Sunday Foreign Post Roundup

1.  Who do you mimic in your writing?  No, not mimic...but share a style with?  Ted Cross poses the question here.

2.  Perhaps the best blogfest entry I have ever read...Mesmerix' Fight, Fight, Fight Blogfest entry.  Read it.

3.  Ask him anything you want!  DL is putting himself out there, so take advantage. :)

4.  Click around and feel free to share links you think should make the weekly Sunday Foreign Post Roundup!

Sorry this week's is so short and so late...I have been at my parents for about a week.  We have had a great family reunion and I have seen my cousins, their kids, and more of my family from the 8-month-old baby to the 93-year-old grandpa!  They came from as far as Ecuador and as near as 40 minutes outside Nashville.  Pretty amazing to see so much family.

I'll try to work on a post for Wednesday.

Who chooses your plot?

My Labor Day weekend trip starts today, so I have brought back a post from the past.  This article debuted December 7, 2009, and today I ask you again: who chooses your plot?


There are many ways to start a book. A striking title that is both umbrella and foundation. A startling sentence that becomes the seed from which your story sprouts. An experience you fictionalize and twist into novel-length. A character.

A character. That is where I am. When I last posted about my WIP, a secondary character had just surprised me with his strength and faltering moral compass. It was the first time a character of mine had taken control; and now I wonder, how much control do I give them?

For this post I chose the picture of a scene from The Scarlet Letter because, in his writing, Nathaniel Hawthorne was greatly influenced by the world around him. We all are to a certain extent, but I certainly do not write about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, global warming or even healthcare reform. Some of this is because the nature of publishing has changed. There is a much longer period from between writing and publication now than in the early 19th Century. Hawthorne lived in a Puritanical community, and he wasn't afraid to shine light on its hypocrisy. He was also part of the Transcendentalist movement. Do we even have movements any more? (ha!  this from the writer who would go on to post four literary movement posts!)

From where does your plot come? Do you outline your plot first, or let it develop? Do you hit on the high points and fill in the subplot later? Do you start with a title, a character, a sentence and fertilize until the blooms are abundant?

Come in!

INVITATION by Shel Silverstein


If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!

Come in!

I read this poem to my son Tuesday night at bedtime.  I have read it many times before.  This time, it seemed the perfect post--words just out there with their own life, their own obvious purpose.

Come in!

What have you given your writing?

Corolla, NC

Writer and blogger Elspeth Antonelli is taking a sabbatical in September...She is calling it her "writer's retreat" and she will devote her time to--you guessed it--writing!  What a fantastic idea!!  Furthermore, Elspeth is creating her very own writing space.  Man, I would love to have an area sacred to the craft of writing.  And it got me thinking...What kind of time and setting do you give your writing?

There are writing conferences--but they are really more for socializing, networking, selling, and learning.  Nothing wrong with those things!  Love 'em!  But is there time at Bouchercon or Malice Domestic or Killer Nashville for actually writing?

Retreat in Asheville, NC

And, of course, you can pay for actual writing retreats.  (The one in Castellón, Spain is especially appealing, no?)  This would be ideal for me, for I really need to be away from my kids to get any writing done.  (Here's another retreat link for the curious.)

Then...(yes, there's more)...There are ways to completely engulf yourself in the story you are writing.  I'm talking about living like your characters.  Research can only take you so far, but have you ever tried living like a citizen of Victorian England?  Or perhaps, to keep it related, you'd like to experience the charms of a Steampunk lifestyle...

What have you done for yourself and your writing lately?  Have you devoted space or time or even money to your craft?

A movie post for a busy day: Repo Men

So this is a little late today b/c, yes, I'm at work again.  How do you work-outside-the-home-every-day people blog?  I just don't get it.  Anyway...

Sunday night, my husband and I watched Repo Men.  Now, let me preface this by saying we hardly every get to watch movies.  Our DVR fills up and we fit in one show an evening after the kids are in bed, and usually still have a a whole queue come the weekend.  But last week, we sprung for a little RedBox.

For a random Wed. my husband rented Hot Tub Time Machine.  I won't even comment.

For the weekend, we rented, as previously mentioned, Repo Men.  First of all, one of the hottest and most intimate sex-but-not-sex scenes ever.  It's toward the end of the film so I won't give it away.  Secondly, our absolute lack of exposure to gore recently made this film hit pretty hard.  Oh, and we watched the unrated version.

Premise: "In the future humans have extended and improved our lives through highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs created by a company called "The Union". The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don't pay your bill, "The Union" sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property... with no concern for your comfort or survival. Former soldier Remy is one of the best organ repo men in the business. But when he suffers a cardiac failure on the job, he awakens to find himself fitted with the company's top-of-the-line heart-replacement... as well as a hefty debt...When he can't make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy's former partner Jake, to track him down."

Needless to say, there is lots of blood, a few fake organs being ripped from bodies, and some serious knife-fight scenes.  Personally, I don't mind all of this.  I love a good action movie--don't throw chic flicks my way.  But the one thing that stood out from the was the intensity and apathy Jude Law seemed to exude at the same time.  The connection between him and the woman who becomes his leading lady late in the movie is hard to explain as anything but animalistic.  The relationship symbolizes the mechanized world in which Law's character lives, in contrast with the human need to survive and be happy, not just exist.  The actress who plays Law's wife furthers this contrast, with her emotionless tone and blank face.

At first glance, the movie is just another excuse for action and the exploration of futuristic technology.  (Reminds me of a post I did a while ago, actually.)  But look deeper and you'll see the theme I just mentioned portrayed through a series of contrasts--setting (aesthetic Union vs. jungle-like home of the outlaws), characters, and sound (the robotic words of the boss [Liev Schrieber] vs. the easy jazz and classic music that penetrates the lives of those on the run.

Bottom line:  If you have no tolerance for blood and weapons, avoid this movie.  If you like looking behind the face of a plot and enjoy the SciFi aspect in film, rent Repo Men today. 

One more comment--I don't think this movie has to be set in the future, but could also be set in an alternate reality.  A big theme in Repo Men is science and the use of it to create more perfect, alternate states of being.  The whole movie could be just one big alternate state of mind.

Sunday Foreign Post Roundup

1.  A cool new-to-me meme and some great answers by Clarissa at Listen to the Voices.

2. Back home--and back home she is!  Elspeth Antonelli returns to us from a vacation, and asks a great question about where you Main Character lives, and what it means to them.

3.  The word, Abracadabra!, and other fascinating ideas from Jan Morrison guest blogging at 'burrowers, books, and balderdash.'

4.  Brevity or longevity?  That is the question asked by Lynda at W.I.P. It.  Go answer!

5.  And now for a fun look at stupidity...That's right!  Stop by Stephen Tremp's blog to see what ignorance he is spouting.

6.  Guess what the numbers are saying?  E-books are increasing readership!  Find it here at Mystery Fanfare.

Blogger Arrogance

The title implied unequaled knowledge and importance.  The page showed nothing but the posts, blog description, and links to the blogger's sites.  The blogger/writer wrote only about her- or hisself in third person.

What would I, as a reader, like to see on this (and other blogs)? 

1.  Maybe an acknowledgement of followers.  As simple as this is, that little box in the sidebar tells readers they are important.

2.  A more humble title.  Tell your readers what you're about, but don't call yourself something you have to live up to--'Brilliant Writer,' 'Perfect Storyteller Blog,' or 'No one can match the words on this page. Comment if you Dare.'

3. Give us some color.  A black and white page shows a bit if apathy, and sometimes it comes across as cold and unwilling to give to the readers.  (Simple and clean is nice.  Take a lesson from Elizabeth Spann Craig--simple, but with color and nice elements.)


Then again, who am I to say?  How arrogant of me!
Anything else you like to see on blogs?  Have you come across and arrogant blog before and, if so, did you comment or turn away?

For fear of coming across 'arrogant,' I'd like to say that these are just the opinions of this humble blogger.  No laws should be based on my words.