Now that Christmas is over–and we survived; deep sigh of relief–odd ornaments no longer fit the bill for visual prompts. I woke up asking, what should guide us into the new year? My brain said, “Rorschach tests.” Why? You may ask my brain. Because inkblots stimulate creative imagery and Klecksography could enhance our poems. The true answer, I think, is I want an excuse to make a mess with art supplies.

So please have fun with them. Feel free to copy my pictures. I would love it if you would turn my glitter glue inkblots into illustrations and put links to your creations in the comments. Then we can all check back tomorrow with what we came up with.

Klecksography, pioneered by Justinus Kerner in the 1850’s, is the art of using inkblots in illustration. He used his klecksographs to illustrate his poetry.

Here are some great articles about Klecksography:

Atlas Obscura

Smithsonian

SheAboutEverything

#vss very short story

Herman became obsessed with inkblots. He dripped ink on, then folded, everything. He was always covered in ink, no matter how many times a day his mother scrubbed him. His cat had an inkblot that looked like a moth. His dog had an inkblot that his father thought was suggestive. His father didn’t know it, but while he was napping, Herman had made an inkblot on the back of his leg. Herman thought it looked like crossed swords through a heart dripping blood.

Today’s Poetry Prompt and Poem

Today we have a visual prompt: Antony Gormley’s sculpture “Quantum Cloud VIII” (1999) from SF MOMA’s Fisher Collection. Write a poem using this sculpture as your inspiration. https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/FC.688

 

Extending beyond form

          Mostly empty space

Perceived construction                                                                                       of the familiar
The body radiates

E             x            p                a                   n                       d                         s

                    p                     d

E                               l                      e

          x                o                         s

Editing Focus

This week, I’m taking a little mini-vacation. I have a bunch of books I want to read and I don’t want to feel rushed. While I read, however, I will keep a notebook at my side and look for things I would like to emulate. I’ll pay attention to:

• plot structures,
• character development,
• character arc,
• metaphor and simile,
• sentence structure and variety,
• dialogue,
• word selection
• and every other great thing that I like about what I read.

#FlashFicHive

Now that the holidays are over, I think I want to start a new flash story. I haven’t hit the Plot-o-Matic in a while. Let’s see what we get.

As you can see, I’ve added more than one option to each card. I may want to redo my cards so that each card only has one option. Some days, like today, choices aren’t a great tool. I’m going to go with:

A helicopter pilot wants to hide out for a while so he puts 10,000 dollars in a church plate.

And from the Writer Emergency Pack

and let’s add an oblique strategy:

Twist the spine

I’m guessing my antagonist is whoever my helicopter pilot took the money from. Perhaps he puts the 10,000 dollars in the church plate because he came to meet and talk to the antagonist at the church and the money is a sign of good faith.

For today’s #FlashFicHive challenge, I’ll need to write a backstory for my helicopter pilot.

As for our oblique strategy, I could take it literally–one of my characters could have a twisted spine–or figuratively–throw a twist into the story. Maybe the real antagonist is the preacher, or maybe the 10,000 dollars wasn’t stolen at all. Now, how to condense all of these ideas into a flash fiction story.

Don’t Forget To Read!

I have a couple of books to recommend today. I finished Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams and The Best of Talebones edited by Patrick Swenson.

I gave Tunnels and the sequel Deeper to my niece. I would recommend this book for pre-teens to early teens (the main character is 14) who are fascinated by archaeology, underground cities, and caves. Kids who liked City of Ember will most likely enjoy this book.  4 out of 5 (a little heavy on the doom and gloom).

I gave The Best of Talebones to my sweetie’s brother. These stories, selected from years of Talebones Magazine, are great reads. Though the magazine was specifically focused on science fiction, there is a lot of variety of style and subject matter between the stories. I highly recommend this book.  5 out of 5 stars.

 

Happy Reading and Writing!