Winter Image Challenge

The image is of a snow covered tire, the little red berries surrounding it. Take this image and think about it a moment. Write me something, a poem, a story, a stream of consciousness ramble. Describe it if you like. Or go somewhere else completely. . .

Pretend you've fallen and this is what you see. Is the tire part of a yard? In the middle of the woods? The remains of a winter evening car crash?

Are the specks of red berries or fairy eggs? Are they mystic berries or poison for the unfaithful spouse?

Or is this image about the snow for you? Is your story about the cold? Is your poem about the winter?

This the Guild's first image challenge. Others should feel free to post images and challenge their fellow writers. Or maybe tell us about an image that you wrote about. This is your mission: visual inspiration. Tell us about it. You don't have to post your work or the result of the inspiration. Just the "about".

Have fun, and happy holidays!

Inspiration in Weird News

So, I have a little box on my yahoo homepage that is weird news feeds from the associated press and international news papers. It has things like stories that involve men who bite dogs and dogs who decide they want to drive their owner's minivans into doughnut shops.
Recently, however, I've discovered that this little box that I glance over every now and then often times has a lot of unusual stories that I can use.
It has become a source of inspiration.
It didn't hit me that I used my weird news feed for anything other than something to read to pass time until I found myself dragging an article about a burglar being trapped in a house that he was trying to rob by a ghost into my One Note (I love one note. Have I mentioned this?) and went over a couple of ideas that might make somewhat amusing short stories.
I just found it interesting that something I barely even look at unless the headline really grabs me turned out to be a major source of inspiration for me.
Hum, so I thought it was useful and interesting. *shrug* I think I might have some incentive to write this Christmas break. And half my work is done for me, haha.
-Kimmi

NaNoWriMo: Finish Line. Not Quite but Kinda.

Can you believe November is over? I just barely crossed the 50k line myself. And that was without my actual novel reaching anything close to a conclusion. I still have work to do if it's going to be anything. This year wasn't a great year for writing but it did teach me a few things:

Head starts are awesome. I was sick for a week. I took tons of days off, but because of the head start I got on my word count goal (10k in three days), I was able to keep up. Also, I learned that I can write wayyyyy too many words in a weekend if I put my mind to it.

Journals are the bomb diggity. I kept a NaNo journal on my One Note. It really kept me informed of where I was lacking and when I was a powerhouse. I also realized that One Note is so convenient that I'll probably be using it for everything from a food journal to a poetry diary.

NaNoWriYe. So maybe it's not national, but I think I could benefit from a National Novel Writing Year. I'm at that age. I need to be working my baby. It's that time. I've got to keep my writing chiselled to rock hard syntax perfection and get my dialogue lookin' sexy. This is the year. I say that all the time. Every year. However, my life is about to hit an oil slick. I'm going to be tossed out on my butt careerwise. Also, I realized that several of my stories have not been worked on since '06. What happened to '07 and '08? Seriously. College. Anyhow, this year needs to be the year that something is done. Who's with me?

*silence*

Seriously, any takers?

*crickets*

Well, I'm still doing it. Here goes an entire year of setting goals and failing. I mean, overcoming obsticals. Yeah. That's what I meant. I plan on keeping up with my failures and my successes in a journal. What do you guys think? Is the writing journal worth the extra writing? This question goes out to those of you who know about my list obsession...

NaNoWriMo

Yep, can't wait for it to start! I hope I've planned enough this go around to ya know... actually get more than one long breakfast scene finished.
I love my little calander, though. Maybe it'll help me get finished more quickly or summthin.
Writing party here we come! We must prepare and get nummy snacks and such... hummmmm....

Nanowrimo

So yeah I'm doing it....



Savvs

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo--aka National Novel Writing Month--starts at Midnight, Oct. 31st and goes until Midnight, Nov. 30th. I know of at least three partcipants that frequent this blog: myself, Slinky--the offcial Nano Pimp--and Kimmi. We're currently trying to talk a few more people into participating with us.

So, the short of it: 30 days, 50,000 words. That's it. What do you win? The satisfaction of knowing you have completed a full novel--or maybe not, maybe you just did the beginning or beginning and middle of a novel in 50,000 words, it works--in 30 days. It's hectic. It's hell. And it's a hell of a good time.

Now, as for myself, I'm doing a rewrite of a novel that I hope to publish one day. A COMPLETE REWRITE! I've kept meaning to. Now, I have no reason not to.

I'll let the others post here and let them tell you about their works. My is entitled Dark Mistress and the Lady of Light. Well, happy Nanoing!

INSPIRATION

I have found it...Eureka! In the most painful of ways too. My friend Zack professed his undying love for Hannah...his undying and painfully unrequited love I might add. Anyway four poems have come of it so far and I hope to write 3 more and then I will be at 100. Don't get me wrong I am not using his torture to simply get to 100, I am using his torture to fuel something beautiful! It is such a sad situation and just thought of it makes me sad. I will post them on here if anyone wants to read but isn't on Fictionpress.

Savvy

EEP!

don't know if anyone ever looks at this anymore...but I totally messed it up trying to edit my layout! Help Ariyanna FIX IT PLEASE!!!!!

A Bottle of Wine and Black Hair Dye

A Bottle of Wine and Black Hair Dye

I’ve seen the problems of this world

And to me has happened a few

But I’ll save this song for the ones that know

My woe is found in you

You take me for the ride of my life

With no direction where to go

The trail marked lightly down the map

The future no one can know

Laughing.

Singing.

Shouting.

Crying.

I gave my best

It was all I had

But it wasn't good enough for you

The problems of this world are far and wide

With my problems just a few

But I’ll solve mine with a bottle of wine

And black hair dye

So Baby, Here’s to you

Let me know what you think, it is already posted on Fictionpress. I dyed my hair to try to get out the red and it inspired the poem. Cause people think with my hair black it is like some kind of emo expression or something lol.

Savvy AKA LoneLilyintheGarden

Ah to be inspired...

I was hoping to have a post talking about what inspires me to write poetry. Well the answer is definitely everything, however lately I have been particulary uninspired. I hate the feeling of searching my brain for inspiration. There is this huge wall, surround by a fog, surround by an electrical shock fence, and I can't get through. Everytime I attempt to write uninspired it feels as if I have just hit that wall at about 90 mph. In other words, I have writers block. Seems like the only way I can write is if I am in love or I hate everyone. Which isn't really good terms to write on. My poems are like my diary screaming out loud, they are the reason I live, the breath of my being, the definition of me, and my soul is completely poured into each and every drop of ink I spill onto the page. The pain of being without inspiration is an extreme downer, a downer without a fix. Nothing will give me the high I need to write. I don't mean a physical high, but an emotional high. I wanna be able to close my eyes and see dreams come true, visit other worlds, murder with my thought, and love and be loved unconditionally for who I am and who I can be. So I guess it just boils down I need something life altering to happen in my life or my fictionpress account may never make it to 100! So what inspires you, any idea how to free the writer form the block.

The Painfully Less Inspired Savvy

CrushCrushCrush on Fiction

Fictional crushes. We think they're silly when they concern a game junky drooling over his favorite digital rendering of a big boobed elf, but there's more to fictional crushes than hormones. Now, let's get something straight, the fictional crushes I'm discussing do not involve Gary Sue the lovable emo warrior or your favorite Harlequin hunk. I'm concerned with the characters who stay with you, the ones who remain long after the spine is broken and the pages memorized. I'm talking personalities, realistic but unreal.

Books. Television. Movies. Comics. Games.
Full of people who aren't real. Sure, they may look like people you know, they may be played by famous actors. But the characters themselves are pure fiction. So how do you crush on a fictional someone? It's pretty easy: you get addicted.

Does prefered gender matter? Probably not. If the crush concerns a character outside of your orientation, you'd probably consider the character to simply be a favorite. But there's an attractive quality to personalities can't live without.

As a writer, I collect these personalities, store away my crushes for later, but not for real-life comparasions when I'm looking for a prospective date. No, fictional crushes stay in fiction, are torn apart and put back together again to become something new. To become another reader's fictional crush.

I can't wait to make a few of my own.

The Big Fish Assignment

I doubt that I will blog very often on assignments given in class; however, I felt that this one could be beneficial to The Guild. In my Advanced Composition class, our first workshop assignment is based on Big Fish, the famed novel and Tim Burton movie. In the book/movie, an old man tells his son stories from his past, all of them outlandish and over the top but based in truth. The son doesn't appreciate his stories because he wants the facts about his father's life, partly because of his nature as a newspaper journalist. Our assignment is to find a newspaper article and use the facts of that article to create a very outlandish short story with strong narrative, elaborate description, and, of course, the human element (in Big Fish, it was a love story and a father/son story).

I've read other writing aids which mention drawing inspiration from the bare facts of newspaper articles, and I look forward to this assignment. My own story will involve a monkey interrupting commuters in Tokyo (that's the article's contribution). Other Guild members might be interesting in attempting this assignment on their own time. I think this experiement with fact and fantasy could be used in novels (obviously), short stories, and even poetry--for poetry, though, you would most likely be diving into the human emotions related to the facts of the stories.

As writers, we all draw material from real life, often our own life. But, if you're in a rut, this assignment could help you dig your way back to the surface.

New Frontiers...Sort Of

So, I had a story idea long ago for something called Script Frenzy. However, I was not built for script writing. More power to those who are. But I loved the story. As a script, I was seeing it as a TV series. As a story, it was a novel/book.

But I got to thinking: What if I treated this story as "seasons" of a TV show? Each piece (a short story piece being at least 6 to 10 pages in length) would be an "episode" and the overall collection would be the "seasons."

I have never before had my blood pumping so excitedly for short story writing in my entire life! I can't wait to do little exercises to get to know my characters. I also can't wait to structure my "seasons" which will each contain about 26 episodes.

So, I felt creative. Any thoughts?

blogs,blogs, and more blogs...

How in the world do you invite members?? I started a new blog...I created a profile so you can get to it that way but I want it shining on the dashboard of my dear friends!!(this means you)

Little HELP please!

Peace

Savvy

For Fear of Fantasy

So I'm afraid of fantasy. Why would I be scared of this genre? Why not Horror or Suspense Thriller or Comedy or Young Adult or, dare I, Romance? Fantasy. Scares me because I know it best.

I know the worlds. I know what makes I High Fantasy high. I know it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'm a fan of the good. I'm afraid I write the ugly. The cliche, seen this a thousand times before, fictions riddles with borrowings from other authors and hollow of significance.

Sometimes when I attempt fantasy (and not in short doses but in novel-riffic ideas) I get lost in the story, the difficult details, the magic, government, military, journey. . .Which sucks because my favorite part of any book is the characters. I love humanity--the awkwardness, the struggle, the emotion--and I love characters in my favorite books as if they were real people. I cry for them, I squee for them, and, sometimes, I long for their company. However, characters never quite come to full light in my fantasy. They blend in with the stereotypical fantasy characters. I can classify them on sight and sort them into groups. I hate that.

So. I have a plan. And if you know me, you know my love for plans. Here it goes: next time I go to pen a story idea, I'm going to pause. I'm going to do what I really love first. I'm going to set the cast and write through them, know their ends and outs before I ever drench their world in magic and dreams. And to know a person is to know their life, their world. Knowing them and the decisions they've made (or not made) will paint my fantasy dream for me.

Summer heat sucks more than energy...

It also seems to suck inspiration and general ability to think coherently from someone foolish enough to acknowledge that it is summer, and then innocently realizes they have free time to actually do something.
Ariyana and I were discussing this earlier on the phone. Why is it, when you have the time, the peace and quiet an empty home provides, the knowledge that you have absolutely NOTHING to do it is almost impossible to pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and write something? Its almost as if as the temprerature rises outside the ability to be creative lowers.
And of course, when you're in full swing of college with a full 15 hour course load, 3 papers, 2 projects, and 54 hours of observations to complete within the next week and a half in seems as if nothing but ideas, characters, locations, situations, and conflicts fill your head, begging to be released.
What's the point of having a break when you are unable to do what you want?
Might as well cancel summer if that's the case.
राजकुमारी
Kimmi