Grief

Well, its been a while. I have been busy with work and the holidays. I am heading back out of town on monday the thirty first -- New Years Eve. I will miss my family for the couple of weeks that I am down there. The three weeks before the holidays was terrible. I got a lot done and am excited about what we accomplished for the business while we were down there. But I am a family man.

This became even more clear to me last night. Susan and I went out with Aaron and Jen. We saw a movie called P.S. I Love You, with Hilary Swank in it. The movie is about a girl who is married to an irish guy. They argue and disagree just like any couple, but it is made very clear that they are so in love. Then she loses him. The movie is about how he reaches out to her after he is gone to help her move on. I couldn't help but think about how I would feel if I lost my wife or children. It would be devestating to me. The movie was great. It was all over the place emotionally...Humorous, and heart-wrenching at the same time. The most potent emotions to me though were the ones surrounding her loneliness, the emptiness, the void in her heart and in her life that was once filled by her larger than life, late husband. Grief.

Anyway, I saw this as a promising scenario for the challenge that I posted to write a paragraph on emotion. Grief, loneliness, mourning due to the loss of a loved one. This could be a result of death or just separation. You may also, of course, choose your own scenario, but I thought I would give you somewhere to start if you need one.

Good Luck!

Sorry

Sorry, it was late when I added that last post. It didn't make complete sense to me either. But do feel free to try the challenge if you want to. I will post my efforts and would love your feedback on wether or not it is real enough or not. If you do take a stab at it, let me know in the comments section and I will give you my e-mail add so that you can send it to me.

Emotions

Emotions. I believe that a good character is an emotional one. Not emotional as in breaking-into-tears emotional. I believe that a good character has real emotional reactions to fictitious events. Their responses to the things that I choose to put them through need to be emotionally true. When the reader reads the description of the character's feelings they need to say "Yeah, I've felt that way," and furthermore "That's how I would have felt in that situation too".

Anyway, I am putting thought into the best way to describe emotions in words and thought that this might be a fun excersize for anybody that wants to give it a whirl.

Challenge:

Write a brief narrative describing the emotions of a character.

This character can be male or female. If you want a challenge, take a whack at the emotions of the opposite sex (good luck!)

A little bit of advice would be to think about how you have felt in a given situation and try to describe it. You can just use descriptive words but most of the time a metaphor or a simile can say it much more clearly in less words. especially if you can find universal imagery (something that everybody has seen or had experience with).

Ex. I felt like a cornered animal (the word like denotes a simile)

I know that's kind of a lame example, but I don't have time to come up with anything deeper. You get what I mean though.

Also it might be helpful to think of a situation that your character can respond to. A situation that you have been in yourself (recently would probably be preferable) would probably help.

If you need a situation I can probably provide one...just let me know.

Good luck. Let me know if you need more information.

Thanks for your comments!

Thanks for your comments...sorry I haven't checked on things in The Colony for a while. I had only given the blog address to one person and she hadn't commented, so I stopped checking it until I could post something new. I realize now that the Blog address got out and I am really excited to read the comments from you guys. Oh, and by the way mom, i agree with you. I will be very careful what I post on this Blog now that it is on a few lists. I hold my most precious secrets pretty close to my heart (Oh yeah, I'll work on my capitalization as well!).

I will probably use this blog for feedback on certain topics that i am curious about that pertain to creative writing (character, description, idea generating, emotions in writing, etc.). This will make more sense after I give you an example. I would love to put together some excersizes in writing that anyone can participate in as well.

Anyway, I will post here more often. Feel free to browse through th links to the right. I've got links to bios on some of the authors that I consider to be among the best colonizers...meaning they have created worlds that have enticed me to take a walk in my mind, off of the pages and away from the plot, just perusing the woods, dells, lakes, rivers, cities, relics and so on of the worlds that they created.

I have also begun (and will certainly add to) a list of links to what I believe to be helpful tips on the art of creative writing, or any writing really. Feel free to check them out.

Beyond this I will be putting my thoughts down in posts and asking your opinions on certain things so feel free to comment and be honest as you do so...I want to get better and pursue honest, unforgettable ideas and themes, so let me have it.

What I'm working on.

I'm currently working on what i belive to be an epic (knock on wood). I know a lot of people say that about their projects, but I feel like i have a pretty good handle on the difference between solid fantasy and cheesy make believe. I say epic because it is grand in scope and set against the backdrop of a carefully thought out history and culture (dating back to pre-civilization), and it has a sweeping story line that will rock the entire world that we have created. it is also something that will have endless possibilities for sequels, and will almost certainly need a prequel.

It began as a time killer at work about two years ago. I liked to do research for characters by asking people I knew "if you were in such and such a setting, and such and such a situation what would you be or do?" That's how this started...I came up with a setting that ended up being fairly intriguing (to me at least), and got a decent response from my friend...both of which got our imaginations rolling. It wasn't much more than a time killer at first, but after setting it aside for a long time my friend Braden and I picked it back up again, dusted it off and began to work on it. It was one of those "Hey, do you remember that one time?" moments. It took off from there and evolved until now, a year or more later, it has come alive.

We have a pretty good progression of the events in book 1 which i am slowly molding into a scene by scene outline. I am also continuously filling in the map (these things almost always start with a map!) with names and basic histories. It is a lot of fun.

My partner in this project is off serving the Lord in Canada for two years, so I will be working on consolidating the massive amounts of storyline, history, and cultural details that we locked down in our brainstorming sessions.

We feel like Colonizers of a New World, and are proudof the world we have created. I have never felt more driven to complete something in my life...and i have had MANY great ideas in the past, many of which I hope to put into print someday. I can't wait to unveil this New World of ours to the world.

A Glimpse of Middle-Earth

Welcome

There are several purposes that I hope to serve through the medium of this blog. I saw it, first, as a way to keep a record of my thoughts as they relate to my passion for the imagination…for the creation of New Worlds and for penning narrations of characters and histories within the framework of these worlds. Secondly, it is a way for me, as long as I have access to a computer, to write something everyday. I need this in my life right now…I believe it is the key to my progression as a writer from this point. Thirdly, this page will also provide a common access point for me to post excerpts for the critiquing of my peers…those whose opinions I respect, many of whom will be involved in several of the projects growing here. So if you have been invited here, please enjoy and comment on what you see. If you have stumbled into this place by chance…please leave.

Lastly, and ultimately this will be a place that honors the legacy of the great Colonizers, the individuals that have created truly complete worlds…worlds that you can easily imagine stepping into, worlds with a thousand untold stories, unsung heroes, and unknown adventures. There are so many of them and the list will be different for everyone. My list is posted below. If you have those that are on your list that you do not see here, please tell me. I would love to explore a New World!

I don’t believe it would be an honor to the legacies of the greats to spend all of our time and energy building a shrine to the worlds they have already created or the creators themselves. I think that it would be more flattering to these to honor them through mimicry…by working to create New Worlds for the habitation of new races, cultures, individuals, myths, histories and so on. That is what I hope to use this page to facilitate. Enjoy!