Peoples and characters

Yesterday evening, I saw someone that look special.  He had a big container of putty (for the wall).  His faces was dirty with the stuff.  He appear whitter than he was.  In addition, he had a white coat.  His hat was a little bit strange but a nice color of light apple green.  He look a bit like a ghost.  I guess he work in the construction industry.  In this time of year, he would be a good looking ghost at an halloween party.

It made me think.  He is the type of person with a look that would be perfect for a character.  Not the first time that I see a person that would be the perfect model for a character.  There are some people who look or have a personna that fit perfectly in the fiction world.  Maybe it is wanted.  I wonder how they found that look or the way they are.  I am a bit bland when it come to look.  I don't make any research for my look.  I never really searched for a particuliar piece of clothing.  I am the type to take clothes with no logo.  On the side of personnality, I am more the outsider of the outsiders.  I usually feel that I don't belong to any group, not feeling at ease in subculture either.

I wonder if this neutrality is helping me when I write.  I sometimes feel like I am like the Swiss, being neutral, so I could write various characters.  I like when I see a person that catch my eye.  It usually end up influencing me in creating some characters.

For those who lives dangerously

As I was freely browsing, I stumble on this: http://weirdandamazingtravel.about.com/od/Weird-and-Amazing-Transportation/tp/The-Worlds-Most-Dangerous-Airlines.htm
It is about five dangerous airlines.  They seems to be small and far away.  I don't know those airline, so I can't judge them.  It is understantable that Tara airline and Nepal airline are more at risk to be dangerous because they cover rough and high terrain.  I wonder if trill seekers are tempted to use those airlines.

I was tempted, for a time, to write something related to flying but I decided to drop the idea.  It is an area where reality go beyond fiction.  When reality is better than fiction, the need to create fiction become obsolete, I think.  On the other hand, I am thinking to do something on the ground involving something similar to the Silk Road.  I am thinking of groups of nomads moving from place to place, helping travellers, transporting goods and offering entertainment along the way.  Of course, some groups will be more ethical than others.  There will be a few groups that would be rogues, similar to some groups in real life.

I also got another idea.  It involve trill seekers that would explore new ways of travelling.  Of course, it will be in a fantasy kind of world where there is not much option for travelling or news spreading.  There would be a event that will trigger a new mean of travelling.  Those trill seekers will takes on their shoulders to test the winds and to learn everything on this new transport.  Premise of great adventure.

Location seems so much over rated!  I say that triggers is the best friend of the creative person!

Characters

I was looking for Abby Cadabby, just out of boredom.  I haven't anything in mind while doing this.  I stumble on this "article": http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Abby_Cadabby
I was a bit surprised but it is logical to have an muppet wiki.  I also took a look for Cookie, Telly, Elmo and Big Bird.  It was fun reading about the creation of those character.  I find that Cookie Monster have the most interesting creation yet.  I didn't knew his origin was with some unaired ads for tv.  I always thought that Big Bird was a big canary but he identify himself as being a lark.  There are info on his family too.

All this is a fine discovery.  I find it inspiring, for myself.  I do have some characters that have interesting back stories.  I just haven't put it on paper.  Looking at the muppet wiki, I found it was interesting all the infos it contain.  It is not perfect but it help to grasp better the character.  I do have much in my head and I think it would be a necessity to put it on paper could help me.  It would help me show and expand on the richness of my characters.  They will be better defined.  I have seen some way to record characters but I always found it restrictive on the physical side and not precise/inspiring on the mental and past side.  The wiki is inspiring for the more mental and past side of the characters.  It will help me a bit more for my own writing experience.

It is strange how an unexpected research can turn out.  It triggered something in me.  It is not the first time.  I would like to find how the unconscious work to link what I see with the ideas I have.  It seems to be a bit mysterious to me.  There are links that form between ideas and what is seen, a connection.  Beside that, I would like to know if there is more to that.  Launching the question may break some dams and I may stumble on something on the subject.

Getting things out of my system

There are times where I get a few things on my nerves.  Not always in a bad way, just that I find that tiring.  It is turning me into a fit of obsession.  Usually, I concentrate on that until I get out of it.  I often end up burned out on a relatively short period.

There are other subjects that comes in and out of my mind.  I just realized that recently.  In the past, I had stumbled on some informations on the Silk Road in a newsletter.  I thought I had outgrow of it, having gained a lot of informations in a short time.  Today, the Silk Road had returned to my conscious mind.  I decided to make some new search.  I found something on the UNESCO website: http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/about-silk-road
In the text, I found something that reassured my thoughts on the Silk Road:
"'Silk Road' is in fact a relatively recent term, and for the majority of their long history, these ancient roads had no particular name. In the mid-nineteenth century, the German geologist, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, named the trade and communication network Die Seidenstrasse (the Silk Road), and the term, also used in the plural, continues to stir imaginations with its evocative mystery."
So, I was thinking right.  Silk Road could be used in the plural.  It makes me feel good to have guessed something right.  I don't know if it will be nailed down by the Silk Road bug for now.  I just find it strange that a thought can lead to some confirmation on a subject.  Was my mind working to get at the right time and right moment to discover the right thing?  In a sense, it can be amazing.  On the other, I hope it will help me get the Silk Road out of my system and be able to move on to something else.

Return to pyrography

Pyrography is burning wood. As a child, I learned this in school.  I liked that and was good.  At the time, I had a kit with all the material.  There was a pyrography pen, some tips for the pen and some wood planks with drawing on it.  So, I was able to follow the lines and have great results.

Now, I had recently bought another pyrography pen.  It is diffent that my first one.  The feature of this new pen is the integrated holder.  I now can put it on the table, not bothering about any burned surface.  What I like less is there isn't any wood plank with drawing on them.  I am not the best in drawing.  While doing some woodburning project, there is already a smoke's smell.  I don't want to add to that smell with a paper template.  If I want to get really serious, in this situation, I will have to find a solution.

The other solution would do free hand drawing.  It limit me but I can find some plain and easy things to reproduce on the wood.  Maybe some tribal pattern or geometric pattern could be a start.  Here one simple project I had done, as I was returning to pyrography:

Getting a bit better with a camera

Not long ago, I decided to experiment with my camera.  I wanted to get better results.  I took photos with different settings.  It is great how a little bit of practice can makes to better understand theories!  There was one "subject" I had more trouble getting a satisying photo.  It is not perfect but it is the closest I could make.  Here is the result with an failed attempt.  The failed attempt is the first one:

I experiemented a lot with the setting to get the result I wanted.  I almost stop trying.
I also tried to get some photos with the colors of Automn:

I think I should work more on my balance of white.  I think I will ask for advice on taking photos where one part is in the light and the other one in the shadow, like this photo:

It is not too bad but I think the last photo could be better.  I feel the shadow hide the folliage.  I am thinking I could have taken the photo earlier in the day.  Would had eliminated the shadow.

I now feel more confident in changer the setting of the lens piece.  I was able to see that the 18 setting don't give the same result as the 35 one or the other ones.  For sure, I will use that part more often now.  It makes a difference and I will not be shy on using it more.  I also seems to be more interested in taking pictures of nature than doing portrait or "sporty" sphotos.

Opal and jewelry store

I just found this article on Opal:
http://jewelry.about.com/od/birthstonefactsandfolklore/ss/Interesting-Opal-Facts.htm
It is a well known fact that I like to learn more on stones.  I never saw that gemstone up close and personal.  Looking at the photos, it seems a gemstone that fall in what I like.  It is an original stone that shimmer.  There was none when I was going to the Gems and Mineral shows I go.  Opal seems to be nice looking on the photos.  I don't know if it will be different in my hand.  Sometimes, I felt there was a difference between the photos and a contrete gem.  Did I expected too much from stones?  It is a possibility.

I wonder where I can have a piece of that gem.  I know most of the Opal comes from Australia.  I don't know if a jeweler's store have some.  I usually don't go into a jeweler's store.  I have been into one when I was a child, with my mom but since then, I didn't go there on my own.  Strange how thing happen.  So, I feel like a novice.  I don't know what that kind of store have or don't have.  It can be paradoxial that I make some jewelry but I don't have any experience dealing with a jewelry store.

I wonder if an opal is too much exotic for a jewelry store  I think it wouldn't be exotic in Australia but I live on the other side of the world.  I don't know everything about gems' trade.  I don't know everything about all the gems.  So, I still have a lot to learn.  It's only since a few years that got really interested in gems and jewelry.  I have learned a lot but I still have to learn.  Maybe the next step is to have more experience with the jewelry store.

Images is not an universal unique language

I have started to study the Lenormand oracle cards.  (Here is an example of the cards: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/lenormand-oracle-cards/)  Currently, I am slowly reading The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook by Caitlin Matthews.  (http://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Lenormand-Oracle-Handbook-Language/dp/1620553252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444183861&sr=8-1&keywords=lenormand+oracle+handbook)  Before starting reading this book, I look at those deck with puzzlement.  It was as if the pictures were another language that I didn't have any access.  I didn't have any keys to decode those images and I didn't had access to a rossetta stone for decoding them.

As I am reading the book, the code start to fall in place.  I now have a guideline on how the Lenormand work.  With some practice, I think the puzzle piece will fall to place.  All this "discovering" makes me think.  Images is not an universal unique language.  There is variations from places to places in the way the images are interpreted.  Not everyones interpret the same image quite the same way.  There are layers that look universal but they also have a personal layer that is linked with the person experience or point of view.  Images in not one unified language that have the same significance all other the world.

I feel a bit under an small electricity shock.  It is not earth shattering but it shook my world.  Images is my personal inner language.  There are times where I mainly think in pictures.  When I get an idea, it often look like a photograph or a scene.  It is depicted in a graphic form.  The rest comes to me as an inner knowing, providing the context and everything I need to know.  I feel loosing my innocence.  I always thought that there was some convention in reading all the graphic symbols, that ways of decoding the graphics world was more uniform that it is truely is.  I seems to have miss the subtilities.  Seems that I will have to work on that a little bit more...

When synchronicity happen...

In a recent post (https://themusesamongus.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=JuNvQVABAAA.eaN38c_IGI-IqmSr1W_2_YCvqjblMx4WcVcRqvlzypiiUWp4Rf5D4r1HXjrSV_RSQZ6jOEWE1dY7HEZ1QySjuQ.a3CkZTTeuvWtYfgqBI_UOg&postId=8577106876343820542&type=POST), I talked about one creator (a painter: Theodore Gericault) and his investment (all the research he had done to do The Raft of the Medusa).  All energies to create a masterpiece.  From what I understood, he was kind of obsessed to get realistic with the colors and he was careful with his intention, by what he wanted to show.  The end result have quite an impact. (http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/raft-medusa)

Creating is an act of dedication.  The creator is absorbed by the creating art.  When I create, most energies goes to the creation but often, I have questions running in the back of my head.  It is like a probe looking around on how things run in the forefront: Where all those ideas coming from?  How the flow keep going on? Why do I have all these ideas?  It seems to go like an hamters' wheel, it keep going in.

How the synchronicity comes in?  Well, I found two articles that shed some lights.  I think it is a link with what I wrote on a creator investments in his masterpiece and my quest on the creative process.  The first one list 10 Characteristics of Creative People: http://psychology.about.com/od/problemsolving/ss/10-Characteristics-of-Creative-People.htm#step1
The second one is titled What is Creativity? : http://inventors.about.com/od/creativity/f/What-Is-Creativity.htm

I like the little links for getting more creativity flowing at the end of What is Creativity?
Saying all that make me think that there is a few things that I would like to experiement more, getting my hands on.  The first thing I would like to do again is the exercise I did in a workshop: automatic drawing.  It was quite fun to do.  I also did briefly authomatic writing on two workshop but the automatic drawing was quite telling of my mind.  While doing the automatic drawing, I didn't look at what I was doing.  After the free drawing, we look up what we did.  With another color, we would highlight some forms we were seeing.  In my sheet, I saw a few boats or it could also pass as crescent moon.  I also saw the sign for the anarchists (do I take that as my subconscious as being an anarchist? Or is it just the sign being just a sign, the fruit of coincidence?)

I also took a serie of workshop where we were doing a kind of stationary dance.  Our feet were "glued" to the floor.  The rest of the body was moving in a shaking manner.  We did that a few times and each time, it was a little bit longer.  Each time, there was a different music.  The last time we did it, it was like 10 or 15 minutes with a drum and rattle music.  I found the combination quite powerful and I remember entering a trance.  I no longer "shake" as I was suppose to do.  I also got the impression there was variation in the music (but there where none of that).  It can sound crazy but my mind was altered.  I promised myself to enter that state with the same state using the same technique at a later date.  I haven't done it yet but I feel it would be a good thing to try again soon.

A creator's investment

I recently saw an documentary called "La véritable histoire du 'radeau de la Méduse'" (the real history of the 'raft of the Medusa') (http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/049878-000/la-veritable-histoire-du-radeau-de-la-meduse).  The Raft of the Medusa is a painting of Théodore Géricault (more info here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_M%C3%A9duse_(1810)).  The painting is based on a real event: a stranded ship.  There are survivors who had been found on a raft two weeks after the ship had been abandonned.  The painting had been very controversial when it's inauguration.  The documentary have a reconstitution of the raft.

The painter, Théodore Géricault, had put a lot of research and work into that painting.  I know he invest much time with some survivors of the incident.  He also experiement with paint colors.  Doing so, he was trying to emulate the color of dead tissue.  I think he also spent some time in insane assylum.  More on Gericault here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9odore_G%C3%A9ricault.

As for many artists, he died young.  He also invested a lot of time in his work.  He wasn't affraid to go to some unsettling place.  I like artists like him.  He was ready to go to great lenght to give a realistic result.  He also made a piece of art that was unexpected at the time.  He was following his own path, it is what I admire in him.  For his painting of the 'Raft of the Medusa', we was not affraid to take a maritime tragedy and turn it in a big painting, strong with emotions.  It is what I call a powerful art piece.  It trigger something viceral, stir the darkness and it is there to stay exposed.

Temptation and weakness

It is interesting to see how the mind can do some connections that seems trivial.  There are times in life where some temptations are more attractive than other time.  Right now, I have a craving for fudge brownie.  I ain't into chocolate but fudge brownie is one of my weak point.  At one point, I had found a place where they selled lip balm with the scent of fudge brownie.  Loved that product!  Last time I looked, it was no longer available.  I feel a bit sad because this lip balm was a pick me up when I feeled a bit low.  Last time I search, I didn't found any remplacement.  Time to go shopping again, to see if I will be lucky this time.  I am tempted to try one of the two: https://www.etsy.com/listing/243496917/fudge-brownie-all-natural-beeswax-lip or that one: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00TBYBP2I?colid=BX4C6XMN6RUJ&coliid=I2M70RW49QCIBX&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

So, I was linking about my sweat urge.  My mind go forward.  I start to think that a good fudgy brownie is a temptation.  It is also one of my weakness.  Put a plate of fudge brownie under my nose and beware!  The plate will come back empty except for some crumbs (and I think that even crumbs won't survive my attack!)
So, here come the conclusion of my train of thought, done by my own brain: What are the weaknesses and temptation of my characters.  It is easy for some.  Other, I will have to think a bit more.  Is it vital for all characters?  No, not at all but there is at least one story that use a weakness for the two main characters.  Their weakness is their nemesis.  So, if they encounter their nemesis, watch out, the main characters sees red!

I seems to be in a period of more dreams that I remember and I also seems to be more geared up for fiction.  I wonder if there is a connection between the two.  It is a possibility...

Unexplained: left-handedness in the news

I found this article on weird news related to left-handedness: http://weirdnews.about.com/od/eccentr
icalmanac/fl/Weird-News-For-and-About-Left-Handers.htm
I like the left-olution and I laught at the left-handed marriage.  As a left-handed myself, I know how it isn't always easy at school.  I remember how much smudge I was making at the first grade (I know that there is an smudge guard now but there were none at the time).  I could not keep on smiling on the left-handed marriage proposition.  I spotted right away the irony.  Also, there are people who tend to jump right away into a debate without using their common sense.  Those people usually have an obtuse way of seeing matters. In addition, who care about two left-handed people being together.   The same apply to gay people.  They have the right to be together if they wished.

I found the weirdest news to be the left-handed underwear.  I used a few objects that are designed for left-handed myself but it is more common ones like scissors, hockey stick, baseball glove.  Maybe the underwear was a marketing ploy.  I think it was going for a too obtuse segment of the population.  There are things that aren't that easily adapted for lefties.  It leaves the lefties to adapt to a right-handed world (no wonder lefties have a so huge legacy in many fields!)

The oopsy goes to the statue of Babe Ruth.  The ones involved seems to reject the blame elsewhere.  They had been very careful for the rest of the statue.  They could kept on the details on that detail.  I don't bother about the dentist.  He gives an easy excuse.  As being a lefty, he had the possibility to figure a way to treat patient without poking at them.  I am the only lefty in my family, so, I end up sitting at table's end in restaurant.  I am sure he could found a side where poking was not problematic.

The last one, on the dominance of one side, didn't surprised me.  Maybe other people doesn't think about laterality.  It is common, so it is under the radar.  From what I could see and my own experience, there is a spectrum left / right side.  I know that I do many thing with my left hand.  I know I can peel an orange with both hands but I often peel it with the rigth.  I do have to think that I am able to do it with my left hand to do it.  A strange thing but it is what I do.

There is a lot of unknowns about left-handedness.  I like that because it gives me an aura of mystery.  I know that in the Mars Trilogy (http://www.amazon.ca/Red-Mars-Kim-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0553560735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443717689&sr=8-1&keywords=kim+stanley+robinson+mars+trilogy) from Kim Stanley Robinson, there is a mention of left-hander more prevalent on Mars.  I am thinking of making a parody of an utopia world with left-handed.  I don't know if it feasable.  Short story?  Possible.  Would like to try.

Getting out of the confort zone

Getting in the Fall season is hitting me hard, as usual.  My way around that?  Reading some comfort mental reading: mainly old gothic novels.  Strangely as it sound, it have an uplifting effect on me.  There are some of them (the classics) have some twisted plots as I like them.  We don't see all that is coming but there are some times where I could see what is comming, near the end.  Some of the twists makes me smile.

This year, I want to add on on the experience.  I want to get out of the box.  I want to try writing in a different genre.  Maybe more convincing horror with some element of gothic.  I tried in other genre in the past but it wasn't really convincing nor very successful.  The main genre I write is fantasy with some little science fiction (usually at the beginning and/or the end).  I tried my hand, two years ago, in erotica but I was not prepared in my usual way and I felt into some porn before finding the threads of my story.  It was fun to write more freely.  This year, I want to write a story that parallel the one I wrote last year.  Last year, it was a bit more action, even if the story isn't to my satisfaction.  I can add more action to the story.

This year, I want to go more into horror.  The story will suit well with the horror: there will be werewolves in the story.  I won't put too much gore.    I don't want to write about pool of blood everywhere.  As last year, I want it to be part of a secretive research lab.  I think it was four years ago, I wrote about the section on psychic research.  Last year, I did the part on zombie research with an zombie apocalypse (it was on controling the young zombie population.  With the twist on the zombie that I had, it was more action than horror).  This year, I want it to be on the werewolves research.  So, with the werewolves, there is a dangerous part even if I want to put a 'tribe' component to the pack of werewolves.  The threats could be from outside.  I have to do some more brainstorm on the story.  I have already the setting/world and many characters.  I just have to work on the story.  I feel that I will have less work for this project.