Category: writing

Fear,  and why I accept that I may never be over it. 

I am a fearful creature. It comes from living a life stuck in fight or flight mode. Well here lately,  due to a wonderful writing coach (Hi Debbie!) I have been taking a closer look at my fears.  She asked me “will this actually kill you?  If not then you should be willing to try it. ” She has gently encouraged me to see what is not helpful,  and then release it.

Phobias are knee jerk reactions. Primal,  dark things that eat at us. And rarely things that we can easily face.  I myself have two phobias.  Claustrophobia and Acrophobia. The Claustrophobia I know can kill me,  I have been in the position where I was sure it would.  I often try to challenge my fear of heights. Do I have other fears? Well sure,  but phobias are so much bigger than just a fear.  We all have little fears. Anxiety is often manifestated in little fears. And well fear is the hearts response to certain events.  Does that mean that we should hide?  No!  Facing the fears is part of how we grow. 

          So in that thought,  designing a great character involves knowing more than just their motivations.  You also have to know the why of them.  What are they afraid of? What do they love,  and why do they love it? And if you are looking for insight into your own character,  ask yourself the same questions. Learning more about the why helps us to understand all of it. 

Rest In Peace Adam West

http://wp.me/p4WJHT-1UY

The stories we hide

      I have many stories,  I think that we all do.  Some of us,  the ones who have been through hard moments,  we hide the stories.  We have been taught to feel the shame of those stories.  To feel less because of them.  And I refuse.  

                My memory is still very fragmented. I blocked more of my story out to save my mental health than I remember. Yet,  I remember enough. I am a survivor.  I was abused. I was raped, multiple times. And when I asked for help I was told it never happened. I was told that I was crazy.  

            I might be crazy,  but it did happen. I have been brave before,  I told the man who abused me as a child that I would scream if he came near me again. I was eight or nine. I’m not entirely sure of the exact age.  He locked me in the trunk of his car and told me I would die there. I believed him.  He convinced me that no one would ever believe me. The sad part is he was right.  It took me until I was thirteen to gain the courage to tell anyone. To my shame,  I was told it was not true. 

                So much of my life I have been fighting for my sanity and my life.  I am in my fourties,  and for the first time in my life I am not crazy.  I know my truth.  I will always be the person who was made from the hell I walked through. But I will not hide my truths any longer.  I am not going to let those truths break my spirit anymore. 

Dialogue Tags: How to Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers

Source: Dialogue Tags: How to Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers

Body Language: An Artistic Writing Tool

http://wp.me/pU4r9-Ux

Clowns,  nothing to see here. 

          OK… Lets be real for a second. I am terrible at remembering to do this blog.  I will do the topics,  just not a daily thing like I had planned. I apologize for the hiccups.  I am in a couple of writing workshops that are taking more of my energy than I planned. Add to that my novel is progressing nicely,  and the chaos that is my life… And I end up with a blog that does not get updates as often as I want it to. 

         So topic of today is clowns. Now I have been a clown.  In parades,  and store openings,  as my family did own a radio station.  My grandma did the grand openings in costumes and I went along as a clown.  It was incredibly hot,  and I grew to hate that costume. In general I think clowns are creepy,  and thanks to Tim Curry in It I have been quite afraid of them for years.  Still,  having just tonight I found myself wanting to see the remake in the theater.  

        What is the part about clowns that causes fear in so many?  I am not sure.  I think that it is the creepy forced smile that is painted on so many of them.  Are you afraid of clowns?  If so,  why? 

Villains 

      First off,  I apologize for being a day late in posting. The headache monster visited yesterday,  so I got little of my work accomplished. 

      Villains are tricky.  We as writers often see the villain as a tool,  two dimensional concept of evil…as a reader though I am here to tell you that is the end of a story.  Even worse than plot holes,  a two dimensional villain is enough to ruin an otherwise great story. 

       I have a sure fire way of testing my villains.  I give them flaws,  make them as realistic as I can. Then I imagine them in town and let the mental movie unfold… I as I am watching ask myself three questions… 

1) Is the character sympathetic?  A villain who we can sympathize with will make the story more interesting.  Also I am one who thinks that the story should leave the reader wondering if they are happy with the villains defeat. 

2) Is there a way to defeat the villain?  Though I think that the villains defeat should raise questions about how the reader feels about it,  defeat is usually in the life of a villain. And a overpowering villain is often no fun for the hero… Unless the story is not supposed to get the happy ending. 

3) what are the traits that are showing up most with your villain?  Has s he/ she got flaws or traits that you should pay closer attention to? A good villain often has fears,  and accomplishments that they are proud of.  This makes a far more rounded character. Villains are still characters,  and the story is best when you treat them as such! 

Honoring Female Storytellers from All Perspectives: Why Feminism and Feminists Need to Stop Dividing Women Breaking the Legacy of Silence #42 | weekly column | Kim D. Bailey 

Kim D. Bailey's avatarKim D. Bailey

What’s important, in feminism and any other form of activism and advocacy, when it comes to writing, movie-making, art, or any other expression from a human perspective—is that we honor the story and learn from it.

The end goal is to see things in a new way, from a new perspective, and to have not only an enlightened or educated awakening, but compassion and empathy for those we have just watched on the big screen, or read about, or heard speak at a Women’s Rights Conference.

When women begin to criticize and demean other women’s methodologies and origins of their stories, they practice a form of oppression and suppression, essentially mimicking those who came before us; those who told females of all ages to shut the fuck up because you’re causing a scene and you’re an embarrassment to the rest of us. Their criticism is exclusionary. They are saying, in…

View original post 15 more words

10 Types of Writer’s Block

Write Bravely