My doggie Piffy - a feel-good video

Survival of the fittest

I used to think that animals deserved more respect than humans because they did everything to survive. It was all a process of evolution - survival of the fittest. They weren't capable of being mean or evil. (However, my experience with pets has taught me animals can premeditate, have a sense of humor, steal, envy, trick, and want.)

The more I think about it, humans also just do what they do to survive. In fact, I believe a lot of how we behave is sub-conscious - tactics that help us to survive. Whether a predator or victim, abuser or abused, we have learned behaviors to survive this world. No one is really bad or good.

What do you think?

As an example, here is an article on depression as an evolutionary survival mechanism: http://www.suite101.com/content/evolutionary-psychology-depression-a298146

Are you in?

My user name is Nienke. Friend me.

Authors' Rules of Writing

Authors share their personal rules for writing:
Part One
Part Two

Sun, grass, ice

Symbolisms of place in literature

Symbolism of Place:
The Hidden Context of Communication

Symbolism.Org: Symbolism of Place

Talks about the symbolism of place in literature. Very interesting - news you can use.

On avoiding writing...

"Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o'clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word 'paisley' in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on 'The New York Times Atlas of the World' map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting -- by width -- all the interesting articles I've cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write."

~P.J. O'Rourke

Good-bye Cody

I'm so sad. My brother's family just lost their loving Collie, Cody (see picture).

Laurel L. Russwurm, my sister-in-law and a writer, wrote a moving memorial to him called "Ode To A Fifth-Hand Dog. You can read it here.

Write with Holly Lisle!

I'm writing with Holly Lisle! Click here to find out how you can join us.

The script is coming along, albeit slowly. Last night I couldn't sleep because the movie started rolling in my head - including camera angles and shots! Why is it that these scenes start right when I need to go to sleep?

Paperback Writer said she composed in her head before she begins writing, now I know what she means!

Sandy Sullivan says, "I will play music sometimes when I'm writing, but if I start getting into an intense scene, I'll turn it off so I can just sit and picture it in my mind. It makes it much easier to write it, if I can see it." Click here to read the full interview over on Absolute XPress Blog.

Diane Peterfreund says, "When planning out series, I often find myself imagining scenes years and years in advance of the moment I actually get to write them. I wrote the ... "sandbar scene" in summer of 2007. I first imagined it in summer of 2005. I recently wrote a scene into KU2 that I'd been imagining also since 2005." Click here to read her post on 'set pieces.'

One writer fixes a scene by imagining himself in it as the main character. Click here to read the post on This Itch of Writing.

"Imagine the scene and let your imagination fly" is advice for writing action sequences. Check out About Writing – The Personal Blog of An Aspiring Writer to read the post.

Jurgen Wolff talks about imaging scenes to write vivid novels and screenplay scenes. His blog, Time to Write, is here.

So let your imagination go, writers. Just be prepared not to get any sleep.

Still working...

Still working on my script. Slowly but surely.
Saddened at Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson's deaths.
More later.

Script Frenzy - I'm in!

Click here to visit my Script Frenzy page.

Off to a great start

Today I have a guest post by Holly McCarthy.

Tips for Getting Your Fiction Writing off to a Great Start

Writing fiction can be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences that you do as a writer. You are able to create your own worlds, characters, settings, situations, and thematic elements. Sometimes, however, just getting started can be the hardest part. Here are a few tips for getting you fiction writing off to a great start.

Character Studies

What kind of characters do you want your story to have? Will they be funny, realistic, or fantastic? Taking some time to create character profiles is a wonderful way to ensure that your characters are fully developed. It’s good to know what your characters’ likes and dislikes are, what they look like, what kind of emotional problems they may have, and any number of other details. Getting in-depth with your characters will help to make them interact realistically with on another as well.

Goal Setting

Whether you have already started your work of fiction or are still in the planning phases, setting goals can make writing a large work of fiction less daunting. Set goals for each time you sit at your desk. Five thousand words a day may sound like a lot at first, but quickly becomes feasible if you make this part of your writing routine. If you want to become a prolific writer with lots of stories under your belt, you will need to learn how to achieve lofty goals regularly.

Shut the Door

Some of the best advice that can be given to any writer is to make sure that your time for writing isn’t interrupted by anyone or anything. You must make your writing time something that is non-negotiable and stick to it. This may mean late nights or early mornings are the best time to plug away at your story. The important thing is to communicate to those around you that you have set aside time to work and that you are not to be disturbed except in extreme cases.

Be Flexible

You may start out with a great idea for a story and you may feel like you shouldn’t waiver from that idea at all. However, remember that your story is a living document that will change based on a whole lot of variables. This means that any number of things related to the telling of your tale may change over the course of its telling. Be flexible and willing to make small and/or significant changes based on where the story takes you as a writer.

This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of the best online colleges. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com.

Cold morning, windy day

This picture I took on my walk this morning. The temperature is -18 C (0 F) and, although it's hard to make out, the steam rising from the water was mesmerizing. The lake is Lake Ontario.

Here's another picture I took from roughly the same location a few weeks ago during a wind storm. We seldom see whitecaps on this lake, so it's quite exciting to see waves. The storm had winds up to 129km (75mph), which is worthy of a Category One hurricane. The winds took out a 40' tree on our neighbouring property. Missed our house by 1 foot but killed the fence.

Distractions... (aka ways to enable procrastination)

Create your own kaleidoscope

Pac-Xon (pacmanish game)

Hangman

Crossword and word search puzzles

Devolop an interactive story online

Now get back to writing!

Editor Kitteh has spoken...

more animals

Season's Greeting!

Season's Greetings to all my friends in cyberspace!
I hope your holiday is filled with love, peace and happiness.

I am so sad...

150 cats, 3 dogs and many small animals perished during a fire at our local animal shelter.

It has been suggested that lack of funds may have contributed to proper upkeep of the building.

Please take a moment to make a donation to your local humane society - or if you can afford it, to the Durham Region Humane Society.

Character Evolution and Christmas Tree Program

Aravis Girl has an interesting post about The Evolution of a Story.

In her post, she describes how her her characters evolve as she writes. Sometimes, it is in the interest of the story, but other times it's because she gets to know the characters better.

I've had the same thing happen--to the point where I end up changing the entire story because the character is leading me.
And, sometimes, my protag evolves into an entire new character.

Does this happen to you?

One of the things I enjoy doing before and during writing a story, is to continually develop my characters. I fill out a character questionnaire or two and watch the world for interesting quirks, hobbies, habits, obsessions, mannerisms, etc. to apply to my characters to help develop them. When I'm in the middle of writing story, even when I'm not actually writing, my mind is always acutely aware of my story and its characters. So, when I notice something in a person in real life or on television, for example, I will directly realize that the trait I see belongs to my character. Sometimes these traits seem to come out of the blue.

I believe a well-developed character (both in the story and behind the scenes) will lead herself in a story. The reader should never be surprised (I am not referring to plot surprises here) in how the protag responds to or avoids things (and, yes, I know there are many exceptions).

Here are some interesting articles on character evolution and how to make your character interesting without becoming a two-dimensional cliched stereotype:

J. J. Dare discusses how to keep character from becoming charicatures by using the Character Police.

How to Develop Interesting Characters discusses the need to show how the character grows and reacts to elements of the plot and story.

How to Develop a Character gives tips on developing characters and how or when to reveal these characteristics.

How to Develop Your Characters focuses on goals, obstacles, arcs, and traits.

How to Develop One-of-a-Kind Characters for your Fiction goes more in-depth by suggesting to create a resume, shopping list, journal, and more from the viewpoint of your character.

Holly Lisle's Create a Character Clinic. Very comprehensive. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Got any good character building links to share?

---

On a different note, for all of you programming geeks: here is a funny program for Putting up the Christmas Tree.

NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo?

FAIL!!

I must say, I enjoyed following others and I also very much enjoyed the guest star "pep talks."
Funniest thing? Now I'm itching to work on my story.
How'd you do?

Only a few hours to go!

Uploaded my book cover to my NaNoWriMo page today. My story will be new age fiction with a hint of mystery. Title: Lost & Found.

I don't have a set outline or my plotting done yet, but I have many ideas floating around in my head. I met with my friend Melly last evening and we went over some ideas. We plan on getting together a few times throughout the month (both virtually and physically).

A couple of NaNo articles / posts of interest:

How do you write 50,000 words in 30 days?

Some helpful links to writing tools.

2007 NaNoWriMo Pep Talks

Routines for Writers - lots of great articles and tips for Nanoers.

The 13-Step Method to reach 50,000 words

More great Nano articles

One writer's journey through NaNoWriMo 2008

Another writer's NaNo journey

Good luck all! And don't forget to friend me!