Important

[I started this blog September, 2009.]
And after almost a year of blogging, Shadowspinner is going on hiatus.
I'm taking a break, and school has provided the perfect opportunity. I don't know when I'll be back, posting regularly again.
Please note that Thief of Words will still be updating.
Thanks for sticking around,
- roguewriter

Arranged Marriages part 1

Yes, all you writers group people - my brain is still on the topic of marriage.
There are typically 2 - count them - two ways arranged marriages work in stories.
1. The person getting married finds his/her true love in the person s/he been arranged to marry.
2. S/he ends up running away from the arranged marriage with his/her true love.
(We touched on a much less popular option a couple meetings ago - two people living together. One working very hard during the day and then spending his nights a late night bar that he owns and the other working very hard as well, and living with her nose in a book/writing.)
The 2nd "official" option seems to be more popular, probably because it adds "conflict" (and usually angst, but that's a different post.).

I read a book for school recently that included arranged marriages. Homeless Bird, by Gloria Whelan. Granted, the main character's didn't go terribly well, but her stepsister got married and seemed to do quite well in her life. We needs more of that, arranged marriages that work, but aren't necessarily "Troo wuv".
Think about culture, and the character his/herself. Is she really going to throw tantrums because she doesn't want to marry a man she's heard is kind and gentle?

And I can't help but wonder about the divorce rate in fictional works, particularly fantasy/SF. I guess that would depend on the culture you've created.

See these rants for more information. Arranged Marriages . . . Oh, and Duty-Bound Protagonists
. . .
I need to stop watching Doctor Who so close to bedtime. . . it sends my mind into overdrive.

Have a rant or two

This is one of my favourite things on the internet.
Limyaael's Rants. http://www.forresterlabs.com/limyaael/
I advise you click on the 'live journal' links for each rant. (The little pencil icon next to each rant of the list. The comments are interesting)
The rants cover everything from Abused Characters to Writing without and Outline.




May I suggest the rant on arranged marriages to you, rock4ever95 (And just about everyone else)? I find it quite interesting.

Quote of the day

"Writers aren't exactly people.... they're a whole bunch of people trying to be one person."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Quote of the day

"Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist."
- Jane Smiley

Random question

"What is red, and smells like blue paint?"

Now, no fair searching the internet, books, or other research materials - except people, you can ask people.


Can you guess it?

Character naming - part 2?

I was thinking about a prevoious post of mine, on character naming, more specifically about Bliradella tifanreta and Jack. You could pull two completely different names like those off if there was a large enough difference in their stations in life. (How ever, I would advise a slightly less ridiculous name, for the sake of your reader)

That's what I adore about our world, no matter how much we mess it up, there will always be interesting cultures. Take India, in example. The caste system is rather inspiring. Or Mongolia, or just about any culture you want. Mix and match to your heart's desire, just remembering to keep a bit of logic and reality included.

I feel like I've forgotten something. . .

When the ideas refuse to come

Some people will tell you to set a schedule and stick to it. I can't do that, so this is my piece of advice: Try mixing up your routine. It doesn't have to be major, little things work. In example, I'm currently sitting on the floor as I type. (I brought the key board down with me.)
Maybe try new music, write while standing on your head, sitting upside down in an armchair (which I've tried), or whatever else your mind can think up.
Or you can say that I'm slightly crazy and completely ignore me.
Your choice.

Love thy characters. . .

. . . or at least care what happens to them. If you don't care, why the heck should your reader care? Just be careful not to care so much about them that you make sure that nothing bad ever happens to them. I once started reading a story online and nothing bad ever happened to the main character - you can bet how fast I put that thing down.
Make your characters work, make them suffer for their goals, don't be afraid to kill them if the story requires it.

Oh, and don't forget to laugh today.

Link of the day

So, the link of the day is -
The Anti-guide
The Anti-Guide is a forum topic on the site Gaia Online. It's very long, at the moment there are almost 1600 pages, I'm currently on page 144. Yeah. That's a lot of pages. What it is, is a place to post "advice" for writers. It is an Anti-guide, anything that is said should be taken in reverse. Excellent forum, and you do not need to sign up to access it. Enjoy!

Character naming - part 1

Names help bring the characters to life and they bring certain prejudices. One must be careful with them! If you have two characters from the same small place and one is called Bliradella tifanreta and the other is Jack, then you have a problem and should proceed with care. You might be able to pull it off, but it's a lot of work.
Keep track of characters that have names that begin with the same letter. In one of my novels, I have Jaden, Jonah, Jinx, and Jaytur. Things tend to get confusing rather quickly. Your reader will have trouble keeping these characters separate. I am (slowly) working on rename Jaden and Jaytur. This, for me, anyway, is a subconscious thing. I don't go out and say "Oh, I want four male characters in this novel with names beginning with J." No.
And a bit of advice: Did the parent of your character(s) have a crystal ball so they could see what would happen in their future? No? Then please do NOT give them names that match their paths in life. The poor parent probably had very little idea what their children would do and so would not have given them special names.
And that's an end to part one of our segment on character naming!

Quote

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
-Thomas Mann

A what will never be a completed list of links.

I will get to posting what the people asked me to write about - later.
Through the years that I have been writing, I have found link after link that has inspired me. The list I have compiled off the top of my head is short, but will grow quickly.

1. Seventh Sanctum
2. Chaotic Shiny
3. Serendipity
4. Squid.org

This is just the beginning. I'm sure that, once I scour through all the e-mails I've sent people I'll find more writing related links.
Have a link? What do you think the comment box is for? **hint, hint**

Poll results.

The results are in!
Three people voted for "Too many to count!"
And one person voted for "1" and for "Too many to count."
Alright, so there are people besides me with far too many writing projects going - nice to know I'm not alone.

Next poll will be. . . . coming soon!
Thank you for voting!

A story and a point

Writing - you give it everything you have. Sometimes that's enough, sometimes it isn't.

When I was 11, I started on this story, it was my first attempt at writing, and it was the best thing i ever wrote - so I thought.

I look through it now, and there are a couple sections that I want to burn. The voice is awkward throughout most of it, characters make ridiculous mistakes and do things that don't really make sense - all for honor. As you get to the end, though, you begin to see it change. The voice becomes a little smoother, plot holes begin to mend, and it gets better.

And then I stopped writing it. I stopped writing.

Then I found inspiration, I began writing again. This time, the story was better. And it went on for a few months, then I dropped it. I had become very interested in one of the secondary characters, I began writing about her.

So many versions poured out of that decision, and not all of then were very good.

That characters name was Sorrow Fleetfoot, I am currently on my . . . umpteenth version, and enjoying every minute.

The point to this story? (Yes, there actually is a point to this story.)

Writing gets better the more experience you have, and the more you do it.

Quote of the day

"All you need is love"
~ John Lennon

A little help would be lovely.

Alright. It has been brought to my attention by a certain someone that the name Shin-ti could be interpreted as Shi'ite, and that it could be seen as me taking sides of something that I probably don't want to take sides on.
So, I'm trying thinking up new names for the Shin-ti. That's where you come in.
What name would you give a band of the best H'carian warriors, the ones that guard the queen, and serve her and only her? The very best of the best, her personal little army to do her dirty work for her? These warriors kill entire villages, sneak into places, kill innocents in the name of H'car and war.
Well?
Please note that at best, Shin-ti was a working title for them, and if you and I cannot think of a good name, I shall simply keep on using Shin-ti. There really is no pressure.

Quotes of the day

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it. ~Toni Morrison

Quotes of the day

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, I bring to you four quotes of his.

"The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility."

Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.


"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.


"Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh."

Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't Wait, 1963.


"The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty."

Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

2010 and other things . . .

Ah, the smell of a new year. I guess I expected to feel different, now that it's 2010, and in a way, I do and I don't. Strange.

To those of you who were able to see the moon New Year's Eve, I envy you. Do you have any idea how rare an actual blue moon on New Year's eve is? All I could see were clouds that night. T_T

On to the next order of business.

I have been spending waaay more time than is probably healthy hanging around the website http://www.etsy.com/ *nervous laugh* I'm not old enough to buy anything, but I love looking at all the designs, they really do inspire me. It's kind of what inspired me to add some steampunk themes to my novels, so I'm figuring out lots of little technical details and getting to know the characters better as I go.
Resolutions have been made and broken, as usual. The only one that I'm guaranteed to completely succeed with is "Expand horizons and stretch to live beyond the box." That's right, live beyond that dreaded box, not just in thought.
How have all of you been?