VIPs and WIPs

As I've mentioned in another blogpost, it is always good to have more than one work in progress (WIP), so you can switch to whichever work you feel you are able to continue best. Let your creativity tell you what to do!

Surely you will find that -- for a period of time -- you are most in the flow when writing one particular project. For the time being it becomes your very important project (VIP). Which is good. You focus on your VIP and spend a lot of time polishing your work, ideally until you finish it.

You may neglect your other WIPs during that time, but don't forget about them. They are waiting for you to return and spend some time with them, too. Your aim should be to finish what you started; not right now, not tomorrow, but in due time. And take that time. Remind yourself of all the good ideas you've had, and all the stories you want to tell. Can you really turn your back on them?
Surely you will find a new VIP amongst them...

Writing Exercise 066

My dear writing buddy Sam from the Dead Pete Society is responsible for this week's writing exercise. She posted a prompt, and I instantly took it and did with it what you are about to read. You will see, this little story is greatly influenced by one of our day trips while we were in Japan.
So here goes:

 

2017/03/16 – "They thought I would forget. But I remembered. Everything."

Sitting in a rocking chair on the porch she enjoyed the soothing warmth of the late summer sun, sipping on some iced tea and fanning herself with yesterday's newspaper with her good hand. The old radio beside her on the small table played a happy tune. The grass had turned brown due to the lack of rain and the leaves stirred in the light breeze. She peered at the cloudless sky as the weather forecast promised a summer rain in the evening.

The afterthought of a smile faded in the many wrinkles around her mouth. Rain. She remembered the feel of the rain on her skin; even decades later she saw every tiny detail before her mind's eye. Her life had changed so much, but still the image, the noises and smells of this one incident were so very vivid as if engraved in stone or captured in a black and white photo or family stories told for generations.

But photos turned so easily to ashes when set aflame, stone crumbled to rubble in the face of a destructive force beyond comparison, generations of people were winked out in a single blinding flash that made earth the embodiment of hell. Distinctive clouds heralding nothing but death in their wake, an explosion with a destructive force never seen before, the stench of charred black flesh, fatal damage done on a cellular level, a whole city of buildings blasted to dust, the wails of agony of those who survived the blast. And hours later came the rain – the black rain.

She had been but a child back then, innocent, never understood what hit her when it did. She lost everything on that day – everything but her raw life. Surprisingly she had sustained the mother of all explosions, the black rain, the long-term aftermath of radiation, and she continued to do so.

But she would always walk the Earth with her eyes turned skyward, her mind tuned to the many gods in the hope one might hear her prayers for peace to remain and the black rain to stay away. For, even if younger generations became oblivious to the inhumanity and destructive force of war, she still remembered. Everything.

Writing Exercises 064 and 065

While I was in Japan, I still found the time to do my weekly writing exercises. Number 064 is a drabble about my holiday impressions whereas number 065 is a Tanka (Japanese poem with 5-7-5-7-7 syllables) about Tokyo.
Here is my drabble:

2017/03/03 – holidays in Japan (Drabble)

Up, up into the sky we went eight hours into the future. Time seems to run a little faster over here – so much to do, so much to see, so much to experience, yet so little time. Almost a week has gone by, and I am overflowing with impressions. The old and the new, the bustling cities full of stately palaces and shrines and skyscrapers, people in suits rushing by and people in kimonos sauntering across the streets, lots of strange yet delicious food, and the blaring of commercials everywhere – everything is so fascinating and new. And I continue wondering.

 And this is my poem:

2017/03/08 – Tokyo (Tanka)

The vast capital:

Horizons full of buildings

Yet amidst it all

Islands of green and silence.

See the first cherry blossoms!

I'm back! :D

Finally I returned from my holidays in Japan.
It was just amazing and I have so much to tell and show you.

We stayed mostly in Osaka and did day trips from there to Kyoto, Nara and Kobe, then rode the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and spent the last three days in Tokyo.
Here are a few impressions:

This is Osaka castle, which we visited on February 27th. It was rebuilt after WW2, as it was destroyed back then. Now, inside there is a museum, and from the top you have very pretty views over Osaka.

Here you can see the beautiful view over Osaka from the Sky Building. I'm afraid, the photo doesn't show the extent of how breathtaking the sundown was, as the sun slowly disappeared behind the mountains.

In Kyoto we saw a lot of shrines and temples. The city is really beautiful with its old wooden houses and people actually wearing kimonos. Here you can see the Senbon Dorii (10,000 gates) route starting at the Fujimi Inari Shrine, which goes up to the mountain top and back. And yes, we went all the way! @.@

This is the harbour of Kobe, where we went on March 2nd. In Kobe we visited the Desaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute, where they research earthquakes and tsunamis and what can be done when one of them strikes. We did not eat Kobe beef, but had very delicious curry. :D

In Nara there are deer everywhere, at the temples and shrines, at the bus stop, in the park, on the streets... As they are very tame, you can feed and pet them. Isn't that amazing? Though I kept thinking how delicious venison is. XD

Hiroshima was both sad and impresive to visit. This is the only building that somewhat survived the a-bomb. We have been to the peace museum, where they exhibited everything related to the incident from torn and tattered clothes to pictures of severely burnt and mutilated people. But there are brighter sides to Hiroshima, too...

This is Miyajima island, which is close to Hiroshima. In the centre of the photo you can see the famous Torii and parts of the temple to which it belongs. When it's high tide the temple is awash. There are also a few tame deer there. I wonder how they got on that island? o.O

Finally, we arrived in Tokyo on March 6th. Here we are in Akihabara, which is loud and colourful and bustling with people. This is pretty much how you'd imagine the capital, right? But this is but a part of it.

Even in Tokyo there are temples, shrines and pagodas like this one everywhere. And deep in the surprisingly green heart of Ueno park, we found this:

The first cherry blossoms!

Writing Exercise 063

Today is my birthday. :D
Terefore this week's writing exercise is a little birthday poem. Enjoy while I'm off celebrating. ;)

2017/02/24 – birthday poem

Once again a year has gone by, once again time was on the fly.

I am twenty-nine; no need to cry. It is time to stop being shy.

This year my ambitions are high and although you might wonder why,

My inspiration doesn't run dry. I sense my time is almost nigh;

My writing skills I will apply to achieve my goals – I will try!

Travel plans

As of next week I'm on holiday in Japan. :D
So for two weeks there won't be any updates. But don't worry. I'll be back with a lot of impressions and maybe inspiration to make up for the time lost.

And I won't leave you without a little something I drew and coloured with SAI. So here I am, ready for travel. :D

Writing Exercise 062

This week I have a drabble for you. It is about something of great importance to our lives, something which most of you might say you didn't have enough of. I'm talking about time.
So here are my thoughts:

2017/02/16 – time (Drabble)

Have you ever thought about the nature of time? How come we measure things in seconds, hours, days, and yet when we want to attain it, it slips through our fingers like grains of sand. When it comes to the things we want to do we often say: “I don't have time for that.” Which is sad. Our lives are just so long. Why not make them worthwhile? Let's break the fourth dimension and bend it to our will. Let's actually have time. For our family and friends, for the things we love and want, for the really important ones.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day! <3
I hope you can spend some time with your loved ones, or at least be with them in spirit as your hearts reach out to them. :D

Today I want to share some fanart of the character I play in the browser game Naruto Online. She is a water/healing Jutsu user, which can be a life saver in this game. Again I used SAI to create this fanart. Alas, I was a little lazy regarding the coloration.
Bear with me, my mind was with my beloved fiance. XD

Writing Exercise 061

I'm pretty late for my writing exercise this week. Still I managed to do a little something. This time it's a Haiku. Enjoy!

2017/02/11 – Haiku

Snow flakes in the wind

How I wish for winter's end!

The first snow drops bloom

Royal Democrat

Following my latest writing exercise I want to show you a picture I drew with SAI. It shows a character from my dear Neverbeen Universe, the Waterfairy Kershak. He used to be a prince, but -- as you very well know by now -- he is appointed as chancellor of the newly founded Republic of the United Fairypeople.

Writing Exercise 060

This week I had to write a political speech. Sounds boring? You might never know. ;)
I set this thing in my dear Neverbeen Universe. Those who have read my short stories may know more about the person holding this speech.
But enough of a foreword. Here is my writing exercise:

2017/02/01 – political speech

Kadoma took a step forward and onto the balcony of Yponerotis palace. He breathed deeply, then the mighty Waterfairy let his voice carry through the water droplets in the air so everybody gathered below might hear him.

“People of the United Kingdom of Waterfairies and Thunderfairies,” he began, “King Kaikou Fuka Valtameri Shibuki di Kuningas, my father, is dead. According to the law the heritage to the throne befalls on his eldest son...me, crown prince Kadoma Valtameri Hidaki Etevà Suji di Kuningas, henceforth king. King Kaikou was a symbol for the old values, for traditions which had had a formative influence on this nation for thousands of years. Panta rei. Everything flows. This heraldic motto of my family stands for the whole people of this country. Water always finds its way. And just like water I will show this country new ways, now that after millennia of war we made peace with the Firefairies. This country is ready for peace, ready for a new generation of rulers.”

He waited for the cheers to subside.

“And my first official act as king is: I abdicate.” Shocked silence. “I abdicate and appoint my brother, prince Kershak Hellir Hikyuu Ólgusjór Shibuki di Kuningas as first interim-chancellor of the new parliamentary-democratic Republic of the United Fairypeople. In the following four years he will prepare this country legally for the very first free elections and officiate as head of government.”

Nobody had expected this surprise, not even Kershak himself as he watched Kadoma take off his crown and leave the balcony. But leave it to Kadoma to shock a whole nation.

Never too late

As I browsed through my pictures for some inspiration, I found something I drew for my good friend for Christmas, which I haven't shown you yet. But I figured it's never to late to do that, right?  ;)
The picture is some fanart of Shikamaru Nara, a character from the series Naruto. I used SAI for this. Any opinions? :D

Writing Exercise 059

It's time for another writing exercise. This week I wrote a double drabble about a feeling that has always been written and sung about, an emotion so profound that people never cease to be intrigued about it. So here are my thoughts:

2017/01/26 – about love (double drabble)

Love is such a mysterious and curious little thing; and yet it is able to fill you to brimming. I won't attempt a definition, nor will I claim I understood it completely.

It comes in so many shapes and forms; some of them tender and gentle, some of them overwhelming and forceful. You love your family, you love your friends, you love your partner, you love your pets and hobbies and maybe your job. We love life and life loves us.

Love is blind, they say. Maybe it is true. You will find yourself being more forgiving, more tolerant, more generous when you love. Love gives you courage to love and be loved in return. Yet incidentally it makes you anxious, as you worry more for those you love. Ultimately love has you put your beloveds' happiness before your own.

Love is self-sufficient. Love is unconditional. Love is pure, yet complicated. Love makes your heart overflow or crushes it completely. It can make you feel pure bliss or have you cry bitterly. It enriches your life. And even if you think you don't know what love feels like, I'm sure you will recognize it once you are struck by it.

The Art of Magnetism

My fiancé received a quite intriguing present: a cube made out of 6 x 6 x 6 tiny magnetic beads. You can rearrange them and build a lot of different shapes, both in 2D and 3D. Once you start you'll find youselves pretty fast pretty occupied with playing around and trying to form new patterns. :o

And while it is quite hard to rebuild the cube, there are geometric patterns that are much easier to form. And from them you can build almost anything.

Have a look at what I did.These are but a few examples, but aren't they some kind of art! And I had a lot of fun building them, too.

Writing Exercise 058

When I wrote this week's drabble I remembered the evening I described in the blogpost from Monday, the 5th of December 2016. But you may have very different memories or impressions. Feel free to share them with me. :)
But first of all, here is the drabble:

2017/01/19 – campfire (Drabble)

A light in the dark, quietly it chirrups and cackles. Flickering and flaring, the flames dance rhythmically. Tiny sparks and flakes of ash billow up into the night sky. As the fire feasts on the logs, it emanates so much soothing heat. Come, warm your freezing hands and huddle closer. Come, lose your thoughts as you watch the fire burn. There is a place for you by the bonfire where people sing and tell stories; you're among friends here – the campfire unites them all. Until the flames are down to smouldering embers and the last whispers bid you good night.

Writing as a group project

As I have told you about the literature project I joined, writing is bound to happen.

Then how do you create texts as a group?

There's the proverb that too many cooks spoil the broth. But it doesn't necessarily have to be like this. You can write as a team if everybody knows their part and acts accordingly.

The easiest way to write together is the RPG approach to split and interact; this means every participating author chooses characters they want to write and writes only these characters. Now they let the characters meet, talk and act. Soon a rough first draft will spring into creation as every author only has to react to what another wrote in the previous paragraph. The text will be pretty dynamic and dialogue-heavy, but this is a nice by-product.

This setting works best for groups of two to four people, so there won't be confusions when one's turn to write is. There will be breaks when only a few characters are present, but this gives the others time to reread what has been done by now.
Generally, four is a good group size. And while text creation happens relatively quickly, editing is also very important. The first draft needs to be polished until it can be published. This process can be split also: this time the authors take turns to comment and edit what they have so far.

Like this writing as a team is not as hard as it might seem. And the result is a consensus with which everyone is satisfied.

Writing Exercise 057

It's time for another writing exercise. This week's double drabble is about probablilities, about life and space. It is meant to make you stop to think for a moment so you might appreciate life on Earth more. Here ist is:

2017/01/13 – coincidence (double drabble)

There are countless stars in the sky, billions and trillions lightyears away. They are coming to life or dying or are somewhere in between. Some shine so much brighter than others; others are just like our sun. Planets might orbit them, large gas globes or tiny snowballs.

What are the odds that there are others like our Earth? Planets that circulate around their star in an inhabitable zone, neither too hot nor too cold? Planets that consist of all the necessary elements needed to create life? Planets that are encased by an atmosphere which enables life and protects it? And if such places exist, what are the odds that life would bloom the way it does on Earth?

Time made monads and protozoons evolve into plants and fish and mammals and insects and amphibians. Extreme climate changes eliminated whole populations and made room for new species.

And from them humankind emerged and spread over the world. There are 193 states in the UN, and 13 more stare-like territories exist. According to statistics there were 7.39 billion people living on Earth last year.

Then what are the odds that you and I exist at the same time – that we meet?

Coincidence.

Now what?

As the new year has started you might either be exhausted from all these holidays or energized with good intentions.

Either way, after completing NaNoWriMo in November your work isn't done yet. You may have a first draft but don't make the mistake to publish it as is. Please, don't! A draft is a draft, and it needs serious polishing to become the shining gem it is supposed to be.

January is the perfect time to do this polishing as it's often ugly outside and you usually feel both drained of creativity and motivated to start the year fresh.
You probably haven't touched your work in about a month. So when you open the document again you likely will be surprised what you have achieved to write in November. You will see your story with a fresh set of eyes.
Now read, and read carefully.
As you go, catch all those typos and puctuation errors, reword where necessary, cut too long paragraphs or add to them where they are lacking. You will see, there is much to do.

Be critical, but don't butcher your story.

Get help when you're stuck or story blind. You will want to introduce your draft to your betas soon. Let their comments help you edit. Don't take their criticism too much to heart, but learn from them, accept and adapt. Remember: they want to help you, not harm you.
And by the end of it you will have an improved new draft.

Writing Exercise 056

The first writing exercise this year is a song, or more precisely a lullaby. It has no melody yet, but it might get one perhaps. I only wrote the bridge and the chorus once after the fist stanza in order not to bore you with a lot of repetition. But a song is a song, so imagine them being sung after every stanza. Enjoy. :)

2017/01/06 – write a song

1.
When my evening falls
And all the lights of day
Are declining to dusky shades,
I remember
All the way that I’ve come,
All the chances that have passed me by,
And all the choices that I’ve made.
And I see what I’ve become by now.

Bridge:

And I kiss them all good night,
I kiss them all good night…

Chorus:

And as the last star
Has fallen that day,
I close my eyes in ease.
May the night lead my dreams,
May darkness accompany my heart
To the promised place.

2.
There’s a mirror in front of me,
The surface of the seas
Is almost as smooth as glass.
As it flows
The waters ease
The long forgotten memories,
Just leave me silently
Within total calm of mind.

3.
A lovely breath of air
Surrounds me tenderly,
Caresses me with love,
Just makes me feel
Like flying.
It sings a sweet lullaby,
As it carries away
All the sad thoughts in my head.

4.
The tiny flame
Inside my heart
Keeps still on burning,
I can see it slightly
Shimmer in the dark.
The flickering heat
Melts away all the pain
I felt for so long.

5.
Under my restless feet
The earth is beating
With a slow pulse.
There’s still plenty of power,
It still gives me strength.
On the solid soil
That will protect my sleep
I lay my head to rest.

Something to read

As promised in another blog post, I'm going to bring you into the loop of what I'm currently up to:
recently I joined a German literature project called Dembelo.


So what is Dembelo?

The concept takes a different view on authors: they are not some genius in their quaint room conjuring up brilliant words, but service providers to their readers.

The idea is to provide episodical stories (text knots) with the length of approximately 20 minutes of reading -- something which shortens the time waiting on the bus or in an anteroom or on a train ride or when nothing is on TV an you don't want to read a whole book. At the end of the text the reader decides how the story should continue; they click on one of eight choices to keep on reading for another 20 minutes, and another, and another... if they so wish.

The readers fund the text knots they want to read via micro purchases and see their wishes come true as soon as the worth of another text knot is reached. Theoretically like this an endlessly deep-rooted tree of stories is created as more and more episodes are created and the possibilities branch further and further; the contents of these episodes are supposed to reflect the readers' demands. So everyone can read what they want to read instead of paging through something that doesn't interest them.

Any excess profit is invested in new jobs to support the author teams working on the stories. We believe in social growth rather than profit. The system also considers that authors are creative, so coworkers are paid according to their efforts instead of fixed working hours.


Isn't this exciting and new? Doesn't that sound like something you might want to see?
If you like the idea you can support us on Patreon so we can make it happen (the page is in German though).