The secret library

A picture is worth 1000 words. This book has been through a lot. Tell its story. 

The words on the pages warm up under the lamp light, hoping someone will notice them. This is a secret library where souls of past writers and readers sway together. Would you like to visit?

 

People watching

It’s a grey, wet and perfect day to go people watching at Chapters. I wonder what surprises await me. I hope to get close enough and hear my subjects because I would like to work on dialogue.
Once, I spotted a bum-looking man sitting in the magazine section at Chapter’s, engrossed in numerous books piled high next to him. From afar, I imagined he was reading about sports, travel or maybe…I got curious. I closed my notebook, put it away in my bag, cleaned off my table and walked towards the magazine section. The bum-looking man did not budge. He did not smell. He was engrossed in cook books, fancy cook books like Asian cuisine. I walked away with a welcomed surprise smile.

My Vignette (my success story)

My passion for books is so deep, I have no idea where it came from or when it began (who cares? It just is what it is). My first stories were Harlequins (my Mom’s faves). Thank God for English class, and the “Outsiders”. I quickly moved away from Mom’s selection with my first library card, expanding my selection of books to Dean Koontz and Virginia Andrews (remember Flower in the Attic? ooh…that was creepy). I even struggled through Danielle Steele once, only once in my lifetime because of my dear Mother again, whom I so profoundly love and cherish. Now let’s talk about my writing. My first story was crafted in Dad’s old Ford red pickup truck, on a rainy day while camping at the Fish and Game trailer Park (a.k.a. hillbilly central). I remember this rainy afternoon so clearly.

The hands tightening around my neck

Chocking! Not shocking is it? (Take it one word at a time) Let it pour out and savour the flavours. (This is twitter material, not blog…I think?) Afraid to be doing the wrong thing?

What if….

What if the story begins at the shack, instead of the castle high on top of Sacred mountain? And we are still present in the spirit realm(where the two realms-spirit/human- run parallel each other). MN calls her children to play hide and seek from this little cabin. Instead of a “useful bell” she uses an sacred hand bell to summon her spirited friends (instead of children?). Bull Mountain is a place where trouble makers gather, thrashed with piles of broken glass and thick with garbage (the news announce of a recent murder at this dump).

It has been raining for days with wild winds too (in both realms).

The kids cross over into the spirit realm at this shack. The air moves like clear jello with specks of white sand-like dust floating every where too. (this is a difference they notice between the two realms).

Four main characters: Jane lies, Charlotte, hides, Philip steals and Anton thinks he’s stupid because of his dyslexia.

Other major characters: Aunt Lizzie, Mr. Wizard, Zach, the Gund teddy bear, Mother Nature.

Minor characters: Chloe the wishing star, Every, Mac and Asssila (brother and sister), Granny, Sandra, Gerry,Paa, Boo, Kool, Shuu, Mr. Valley(school teacher),chocolate (?finger) monkey, “Lili” the dragon kitty,

Description of the spirit realm: time does not exist, everyone knows that they are magnificent (there are no criminals), filled with fun esp. games like hide and seek.

The ending: We discover that everyone is magnificent, even the drinking Dad, the mean teacher and the killer?

Aunt Lizzie

Aunt Lizzie is 47 years spinster. She is a little over 5 feet tall, with a narrow waist and wide hips which wiggle with every painful step her tiny crooked toed feet take. She constantly wears open-toed pumps for comfort. Her long greying-brown hair looks like frayed straw and almost touchs the top of her round derriere. She also keeps her bangs short which bundles together between her bushy eyebrows. Kidney stones and back pain have ailed her for a long long time. She has severe arthritis hence the reason why her toes are crooked and why she also owns a special pair of scissors for her thick and knobby knuckles. Her voice is nasal and loud and never in a rush(her speech is excruciatingly slow). She talks and argues with herself a lot. One might think that because she babbles on and on that she is not a good listener, but she listens with her sixth sense. She carries an odor of cinnamon and sugar because she eats and makes a lot of cakes, cookies and pancakes. These extra calories go straight to her butt and she knows this but does not care because she states that these delicacies keep her “sweet” (and that she is) and is the best medication for her back aches. She has the most beautiful luscious pinkish full lips. Her Dad called her Luscious. She adores children even though she never had any of her own. Her walk matches her talk-she walks and talks slowly and constantly. She is strong as a bull. Does she swagger? Aunt Lizzie is described as a witch. She is feared because she has a gift and a secret power which she inherited from her father, known as Mr. Wizard, and has been passed on to her niece Jane. They have the gift of magic. This very gift has changed lives. They break spells to people around them who have been cursed by falsehoods around them. She serves chocolate cake for breakfast. She curses homework because she believes that there is enough time spent in classrooms, and that real learning is out in the doing. She’s part of a magic club where a group of witches and warlocks meet over various caldrons and concoction secret stews/drinks filled with tricks. She enjoys serving her famous pea soup and watch everyone dash to the bathroom after the second swallow. She’s a brat and loves to tease and play. She does not take life seriously.

Mechanics

Significant detail, the active voice and prose rhythm help the reader “sink into the dream” of the story. Yet no technique is of much use if the reader’s eye is wrenched back to the surface by misspellings or grammatical errors, for once the reader (editor) has been startled out of the story’s “vivid and continuous dream,” the reader may not return. Spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and punctuation are a kind of magic; their purpose is to be invisible. When the mechanics are incorrectly used, the trick is revealed and the magic fails; the reader’s focus is shifted from the story to its surface. The reader is irritated at the author, and of all the emotions the reader is willing to experience, irritation at the author is not one. Poor mechanics signal amateurism to an editor and suggest that the story itself may be flawed.

The Writing Club (free writing exercise after waking up at 0515am on March 19.2013)

Steph, Kelly and Christine, sitting together watching confessions. Dreaming and yearning. Revealing stories. Laughing and crying. Listening. Correcting. Frustrated. Writing Fiction says to read over twice. First time though, you get “feel” of story. Second time through, you do so with pen or pencil and add comments, suggestions and questions. The writer listens and takes it with grace, but beware

Filtering

The needless filtering of an image through some observing consciousness.
The amateur writes: “Turning, Zachary noticed the castle on the peak of the mountain.” Compare: “Zachary turned. On the peak of the mountain, the castle almost touched the clouds.”
Generally speaking (though no laws are absolute in fiction or art) vividness urges that almost every occurrence of such phrases as “she noticed” and “she saw” be suppressed in favor of direct presentation of the thing seen.

Show instead of telling your character’s emotions.

She pressed her shaky hand on her chest as her knees hit the hard dusty floor next to the bed.

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• Make Your Character’s Actions Show Emotions (joanyedwards.wordpress.com)