Thursday, 30 October 2014

Naming characters and places.

One of my biggest problem, when writing, is naming characters and places.  I don't know why I can't go into specific details like that.  I find it hard to match name and character or name and places.  It is a strange feeling.  It feel unatural.  I don't understand how other authors can do so graceful match for their character's name.  I don't know what is their process to do so.

I have used the usual tricks of the trade.  Like taking names in the phone booth.  I also look at the name of authors on my bookshelves.  In both case, I mix the first and last names.  I don't have used that much often.  Another source of names comes from rocks and gems.  When using that trick, I only have a first name.  I used that mainly in fantasy and didn't felt the need of a last name.  I now see using names from gems have it's limits.  Names from mythology isn't much of an idea, I only good for the lesser known names.  I even looked at first names databases.  I found a few interesting names there.

Not easy to find names.  I like to use one of a kind names, not usual and common names.  Do I complicate my life on that?  Even there, I feel a bit strange and twisted on that matter.  Naming a character or a place is a big responsability.  I would like it fit the character and the place perfectly.  I don't know if there are more help for naming persons and places somewhere.  Meanwhile, I am on the look out for names.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

A few photos I found

I found a few photos.  I think I will use them for my tarot.  Don't know where yet.  Maybe in the pentacles suit,

I think both photos are great.  I don't know why I forgot about them.  I took them near a house.  I should return there and go to a few place I haven't been since a long time.  I am thinking of a place where there is a giant flat rock with trees growing on it.  I will have to wait for summer to take it but it will be great.  There are two other places I should take: an filled up well and a square rock near a lake.

Those photos are among the best I have taken until now.  Would be great to find other place that look like eery.  Thinking of it, I think I should go try on a place in the wood.  Again, I will have to wait for summer and a sunny day.  I hope it will go as I want.

It was fun finding those photos.  Would be great to makes other finds like that...

Monday, 27 October 2014

From an homework comes great ideas


 It is a piece of work I had done in an online class on writing.  It was the starting point for all my last post thinking.

                                               The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe

Since the dawn of my memories, I have been linked with humanity. Humans envied me. They have countless stories about my adventures. I'm considered a trickster. Forever.

I have been seen on battlefields. Feeding from the dead. It lead the living to think I have mystical abilities. I sometimes have my own doubts. Can I really lead the souls to the afterlife? Many people still believe in this, even today. I find that belief comforting, today even more.

With time, I met so many people. Old, young, famous, unknown, rich, poor. Death knows no boundary. I can’t say nothing more.
Once upon a midnight dreary, I met with someone. You may know his name. He spread both our names to fame. We both became immortal, imprinted in the collective mind. Forever.

Those who know respect my duty. Even with my fame, I am there. Always ready to spread the word: Nevermore. No more the deceased will live among the living. No more the soul be able to touch the warm flesh. Nevermore the contact between living and dead. Nevermore.

I may be considered evil. I may be a demon. I am accused to not have a heart, being devoid of sympathy. No need to call for a higher power. I follow the cycle of nature. For me, there is no heaven, no underworld. I am aware of the sorrow. I want people to be aware. The decease won’t come back.
Nevermore.

Thursday, 23 October 2014

Witches, werewolves and vampires

Halloween is around the corner.  Good time for horror stories.  Ghoul, witches, werewolves, vampire, ghosts are at a place of honor.  children have  costumes.  It is a big party now.  It is a good time to be scared while having fun, all at the same time.

I find that witches, werewolves and vampires are rich symbols on many levels.  They had been reinvented and expanded with time.  Once shunned upon, now, they are sexy and very "in".  I must admit I have fallen into the trend.  The symbols of Halloween is a source of inspiration.  This year, I feel a need to delve deeper into this darkness.  I want to try my hand for a zombie story.  It is very popular right now.  I am thinking to write that story and wait before making it public.  The first draft is the easiest part to do.  Working in it will take more time to do.  The time I finish working on this text and the zombie popularity will be a thing of the past.

I may go further.  Maybe that story will lead to other stories with darker theme.  I may want to go in that dark area on a more conscious level.  On an artistic level, I feel it is where I need to go.  It may be just a phase.  I don't care if it is just a phase.  The important is what I will learn from this whole thing.  I think this phase comes at the right time.  Fall is a period with less light.  It is getting darker. Halloween is the highlight of fall.  It is the celebration of what fall mean.  Maybe I have a synchronicity.  My artistic live meet the darkening of this time of the year.

It is my trend to do unusual theme.  I just want to take a step further.  Maybe I just had to think a little bit more.  Combined with a forgotten inspiration, it had set me on track.

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Lost in limbo.

I am in a period where I search for some specific objects.  It is for crafting, mainly for the Christmas gifts I am making.  I don't find them anywhere.  The fact that somebody had put some items into boxes doesn't hel0p me at all.

This situation makes me feel more mixed up than usual.  I don't find those materials where they were supposed to be.  I don't know where to search.  I ask to the person to help me.  That person end up not having a clue where it could be.  It is a frustrating situation.  He helped a bit by searching a few places, without success.

The solution would be to empty the boxes and organize everything my way.  This will takes time.  I am already so busy.  I have to be ready for Christmas.  I have a good head start for the more complicated parts of my gifts.  I have a few more things to do for ending those gift.

I hope to have some luck.  At worst, I will reorganize all this.  So, I may have a chance to find what I am searching for.  I am lucky in having some help in the search.  It was not a big search but was enough to clear a few place.  It was good to have four eyes to see, two heads to think where to search.  Would be good to have it a bit more than the time it was done.  I am lucky not be to be at the last minute.  I still have a bit of time to search before it is too late.

Monday, 20 October 2014

Remembering a storyline

I was hesitant to participate in Nanowrimo, this year.  Not long ago, I felt uninspired.  It changed this past Saturday.  I remembered that I do have an unwritten story.  I don't know why I forgot, or why I remembered.  How strange the brain makes connection, or how it remember.

I have an idea on how it stat, an idea for the middle and how it will end.  The main problem is linking all the dots.  I am the type to outline my stories before beginning.  I tired free form stories making along the way.  Fun to try but not every time I do nanowrimo.  It is not always easy to find ideas under pressure of time.  Especially for stories.  It is not easy to go where I wanted to go.  Ideas for plot line can be complex.  Getting the threads right is not always easy.  If I do free form, I am not sure I will have good result with this story.  If I do nanowrimo with the story, I want to be more prepare, this year.

The last story of a free form was a bit trying.  I didn't knew where to go for the story, a goal for the end.  I had a very good idea for the story.  I just didn't knew how to end it.  I also lack a bit of spice.  Everything in the story was going a bit too much smoothly.  For the present story, the one I want to do, I want to go further with the plot line.  Would be great if I could put the characters into hardship.  I want to do a story that have a lift.

I will put down the ideas I already have.  I will see if the story will unfold in the usual way.  The usual way, for me, being ideas from various sources: being in the shower, in dreams, etc...  Maybe I need a few days of brainstorming to fill the biggest gap.  It can take time to evolve into a rich filled story.  I'll see if a few days can be enough to have materials for 50 000 words.

Thursday, 16 October 2014

A pack of card

 I am listening a documentary on the history of playing cards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ6uhCIaKQA&index=152&list=WL
It is informative. I learned more on the playing cards.  I knew a bit about tarot cards.  I was thinking that the tarot was older than playing cards.  It seems not being the case.  There are a few books that I didn't knew about.  I may look at them, I think.  I feel I need to know more on that subject, that I didn't knew as mush as I thought.

I don't work hard on my personal tarot deck but this documentary already gives me inspiration.  I don't know exactly how but I have a few new ideas that I want to explore.  I don't know where it will go.  For sure, it is the process that is the most important.  For now, I don't think I will make it public (by selling it).  At the start, I was thinking to put a lot of nature.  By that, I was thinking of trees mainly on the minor cards.  I haven't thought much of the major arcana.   I have a few ideas on the major but nothing more.  It is probably where I will put my seed of inspiration to work.

I will have to get out for a few more photos.  Or takes a few pictures in my personal photo.  Maybe it is time to be more serious in taking notes.  I have to make a full tarot deck.  I don't want to forget cards.  No repeat either.  I do have a folder on what I had already done.  So, I don't start from nothing.  Time to get more structure, I think...

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Change of setting

For me, a change of setting is good.  It change my mind.  It is like opening a window to let fresh air to come into my mind.  Changing the scenery can help the creative mind.  It is a reset of the mind, to view things in a different angle.

It is also a time to find new source of inspiration.  It bring new sources of ideas.  Right now, I  live in a town, surrounded by cement, concrete and very few greenery.  Setting out of town put me in a greener environment.  It also an opportunity to enter in contact with different items.  They are not in my usual surrounding.  I can enter in contact with a lake, seashells, wildlife, etc..  It can be the start of the creative process.  New connection are made.

Seeing so much trees can be an idea for line to do elsewhere like plastic or color or the base for a jewelry piece.  The use of color can be inspired by being in this new environment.  It is strange how change can trigger ideas.  Maybe change of scenery have an impact on the mind.  A good one, for sure.  For me, a change of place is good for my creativity.

Monday, 13 October 2014

Strange shapes and unrelated thoughts

I like stumbling on strangely shaped objects.  What I like to most is when I see something totally different in an object.  For example, seeing a face in a natural rock.  Another one have similarity to a Moai.  I even seen a log that look like a leg. I seen it from afar.  The log had a bit of fungus and moss on it.  It was also rotting, I think.  I haven't gone closer, not to break the magic.  The illusion was enough to trick my eye. It is like looking at clouds and seeing something.

ON the other hand, it is a good thing to have this ability.  I find this inspiring.  I haven't created any story with the log yet.Sometimes, this ability can help to solve a problem.  It had happened often where I looked at something and end up finding a solution for something else.

Some read in tea leaves. I find part of my inspiration in strange shapes in nature. I don't know how it work exactly.  My mind can makes pairing with objects or concept.  It had helped me in the past.  It is something that I like when it happen.

Thursday, 9 October 2014

To do or not to do (Nanowrimo)

In this time of year, I start to ask myself this question: To do or not to do Nanowrimo (http://nanowrimo.org/)?
Nanowrimo is a month, the month of November, where people write like mad people.  The goal is to write 50 000 words in one month.  Even if it is all crap.  It is a time to shut up the inner critique and write like the wind.  In the past, it had helped me write many first drafts.  I could put down the essential of many stories.  Those stories were in my mind for many years.  It was therapeutic to put them on paper.  I needed the little push.  Since then, I am working in the correction of those stories.  Nanowritmo also happen in the summer and there is also the script version: Script Frenzy.  The website doesn't seems to be up, maybe it had been integrated into the main site.

This year, I don't have any story.  I pretty much written the stories I wanted to write.  No idea had presented itself to me.  I am a bit in a void.  There was two years where I wrote with a really bare outline, without a fixed story to tell.  On one of those year, I even took tarot cards to create the outline of a story.  Last time I had done it, I had the main idea: it was on a private Halloween party.  It was fun to do, a learning experience.  I have learned a lot.  This year, I just not in the mood to repeat that.  Or to repeat what I had already done.

I ask the title question also in the mind of what I want to do while doing Nanowrimo.  Of course, experimenting is giving me insight.  I learn on my limits, on expanding what I like or didn't like when writing.  Or, for example, last time I did Nanowrimo, it took me the whole 50 000 words to know a bit more on the storyline.  This year, I don't have the goal to write a story.  50 000 words is a goal by itself.   I can put 50 000 random words.  I won't learn anything on the side.  I want to grow as a writer.  Since I started to write,  I learned a lot on how my mind work, on my comfort zone and what will work when writing.  I know I can do 50 000 words if I want to, if I have a good idea, as I had in the past.  Will trying a new genre will help?  What do I want to write about?  I have to get enough ideas and themes; enough material for 50 000 words.

I am still in the thinking process.  I will take the next few days to decide of what I want to do.  Will I do it or not, that is the question...

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

So much projects...

I do have many projects or ideas of projects scattered around.  I even have one or two projects that I haven't touched for some years now.  They are in a safe place for the time I decide to finish them.  I won't finish them in a near future.  I don't have all the equipment to finish them.  I also need some help to finish them.

Other projects need time to get finished.  I even have a project where I need to find something specific to get finished.  I need to look and shop around to find exactly what I need.   Most of my projects need time to get them finished.  I am considering getting many of them finished in various sitting during a few days.  The ones that will benefit that the most will be my writing.  I have a lot of correction for some stories.  They need a lot of work.  So, for sure, my writing will be broken in various chunk, a little each day.  Other projects, like my Christmas present will be done in one sitting.  They aren't big enough to get over in various sitting.

This is something I don't like with my present situation.  I have so much projects around me and in my head that sometimes, I have to prioritize.  I have to go to the most urgent or the one that is most closely to the finish line.  I also have time where ideas flows.  The more projects that I have, the more ideas it seems to generate.  It is a rush.  Slowing down doesn't make it better.  If I slow down, I feel I am killing my creativity.  Of course, there are down time.  Usually, I use the calmer periods to catch on, to finish as much project as possible.  I am in one of those period.  I don't know if the coming of the big holidays is for something.  All I know is that I have to make the most of it while I am in this state.

Time to resume work...

Monday, 6 October 2014

In preparation of Christmas...

Now that we are in October, I am starting to make my Christmas gifts.  It's been a few years now that I make my gifts.  They are mostly soap and jewelry pieces.  Nothing fancy.  I use soap base (it is quicker and I can have help from a child.  For jewelry pieces, I had tried various techniques and materials like macrame or japanese 4-in-1 techniques (with jumprings).

This year, it will be plastic.  I have started a few projects with the plastic.  The best end results will be given.   It been a while that I haven't done plastic.  In fact, it was since I took the class on that, at the craft store.  I tried in my little oven that I use for fimo.  It works well with the plastic too.  I just have to experiment a little bit more.  I think I am in the right track.  I had good results from the first try.  It gives me confidence for the rest.  I just have to make minor corrections.

It is a nice thing.  In the past, I had to work a little harder to obtain the same result.  A bit more trial and error was needed.  This time, I seems to have more the knack on things.  Even if the class was taken a little bit more than a year ago.  It is a good feeling.  I will take some pictures of the result, just to chronicle what I am doing.  I think it would be a good thing to build a portfolio of my creation.  Can become handy in the future...

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Testing projects


I just see a tv show (Nova on PBS, to be exact) on rereating an ancient Egyptian chariot.  I like documentaries on experimental archaeology.  I like the process people go through to recreate old things.  I find it akin to my creative process, especially in jewelry making.

I still have much to learn in jewelry making.  At the same time, it is about connecting the finished piece to a person.  Many of the piece I make are fitted on myself.  When I give an hand made jewelry piece, I say it can be fitted if needed.  I had a teacher who told me to fit it on myself.  I think she wasn’t into the conventional measurement for the various necklaces.  I think it was a good advice.  Until now, i never had to adjust any jewelry I gave.  Maybe I know how to fit it to each person.  I can have a loose bracelet for my mother.  For my sister, I make it tighter because she is more delicate than me.

I also have experimented for many hand made jewelry.  I had many necklaces where I tried various ideas.  It is formative.  I learned a lot from those experimentation.  For example, I had a small obsidian arrowhead.  I wanted to use it as a centrepiece for a necklace.  I didn’t knew how to do it.  My teacher said to use wire around it.  I tried to imagine the result.  I couldn’t do it.  I saw problem in securing the wire.  I got the idea to put a very fine chain on that piece.  It was tricky to put it on.  With some patience, I got it right.  I had some minor problems with this project but it ended as a stunning necklace.  It made me even more proud to wear it.  People had commented on it on many occasion.

If I haven’t tested my ideas, it wouldn’t had been a learning experience.  I learned a few tricks in the process.  I also gained insight and appreciation.  There are also a few projects that I would do differently now compared to how I had done them.  It makes me feel wiser, in a sense.  Knowledge is not touchable.  The only way to acquire it is by doing it .  Putting abstract ideas in a physical form is the best learning process, I think.  I still have a vivid memory on the projects I had made that way.

Experimenting is a good way of expression.  I am able to try new projects.   I learn.  I gain experience.  I feel in confidence.  If iI have to do it again, there is some adaptation I can make, to become more effective. It is not always easy to end up with what I have seen in my head.  I know I will at least be close to it.  Modification is sometimes unavoidable.  Sometimes, those modifications give little good surprise, at the end.