Pic of the Week . . . Banksy Mobile Lovers

I love Banksy.

Whenever I take a train ride into London I can't help but sit back and admire some of the graffiti on the way.  Most of it is tagging which looks messy and strongly sits under the term 'Vandalism', but then you'll come across a gem that is fantastic.  I know all graffiti is technically vandalism but the art and skill that goes into some of these pieces is often over-looked.  It's a form of art in itself.

For those who don't know, Banksy has recently been in the headlines with his newest piece.  He chose to use a door to a boy's club in Bristol as his canvas.  The idea wasn't to tag the area to say 'I WOZ 'ERE' so to speak, but to help raise money for the struggling club - a club he apparently attended as a boy (don't quote me on that bit).

The piece has been quoted to be worth £500,000.

This little piece was from Banksy's earlier days and sits on the side of the Thekla Social Boat in Bristol Harbour.  I loved it so much I had to show you.

Banksy's Grim Reaper, Thekla Social Boat

But the main piece for Pic of the Week is the topic piece of this post.  Mobile Lovers.

Enjoy and have a creative weekend...

Image from Butterfly

Did he have blonde hair or black . . .?

I read and critiqued a friend’s manuscript the other week.  I read all of it, from beginning to end, and even though it was really good, the one major thing I had to point out was the bombshell at the end that her protagonist had black hair.  Not a major bombshell, but when you’ve read through the entire book picturing the protagonist as one thing only to find out he’s something else, it's a bit of a shock.  As it turned out with my friend, she was brilliant at describing the weird and unusual – and it was a fantasy so there was a lot of that - but anything everyday and mundane she inadvertently neglected. 

This brought up the topic of description.  Info dumps are never really a good thing.  There are far better ways to add description than by saying “He was 6ft something, blue eyes, black hair and a few days’ worth of stubble on his chin”;

“He brushed a hand through his thick black hair…”

“His blue eyes turned wide with shock…”

I won’t go on.  I’m pretty sure you get the drift.  Anyway, it also helps to actually know your character physically.  For every character I create a little bio.  Nothing mega, just height, hair colour, style, eye colour, age.  This way when you need to mention it and you’ve forgotten it, you don’t have to go hunting through your manuscript trying to find the last place you mentioned it.  It also avoids inconsistencies.

Another idea is to add an actual face to your characters.  By this I mean finding a tv/movie star and basing your characters around them (I call this a dream team).  Sometimes though, if your characters are born before you allocate them a famous face, it can be hard to find someone suitable to fit the role, and sometimes you may have to come to terms with the fact that you’ll never find someone suitable – unless you spend hours trolling the web when you should be writing!

I’ve only found one face for one of my characters.  He’s no one famous.  He’s a model for the firm I work for.  But as soon as I saw him in those images I knew. 

Meet Devon McCormick.  

Image courtesy of Brora.co.uk

Pic of the Week (coinciding with A-Z) . . . Jonas Jakobsson

Today, the A-Z challenge seems to have fallen on J, so even though I’m not partaking, what better way to contribute than by choosing an artist for this week’s Pic of the Week whose name begins with J.

Returning to Jonas Jakobsson with a double J hit.  Check out his gallery on Deviant Art.

And name me a fantasy lover who doesn’t love a Ringwaith.

Have a great weekend J

Your Novel's Soundtrack . . .

Does your novel have a soundtrack?  Is there one song that captures every essence of your story?  Or maybe even more than one?

My new piece does.  This song manages to capture everything about my main character, Reagan, including her sexuality, her darkness and her mysteriousness.  I remember when I first heard it.  It sucked me in and within an instant I knew it was my soundtrack.  I don't know the in's and out's of the song - apparently it was about an ex-girlfriend who was sleeping around - and I'm not saying the lyrics could have been written for Reagan, but the whole feel of the song and the rhythm...

My new piece now has a title:  Blood for Blood, and its soundtrack is Inertia Creeps by Massive Attack.

Enjoy :)
 

Cumberbomb . . .

I was having a pretty lame day at work today until I read the news during my lunch break and spotted this:

Most of us know it was the Oscars last night.  I haven't looked up who won what or who wore (or didn't wear) what, but one thing suddenly jumped to my attention and made me laugh.  Judging from my last post, most of you should know I've become ever-so slightly obsessed with the UK series, Sherlock - and that confession should include not just Sherlock, but Benedict Cumberbatch himself...lol.

Anyway, what better way to cheer up a dull day than with photos of Cumberbatch photobombing U2 last night.  I'm speechless...and not sure if that's due to the grin on my face or my attempts at suppressing hysterical laughter in the office :)  Hope these cheer your day up as much as they did mine.  You can read the full article here:

I love it when stars show a human side.

"No S*** Sherlock..."

Well, it's official.  I am SHER-locked!!!

I've just spent the last few days catching up on Series 1 & 2 of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman before starting Series 3 for the first time (all on DVD) and I'm hooked.  I don't watch much TV to be honest, which was why I had to recap series 1 & 2 on DVD as there were parts I had missed when they originally ran.  And then I got to watch them all back to back.

Nothing like a bit of 'binge-watching' :)

So what do I like about BBC's Sherlock?  The banter?  The plots?  The characters?  Cumberbatch himself? All of the above and much more.  It's so well written (hats off to Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat) and the dialogue just flows - and how Cumberbatch manages to say his long stints without faltering is beyond me.  I wonder how many takes they really had to do?

Sherlock Series 3 is actually interesting.  A writer friend of mine at the moment is worried that her current WIP is too character driven and there's not much plot.  She's read one star reviews (on other pieces) that say 'brilliant characters but no plot' and she's worried that she has to change her planning to find a happy medium.  But this doesn't have to be the case - and Sherlock is a great example in my eyes.

I can't falter any of the plots for Sherlock, except the second episode in Series 3, The Sign of Three (but then it's not even a fault).  This episode is very much character driven, and you know what?  It works.  The relationship between Sherlock and Watson is so solid.  And you can feel Sherlock's fear as a third member is introduced to their circle, threatening to change everything.  So what I say to my friend - and all others out there struggling with the same issue - is yes, plot is important, but it doesn't have to be the end all.  Character driven pieces work really well too, so don't let this thought hinder you're progress.  Write what you want to write, and if at the end you feel it doesn't work, tweak it.  But you'll never know unless it's written.

So on that note, I've decided to choose two pieces for today's Pic of the Week.  I like them both very much and couldn't decide which to share :)  The artist is Alicexz over on Deviant art, and over the last few years she's been building her own gallery of character portraits for the Series.  Be sure to go over there and check them out.  They're phenomenal...

Sherlock

Moriarty

Have a good week people... :)

Back In The Game...

I’m back on the band wagon.  My muse has returned after a year and half hiatus – and trying to work without a muse just ain’t easy.

He returned a couple of weeks ago – although he’s very shy to give away where he’s been (probably cavorting with all the other AWOL muses out there.  Just where do they go??  It's probably him in the picture, enjoying the attention of all the other female muses, the flirt!)  Still, I hope he had a good time.  I hope it was worth it after the amount of SUFFERING he’s caused.  No thought!  No consideration!  And now he’s back, by golly, I’m gonna make him pay!  I’m making him work overtime, and with 15k words into my new piece – as well as editing my previous piece – he’s definitely starting to pull his weight.  I’m not letting him get off lightly for going AWOL.

So what’s the new piece?  Well, it involves, assassins, romance, danger, everything a good read should have – oh, and a touch of necromancy to darken things a tad.  Just the way I like it J Still working on a title though, but I’m sure that’ll come within time.

So, now I’m back on the band wagon, let’s just hope my muse lets me stay on long enough to enjoy the ride.