Celebrate the Small Things-October 11, 2013

It's Friday, so that means it's once again time to Celebrate the Small Things with VikLit!

The weather here in Iowa is still freakishly good.  We're approaching mid-October, and I've been wearing shorts the last couple of days.  That doesn't happen around here.  I'll enjoy it while I can.

Today is my birthday, so that gives me something to celebrate as well.  I'm 28 now.  My husband keeps teasing me, reminding me of the fact that I'm nearing 30.  I just politely smile at him and remind him that isn't a wise thing for him to say if he wants to see his next birthday.  Hehe!  

Image courtesy of aopsan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I also thought I'd take this opportunity to give shout outs to other blogging friends who have things to celebrate.  Today is Nick Wilford's 2nd blogging anniversary.  Congratulations Nick!

Mina Lobo's 2nd blogging anniversary is also coming up next month.  To celebrate that, she's hosting the Resurrection Blogfest II.  It's easy and fun. All you need to do is resurrect an old post.  You don't have to write anything new.  Seriously.  She's that nice.  So head over to her blog and SIGN UP!  (I already have my post selected and scheduled.  Nearly a month ahead of time. Man, I'm a nerd.)

What would you like to celebrate?

FSF: Planetary Saviors

It's time once again for Five Sentence Fiction!  The prompt for this week is ENRAPTURE.  That's an excellent word, isn't it?

To read the entire Unchained story from the beginning, go to this PAGE.

Unchained

Chapter 49: Planetary Saviors

The Rehani were certainly a sight to behold, with their long, lean frames, and translucent bodies that glowed slightly, reminiscent of the way sunlight plays on water.

Photo courtesy of ahmet guler/
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Though the Rehani were an unknown species (at least as far as Nara, Ylana, and everyone else they’d spoken with were concerned), they had no difficulty with communication.  Their telepathic communications effortlessly leapt over every linguistic barrier, and their natural grace left Ylana enraptured.

The fact that they’d also swooped in and saved this world from the Kryllians, and the thought that they could perhaps liberate her people, added to her sense of reverence.

However, as she and Nara stepped into the meeting that had been arranged with the captain of the Rehani ship, neither of the women could have anticipated the shocking revelation that awaited them.

The ABCs of Writing: A is for Audience

I have decided to try something different for my Wednesday posts.  I want to cover my ABCs of writing.  This is my attempt to take a humorous look at how I respond to various aspects of writing.  I hope to do each letter of the alphabet, so this will be going on for awhile.

I hope you enjoy!

A is for Audience

I sit in front of my laptop and open notebook, a sense of dread spreading through my limbs.  I’ve only ever written for myself.  I have always written what I want to write, with the obvious exception of class assignments, of course.  When I’m writing for myself, there is no pressure.  Only freedom.

Then I heard a word that made me shudder.  Audience.  If you ever want to be successful in the writing biz, you need to know who your readers are, who your intended audience is.  Sure, there are examples of writers who didn’t take this into consideration and became wildly successful anyway, but I have to face facts.  My luck simply isn’t that good.

The panic sets in as I wonder who in the world would want to read anything I write anyway.  Who do I want to reach?  Who do I want to entertain?  Which audience is least likely to eat me alive?

I can’t deny this much.  The idea of having any audience both excites and terrifies me.  If I have an audience, it also means that I have expectations placed upon me.  People who may be angry at the choices I make.  I mean, have you seen angry fangirls?  Or infuriated fanboys?  Yikes!

A piece of advice that I’ve heard before comes to mind.  Picture them in their underwear.  That will make the audience seem less intimidating.  Granted, this is advice given to those speaking in public, but it could still apply.  Right?

Then I pause.  Following this advice could potentially be creepy.  Definitely not the kind of technique a children’s writer should employ.

No.

I mustn’t let my mind get off track.  I’ll only freak myself out if I continue along this track of thought.

Fine.  There’s only one solution to my predicament.  My audience is . . . me.  Surely there are others like me out there, and maybe they’re looking to read the kind of story I can tell. 

Right?

Hmm.  I decide that I’m going to operate off of this assumption.  If I don’t, I’ll never get anything done.

Express Yourself: Book Openers

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

This week's prompt: Share some 1st line book openers that you adore.

I enjoy a book opening that makes me curious about what's going on, or an opening that has a an enjoyable tone.

Each of the openings succeed for me because they engage me with their voice or simply make me want to know more.

"The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself."

-Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

"The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory."

-Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

"'Where is Leovinus?' demanded the Gat of Blerontis, Chief Quantity Surveyor of the entire North Estarn Gas District of the planet of Blerontin."

-Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic by Terry Jones

"The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn't sure it was worth all the effort."

-The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

"In a distant and secondhand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part . . ."

-The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

What book openers do you enjoy?  What do you think the 1st line of a book should accomplish?

My Muse is Out to Amuse

I wanted to share a couple of videos about the writing process.  This first one is a humorous take on the writer's daily routine.

This second video features comedians who talk about their writing process. Hey, they're writers too!  They're just brave enough to perform their work for an audience.

The Weekend Philosopher: Some Thoughts on Being a Writer

There is a difference between writing and being a writer.  Having the ability to put pen to paper does not immediately make you a writer, because there's something more to it than that.  The urge . . . no . . . the need to tell stories, the need to put a piece of yourself in your work, makes you a writer.  Being a writer is an identity.  It's a way of life.

"If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it."

-Anaïs Nin

You can always tell when something was written by someone who didn't put their all into creating it.  You know when someone's passion, their heart, isn't in the work you're reading.  There's a spark missing.  An intangible thing that is nevertheless noticeable in its absence.  A person may try to write stories merely to make money or make a name for themselves (though there are plenty of more profitable professions to pursue if you don't mind only being in it for the money), but the work will inevitably suffer for it.

Why should we even care about this?  Some would say a novel is just fiction.  How could it possibly matter?

"One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life."

-Henry Miller

Fiction can offer us the things that real life may not.  We can experience cultures we've never been a part of, find ourselves in social situations we never previously imagined.  If an author is sincere in their creative passion, they can help provide us with a rich tapestry of experience we never knew we were missing until we found it.

A creative work, when filled with passion and commitment on the part of the creator, is so much more than mere words on the page.  It has the ability to reach people, to transform people while providing new perspectives and/or provoking strong and meaningful emotions.  We all have those stories, those characters, that we carry with us forever.  To create something this powerful and enduring, you need to put everything into your writing.

If you can put that kind of dedication into your work, then you are a writer.  Even if you're unpublished, that does not alter the fact that you are a writer.  Be proud of that fact, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.  The potential to do great things is always there as long as you're willing to put everything you have into doing it.

George's Cynical Rules for Surviving a Comically Absurd Cosmos

Today I would like to share with you a little more bonus material I've written for my April A-Z Challenge story Adam's Apple.  (If you're interested in reading the story as written for the challenge, you can find it HERE.)

George seemed like a fun character, so I wanted to delve into his rules for surviving life.  This is not the entire list I've written for him, but a sampling of the first few.  Please let me know what you think!

George’s Cynical Rules for Surviving a Comically Absurd Cosmos

Dear Reader,

My name is George, and though I don’t particularly enjoy taking the time out of my day to do this, I’m writing this to offer you some words of wisdom and advice.  Not that they’ll necessarily do you any good.  If anything is inevitable in this life, it’s failure.  Even the most valiant efforts to make things right frequently go up in flames.

There’s one pesky fact you need to keep in mind at all times, and it is so important I’ve made it the first rule

Rule #1: The universe is out to get you. 

Try to ignore this fact all you want, but the fact that there are so many gruesome ways to die that I cannot help but conclude one thing.  This conclusion is summarized in the next rule.

Rule #2: We’re all screwed.

That doesn’t mean we should all give up and die, of course.  There are ways to extract entertainment value from the worst that life has to offer.  After all, why not?  We’re stuck here anyway.  Would you like to know the key to doing this?

Why do I even bother to ask that question?  If you’re reading these words, it means you haven’t yet walked away in boredom, and that fact could be counted as an implicit desire to hear more of what I have to say.  Of course, as I write this, I have no way of knowing whether you’re actually still reading or not, so I’ll keep writing.  If anything I write beyond this point scars or offends you in any way, it is entirely your fault for continuing.

Rule #3: Don’t take anything too seriously.

I may live my life as an eternal grump and general pain in the posterior, but it isn’t because I take things too seriously.  It’s because I’m a realist, and people don’t like what I have to say because they don’t want to admit that I’m right. 

I make it a point never to set goals, because that leads to disappointment.  If you start out from a point of having nothing, you’ll usually end the game with nothing.  There are the success stories that people like to hold up as a shining example of what you can get through hard work, but they frequently neglect to include the fact that part of any victory can be directly attributed to luck.  That’s one thing I don’t have.

So what’s one to do?  You can set a goal and hope life will work out in your favor, all the while risking disappointment.  Or you can accept your life for what it is and strive for mediocrity.  This may not be seen as a laudable goal, but it’s an achievable one.

Besides, if you did manage to make some headway in pursuit of a dream, someone is likely to cut you off and take all the credit for what you did.  Why?  See the next rule for an explanation.

Rule #4: Scoundrels usually win.

The universe is filled with people whose goal is to get to the top by any means necessary.  They’ll lie, cheat, steal, and drag your name through the muck until people think you’re the reprehensible one.  It’s a disgusting fact of life.  Just look at politicians.