Yes, I did. But I'm brain-dead after classes and can hardly type, let alone run around looking for "The Write-Brain Workbook." Even though I know where it is. Scratch that, I'll go get it.
*Is back from the long and perilous journey*
Okay, here's one that I did the other night. It's called "Very Touching" and here are the instructions:
Think of a slinky. Write four textures that come to mind.
Now think of a scarf. Write four textures that come to mind.
Use all these in a story that begins: Late night city streets are the perfect backdrop for....
I did my freewrite in the POV of a thief looking for a quick heist. I'd post my textures and my little snippet, but I'd rather you take the prompt and run with it out of your own imagination without getting sidetracked by my results =) That and I'm too tired to type it out... ZzzZzz...
So, hope you enjoy doing this! I had fun with it. I'll see if I can't dig up a...poem...or something...to put in the Random Writings section. Keep an eye out for that.
Signing out!
Elisabeth
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
If the Name Fits...
Names. I'm obsessed with them. I love to look through baby books for unusual or unpronouncable names, and imagine the characters they might fit. Most of the time, my characters are made by the name I choose for them--I can't develop them, know what they look like, know their backstory or any other important piece of information until I know their name. Needless to say, I'm not the author with a whole document filled with unnamed characters. I'm the one with a whole document filled with uncharactered names (if that didn't make sense, blame the gophers under your shed =P)
I was really excited to get a blog, not only because it's just plain AWESOME, but also because there's that lovely little box that pops up when you go to post a comment. It has a random, computer-jumbled word which soon becomes the highlight of my day, especially if it sounds cute when you say it (I guess I'm also obsessed with cute characters). I have a huge list of these random words, just waiting for me to scroll through and create a new character from one of them.
Another thing I do for unique names is to either spell a word backwards, or spell it backwards and jumble the letters. Look: I see the "Save Now" button. I take Save, and flip it to Evas. It's pretty, no? =D "Now" is Won, which, unfortunately, is already a word and would make a pretty weird name. But you get the picture =P I do this all the time--I write 'em down in a little book in my purse. I flip car names, people's names, store names, food names, ANY names at all. It's quite fun. Sometimes it doesn't work quite right--take my name for example. Elisabeth goes to Htebasile. I mean, it sounds like someone sneezed! I kinda omitted the Hte part and got Basile, which I say wrong to make it sound more exotic. I flipped Fozzy's name, too, and got a pretty cool name out of it when I took out a couple of letters here and there.
And, lastly, I surf the web for names. I look for names from different countries, or different variations of familiar names (like Elisabeth has gazillions of variations =D). And, if a name's not quite right, I just rearrange some letters and make it work. It's a hobby, I think.
Some of the problems I have with relying heavily on names is that I find I get a lot of names that are too similar. For example, I am naturally drawn to names that start with A. I don't know why. A names just sound so lovely. I also love Ae names, I names, and names that involve Z's. Once I started a book, and before I'd gotten to the second chapter half of my characters had short names beginning with A's. It was not a pretty sight when I realized it. This Blogger comment-box is really helping me to mix up my name list and pick out some crazy new names that I'd never have been able to think of had I mixed letters 'til I was blue in the face!
Lastly, I sometimes find names in classic books. Twink's name came from The Yearling. In that book, Twink was a girl. My Twink has never forgiven me for that. I know that Fozzy got one of her character's names from To Kill a Mockingbird. That character showed up once, but he had a very interesting name and I only wish I'd found it before she did XD The Bible's also a good place to look--especially the Old Testament. There are PAGES of old names, most of them quite unique and VERY hard to pronounce =D
So, how do you find names? Does the character make the name, or does the name make the character? Are your characters' names unique, or do you find that you, too, have characters with names which look or sound too similar?
'Nother exercise will be coming up soon!
God Bless!
~Elisabeth (or Htebasile, if you must)
I was really excited to get a blog, not only because it's just plain AWESOME, but also because there's that lovely little box that pops up when you go to post a comment. It has a random, computer-jumbled word which soon becomes the highlight of my day, especially if it sounds cute when you say it (I guess I'm also obsessed with cute characters). I have a huge list of these random words, just waiting for me to scroll through and create a new character from one of them.
Another thing I do for unique names is to either spell a word backwards, or spell it backwards and jumble the letters. Look: I see the "Save Now" button. I take Save, and flip it to Evas. It's pretty, no? =D "Now" is Won, which, unfortunately, is already a word and would make a pretty weird name. But you get the picture =P I do this all the time--I write 'em down in a little book in my purse. I flip car names, people's names, store names, food names, ANY names at all. It's quite fun. Sometimes it doesn't work quite right--take my name for example. Elisabeth goes to Htebasile. I mean, it sounds like someone sneezed! I kinda omitted the Hte part and got Basile, which I say wrong to make it sound more exotic. I flipped Fozzy's name, too, and got a pretty cool name out of it when I took out a couple of letters here and there.
And, lastly, I surf the web for names. I look for names from different countries, or different variations of familiar names (like Elisabeth has gazillions of variations =D). And, if a name's not quite right, I just rearrange some letters and make it work. It's a hobby, I think.
Some of the problems I have with relying heavily on names is that I find I get a lot of names that are too similar. For example, I am naturally drawn to names that start with A. I don't know why. A names just sound so lovely. I also love Ae names, I names, and names that involve Z's. Once I started a book, and before I'd gotten to the second chapter half of my characters had short names beginning with A's. It was not a pretty sight when I realized it. This Blogger comment-box is really helping me to mix up my name list and pick out some crazy new names that I'd never have been able to think of had I mixed letters 'til I was blue in the face!
Lastly, I sometimes find names in classic books. Twink's name came from The Yearling. In that book, Twink was a girl. My Twink has never forgiven me for that. I know that Fozzy got one of her character's names from To Kill a Mockingbird. That character showed up once, but he had a very interesting name and I only wish I'd found it before she did XD The Bible's also a good place to look--especially the Old Testament. There are PAGES of old names, most of them quite unique and VERY hard to pronounce =D
So, how do you find names? Does the character make the name, or does the name make the character? Are your characters' names unique, or do you find that you, too, have characters with names which look or sound too similar?
'Nother exercise will be coming up soon!
God Bless!
~Elisabeth (or Htebasile, if you must)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Pages!
Short post--
Just so you know, I added a "Pages" section on the right-hand side of teh blog (Random Writings). That's probably where I'll be keeping any longer writings that I post. I uploaded one--a theme--and it seems to be working okay. Feel free to comment!! OH! And beware--the contents of the pages are not edited, so your eyes might bleed. I think the latest one is "Hold My Hand."
Signing out!
Elisabeth
PS: The dialogue for "Hold My Hand" is in italics; it's suppose to be more of a thought process--hard to explain. I got the idea of italicizing the dialogue from Pippin's short story, "Do You Heard the Violins?" (if you haven't read it, DO. It will heal your brain of any damage done from my story). Soo, for those of you who follow her blog, yes, I am copying =P
Just so you know, I added a "Pages" section on the right-hand side of teh blog (Random Writings). That's probably where I'll be keeping any longer writings that I post. I uploaded one--a theme--and it seems to be working okay. Feel free to comment!! OH! And beware--the contents of the pages are not edited, so your eyes might bleed. I think the latest one is "Hold My Hand."
Signing out!
Elisabeth
PS: The dialogue for "Hold My Hand" is in italics; it's suppose to be more of a thought process--hard to explain. I got the idea of italicizing the dialogue from Pippin's short story, "Do You Heard the Violins?" (if you haven't read it, DO. It will heal your brain of any damage done from my story). Soo, for those of you who follow her blog, yes, I am copying =P
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Far, Far Away....
All righty; so here's the first of what will *hopefully* be many exercises that I can post for you. This is from The Write-Brain Workbook by Bonnie Neubauer (which, by the way, is copyrighted and belongs to the author, not to me).
The exercise goes thusly:
Think of a person who really bugs or annoys you. Think of a place you'd like to send this person. Then--mentally--send them there! With that in mind, start with: The post card arrived....
I did this from one of my character's views. His name is Twink, he's eleven years old and quite full of himself. His worst enemy is Othmar, who he sees as a maniac who won't rest until he tracks Twink down. I wrote down this exercise in the actual book, so it's short and unedited (I'd rather be doing them on my laptop, but right now it's easier to jot them down on paper and type them up later). Anywho, here's what I came up with:
The post card arrived at about 8 AM. Othmar was just having his morning coffee and nasty pill. He hounded the delivery boy away without tipping and double locked his door. "See Paris in Style!" his card read. "You've won an all-expense paid trip to France!" He called the number provided and verified the trip. He arrived at the airport the next morning (with a week's supply of nasty pills, of course). He boarded his plane and took up a whole row with his bags, not letting anyone sit next to him. When the plane landed and he unloaded, he saw a lot of sand, and a sign which said, "Welcome to the Sahara--headstones complimentary." He saw his plane take off and he knew--Twink's revenge." And that's where my dream ended. ~ Twink
Now, um, I'm not very pleased with this exercise because I wanted to edit it SO BADLY while I was writing it. It doesn't really make sense, I start half the sentences with "he", Othmar falls for a trap (which isn't really characteristic), and IT ALL ENDS IN A DREAM (which is one of my pet peeves). But as I typed it out, I sort of realized, "This could be something an eleven year old wrote... I mean, it's bad enough!" And then I thought, Hey! Twink is eleven! All that said, I think, despite the atrocious writing style and the blood, sweat and tears it cost me to not edit it, I achieved a little goal. I wrote in character.
At least, I think I did.
I'd really love to see what you come up with, either here, on your own blog, or privately. And I'd like to know if you enjoyed this exercise and want more.
Hopefully I'll be able to post some edited writings soon! My sincerest apologies for this post to your eyes =P
God Bless!
Elisabeth
The exercise goes thusly:
Think of a person who really bugs or annoys you. Think of a place you'd like to send this person. Then--mentally--send them there! With that in mind, start with: The post card arrived....
I did this from one of my character's views. His name is Twink, he's eleven years old and quite full of himself. His worst enemy is Othmar, who he sees as a maniac who won't rest until he tracks Twink down. I wrote down this exercise in the actual book, so it's short and unedited (I'd rather be doing them on my laptop, but right now it's easier to jot them down on paper and type them up later). Anywho, here's what I came up with:
The post card arrived at about 8 AM. Othmar was just having his morning coffee and nasty pill. He hounded the delivery boy away without tipping and double locked his door. "See Paris in Style!" his card read. "You've won an all-expense paid trip to France!" He called the number provided and verified the trip. He arrived at the airport the next morning (with a week's supply of nasty pills, of course). He boarded his plane and took up a whole row with his bags, not letting anyone sit next to him. When the plane landed and he unloaded, he saw a lot of sand, and a sign which said, "Welcome to the Sahara--headstones complimentary." He saw his plane take off and he knew--Twink's revenge." And that's where my dream ended. ~ Twink
Now, um, I'm not very pleased with this exercise because I wanted to edit it SO BADLY while I was writing it. It doesn't really make sense, I start half the sentences with "he", Othmar falls for a trap (which isn't really characteristic), and IT ALL ENDS IN A DREAM (which is one of my pet peeves). But as I typed it out, I sort of realized, "This could be something an eleven year old wrote... I mean, it's bad enough!" And then I thought, Hey! Twink is eleven! All that said, I think, despite the atrocious writing style and the blood, sweat and tears it cost me to not edit it, I achieved a little goal. I wrote in character.
At least, I think I did.
I'd really love to see what you come up with, either here, on your own blog, or privately. And I'd like to know if you enjoyed this exercise and want more.
Hopefully I'll be able to post some edited writings soon! My sincerest apologies for this post to your eyes =P
God Bless!
Elisabeth
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Books on Books!
So, I figured since I'd like to use some of the books on writing that I own to help us develop our skills, I should probably name them and tell you exactly why I like them! Most of these books I found at writer's conferences, but I recently stumbled upon the breathtaking array of books on writing at my local bookstore! That's a good place to check for some of these titles =D
Seize the Story~ Victoria Hanley: This was a really great book, and a quick read, too. I haven't had much time to do the exercises (summer goal) but I liked her approach and appreciated the examples she used.
Wild Ink~ Victoria Hanley: The sequel to Seize the Story! This book focused less on exercises and more on how to choose your genre and where to look for publishing opportunities.
The Write-Brain Workbook ~ Bonnie Neubauer: One of the most fun books I've ever had--EVER. It's composed of 366 exercises and meant to be done in a year's time. Some of the prompts are short and don't give much wiggle room, but some can be expanded on and may even end up in a new book! I'm absolutely loving this book and would love to post a couple of the prompts on here in days to come.
Writing the Breakout Novel ~ Donald Maass: This is a helpful book with a lot of questions to ask yourself about developing your character, villian, secondaries, and storyline. I haven't worked in it in a LONG time, and am just starting to read through it again. Some of the examples used have profanity and other issues, as a heads-up; aside from that, it's a really great resource.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers ~ Renni Browne and Dave King: A helpful little workbook dealing more with mistakes writers often make than with developing character, etc. Again, it has issues with language, which is actually sad considering that it's a good book otherwise.
These are just a few of the books [on writing] which I own and enjoyed working through.
My question for YOU is: which books (if any) do you find helpful in developing writing skills?
~Elisabeth
Seize the Story~ Victoria Hanley: This was a really great book, and a quick read, too. I haven't had much time to do the exercises (summer goal) but I liked her approach and appreciated the examples she used.
Wild Ink~ Victoria Hanley: The sequel to Seize the Story! This book focused less on exercises and more on how to choose your genre and where to look for publishing opportunities.
The Write-Brain Workbook ~ Bonnie Neubauer: One of the most fun books I've ever had--EVER. It's composed of 366 exercises and meant to be done in a year's time. Some of the prompts are short and don't give much wiggle room, but some can be expanded on and may even end up in a new book! I'm absolutely loving this book and would love to post a couple of the prompts on here in days to come.
Writing the Breakout Novel ~ Donald Maass: This is a helpful book with a lot of questions to ask yourself about developing your character, villian, secondaries, and storyline. I haven't worked in it in a LONG time, and am just starting to read through it again. Some of the examples used have profanity and other issues, as a heads-up; aside from that, it's a really great resource.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers ~ Renni Browne and Dave King: A helpful little workbook dealing more with mistakes writers often make than with developing character, etc. Again, it has issues with language, which is actually sad considering that it's a good book otherwise.
These are just a few of the books [on writing] which I own and enjoyed working through.
My question for YOU is: which books (if any) do you find helpful in developing writing skills?
~Elisabeth
Willkommen!
Ah, finally. The first post. Now to make it epically glorious without saying much of anything.
I suppose I should state my purposes for this blog. It's a writing blog--that means you'll be getting updates of my writing life (which...basically IS my life =P). My blog's open to anyone who wants to follow--I'd really love feedback, but I also love manners--please be nice =)
I have a few books which I've been working on for about five years. You'll probably see snippets of said books, as well as meet their characters. I'd also like to post some resources for you guys--I have several great books on writing which include exercises that you can try! I'd like to post a writing exercise about once a week, and at this point there's no telling how often I'll be posting other stuff. Don't be afraid to comment--I don't bite!
Finally, check out the other blogs I follow. They're run by great people who know a heap more than I do about writing (and are significantly better at it!)
Thank you for reading this! God Bless!
~Elisabeth
I suppose I should state my purposes for this blog. It's a writing blog--that means you'll be getting updates of my writing life (which...basically IS my life =P). My blog's open to anyone who wants to follow--I'd really love feedback, but I also love manners--please be nice =)
I have a few books which I've been working on for about five years. You'll probably see snippets of said books, as well as meet their characters. I'd also like to post some resources for you guys--I have several great books on writing which include exercises that you can try! I'd like to post a writing exercise about once a week, and at this point there's no telling how often I'll be posting other stuff. Don't be afraid to comment--I don't bite!
Finally, check out the other blogs I follow. They're run by great people who know a heap more than I do about writing (and are significantly better at it!)
Thank you for reading this! God Bless!
~Elisabeth
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