By Kat (last name withheld)
I have spent an inordinate amount of time playing at the website serendipity, by Manon http://nine.frenchboys.net/index.php
Name Generators, Place Generators, even an Online Handle Generator! Many, many generators, all in one handy place. Cat Waxing* Site Extraordinaire! You have been warned!
Yes, it will name French boys: Joseph Leclerc, Bernard Marais, Roland Lefevre. And French girls, too: Anne-Elisabeth Feuillette, Coralie Danis, Jeanne Jacqueme. Also Japanese names, Trendy names, Gnome names, and more.
Need a new online handle? SunsetGurl, EbbingMuffin, MeanGothChicken. Maybe you need to name that town your main character is from (or going to): Forest Chase, Belmont Grange, Peach Towers. Need a fantasy place? Highfay, Oldwood, Lightmeadow Forest.
The Chinese Restaurant Generator is one of my favorites, for that little takeout place around the corner: Beijing Pearl, China Pine, Golden Mandarin Garden, and The Happy Pagoda Tea House!
This isn’t just a play around kind site. Many of the names are usable, and there are generators that result in useful information. For example:
A Character: This man is a honest carpenter who is usually businesslike. He has long, straight dark brown hair, grey eyes, and tawny skin. He is fragile with a thin, high-cheekboned face.
A City: This large city stands astride a river and is mainly constructed of red brick. It is defended by arcane spells and its most noteworthy feature is the colorful elven quarter.
A Room: It's an ample room, but quite dreary. The walls are obscured entirely by floor to ceiling bookshelves, broken up by sheer, hospitalish green-beige curtains on the windows.
Those last three could easily be jumping off points for stories. That elven quarter, for example, sounds fascinating or scary as all get-out, depending on the type of elves that live there. This site generates writing seeds. A few things it 'built' for me are now incubating. Hopefully a story or two will result.
Try it out and let us in the Vernon Library group know if it works for you. If you have favorite generator sites, please share them in the comments.
* Cat waxing: any behavior an author undertakes to avoid working on the WIP. No live cats are actually waxed, at least not twice!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Writing Tips
1. Cut the boring parts
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard
Unless you’re writing for personal reasons alone, you need to consider the attention of your readers. There’s no point is publishing content that isn’t useful, interesting, or both.
2. Eliminate unnecessary words
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain
I used to feel that using words like “really”, “actually”, or “extremely” made writing more forceful. It doesn’t. They only get in the way. Cut them and never look back. Write with passion
3. Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
It’s not hard to realize that unless you’re excited about your writing no one else will be.
4. Paint a picture
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov
Simply stating something is fine, but when you need to capture attention, using similes, metaphors, and vivid imagery to paint a picture creates a powerful emotional response.
5. Keep it simple
Vigorous writing is concise. ~William Strunk Jr.
Maybe it was all those late nights, struggling to fill out mandatory 10 page papers, but many people seem to think that worthwhile writing is long and drawn out. It’s more difficult (and effective) to express yourself in the simplest possible manner.
6. Do it for love
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay. ~Mark Twain
When you’re just starting out it’s hard to decide where to begin. So don’t. Just start writing. A blog is a good place to start. The most valuable benefit is the feedback.
7. Learn to thrive on criticism
You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. ~Ray Bradbury
Writing means putting yourself at the mercy of anonymous hecklers and shameless sycophants. Learn to make the most of the insults and distrust the praise.
8. Write all the time
Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. ~Ray BradburyThe way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything. ~John Irving
9. Write what you know … or what you want to know
If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. ~Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLearn as much by writing as by reading. ~Lord Acton
Successful writing is all about trust and authority. It makes sense to write about your area of expertise. If you don’t have an expertise, reading and writing is the best way to develop one and put it on display.
10. Be unique and unpredictable
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. ~G.K. ChestertonConsistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. ~Oscar WildeZest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto. ~Ray Bradbury
Following what works will only get you so far. Experiment with new styles, even if it means taking criticism. Without moving forward, you’ll be left behind.
(Credit for the above goes to: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/art-of-writing/)
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard
Unless you’re writing for personal reasons alone, you need to consider the attention of your readers. There’s no point is publishing content that isn’t useful, interesting, or both.
2. Eliminate unnecessary words
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain
I used to feel that using words like “really”, “actually”, or “extremely” made writing more forceful. It doesn’t. They only get in the way. Cut them and never look back. Write with passion
3. Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
It’s not hard to realize that unless you’re excited about your writing no one else will be.
4. Paint a picture
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov
Simply stating something is fine, but when you need to capture attention, using similes, metaphors, and vivid imagery to paint a picture creates a powerful emotional response.
5. Keep it simple
Vigorous writing is concise. ~William Strunk Jr.
Maybe it was all those late nights, struggling to fill out mandatory 10 page papers, but many people seem to think that worthwhile writing is long and drawn out. It’s more difficult (and effective) to express yourself in the simplest possible manner.
6. Do it for love
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay. ~Mark Twain
When you’re just starting out it’s hard to decide where to begin. So don’t. Just start writing. A blog is a good place to start. The most valuable benefit is the feedback.
7. Learn to thrive on criticism
You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. ~Ray Bradbury
Writing means putting yourself at the mercy of anonymous hecklers and shameless sycophants. Learn to make the most of the insults and distrust the praise.
8. Write all the time
Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. ~Ray BradburyThe way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything. ~John Irving
9. Write what you know … or what you want to know
If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. ~Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLearn as much by writing as by reading. ~Lord Acton
Successful writing is all about trust and authority. It makes sense to write about your area of expertise. If you don’t have an expertise, reading and writing is the best way to develop one and put it on display.
10. Be unique and unpredictable
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. ~G.K. ChestertonConsistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. ~Oscar WildeZest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto. ~Ray Bradbury
Following what works will only get you so far. Experiment with new styles, even if it means taking criticism. Without moving forward, you’ll be left behind.
(Credit for the above goes to: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/art-of-writing/)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The Draughtsman
By Wendy Werdan
From curled toes to the ankles
I sketch in graphite,
his fibula shrinking with distance,
in a contour line of inner and outer edges,
along the calf,
stretching upwards,
cross-hatching strokes
and irregular line breaks.
I blend and shade,
the ball and socket of his knees,
continuing slowly to his thighs,
and the drapery that flows over them.
No longer two dimensional,
he develops with the smooth form of his gluteus,
arms folded in front of his brawny torso,
rendering the texture of muscles,
linking the rotation of the spinal column.
His broad shoulders emerge,
the curve of his extended neckline progresses
to a blank expression as he looks away,
while his lustrous locks --dangle freely.
From curled toes to the ankles
I sketch in graphite,
his fibula shrinking with distance,
in a contour line of inner and outer edges,
along the calf,
stretching upwards,
cross-hatching strokes
and irregular line breaks.
I blend and shade,
the ball and socket of his knees,
continuing slowly to his thighs,
and the drapery that flows over them.
No longer two dimensional,
he develops with the smooth form of his gluteus,
arms folded in front of his brawny torso,
rendering the texture of muscles,
linking the rotation of the spinal column.
His broad shoulders emerge,
the curve of his extended neckline progresses
to a blank expression as he looks away,
while his lustrous locks --dangle freely.
Shades of Gray
By Carol Keene
I want my shadow back on the ground beside me,
Not clinging to me, so I have to lug it around
Through the puddles of this doleful, dreary day.
I want it to pat the pavement, fondle the floor,
Caress the curb, grope the ground, and
Stop hanging on me like a whiny four-year old!
I want my shadow back on the ground beside me,
Not clinging to me, so I have to lug it around
Through the puddles of this doleful, dreary day.
I want it to pat the pavement, fondle the floor,
Caress the curb, grope the ground, and
Stop hanging on me like a whiny four-year old!
March
By Carol Keene
March does not march,
As one would expect.
It's the month that saunters.
March takes her sweet time.
She meanders... dilly-dallies.
She pages through her days
With indecision, often favoring
Shades of gray,
Or blowing entirely white again,
Like January.
Oh, she’ll try on a couple of
Sunny, warm days,
But March finds comfort
In melancholy.
She isn’t about to rush
Into anything as flashy as April.
March does not march,
As one would expect.
It's the month that saunters.
March takes her sweet time.
She meanders... dilly-dallies.
She pages through her days
With indecision, often favoring
Shades of gray,
Or blowing entirely white again,
Like January.
Oh, she’ll try on a couple of
Sunny, warm days,
But March finds comfort
In melancholy.
She isn’t about to rush
Into anything as flashy as April.
For A Season
By Carol Keene
You loved me for a season.
The hot season,
Like the lust we wove into a fabric,
Sheer and gossamere as a sundress.
You loved me for a season,
Despite my hopes, my dreams,
It lasted no more than one literal season.
From warm through hot to tepid;
Like water flowing from a faucet
That spews its heat and runs out of
Steam just when you get used to it.
You loved me for a season,
And as our love cooled,
Your voice, no longer melodic,
Became cold, impatient, abrupt.
You loved me for a season,
And fall is what I did
When the heat of summer chilled.
You loved me for a season.
The hot season,
Like the lust we wove into a fabric,
Sheer and gossamere as a sundress.
You loved me for a season,
Despite my hopes, my dreams,
It lasted no more than one literal season.
From warm through hot to tepid;
Like water flowing from a faucet
That spews its heat and runs out of
Steam just when you get used to it.
You loved me for a season,
And as our love cooled,
Your voice, no longer melodic,
Became cold, impatient, abrupt.
You loved me for a season,
And fall is what I did
When the heat of summer chilled.
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