Punday

Here is the next installment of Punday! I challenge everyone to outdo me!

Canto II

in all her glory she coasts

Into the Sovereign's overfull court.

The courtly games of positioning

Distract her not at all,

As to the Jaguar Sovereign's feet

She bows her body in supplication.

"A simple quest," she begs of him,

"A drive through the countryside

To see who bids me well."

Her Sovereign watches her closely,

But finds her motives true.

"Yugo," says the noble Sovereign,

"And with my blessings travel,

My fondest thoughts go with you."

The Cavaliers with their Chargers proud

Clamor to Escort this Fair Lady.

"Veritas, I tell you all," says she,

"No Fair Lady am I, but Princess forevermore."

A Commander waves the Lancers aside,

While a Patriot gives a Regal bow.

Our Princess bids her Sovereign farewell,

And turns to give homage to his

Lovely Queen, the Crown Victoria.

With a final flash of her crimson tail lights,

Proceeds with all haste away from the lot.

Lost at sea?

Are your characters refusing to talk to you? Maybe you did something that they didn't like. As a method for trying to get past this hurdle, have a conversation with your character. Open a fresh window, or a new page in your notebook and have an interview. Maybe set it in a coffee shop. Or take them out to this pier and threaten to throw them in the drink if they don't tell you what's bothering them...

Then again... That might scare them so badly that they are struck mute.

The point is, if you've developed a character for your story properly, they begin to take on a life of their own. So maybe your character is heartbroken and you didn't realize it. Maybe their mad at you for killing someone they care about. Take the time to sit down and have this conversation. Maybe you can pretend to be their therapist, or their priest, or their lover, or an annoying newspaper journalist.

Just what can you expect to get out of this interview? If nothing else, a significantly greater understanding of the psychology of your characters. You tell me. Was it an entertaining meeting? A hostile one? I want to know.

Punday

The first installment of Punday Mondays! This is an original piece of work, and I will post it in chunks each week as part of the Punday fun! Let me know what you think. (I know there's some real groaners in there)

The Pride of the Princess

Canto I

I do beseech you, Gods of Automotives,

Guide my hand true in this retelling

Of the mighty Princess of Austin

And the contest of wills betwixt

Our glorious Princess and the flashy Diablo.

The elements hath graced her each,

Earth and Fire and Water and Air,

To add to her exquisite form and function.

Earth yields up the ore for the alloys

That form her body around.

Fire feeds her function giving

Light to the fuel in her body.

Water rinses clean her face

And tempers the fires within.

Air stands her up, surrounds her,

And keeps her breaths alive.

The spirits of these elements

Do, together working, keep

This lovely Princess in state.

Her dainty feet, black and round,

Perches her so gently upon the ground.

So straight and smooth is her bonnet,

Nary a wrinkle can be seen,

That men forever seek to caress her,

While women cannot understand the need.

The Princess hath an ample boot,

But without a large rear end to distract

The minds of others passing her by.

How shining is her silver skin,

All atwinkle in the gentle rays

Of the so very jealous sun.

Her headlights, so round and firm

Do forever turn the eyes of all,

As the brightness of her soul

Shine, blinding to all, from them.

This week's creativity boost!

Here's a fun picture I found that makes a great creativity prompt. I have absolutely no idea where this is, and all I can tell from the photo is that it's a really awesome sculpture. It honestly reminds me of something that I would do, just to make people stop and scratch their heads. What can I say? I love to make people think. The more people question why, the less set in their ways they become.

It's for this same reason that I make random faces at people. Just to make people smile. As someone who does a lot of people watching, I love to find some strange new reaction that I can then incorporate into my writing. You never know, maybe that random odd reaction is something I've never seen before and as such it makes it perfect for some of my more odd characters in stories. So, tell me...

Just what do you see?

What's so Punny?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a pun as: the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. What the hell does that mean?

As a means of paying homage to some of my favorite authors who use words as toys, Spider Robinson and Piers Anthony, I am hereby going to instigate Punday! On Mondays from here on out, I will be turning the English language into my personal toy. I challenge you all to join me in formulating some real groaners!

And remember!

The value of a pun is in the 'oy' of the beholder.

NaNoWriMo

It's almost that time again... The National Novel Writing Month draws neigh!!! For those of you who have no idea what NaNoWriMo falls in the month of November, and the goal is to write at least 50,000 words towards your novel manuscript in the 30 days that occur in that month. While mainstream novels can be only 50,000 words long, if you write genre fiction like I do, that may only be half of your manuscript. That's why it's important to make certain you check what the industry standards are for your genre of choice. If you write too much, you chance no one taking it on because it's too long. The same goes for if your novel is too short for industry standards.

While keeping that in mind, I encourage everyone to participate in NaNoWriMo, because even if you don't fully finish your manuscript, you're then 50,000 words closer to your completed story! Yay! Some of the things that are available to participants are pep talks by published authors, a store where you can get some interesting writing related swag, and gadgets for tracking your word counts. There is also a section for finding other NaNoWriMo participants near you, for peer pressure or support or whatever it is that you need.

With writing being such a solitary endeavor it's nice to have something like this to encourage the inner writer. People can commiserate with you, scold you, encourage you, push you, whatever you need! Check it out, I'm going to!

Creativity Prompts

What do you see here? Where are the people? Are they laying new bricks or pulling up the old ones? Burying bodies? This is one of those photos that just kickstarts the imagination. It was taken somewhere in Europe, though I can't remember where we were at the time. It was more than likely somewhere in northern Italy. That's what happens when you live in a country for several years, you really don't think about where the photos came from.

I really like to use the photos that my husband and I took while we were living there as a prompt for my writing. If I'm a little bit stuck, I go through our photography portfolio and wait until something sparks. Though there are times that nothing happens, more often than not something happens. I hope to have something like this posted each week. Just a little something to warm up the synapses!

About this blog

I am one of those people who can't NOT write. Any time I'm sitting there staring off into space, there is probably a good reason for it... I'm writing. Writing does not always mean putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Just as often it is figuring out how to craft the perfect line in a poem so that it has the proper melodic flow. Other times, it's working out a tangle in the plot of some story you're writing. Or plotting how to kill your main character.

Any way you look at it, writing is one of those passions that drives nearly all thought. The most simple of circumstances can be the perfect clue for what to do next in your story. Everything is grist for the mill.

I am hoping to use this blog as a jumping point for myself and any other writers out there to engage in conversation about writing. Whether it be critiques about pieces that have already been written, commiseration about writer's block, or shouting to the world about having a piece published. I am also wanting this to be a platform for launching interest in my own writings, I can't lie about that.

I'm not a particularly talkative person, usually I'm the one standing at the edge of a group listening to everything being said, but contributing very little. I've been told that the only way to really get to know me without spending years gleaning nuggets of information is to read my writings. While I know that this really holds true for most writers, I can't deny that it's the truth when it comes to me.

So, if you're ready for some interesting reading, and are braced to deal with my twisted sense of humor, welcome! If you're interested in getting a little more general information about me, check out my facebook page!

The 3 blogs I'm reading

One of the first blogs that I'm interested in and follow fairly closely is Icanhascheezburger.com. This is a fun site that is really nothing more than brain candy. By brain candy, I mean a site that really serves no other purpose than to entertain (and in some cases melt your brain with cuteness). I tend to use the Internet as a tool rather than a toy, so it is nice occasionally to be able to just open the Cheezburger network and have some nice quiet fun.

I also follow WoWinsider. This is a blog devoted to information about the MMORPG World of Warcraft. I find it to be a great place to find information about the only computer game that I play. They update the site almost hourly, as soon as any new information is revealed. This is especially useful with the upcoming expansion pack, Cataclysm.

The final blog I'm interested in is Copyblogger. I find this to be an excellent source for Internet based writing. As someone who normally prefers to write fiction, having a source that I can go to when I'm questioning a decision about format and content.