I am deeply saddened to say that this morning a beautiful life left the world and was taken up to heaven.
The one and only Mrs. MW, lost her battle with cancer this morning. She was a fighter and fought the disease with every fiber of her being for much longer than I can imagine.
Although we were not related by blood, I considered, and will always consider her one of my grandmothers. She had an uncanny ability to change the temperature of a room, just by walking into it. Her smile was always bright and her laugh was utterly infectious. I will honestly miss it.
MW was a woman that I consider to be true, genuine and real. She was herself, and there was no pretending about it. She was a passionate woman who loved her husband, three children, children in law, grandchildren and even "pseudo" family members, like myself, completely. She would have done anything for them.
She was a wonderful cook, a classy hostess and a brilliant mind.
Never during her battle with cancer did I see her stop thinking of others. She still cared for everyone around her;
Even during rough patches, and after chemo, she would show her support for her family.
I will be eternally grateful for everything she did for me, all the bright words of wisdom she passed on, and every moment we were able to share.
Right now, as my hands slip over my tear filled keyboard, I can only imagine how her loss is being felt by those who knew her better than I.
To her family, and friends I say,
We will miss her always, she was eternally bright and kind, and that sort of warmth never leaves us. Although her spirit has left this world, her laughter will stay with us.
Mary, I love you. You are terribly missed.
Heaven has gained a beautiful Angel.
-Brandolyn
Wednesday 29 February 2012
How I Start Writing a Novel
I have been told for as long I can can remember, by teachers,
co-workers, friends and family that my writing style is backwards. I
cannot wait until I publish a book, so that I can prove to my elementary
teachers, that my style for creating stories actually works.
I am not outlining my creative process as an instructive tool, this style will likely only work for me, and a select few others whos' brains are wired differently than the rest of society's, instead I am illustrating my creative process as an insight to how I work, to illustrate the differences and similarities between everyone's individual road to creating a piece of art.
Whenever I sit down to write, the first thing I do is not to come up with a moral, or challenge, or even a character. Instead I turn to my music, and hit shuffle.
My music is purely instrumental, primarily comprised of movies scores, and I close my eyes and wait for a title to reveal itself to me.
Most people find the title the hardest part of writing a story and save it for last. I need it to be the first stepping stone. After I have an attention grabbing title, everything else starts to fit into place.
Generic characters come next. First I decide if my main character will be female, or male, then I decide how many secondary characters I want. Creating characters is tedious work, so I start with the basics; name, age, height, defining characteristics (physical and mental). Every one of my characters, even minor ones, are unique. From there I will go on to sketch each character.
I have two characters that I have recently noticed have a few similarities in their character designs; both exotic females in their own worlds, both with black hair, who wield a bow and arrow, but that's as far as the similarities go. Their body type, their apparel, unique abilities, religious beliefs, up bringing, allies, enemies, negative attributes, to name a few are completely different, as are the journeys they are on.
After creating so many characters, I realise I am bound to repeat a few physical attributes, like hair colour.
After the characters are roughed out, and sometimes during the process, I create the world they come from. Creating a world demands races, religions, counties, provinces, continents, a governing structure, jobs, some sort of struggling force; whether it is a race, a class, two provinces, or a group. The map of the world must be completed with forests, bodies of water, mountain ranges and other types of terrain.
During this part of my process I have usually come up with a general idea of the sort of story I want my characters to tell, whether it is an adventure and all I need to do is connect the dots across my map, or if I will have a certain plot point that will ask the reader to consider a certain question or moral standing.
Then it's off to the Library for Research!
I look into the clothing, housing, ornamentation, architecture, and geography that I want to portray in the story. I take notes, redraw items, and copy pages to keep for reference.
**Please note: Everything I draw, write, research, or reference stays both as a hard copy and a soft copy, for easy reference. **
My "Novel Binder" has all of the information that pertains to the story;
Character sketches
Life Models
Actors and look-a-likes
Maps
Geographic drawings
Architectural references
Races
Jobs
Names
Places
Costume renderings
Creatures
and the story itself
One of my current novels, TToA has an entire section dedicated to the various steeds and mounts each of the characters ride, complete with breeds, colour guide and accessories.
After the research I simply put a pen to paper and see where it takes me.
I prefer to write on paper for a few very simple reasons:
1- I have horrible hand writing and I want it to improve
2- I like the feel of a ballpoint pen as it rolls across a piece of paper
3- I like the smell of paper
Eventually when I have a significant chunk of story to input into the computer, I tend to gravitate to writing on the computer simply for the convenience of not having to write it twice. I find it important to start off writing on paper, as it gets me invested in the work. Pen and paper seems to hold my attention far better than my computer with it's distracting windows and easy access to Internet distractions. I am very sorry to say that I have lost many a good writing hour to the simple distractions of websites like YouTube and Texts From Last Night.
Once I have started writing the story and know a very general idea of where the story is going I will revisit my characters and develop them by writing short stories about their history. Generally these short stories are never referenced but they help me understand the characters' complexities and decisions making process.
Many of my characters are based on people I know, or at least have some of the characteristics of real people, whether the characters are good or bad is not defined by the person from whom I have borrowed likeness'. Rarely is anyone ever able to identify the character I have based on them, with the exception of the character I named after my sister.
The story outline often reveals certain challenges and moral outcomes that the novel will present and surround. These I try to highlight and refer to often. These must be re-occurring themes, and will resurface periodically. <-- This is really the only part I need to remind myself to write about.
From there I just follow my fingers. I let my brain take control, zone out for a bit, and read what I have produced afterwards.
It's difficult to explain but my stories just flow from me, like the river being fed by the ocean. On occasion I have sat down and asked for logistical assistance with an issue or particularily difficult manuever performed in the story that I need help visualizing, but otherwise, my fingers seem to know what I am trying to say before my brain realizes it. I think that is why I have a hard time focussign on one novel, because once you open the floodgates to the ocean, you cannot control what water gets in.
This is not the style I reccomend for anyone. I rarely use an outline, something most writers highly suggest (maybe one day I will too) but for now I will literally go with the flow.
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-64,492
TDotRQ-37,276
I am not outlining my creative process as an instructive tool, this style will likely only work for me, and a select few others whos' brains are wired differently than the rest of society's, instead I am illustrating my creative process as an insight to how I work, to illustrate the differences and similarities between everyone's individual road to creating a piece of art.
Whenever I sit down to write, the first thing I do is not to come up with a moral, or challenge, or even a character. Instead I turn to my music, and hit shuffle.
My music is purely instrumental, primarily comprised of movies scores, and I close my eyes and wait for a title to reveal itself to me.
Most people find the title the hardest part of writing a story and save it for last. I need it to be the first stepping stone. After I have an attention grabbing title, everything else starts to fit into place.
Generic characters come next. First I decide if my main character will be female, or male, then I decide how many secondary characters I want. Creating characters is tedious work, so I start with the basics; name, age, height, defining characteristics (physical and mental). Every one of my characters, even minor ones, are unique. From there I will go on to sketch each character.
I have two characters that I have recently noticed have a few similarities in their character designs; both exotic females in their own worlds, both with black hair, who wield a bow and arrow, but that's as far as the similarities go. Their body type, their apparel, unique abilities, religious beliefs, up bringing, allies, enemies, negative attributes, to name a few are completely different, as are the journeys they are on.
After creating so many characters, I realise I am bound to repeat a few physical attributes, like hair colour.
After the characters are roughed out, and sometimes during the process, I create the world they come from. Creating a world demands races, religions, counties, provinces, continents, a governing structure, jobs, some sort of struggling force; whether it is a race, a class, two provinces, or a group. The map of the world must be completed with forests, bodies of water, mountain ranges and other types of terrain.
During this part of my process I have usually come up with a general idea of the sort of story I want my characters to tell, whether it is an adventure and all I need to do is connect the dots across my map, or if I will have a certain plot point that will ask the reader to consider a certain question or moral standing.
Then it's off to the Library for Research!
I look into the clothing, housing, ornamentation, architecture, and geography that I want to portray in the story. I take notes, redraw items, and copy pages to keep for reference.
**Please note: Everything I draw, write, research, or reference stays both as a hard copy and a soft copy, for easy reference. **
My "Novel Binder" has all of the information that pertains to the story;
Character sketches
Life Models
Actors and look-a-likes
Maps
Geographic drawings
Architectural references
Races
Jobs
Names
Places
Costume renderings
Creatures
and the story itself
One of my current novels, TToA has an entire section dedicated to the various steeds and mounts each of the characters ride, complete with breeds, colour guide and accessories.
After the research I simply put a pen to paper and see where it takes me.
I prefer to write on paper for a few very simple reasons:
1- I have horrible hand writing and I want it to improve
2- I like the feel of a ballpoint pen as it rolls across a piece of paper
3- I like the smell of paper
Eventually when I have a significant chunk of story to input into the computer, I tend to gravitate to writing on the computer simply for the convenience of not having to write it twice. I find it important to start off writing on paper, as it gets me invested in the work. Pen and paper seems to hold my attention far better than my computer with it's distracting windows and easy access to Internet distractions. I am very sorry to say that I have lost many a good writing hour to the simple distractions of websites like YouTube and Texts From Last Night.
Once I have started writing the story and know a very general idea of where the story is going I will revisit my characters and develop them by writing short stories about their history. Generally these short stories are never referenced but they help me understand the characters' complexities and decisions making process.
Many of my characters are based on people I know, or at least have some of the characteristics of real people, whether the characters are good or bad is not defined by the person from whom I have borrowed likeness'. Rarely is anyone ever able to identify the character I have based on them, with the exception of the character I named after my sister.
The story outline often reveals certain challenges and moral outcomes that the novel will present and surround. These I try to highlight and refer to often. These must be re-occurring themes, and will resurface periodically. <-- This is really the only part I need to remind myself to write about.
From there I just follow my fingers. I let my brain take control, zone out for a bit, and read what I have produced afterwards.
It's difficult to explain but my stories just flow from me, like the river being fed by the ocean. On occasion I have sat down and asked for logistical assistance with an issue or particularily difficult manuever performed in the story that I need help visualizing, but otherwise, my fingers seem to know what I am trying to say before my brain realizes it. I think that is why I have a hard time focussign on one novel, because once you open the floodgates to the ocean, you cannot control what water gets in.
This is not the style I reccomend for anyone. I rarely use an outline, something most writers highly suggest (maybe one day I will too) but for now I will literally go with the flow.
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-64,492
TDotRQ-37,276
Writer's Block
Most people know the definition of Writer's Block.
For the masses, Writer's Block is conceived as two ideas;
The general public visualises a mental barricade, which separates ideas from the brain, resulting in a lack of creativity.
My more "creatively inclined" friends, will visualise the Gamecube (from ReBoot) coming down and physically separating them from the tangible world, in which their writing utensils reside, preventing them from putting words on a paper.
For myself, Writer's Block is an entirely different matter. I very rarely have a drought of imagination, instead, my sessions of Writer's Block happen when my creativity is at its highest. I see Writer's Block as a sort of Sensory Overload where I have too many ideas to write down, and not enough time, or patience to sort through them.
I have several novels that I am working on at the moment for exactly that reason. Every time I put one story aside to focus on another, I get more ideas for new stories and ways to improve old ones. It is incredibly difficult to make significant leaps toward the completion of a manuscript when I am constantly working in short bursts. I have several partially completed works, and none that are finished and ready to send off to an editor.
I am constantly flipping from story to story, it's a wonder I can keep them straight in my head.
However, I get a lot of joy in re-reading old stories, or ones I haven't visited in a while. I have even been known to surprise myself!
Believe it or not, I have actually been reading my own work and wondered "How did I get them out of this mess?" Historically speaking, I have been very impressed with the outcome. I like being surprised in everything I read, and I get a twisted sense of pleasure from surprising myself. This may come from the many versions of my stories. Every chapter has been re-written hundreds of times, each with a different sequence of events and outcome, or it could be caused by my spotty memory, honestly I cannot remember.
At present I am working on a few other blog posts- I had to get this one out of the way first. I'm desperately hoping that this will help me focus my creativity.
I am also working on two of my novels: G and TToA (although I pick up DotRQ and TB quite frequently), as well as a short story about the effects of MS on Mental Health, a few more of my pen pal letters (I have written many copies, and Ladies and Gents, I may just send you several different letters and let you pick one to reply to, I cannot pick a favourite). I also have the beginning ideas for a graphic novel, which would surround some of my first novel's main characters in small "novellas" that never appear in the actual novel, but are very exciting and although not necessary for the character's development, the stories are nice to know.
As I write this I realize it has had the opposite effect I had desired, and has made me more susceptible to ideas. My next blog, which will likely be uploaded within the next few hours, will detail my unique writing style. How I write, create, sort my ideas into stories, and how I build up characters.
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-64,492
TDotRQ-37,276
For the masses, Writer's Block is conceived as two ideas;
The general public visualises a mental barricade, which separates ideas from the brain, resulting in a lack of creativity.
My more "creatively inclined" friends, will visualise the Gamecube (from ReBoot) coming down and physically separating them from the tangible world, in which their writing utensils reside, preventing them from putting words on a paper.
For myself, Writer's Block is an entirely different matter. I very rarely have a drought of imagination, instead, my sessions of Writer's Block happen when my creativity is at its highest. I see Writer's Block as a sort of Sensory Overload where I have too many ideas to write down, and not enough time, or patience to sort through them.
I have several novels that I am working on at the moment for exactly that reason. Every time I put one story aside to focus on another, I get more ideas for new stories and ways to improve old ones. It is incredibly difficult to make significant leaps toward the completion of a manuscript when I am constantly working in short bursts. I have several partially completed works, and none that are finished and ready to send off to an editor.
I am constantly flipping from story to story, it's a wonder I can keep them straight in my head.
However, I get a lot of joy in re-reading old stories, or ones I haven't visited in a while. I have even been known to surprise myself!
Believe it or not, I have actually been reading my own work and wondered "How did I get them out of this mess?" Historically speaking, I have been very impressed with the outcome. I like being surprised in everything I read, and I get a twisted sense of pleasure from surprising myself. This may come from the many versions of my stories. Every chapter has been re-written hundreds of times, each with a different sequence of events and outcome, or it could be caused by my spotty memory, honestly I cannot remember.
At present I am working on a few other blog posts- I had to get this one out of the way first. I'm desperately hoping that this will help me focus my creativity.
I am also working on two of my novels: G and TToA (although I pick up DotRQ and TB quite frequently), as well as a short story about the effects of MS on Mental Health, a few more of my pen pal letters (I have written many copies, and Ladies and Gents, I may just send you several different letters and let you pick one to reply to, I cannot pick a favourite). I also have the beginning ideas for a graphic novel, which would surround some of my first novel's main characters in small "novellas" that never appear in the actual novel, but are very exciting and although not necessary for the character's development, the stories are nice to know.
As I write this I realize it has had the opposite effect I had desired, and has made me more susceptible to ideas. My next blog, which will likely be uploaded within the next few hours, will detail my unique writing style. How I write, create, sort my ideas into stories, and how I build up characters.
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-64,492
TDotRQ-37,276
Thursday 16 February 2012
Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
I never quite understood the saying, "life is like a box of chocolates" until I really started thinking about it.
The more I pondered the similarities and differences between the complexities of life and a colourful, fun shaped box of assorted treats, the more I realised that Forest Gump's Momma had it right.
Initially I found the saying ridiculous. I figured that life isn't like a box of chocolates at all. A box of chocolates comes with a picture guided legend of all the assorted chocolates held within. Therefore you always knew what you were going to get, and you could separate the chocolates easily.
-Separate the chocolates you cannot eat because of any dietary restrictions and the ones you simply find disgusting, or are not willing to risk trying and put rejected chocolates in a pile
-Eat the rest
You now have a choice of what to do with the rejected chocolates:
A) Throw rejected chocolates in the trash
B) Leave the rejected chocolates for your siblings; feigning thoughtfulness
C) Leave the rejected chocolates in a dish until you have company and let your guests take their chances
Now, however, after a few hours sitting awake in the middle of the night while my cats play never ending rounds of tag across my bed, I have realised that the initial statement "life is like a box of chocolates"couldn't be more accurate.
It occurred to me first while I mentally dissected a box of chocolates.
Take the chocolate that has the widely spread reputation of "worst chocolate ever": The chocolate covered Maraschino cherry.
For me, this chocolate represents- School.
Don't get me wrong, i didn't always hate school, in fact for years I loved it, and looked forward to it. As I aged however, and found all the cracks and issues with my current education system, that love has turned to repulsion. Just like the Maraschino Cherry.
As a child I delighted in getting the chocolate covered cherry. Cherries are delicacies, a treat, everyone loves them, and I felt very fortunate to always be given what I perceived as the best chocolate. I see now that I was given that chocolate because I was the only one who didn't know better than to love it. Now, even the thought of biting into one makes me cringe and gag- Just like the thought of school.
The Coconut filled chocolate represents - Environmental factors.
Coconut filled smells great, looks good, even tastes pretty good most of the time, but it's the texture and the lasting after taste that makes your teeth feel fuzzy that makes most people throw this particular chocolate away. This chocolate is everything that looks nice, and turns out to bite us in the end. Things like weather, or roommates, independence and materialism. Take getting a car, it's great, you're free to go wherever you want, whenever you want but you have to pay insurance, and buy gas and pay for maintenance and repairs etc.
The Chocolate covered wafer represents- Your job/ work or career.
For me this chocolate is the most deceiving. Looks amazing, like solid chocolate, then you bite into it to discover it's not what you thought.
I go in to work in the mornings loving my job, but when I take a bite out of my day, I realise my love for this job is an illusion and end up wishing I could just keep the sweet sugary part of my day and toss out the rest.
Then there are the nut filled chocolates- the untouchables.
That is, for someone with an allergy or restriction to eating nuts.
This is the chocolate that represents friends, family and acquaintances. You can't do anything about them, they're always there and will always in the box or at the party. Get used to it, just learn to keep you distance.
Unfortunately "I'm allergic to you" doesn't work when trying to keep ones' distance from another person.
Finally there's the pure chocolate piece. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate or swirl, either way it's pure and there are no surprises. This one piece (it's rare and everyone fights over the same chocolate) represents -the moments we never want to give up.
These moments are more valuable than gold, and the way people fight over this lone chocolate it might as well be made of gold.
This chocolate is the moments that we will remember forever, the ones that don't come by everyday. These are moments we want to share with our friends or keep to ourselves as a private secret from the world.
Moments like the first time you got butterflies looking at your crush, your first tentative kiss with your partner, a time when you told a joke that made an entire room fall to their knees crying with laughter, the moment you realised a dream had come true or even an unorthodox valentines date.
Remember forever. That's why people save this chocolate for last. They want to remember it, everything about it.
Life IS like a box of chocolates because as much as I wish I could throw out all the undesirable bits like homework and credit card payments, and leave only the best parts of life like dates nights and family time, it's the moments where you gag at the thought of school work or at the chalky taste of realisation when you discover your job is not what you thought it was, that makes the rare, special moments taste so good!
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-66,757
TDotRQ-37,276
The more I pondered the similarities and differences between the complexities of life and a colourful, fun shaped box of assorted treats, the more I realised that Forest Gump's Momma had it right.
Initially I found the saying ridiculous. I figured that life isn't like a box of chocolates at all. A box of chocolates comes with a picture guided legend of all the assorted chocolates held within. Therefore you always knew what you were going to get, and you could separate the chocolates easily.
-Separate the chocolates you cannot eat because of any dietary restrictions and the ones you simply find disgusting, or are not willing to risk trying and put rejected chocolates in a pile
-Eat the rest
You now have a choice of what to do with the rejected chocolates:
A) Throw rejected chocolates in the trash
B) Leave the rejected chocolates for your siblings; feigning thoughtfulness
C) Leave the rejected chocolates in a dish until you have company and let your guests take their chances
Now, however, after a few hours sitting awake in the middle of the night while my cats play never ending rounds of tag across my bed, I have realised that the initial statement "life is like a box of chocolates"couldn't be more accurate.
It occurred to me first while I mentally dissected a box of chocolates.
Take the chocolate that has the widely spread reputation of "worst chocolate ever": The chocolate covered Maraschino cherry.
For me, this chocolate represents- School.
Don't get me wrong, i didn't always hate school, in fact for years I loved it, and looked forward to it. As I aged however, and found all the cracks and issues with my current education system, that love has turned to repulsion. Just like the Maraschino Cherry.
As a child I delighted in getting the chocolate covered cherry. Cherries are delicacies, a treat, everyone loves them, and I felt very fortunate to always be given what I perceived as the best chocolate. I see now that I was given that chocolate because I was the only one who didn't know better than to love it. Now, even the thought of biting into one makes me cringe and gag- Just like the thought of school.
The Coconut filled chocolate represents - Environmental factors.
Coconut filled smells great, looks good, even tastes pretty good most of the time, but it's the texture and the lasting after taste that makes your teeth feel fuzzy that makes most people throw this particular chocolate away. This chocolate is everything that looks nice, and turns out to bite us in the end. Things like weather, or roommates, independence and materialism. Take getting a car, it's great, you're free to go wherever you want, whenever you want but you have to pay insurance, and buy gas and pay for maintenance and repairs etc.
The Chocolate covered wafer represents- Your job/ work or career.
For me this chocolate is the most deceiving. Looks amazing, like solid chocolate, then you bite into it to discover it's not what you thought.
I go in to work in the mornings loving my job, but when I take a bite out of my day, I realise my love for this job is an illusion and end up wishing I could just keep the sweet sugary part of my day and toss out the rest.
Then there are the nut filled chocolates- the untouchables.
That is, for someone with an allergy or restriction to eating nuts.
This is the chocolate that represents friends, family and acquaintances. You can't do anything about them, they're always there and will always in the box or at the party. Get used to it, just learn to keep you distance.
Unfortunately "I'm allergic to you" doesn't work when trying to keep ones' distance from another person.
Finally there's the pure chocolate piece. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate or swirl, either way it's pure and there are no surprises. This one piece (it's rare and everyone fights over the same chocolate) represents -the moments we never want to give up.
These moments are more valuable than gold, and the way people fight over this lone chocolate it might as well be made of gold.
This chocolate is the moments that we will remember forever, the ones that don't come by everyday. These are moments we want to share with our friends or keep to ourselves as a private secret from the world.
Moments like the first time you got butterflies looking at your crush, your first tentative kiss with your partner, a time when you told a joke that made an entire room fall to their knees crying with laughter, the moment you realised a dream had come true or even an unorthodox valentines date.
Remember forever. That's why people save this chocolate for last. They want to remember it, everything about it.
Life IS like a box of chocolates because as much as I wish I could throw out all the undesirable bits like homework and credit card payments, and leave only the best parts of life like dates nights and family time, it's the moments where you gag at the thought of school work or at the chalky taste of realisation when you discover your job is not what you thought it was, that makes the rare, special moments taste so good!
-Brandolyn
G-7,278
TToA-66,757
TDotRQ-37,276
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