Pic of the Week . . .

This week's Pic of the Week is by Yuehui-Tang. Here's a link to a gallery of his work (not necessarily his own gallery though).

I chose this particular pic because I thought it surmises pretty well how I'm feeling in my office at this moment in time. Yes, you guessed it. HOT!!! :D

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Writing Exercise . . . Random Sentences . . .

Flicking through an old pad, I come across a piece that I vaguely remember writing a few years back. I can't remember what the actual exercise was, but there are two notes written at the top of the page:


"Our vampires are different . . ."
and
"Coiled within the shadows . . ."


I'm not sure where these came from. They may have been random phrases pulled out of the hat, so to speak, and so had to be Incorporated into a piece. Who knows. anyway, here was the outcome of that exercise . . .

Exercise: Random Sentences . . .

Everything he saw was covered in a thick, sticky layer of dirt. It coated his finders as he brushed them carefully down the bare wooden banister. It felt rough to touch and he removed his hand in fear of a splinter. Cobwebs hung in between the spindles, and each wooden step creaked under the pressure of his weight.

He hadn't imagined the lab to be like this. He had imagined it to be tended and well kept, but then he hadn't seen the professor in a long time. A dank smell wafted into his nose, dust attacking his senses, and he fought back an urge to sneeze. Now wasn't the time or the place to announce his presence.

Not seeing the professor for long periods of time was nothing uncommon. He always locked himself in his lab, working of something. Only his screams of despair or his odd cheers of success indicated that he was still there, but this time it was different. He had been silent for three weeks now - too silent.

It wasn't right.

The professor was Edgar's uncle, forced into guardianship by the sudden and shocking death of his parents. He didn't remember much about his parents, and had been brought up under the strict rule of 'ask no questions.'

He never did.

He had never even been down in the lab before, a lab that had been built in the huge cellar of the house, but now he needed to. He needed to know if his uncle was alright. Silently and dubiously, Edgar reached the bottom of the stairs and slunk over to the desk in the middle of the room. His uncles journals lay open, and he couldn't;t help his eyes as they scanned over the hand-scrawled words. They told of scientific experiments, of failures and successes, but one sentence struck him with horror.

"Our vampires are different . . ."

Vampires?

Something shuffled behind him. Terrified that he had been caught reading something top secret, he whirled around, his lungs gasping for frightened breath.

And there, coiled in the shadows, was a figure. It had an inhuman feel about it and instantly Edgar began to tremble. When he called his uncle's name, no response came, and he began to fear the worst.

But his fear was short lived.

As the creature burst from the shadows, fangs gleaming in the dim light, he knew what his uncle had been doing. He knew his uncle was no more, and knew that this man-made thing had devoured him.

He also knew in that split second that he was about to suffer the same fate.

Pic of the Week . . .

Flicking through Google Images as I usually do, trying to decide on a pic of the week. It come to a point where I nearly gave up and went for a safe artist that I already knww . . . when suddenly, out of nowhere, popped a picture that I loved. I clicked on the website, and it opened up this huge gallery of wondrous pieces that kept me captivated for what felt like hours.

The pieces are a mixture of dark, atmospheric, moody, beautiful - and I loved it! I loved them all! In fact, I was so excited that I couldn't quiet decided which one to go for, so I today I'm going to treat you to TWO pics of the week. Aren't you lucky!

The Artist's name is Linda Bergkvist. Flicking through her gallery I realised that I've already come across her before, with a random picture that I once found but couldn't find the name. I was actually given the artists name back then, but never really had the chance to look it up - and then forgot about it. Sorry. But today she's back! And with vengeance!

Enjoy!

'Eyzaathe . . .'

'Autumn Whispers . . .'

How To Write A Synopsis . . . I Think . . .

The time has finally come, after the years spent tenderly polishing Gorthian, that a synopsis is needed. I hate synopsis writing, and I get the strange impression that so does everyone else. Everywhere I turn, every blog I read, I'm hearing the same complaints.

Many people don't see the point in a synopsis. Usually they are asked to submit a covering letter, some sample chapters and a synopsis. So if they want sample chapters, why do they need a synopsis? Well, I think that should be clear. The sample chapters are to allow the agent / publisher to get a feel of your writing style, and the synopsis allows them to get the feel of the story as a whole, as opposed to reading the whole thing. Agents / publishers are busy people. They haven't got time to read an entire manuscript to find out whether they like your work. If something is sent in without a synopsis, what do you think will happen to it? Yep, it'll have a date with the bin until the cleaner comes to take it away. They do not have the time.

So, how do you format a synopsis?

Nathan Bransord gingerly wrote a blog post about writing them, but it was a subject he had tried to avoid for a long time. In the end he gave in, battled his fear and put finger to keyboard to type 'How To Write A Synopsis . . .' .

He couldn't give any rock solid advice on how to write them, but did shed a little light on what to aim for. Luckily this isn't the first time I've approached agents, and so I've done research before in the past, and I have a rough idea what is required.

Unfortunately, and as Nathan reluctantly pointed out, there is no right way to write a synopsis. Many agencies and publishers are after different things. Some want one page, some want ten; some want a brief outline, some want a chapter by chapter breakdown. The only advice I can think of giving is do some research into your tended submitee, find out what they want.

But there is a second option and do what I and many others do? Write the outline for your story. Aim for about three pages. If you go over, it's no big deal, as long as it's attention grabbing. Make it heart felt. Don't write 'And then he did this, and she done that...'. Put emotion into it; make the agent / publisher feel what the character has to go through to get to the final climax; grab the agent / publisher; coax them into wanting to take time out of their busy schedule to read and fall in love with your sample chapters. This can then lead to them wanting to read the entire manuscript.

See how much hangs on your synopsis? It's the biggest marketing job for your work; the selling point; make or break. Write a rubbish synopsis, expect a rejection. This is probably the biggest reason why people hate synopsis writing so much. It's not the initial condensing an entire novel into three pages worth . . . We're writers, for crying out loud! That should be a challenge we're willing accept. It's the pressure of getting your synopsis right.

And it's THAT pressure that I'm feeling now. I aimed for three pages, but got five. I tried to cut it down even more, but found that if I did I was loosing the essence of the story. In the end I've come to the conclusion that my synopsis for 'The Calming Of Gorthian' has to be five pages long (well, four and a half - and that's double spaced!).

Only time will tell if it's right or wrong . . . wish me luck.

Pic of the Week . . .

Today's Pic of the Week is something a little different. It's a raw graphite sketch, untouched by any digital remastering.

Does anybody know who the artist is? Any ideas? Oh, wait a minute!! It's me!!! lol

Have a good weekend everyone . . .

What's In A Name. . .?

Just what is in a name?

For those planners out there, you can sit and ponder for hours over the construction of a piece. You plan right down to the last detail, every twist, every turn, every surprise. You even plan your characters.

If your anything like me, you want to get to know your characters as much as you can. I like to know what drives my character. Delving into their psyche can help with that. I don’t mean you should put as much planning into your characters as you do with the plot. Sometimes that’s just not possible. Sometimes a character unfolds as you write, and it isn’t until the end that you realise who that person actually is, but knowing a little bit about them prior to writing, I find, helps.

But then everybody’s different. There’s no right way or wrong way to write a story. What one person finds easy could be completely impossible for another. It’s like art. Abstract artists paint some wonderfully bizarre pieces. They paint abstract because they are comfortable with that style and they like it, but tell them to paint scenery or a renaissance portrait and they probably couldn’t. It’s not that they can’t – you have to possess a certain amount of talent to put paintbrush to canvas – it’s just that they’re not comfortable painting that kind of picture, and it inevitably affects the end result.

I only need to know a small amount of my character’s psyche to be able to know what drives them. Take my more recent character, Blake, for example. He’s a cold person, and not many people in his town like him and tend to steer clear of him. But why is this? Why is he so cold? Well, looking into his past, his mother died during childbirth, and his stepmother also died when he was about 5. At that age he was old enough to understand the hurt that it caused him, and the torture it put his father through. From then he subconsciously became scared of letting anyone too close, fearing getting hurt again, and thus, making him cold and push people away from him. Just from this, you know Blake’s going to be a hard man, unsympathetic, uncaring, and the word `subtlety` doesn’t even enter his vocabulary.

Anyway, I’m rambling - but I'm a female and that's allowed. The `name` that I originally wanted to refer to wasn’t the name of a character. It was the name of this blog. WTF’s. What does that mean to you? “What the f…!”

Originally I started this blog so I could post the random (WTF) writings we do at our writers group, the North Herts Writers’ Circle. That was all. But, just like characters in stories, it’s taken on a life of it’s own, and no longer is it about random pieces. It’s evolved, it’s grown, as characters tend to do. So the title WTF’s, I feel, is no longer relevant. It’s time for a change – but subtle.

How about:

WTF’s – Writing Thrilling Fiction

Hmmm…any ideas??

How Well Do You Know Your Characters . . . ?

Incase you hadn't guessed, I'm also a bit of a film buff. I love a good film - even a bad one if it keeps me entertained for an hour and half. I watch them for the enjoyment factor, regardless of bad script, rubbish effects or silly plots. Bad acting is an exception. There's only so much a person can take.

Anyway, I watched `Inkheart` yesterday. I've heard about this film, but not taken much notice. I can't remember it being in the cinema, and if it was, it must have been a flop because it wasn't showing for long. I did know that it involved books and reading, though. So when I saw the DVD on sale for £3 - yes, £3!!! - I nabbed it. If it was bad, I wouldn't have lost that much.

As it turned out, it was actually quiet enjoyable, and makes a great family film. Okay, the dialogue left a little to be desired, but that was over-shadowed by the story line. Brendon Fraser plays a man with a gift. Whenever he reads aloud, he brings the characters of the book to life, and the last book he ever read aloud was one called `Inkheart` nine years ago. It had disastrous affects that have haunted him ever since, and eventually they catch up with him for the dramatic climax of the film. Light hearted and enjoyable stuff.

One part really grabbed me. Paul Bettany plays a character called Dustfinger, who is a flame thrower brought across from the book, and who wants nothing more than to just go back home. In one scene, he gets to meet the writer of Inkheart - the very person who created him. He was terrified at meeting him at first because he didn't want to know his fate. He didn't know how the book ended, and he was scared of finding out. The author, on the other hand, loved him and was so surprised that his character was everything he imagined him to be. As a writer, I sympathised with all of this, and it had me hooked.

It also had me thinking. How well do you know your characters? What would happen if you met them in the flesh? How would you feel? How would they feel? It prompted me with the idea for a writing exercise. It's intended to help practice the art of writing, and as a way of getting to know your characters better.

Choose a character that you've created, whether they're your favourite, your hero or heroine, your villain or your villain's henchman. Maybe they're a person you know really well, or a person you want to get know a bit better. Once you've chosen, imagine they become real - either through means of magic, science fiction, or whatever scenario your imagination creates - and then you meet.

As a writing exercise, how would you feel to meet to them?

As a character building exercise, how would they feel? What would they do? What would their reaction be? Would they hail you as their god? Or would they hate you, discovering that their entire life and all their tragedies has been created just for a good read?

Who is your character?

If you feel inspired by this little exercise, let me know the outcome. I'd love to read and view other people's concepts.