Braking for Turkey

Hi, guys!
So, I thought I'd take a break from complaining about how horribly behind I am and answer some fun questions I found at Further Up and Further In , which hosts an activity called Beautiful People (a sort of fun questionnaire for characters). With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, I thought it would be a genius idea to answer this installment of Beautiful People: Holiday Edition. Aaaand answering all these questions is also giving me an excuse to not write. But hey, I'm getting to know my characters better! That's good. Right?

You can also find more installments of Beautiful People under Resources on my blog's homepage.



1. What kind of holidays do they celebrate, if any?
When Mae's family moved to America from Germany, they adopted all the traditional holidays which came along with the country. Christmas [also celebrated in Germany, but a celebrated much differenly in America] and Easter are the two biggest holidays they celebrate. Krescentia [Mae's mother, called Mutti], being Catholic, also observes Catholic holidays and holy days, though the rest of the family usually doesn't.

2. What are they most thankful for?
Individually, many different and sometims trivial things. The one thing they are all thankful for is the country they live in--Mae's father [called Vati, the German equivalent of "daddy"] is especially fervent in his prayers of thanks for his home, his work and his family.

3. Do they have any family traditions?
Mae and her family love good food and music. They also have a taste for German beer and mulled wine made by Vati [no, really, it's a fact] and can stomach it pretty well. At a time when Christmas trees were not very popular, the Enzes always put up a small tree and decorated it with ribbon and beads left over from sewing during the year.

4. What is their most memorable holiday memory?
Though the children cannot remember it, the Enzes' first Christmas in America has always been Vati and Mutti's favorite memory.

5. What is the most memorable gift they have ever received?
It is difficult to buy many gifts for a family of ten, but one year Vati was able to get a small, cheaply made doll for every one of his girls. The dolls were to be their first and their last, and Mae especially treasured her doll in an old hatbox until it withered away into forgetfulness.

6. Do they consider it important to be with family during celebrations?
Mae has no other family in America; her grandparents, aunts and uncles stayed in Germany; she has never even met them. Her immediate family is who she spends her holidays with, and that is exactly the way she likes it.

7. Do they usually wait till the last minute to purchase gifts, or do they buy them ridiculously early?
The Enzes rarely buy gifts, but when they do, the presents are always on sale right before Christmas.

8. Favorite Christmas song? For fantasy authors, is music a part of their celebration?
Vati instilled a love of "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen" or "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" into his girls from their earliest Christmases--it is by far Mae's favorite Christmastime hymn.

9. Do they celebrate for religious reasons?
Mutti--yes. The rest of the family celebrate to eat good food, drink delicious drinks, and simply be together.

10. How do they celebrate the beginning of the new year?
Vati used to obtain a small amount of lead each year; he would melt the lead in a spoon over the stove and pour it into a cup of cold water as the New Year began. An old German tradition dictated that if the lead formed a certain shape, the New Year would be safe and prosperous, but if it formed another, the New Year would be lean and wanting. Mutti eventually talked Vati out of his superstitions, but Mae always remembered watching the lead cool in the small wooden cup.



Well, that was fun! I hope your writing is going well--I can't believe we have less than ten days left. I am REALLLLLLY behind. Oh, boy. Gotta write.

Happy Thanksgiving [Almost]!

Elisabeth

The World Through a Different Lense

Hey, guys! Hope this post finds you well =)

Today I did an exercise which I knew existed, but which I had never really tried. And. I. LOVED it. The exercise was simply rewriting a scene or a very short story in a different POV. I, personally, need to be moved very deeply by literature which I remember for years to come. I found a brilliant scene in an college literature anthology called Images of the Holocaust by Jean Brown, Elaine Stephens, and Janet Rubin. If you're interested in that particular period of history, I HIGHLY recommend this book.
Anyway.
 The scene was from ANOTHER book called Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach, who survived the Holocaust herself. It's very short and in 3rd person limited. After reading it about 10 times and really liking it, I decided to try this POV exercise out and switch it from 3rd limited to 1st. I think it turned out rather well =)

I'm not going to post it on here--firstly because the original story is SO much better, and secondly because the story doesn't belong to me. If you want to read it, I think you all have my email address. I suggest trying out this exercise on one of your favorite scenes from one of your favorite books, or even from a scene in your own novel. It's really cool how different POVs affect how you explain things and how you describe situations.

Hope you have fun with this one!

~Elisabeth

I Promised You an Exercise!

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

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