Posted by admin on May 6, 2009
Mechanics help you out
when you’re stuck and can’t move the
tool you have. You just start where
you are and go ’till you can’t and
when you are done you usually
have something other people can relate
to a little and we call it
poetry.
But if you can’t do mechanical things
then open yor heart and
Spread out your wings
To the thoughts of the sky blue above
The rhythm of water in strands
Far awy, of people falling in love
And we will also call it
Poetry.
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Posted by admin on April 24, 2009
Writing a poem everyday is a challenge that has been extended to me more than once, and which I have managed to fail at more than once. Usually it ends up more as a poem three times a week. Many of the poems that I have posted (and continue to post) here on this site are the results of my attempts at writing a poem a day.
Writing a poem everyday won’t necessarily produce the best poetry. It won’t necessarily generate volumes of memorable or fabulous poetry that moves humanity to new heights of inspiration and genius. Writing a poem a day, however, will make you a better poet and a better writer.
Like practicing anything else, writing as often as you can will help you to produce better content. Trying different forms, different words, or different concepts are all good ways to expand your talents and your mind. Even though many of the poems I have written aren’t that amazing, each of them has taught me at least one less that I won’t forget.
I challenge anyone who has any interest in writing to write every day.
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Posted by admin on March 18, 2009
What makes a good drama? I can’t say that I’m the world’s leading expert on the subject, but as a guy who has a blog and the will to write, I am going to add my bit.
The real key to a good drama is risk. Risk that feels important to the reader is necessary for a good drama.
Risk is nothing more than a chance for somebody to lose something. Whether the risk is realized or not is less relevant than the risk itself. The character involved doesn’t need to be aware of the risk or be emotionally involved with the risk, though these can be very helpful. The reader, however, must be intimately involved with the risk. The reader must care what happens and must want the lost to not occur.
Not all readers place the same value on a given situation or character so creating a sense of risk that is important enough to reader means finding a situation that appeals to the most readers.
Creating a situation that appeals to readers means understanding the target audience and applying a sense of risk that the audience can relate to. Technology junkies would place more value on a loss of technology, for example, than perhaps a loss of bed sheets.
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Posted by admin on March 11, 2009
Cliché as it may be for a fantasy lover, the most inspiring book in my life was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was five or six, and it was then that I decided to write fantasy stories. I can’t say that I am the greatest author on the planet. In fact, among fantasy authors I rank pretty low. Life has its distractions and it is difficult to dedicate oneself to a lifestyle that doesn’t support a family.
This interest in fantasy, however, has given me a number of skills that I doubt I would have otherwise acquired. It lead me to study the art of writing, which meant that I learned to love to read.
It lead me to a love of role-playing, which lead to a love of computers and technology. This lead to a deeper understanding of mathematics, science, and a general love of learning.
Because I picked up The Hobbit at such a young age and because I couldn’t put it down again, I have very much been inspired to become the person that I am today.
So I ask, what book inspired you?
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Posted by admin on December 24, 2008
Making fantasy writing believable is both much more simple and much more complicated than a lot of people estimate. Generally because they think of fantasy as something completely separate from other types of writing.
Yes writing fantasy tends to involve leaps of logic and putting faith in the author, but at its core, that is not what makes a fantasy unbelievable. That suspension of disbelief must happen in any fiction, whether a mystery, a spy thriller, or when writing fantasy.
The key is primarily to write good characters. If the dialoge feels forced or the descriptions are unnatural or stilted, then the logci behind the use of magic in the world will quickly become irrelevant. If the characters act natural and live as organic entities (i.e. stemming naturally from their surroundings, not necessarily made from carbon) within their world then automatically the level of believabilty has increased.
Writing good dialoge will go a long way to make the story believable. Writing fantasy is not much different from writing fiction of any kind. The characters must feel as if they belong. Their actions must correspond to their motives. Their words must correlate to their actions. They must react to and interact with each other in a natural manner. If you accomplish this, then the reasons behind the blood sacrifices required to generate the power necessary to complete the ultimate spell of destruction become less important. The reasons are still imporant, but now the stage is set so that they can become believeable whereas with poor characters the reader will never even reach this point.
Again, if the characters spring naturally from their world, then the reasons behind the sacrifices and thier reactions to them will already be explained. If there are flaws in the logic they will generally be exposed already due to the natural tendancies of the characters. An evil villain predisposed with a hatred for bloodshed would inherently seek an overwhelming, driving motive for a blood sacrifice whereas a bloodthirsty maniac would likely find the power associated with it as an added perk rather than a driving force. In either instance the logic lies more with the characters than the mechanics behind the world.
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Posted by admin on December 5, 2008
I just wanted to give a shout out to all the great support that this blog has received sinced inception. All my thanks goes out to the many readers who put up with my writing.
Especially to all those of you who use or have used Zimbio in the past. Enough of you like the blog to toss me a kudo, which is really appreciated. And enough of those kudos means that I made the “hot” page over at Zimbio.
I’m not saying I have the greatest thing here since sliced bread, but I am proud of what I’ve put together and I want to thank everyone for their support.
If you do get a chance to go over to zimbio.com go ahead and do it. This isn’t a referral or affiliate anything. Its just my way of sharing something useful to other bloggers. It isn’t a traffic building miracle, but it is a fun way to find interesting other blogs and to interact with people on the web.
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Posted by admin on November 19, 2008
There are several ways to write a fantasy novel and most of them will work out just fine in the end. The real trick of course is then turning around and selling your novel. Assuming you have that little point covered, let’s discuss how to write a fantasy a novel.
The biggest ingredient is effort. I say that now so that it doesn’t get forgotten. Write every day. Be consistent. Put in the effort.
You’re ready to put in the effort - ok, here are a few other pointers.
- Tell a story. Don’t build a world. This is not a Dungeons and Dragons game you are about to run. Nobody is really that interested in the torrid details of your world. Yes those details are important, but not as important as the story. A story has a hero, an antagonist, a love interest - all those things that we enjoy reading about and watching in the movies.
- Show your story, don’t tell it. You have a love interest and a hero. Don’t say “and he fell in love with the princess.” That is kinda blah. Rather show his/her actions and words as they interact.
- Write your story. All too often I talk with would be novelists who don’t actually write anything. They tell me all about the world, the characters, the concepts, but on paper they have nothing more than a few notes. Not one word of dialogue, action, nothing.
- Keep writing your story. Yep, keep at it. Sure you may take a break now and again to go through your notes and revise your ideas, but KEEP WRITING THE STORY. Otherwise you’ll just end up with a pile of notes.
- Finish the story. It may sound a bit strange but it can be hard to just call the story done. Figure out where the climax is, tie up the loose ends that actually need tying up and finish it. Call it good. We don’t need to read about the hero’s sixteen grand children and their battles with the Dragons of Orgnark. Save that for another novel. Finish this one.
- Go back a re-write your story. You thought you were done didn’t you. Go back and cut out half of everything you have written. Hack it. Slash it. Get mean with that red pen. Then re-work it again. Go through the whole book, sentence by sentence and word by word.
- Take a break. Now is a good time to get away from it. Let your girlfriend read it. If you don’t have a girlfriend then now would be a good time to get one. Let it sit. Let it stew. Let people whose opinion is worth anything take a look at it and then listen to them.
- Revisit step 6. Be sure you have taken at least a couple of weeks off. Then go back and do step 6 all over again.
- Repeat steps 6 through 8 a couple of more times.
- Call it good. No it isn’t perfect. It isn’t the greatest thing you have ever done. You are still unhappy with it. You are still disappointed. You still want more. Too bad. It is done. You are finished with it. Accept that and go on to write the next novel.
If you were expecting something more directly fantasy related - tough. A story is a story is a story. The setting is less important than the story. If you haven’t figured out how to write a story then you should quit now. Learning how to write a fantasy novel is no different than learning to write any other story. Odds are that if you want to write a fantasy novel then you already understand how fantasy novels work and have a good idea of what to put into your world and charaters. The rest is just writing a good story.
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Posted by admin on October 29, 2008
Writing poetry, especially for beginners can be a daunting task. Finding the right word may seem overwhelming, particularly when applying the constraints of common forms such as sonnet and haiku.
Free verse may seem like an easy way to begin, but more often than not free verse will result in a jumble of nonsense that conveys little or no meaning to those who read it. This is certainly not true of a more accomplished poet who understands the subtle nuances of both lexicon and meter. Often a masterful free verse poem will incorporate elements of various meters and forms which can only be achieved through a complete understanding of the more structured forms.
The beginning poet should choose a basic form, such as iambic pentameter and begin making couplets or quatrains that strive to maintain these basic forms. Haiku is an excellent way to begin. Focusing less on content will allow the poet to begin to master the art of finding the most appropriate word for the context. Much like learning to play a sport or to play an instrument, this basic skill will then allow the poet to bring full force to the content that the poet wants to truly portray.
It is fairly easy to get caught up focusing on a specific topic which results in attempts to force content over context. A great poem will balance contextual elements such as form and meter with the content. A poem about an upbeat, driven topic would do well to choose a poem that incorporates a quick meter and avoid laborious lexicon which can stop a line dead. A more dramatic, methodical poem may turn to a slower meter and incorporate longer words or a more advanced vocabulary. Either method could easily be incorporated into a free verse poem, and the mixture of methods is often what makes a free verse enjoyable.
Writing poetry is one of the most enjoyable past times I have ever known, but like any other hobby it requires a degree of effort and consistent application. Fighting in a ring or cage provides a degree of adrenaline which cannot be duplicated, but a very similar though distinct feeling can be acquired by putting together a string of words that brings a smile or tear to the face of a loved one.
Writing poetry and other works is truly a distinct experience that I recommend to anyone.
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Posted by admin on October 23, 2008
I recently joined up with the Widgeteers! I’m pretty excited about it because it is drop dead simple, and it works in tandem very well with Entrecard. I can’t say it has dramatically increased the traffic to my site, but it is a great way to build brand recognition.
The way it works is pretty simple - display a widget on your site which displays advertisements other widgeteer’s ads from categories of your choosing. Each time an ad is displayed, for each page impression, you gain some credits towards displaying your own advertising.
Of course the widgeteers offer multiple levels of membership from free right on up to platinum status, but there is no obligation to join any of the pay per membership levels.
The beauty of the system is that - unlike Entrecard or other click based systems - there is really very little to do. Simply add the widget and then create your ads. The widgeteer system takes care of the rest.
Obviously this will not turn a ramshackle website into a success overnight - nor will it bring an unaccountable boost in traffic instantaneously, but it is a dead easy way to get free exposure.
If you decide to try it out, let me know what you think.
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Posted by admin on October 22, 2008
Writing is a lonely art, very often a solitary effort carried out in hidden corners of the world. A person gathers his or her thoughts and begins to put them down, alone where the judging eyes of others cannot confirm the internal criticisms. At the end there is a manuscript. A piece of paper or electrons that hold a bit of triumph - evidence of the author’s worth.
Now, perhaps, if the nerves can handle it this child of thought is borne to others. Given away and they can make it their own, but only if it has worth to them. Others can accept it, reject it, or try to change it. They can toss it out to the daggers of public scrutiny. If it is good it will hold up. If it is good it will be accepted, cannonized, monetized, or simply printed.
To the the author the manuscript will always have worth. Always that moment when it first appeared in thought, that special solitary time remains with the author. That moment is what drives the author to write again. That moment drives the author to continue to create in the vain hope of connecting that moment with another.
The work is both about communicating with another (the best authors consider their audience), as well as about enjoying the moment of creative inspiration. In the end, writing is still a lonely art.
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