CornerScribe

Archive for December, 2006

“A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada’s Arctic, leaving a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake.”

This is an interesting article for anyone interested in climate change (and if you’re not, you really should be). Of course, there are lots of story ideas you can glean from this as well. I’m interested in writing end-of-the-world style novels, so this is right up my alley.

By the way, I’m having a very lazy moment. Does the period go inside or outside the parens above?

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This lists some interesting tips, including some about writing and creativity. I especially liked the one about blogging and writer’s block. That’s something I can relate to.

Also, there’s another about being “A Creative” and how that often doesn’t translate to action. Sound familiar to anyone else out there? It does to me, certainly. I have to admit I’ve got lots of great ideas jotted down, but I’ve tackled only a handful of them. I think part of that, for me, is knowing that the ideas never seem quite as good once I get going on them.

Enjoy!

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This is a traditional time of year for evaluating what we’ve done and looking ahead and planning the upcoming year. I think this is true regardless of whether you happen to be the type of person who makes resolutions (or who keeps them).

I’ve been spending some time thinking about my writing year and planning what I’d like to accomplish next year. Much of this amounts to what I’d like to do differently. (more…)

How many times have you heard this question? Even worse, how many times have you felt your own creative well running dry? I’m a firm believer of two things.

1. Generating ideas is very much like priming a pump. The more you do it, even if it’s a struggle at first, the more they’ll come to you.
2. You positively, absolutely MUST generate a certain amount of trash in order to get to the good stuff. I’m convinced that there’s some karmic formula at work. If you wait until you get a good idea, then give up now. You have to accept the ideas as they come, and eventually there’ll be a good one in the mix.

So, how do I get ideas? I’ve been known to mine the news for novel and short story ideas, and there’s no shortage of material there. (more…)

I read an article a few days ago about people in Turkey being required to vote, and I couldn’t help wonder about how that would work in the U.S.

Let’s pause to mull that over, shall we? (more…)

I was just thumbing through my moleskine looking for some blog ideas I’d jotted down and got to thinking about the value of carrying a notebook in general.

I’ve carried a notebook of some sort for a few years, and I’ve found it indispensable. I write down blog, story and novel ideas, of course. I also write down funny scenes I witness and record quotes I overhear. If I think it’s interesting, amusing, odd, or noteworthy for any reason, it probably ends up in my notebook.

You probably also guessed that I use only a small fraction of what I write down. The thing is, I never know what I’ll use until it’s had some time to ferment, and if I didn’t write it down, it wouldn’t get that chance.

Beyond having a way of remembering ideas and events, I think there’s another, more important aspect to keeping a writing notebook. When I make a habit of writing down ideas for my fiction, I tend to get more ideas. It’s like I’m “priming the pump,” so to speak. In my case, creativity tends to breed creativity.

Do you keep a notebook? How does it benefit your writing?

I was asked the other day about the novel I’m working on. I think it’s one of the most difficult questions to answer about any novel, especially one that’s still underway.

What’s your novel about?

There’s really no good answer to that, is there? (more…)

We were talking about past holidays the other evening, and I started thinking about how this can work into a novel or story. We were reminiscing about people we’ve known through the years, and quite a few “characters” came to mind.

Like…

Our neighbor who had an eight foot black velvet paint by numbers picture of Jesus on her living room wall. Did I mention it was encircled with white Christmas lights all year round?

The man we went to Church with who would sometimes invite other members over, offer to show them “something” and emerge much later dressed as a woman. The general consensus was that he made a pretty decent looking woman but wasn’t anything special as a guy.

Or how about one of my first bosses, a really charming guy. He once locked his wife out of the house because he didn’t like her new haircut. Want to imagine what working for him was like?

I’m sure you have a few characters in your background too. Sometimes you really can’t make this stuff up!

Here are five new blogs I’ve added to my Google Reader lately. If you haven’t tried it, by the way, see www.google.com/reader. I like it very much and find that I can read more blogs faster with it.

These are pretty new to my list, so I can’t say much about them, except that I found them interesting enough to add in the first place. I usually find new blogs from recommendations on the ones I read frequently, and these are no exception. (more…)

Sometimes I need a little something to get me writing, and pictures can be just the thing to help with that. Here are a few pictures that might get you going as well.

• Where is this sunrise occurring?
• Who’s taking the picture and why?
• Is this on another planet, an earth far different from our own? (more…)

  

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