint at where I am right now. Any guesses?

Sorry, for the short hiatus guys, but the last few weeks I have been busy as a bee running figure eights in the job hunting circus. And...I was finally successful, landing a very interesting marketing job which will give me the opportunity to gain a lot of experience in the field. 

However, accepting the job meant moving to an entirely new country, city, apartment... You get my drift ;) So I packed my stuff - along with my writing pens and journals - and moved to my new homebase. I hope to get back to writing soon, especially since I still hold myself to the May deadline for the Writer's Digest Writing Competition. What you can definitely expect in the next week is an update on my querying journey and a report on my new arena of everday life.

See you soon!

Vivette

Creative Writing at iTunes U

While writing on my second novel, I wanted to brush up on the basics and have a closer look at some of the elements and techniques which writers usually have in their toolbox. I remembered that iTunes University offered a number of free online courses and thought I would just try my luck. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon “Writing Creatively: Fiction”, a course offered by The Open University which featured interviews with best-selling authors on their experiences and motivation as a writer. I really enjoyed the course because it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own writing life so far, while still refreshing some of the concepts I learned at college.   

Click on the image for the programme overview

The programme is ideal for a beginner who is unsure of where or how to start his writing career as it gives a great overview of the process. If you are a better reader than listener when it comes to study, then you also have the option to read the transcripts. I also liked the offered exercises on storytelling. My friends and I had a great evening coming up with adventures for characters invented over dinner! Whether a newbie or already a writer with experience, I believe that the offered course is a great opportunity to reflect as well as experiment with your writing. 

Now, that I’m finished with this course its back to writing - Mug has been up to quite some mischief in the meantime, I'm sure! However, if one of you stumbles upon an interesting blog or online resource, let me know ;)

VOICE – An Author’s Way of Telling a Story

After my take on character arc and plot structure last week, I am back to my article on voice. When I attended my first creative writing class during my BA in English Studies, we first discussed the writing styles of different writers as well as the artistic licence writers can take on traditional text forms. However, when it came to writing our own texts, we were told to find our own style. I believe one of my university colleagues and I formulated it best during one of our literature rants:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single writer in possession of a great plot idea, must be in want of a voice to tell it to the world. So get your pen and start!”

While we freely borrowed from Jane Austen, it was to the point. Jane Austen had an iconic writing style and we had been told more than once to get to it and find our own voice. Of course, initially we were stumped. How do you go about finding your voice? I mean in reality it seems like you just open your mouth and there it is, yet I was unsure of my voice on paper. What were the elements that made up a great voice? What was the first step to developing a good writing voice?

Given my love for a plan of action, I searched for a manual that would guide me through the process of developing a voice, but the only thing I got to hear was that I had to do it on my own. Now, years later, I understand that there is no single way to finding your voice as a writer and it doesn’t end or begin with an epiphany telling you ‘This is your voice’. There is no homogenous manual which will tell you what the first, second or even the last step will be for you before you find your writer’s voice. Like your own personality takes shape over time and shifts as you experience new aspects of life, your voice as a writer gradually develops through writing.

Wikipedia defines a writer’s voice as “the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works).”

As a budding writer, you might have a natural talent for character development or dialogue, but you usually stick to the grammatically prescribed rules of syntax and punctuation. However, once you have confidence in yourself as a writer, you will recognise patterns, challenge yourself to overcome bad habits, dare yourself to try something different with your voice and start playing with grammatical parameters. These small elements will make your writing style unique. They will become corner stones of your voice. Your best bet to finding your own voice as a writer is to write. In the last ten years I have written texts in a number of text styles and genres, I even tried my hand at poetry not too long ago. (It took me about four hours before I was happy with the end result!)

Writing different stories, receiving feedback, reading texts from various genres and your own life experience will teach you about character development and dialogue. Constructive criticism and positive feedback will give you the courage to try yourself out. And in the end it will be you who decides whether the style and tone of your writing is authentic or not. After all, whether an author’s style is considered good or bad is a matter of individual preference. Readers are as diverse in their tastes as the authors which bring their thoughts to life on paper.

That does, however, not mean that there are not marks of quality for a well-written piece. Correct spelling, coherence, fluidity, choice of register and content will still play a role.

Character Arc and Plot Structure

Since I seem to have caught a tinkering bug concerning my VOICE post, I am going to get this little insight into writing off my chest first. What I would like to talk about today is patterning a character’s, usually the MC’s, emotional journey after the plot structure of your novel creating a two-fold outline, combining action and character arc peaks.

Have you ever struggled with how to account for the emotional journey of your MC against the backdrop of your action sequences?

Plot structure - reallyrelative.blogspot.com

At times I am clear on my character arc and clear on main events in my story line, but I need to take an extra step to assure that my peak moments carry the right emotional triggers next to the twists in the story line. Peaks in the plot usually accelerate the narrative or change the direction of your story. While serving as triggers for action, they can also jump start character change in your MC. 

Following the displayed plot structure model, I use the opening sequence/introduction for setting the scene and displaying the basic character traits of my MC. For example I could go with Lynn, a shy, harmony-loving, emphatic twelve-year old. In order to outline Lynn’s shy and harmony-loving personality traits in the introduction, I would indirectly involve her in a conflict situation in which she acts more as an observer –e.g.: a school yard bullying scene.  Her empathy would be shown in her care of the victim after the attack, but at the same time, her flaw would become obvious. She is a coward and not standing up for what is right.

The inciting moment in turn triggers an emotional response which sends her on her journey towards bravery and self-respect. Lynn who has avoided the wrath of the bullies so far, suddenly finds herself the target and out of fear is forced to do something against her will. Fear as an emotion combined with her deep empathy could easily swing into anger and self-disgust which often serve as emotional triggers for change. Consequent peak moment in the building section of the novel would then confront Lynn with different emotional experiences forming her new character.

During the building phase changes of scenery often serve as a great way to tell backstory and allow new impressions and triggers to push the story and character arc forward. Taking Lynn out of her school environment, for example, will put the bullying into perspective against a bigger scale – the real world.  At the same time, the broader perspective gained through looking beyond the class room will expand Lynn’s horizon in terms of self-awareness. I imagine it would be a great experience for Lynn to volunteer at a retirement home. The life experiences of the residents would act as a further catalyst for her change. Adapting to a new environment would give Lynn the emotional maturity and self-awareness to redefine herself in the school environment. In another peak moment, it would give Lynn the opportunity to recognise that her role in school is her choice cemented in how she reacts to the bullying. 

The climax is reserved for Lynn’s breakthrough moment: She overcomes the bullying problem and at the same time validates her new personality traits. Lynn confronts the bullies and stands up for her friends, maybe even getting the miscreants to repent. The emotional trigger here could be relief and a feeling of accomplishment. 

The resolution/conclusion would then describe her new reality and show case her gained emotional maturity. If you wanted to add an extra twist to the climax, you could also let Lynn’s character swing into an unexpected direction where self-assurance bleeds into arrogance at the triumph over her bullies. Lynn emerges as the leader of a new bullying band.

That is where the creative licence of an author takes centre stage. The important thing I learned, however, is that I can match each peak moment in my plot structure with an emotional trigger propelling forward my character arc while at the same time accelerating my narrative through the action.

What Writing Means To Me

Writing means that I can see this world or a new world from different perspectives. I can look beyond my own horizon, experience impossible situations and explore unique ways of life. Writing allows me to tap into the emotions and reactions of characters with outlooks and ideals different from my own. It’s a rush and an escape.

What does writing mean to you? Brian Klems' WD Challenge for Today. http://bit.ly/zwjBUB

Snowman Character Study

It finally snowed today! When I saw the pillowy white flakes slowly turn the view outside my window into a winter wonderland, I knew that I had to get out there. After weeks of spring temperatures, white is finally pearling along the bare branches of the trees and coating the dirty streets. Grabbing all the materials I could, I set out to built myself a snowman or two with character...

Back from my excursion I proudly introduce you to Periwinkle Stein and his equally sophisticated sister, Dorothea. Recently returned from their scientific expedition to the North Pole, they are now surveying the snow quantities in my little courtyard. Dorothea certainly looked ready to deliver a full report, well-structured and in her diligent hand writing I would expect. Matching her optimistic outlook, she seemed confident that they would have a handle on the situation by tomorrow. Equally in his element, Periwinkle arrogantly assured me that not a minute change in the consistency and cropping of the snow flakes would pass him by. Knowing his dedication to detail, I don't doubt it.

But their expertise in snow aside, those two certainly are two interesting characters...

A Jewel from a Pack Rat's Treasure Trove

One of the first things any writer will tell you is to never throw away any piece you have ever written. It might prove inspirational or otherwise useful at a later point in time. It's also the perfect excuse not to get rid of precious pieces of writing which didn't make the editing cut ;)

Quick Intro: The croigreach, a triad of three prophecied warriors, - Calynorne is one of them - just arrived in Anat and discovered that the slaves have banded to form an underground resistance against slavery. Their home base is an intricate cavesystem spanning the town of Anat and the adajacent forest. In this scene, Fenella - shrine priestess of the resistance - leads up to the story of the resistance's birth.

Outtake Celtic Forest - Book 2:

“Gaoth an Iar, the Rune of the Western Wind“, Fenella finally intoned quietly, carefully settling a pendant into the palm of her hand, “It is the final rune that binds the seven clans of Anat together.” At the hint of confusion in the croigreachs’ eyes, a small smile tucked at the corner of the priestess’ lips. Slowly, she drew back the sleeve to reveal one of her wrists. The same italic rune as the one engraved on the pendant spanned her pulse point in a black green shimmer. “Seven runes mark the members of the resistance, each announcing the unique talent an individual carries.  These symbols of Old rose from the depth of legend together with our ancestors’ fighting spirit, gifted to us on the day when we faced the first challenge of our new people: the loss of Mhanaidh, the priestess who blew into Anat with the Western Winds and saved us all. The runes are our centre points, an heirloom of the first families to enter a new life. Intermixed, the blood of the seven Western clans of Géobhan Ridge flows in our veins yet the seven clans have risen again uniting each of us under the guidance of a rune gifted to us by Mhanaidh, but I am getting ahead of myself. I shall introduce myself first.”
   
    Lifting her grey gaze to the three strangers opposite her, a proud smile stretched her lips. “I am Fenella, priestess of the shrine of Gaoth an Iar. I, solely, stand apart from the seven clans, bearing the responsibility of fulfilling the teachings that were left to us by the priestess that saved us all: Mhanaidh of Celtic Forest.” Reverence rung in the elder woman’s alto as her fingers softly stroked the curves of the pendant in her palm. Tilting her head to the right, she studied the fabled croigreachs. “I am responsible for watching the western winds and listening to the messages they carry to us. For days they have been whispering of your coming, telling me that I had to prepare for your arrival.” Calynorne felt confusion well at the admission, but Fenella quickly dismissed that titbit of information.
Her grey eyes grew distant. “But as I said, let us start at the beginning: In the time of our great-grandfathers, when our people listlessly waited for death in the barren slums of Anat. We did neither distinguish between winter nor spring nor summer, then. Endless days bled into the next, cold or heat slowly absolving the few lucky ones among us from the hell that was life on this plain. Life was an endless succession of sacrifices, one day bringing little more than the next. But then, one day, upon the wings of a cool western breeze, a silver cloaked stranger blew into the heated streets of the slums. The air stirred with a different kind of energy. Hope…
 

I love the background story this scene reveals. Alas, there is such a thing as too much information in a sequence which causes the story to slow down. Well, my writer's heart is still bleeding everytime I have to cut out a fascinating new insight I gained on the world I created. Tough luck, I guess.

Writer’s Anatomy: My Brain and Story Crafting

Have you ever had a moment when you felt like you were working on two tasks at once? Operating on two different levels to accomplish separate tasks? A moment where the two halves of your brain work parallel yet in perfect synchronicity?

Those moments are actually some of my most productive in terms of story crafting. When I’m not writing, my creative cells are busily at work rounding out characters, moulding worlds, testing dialogues and running scenarios. It’s as if a separate tape is running parallel to the train of thoughts plugged into the real world, a perpetual news reel passing my mind’s eye with occasional inspirational memos when reality bleeds into my creative thinking. I could be riding the train, find myself in the middle of a discussion on sustainable energy use or be jotting down my grocery list, yet at the same time I’m involved in questioning the motives of my main character or contemplating a hole in the fabric of my story. Writers tend to have a two-track mind when they are crafting. One part of our brain is charged with mastering life, while the other part is forever tuned into story town. Normally, my fantastic adventures become background noise, only gaining focus in moments when my fingers are flying over a keyboard or gripping a biro over a piece of paper.

When I’m crafting a new story, I go looking for moments of clarity, instances where the elements of my plot and character actions just fall into place. Sometimes story crafting is like solving a rubic cube. You try out different avenues and possibilities, scramble the variables and wait for them to align in a row of homogenously coloured tiles. Actually, colour-coding or tagging your plotlines can be very helpful in keeping track of the greater picture you want to draw. I usually tag a plot line by assigning it to the character that leads the action in the narrative thread. For example, I usually have the MC threat and the villain threat. That doesn’t necessarily mean that both threads will end up on the page, but it will give me insight into the motives of my characters and keep me on track in building the suspense. As a personal quirk of mine, I also like to employ a backstory thread where I include poetry, narratives and excerpts at the beginning of chapters to foreshadow the action or give backstory too lengthy to be introduced by dialogue.

Plot structure - reallyrelative.blogspot.com

Finally, I layer and mould my plotlines against the basic plot structure: Introduction – inciting plot point – build up – climax – resolution. Since I usually tinker with my story line and characters throughout the day and hit breakthroughs at any point in time whether I am in the middle of browsing bookshelves or at work, I always have a notebook handy. First sketches of scenes, plotlines, settings, language quirks and characters are usually jotted down in a stream of consciousness. I then come back to these notes in structuring sessions. There I go over the ideas and impressions I collected and group them into more concrete strands. When I have a grasp on the corner stones and characters involved in a scene, I sit down and start to write, developing the narrative voice in the course of the first few paragraphs. I usually do not go back and edit scenes until I have finished the manuscript. Sometimes the writing flow takes you in a direction that your original crafting did not premeditate, but which actually fits the plot line better than the initial idea. For me, the first editing run is an opportunity to fill in the gaps in story and character action which opened up in the course of writing

Since my stories usually takes shape parallel to my personal life, experiences in the “real world” tend to spark insights into how characters tick, what makes them special, what situations they are confronted with and how they react. Yet it is unlikely that a character’s journey reflects my personal journey during the crafting stages. I hope this little insight into my mind gives you an idea of how many writer’s tick while expanding upon a new story idea.

Stars, Monks and Grown Men in Bee Suits

Crab Nebula - NASA

How does that fit together? Well, I had a whirlwind weekend in terms of entertainment. Fulfilling another of my New Year’s Resolutions – this year, I am on a roll, it seems – I visited a show at our local planetarium and loved it! Seeing 5000 stars projected on a dark dome makes you feel like you could just reach up and touch them. Over lit cities, you can usually just spy between 1000 and 2000 of the brighter stars, but the farther away you get from man-made light sources the more you actually discover of the universe. The greatest experience I ever had stargazing was on Fraser Island in Australia. We were lying on blankets on the beach, the sea was rushing in our ears and a halo of stars twinkled above our heads. The feeling was magical! It felt as if the universe was just flowing by our fingertips. 

China Daily

Floating back from the outer reaches of our galaxy, I became a witness of impossible feats by Shaolin Monks. Beyond their amazing flexibility, discipline and technique, I saw a ten-year-old walk a staircase of knives with two bails of water on his shoulders, without pain. Through sheer concentration a hard qi gong master threw a sowing needle through a pane of glass to pop a balloon. The needle had to be thrown with all his might at a perfect 90° angle. It was amazing! The secret of the Shaolin monks: Inner peace transformed into physical strength. Even today their knowledge is passed down in an oral fashion from master to shamin (pupil). The life of a monk of the Songshan monastery follows the rules of austerity and discipline. From two hours before dawn until the sun breaks the horizon the monks meditate, followed by climbing the 800 steps carved into the Songshan only to return back to the foot of the mountain on all fours with their head facing down. They are allowed two meals a day, the last taken at midday and sleep without any heating in all seasons. Ten hours a day, they hone their kung fu and meditation skills before the cycle starts anew the next morning. An intriguing and amazing way of life, far removed from western ideas of success and achievement.  

Humbled by the awe-inspiring show of talent by the monks my weekend ended on a humorous note, as I watched two grown men in bee suits buzzing around the stage of our town hall. The Blues Brothers – The West End show was in town. For two hours Jake and Elwood Blues delivered a blues and soul review where body gags, sarcasm and comic relief added to the eclectic mix of songs. It was a blast!

What about your weekend adventures?

Catching a Bird of Paradise

My motto for Day 4 of my “Be Inspired” Resolution: Exotic Flowers Spark Exotic Thoughts! My Plan:   Go to a florist, purchase an exotic cut flower and then come up with as many associations as I can. Normally, I would make a beeline for lilies and more specifically orchids, but I eliminated them from the ranks today. I wanted to find something new. Stumbling into the green oasis that is our local flower shop was already a great change of atmosphere compared to the damp, grey streets of winter outside. Taking a deep breath of the fragrant air, I relished the sudden explosion of colour and rich scents. Conscientious as an explorer of exotic lands, I set about making my selection. Big or small? Delicate or bold? Rich in colour or intriguing in shape? Hovering like a hummingbird between the exotic blooms, I finally managed to catch myself a “Bird of Paradise” - also known as Strelitzia reginae among people with a green thumb. 

Photocredit to banana-tree.com

The first thought that came to mind was that the flower actually looked like sun-flare dragon hatching from a shimmering green egg. Furthermore, I could also see the birth of a phoenix: freshly hatched on the left to spreading it wings and taking flight on the right. Or it could be the wind-blown sails of a great ship upon a sapphire-coloured sea on a quest to the land where sun and water meet. My fantasy was certainly sparked and I noted down ideas for a good 20 minutes. 

The one that I liked best casts my bird of paradise as the tribal symbol for a tribe of warriors known for their deathly beauty and exotic fighting style. Their weapons are sharp as the edges of the plant, their poisons bold and lethal like the colours of the bloom. The tribe worships the sun and strike with the last blue blade slicing night from day and day from night.

I admit, I tend to be a fancy thinker.

What do you see?

Trying my hand at poetry!

Ever wondered how you could take your storytelling to the next level? Or give a measure of authenticity to the world you created?

A great way to make a reader believe even more in your world is by employing or quoting from different text types. When you are writing a novel or short story in a contemporary or historical setting, you can quote other authors’ works in order to give your world a feeling of authenticity and to help your reader buy more into the scene you want to set. A good example is the YA fantasy novel Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. She foreshadows each chapter with a quoted text passage, a poem or a self-authored entry from a log-book assigned to a character with an authentic voice in her novel. The same principle, consequently, also holds true for new worlds in a fantasy setting. Of course, then, producing authentic literary material is up to you. Historical records giving a quick introduction to a country’s history, chants telling tribal histories over a campfire or sermons used during rituals can go a long way in intriguing your reader. 

I always wanted to try my hand at poetry. My goal? To let an original poem tell the ancient lore of the world I created or hint at main plot points with a few cleverly rhymed lines. 

Well, today, I made my first attempt. I started simple with a clerihew rhyme scheme and left syllable counts to Shakespeare for now. My trusty helpmate for today’s project was an online rhyming dictionary – www.rhymer.com. Here is one of my better poems from today’s effort.

Theme: The Chameleon

Beware of the Chameleon,

That holds no colours of its own.

The charming creature

Harbouring talents of a lethal nature,

walks hidden among you,

cloaked in its enemy’s hue.

Any comments?