#NaNoWriMo Day 2: The Antagonist’s Ordinary World

Day 2
Word count: 2,259 words
Word count goal: 4,000 words
Mapping the Hero’s Journey: The Ordinary World – Antagonist
Save The Cat: Theme stated / Set-up

I love this painting by Alex Rubio (first image on left). If you would like to learn more about his work, here’s a video on YouTube where he talks about it.

Today, I’m focusing on my antagonists. There are many in my novel. One is a fireworks distributor, thus the fireworks labels. Plus, Frankenstein lighting an M-80 is just fun.

#vss very short story

Peter found some old fireworks tucked in the back corner of the garage. After lighting them off, he drove to the courthouse and had his name legally changed to Frankenpyro.

Plotting with Tarot

For today’s reading, I’m going to focus on my main antagonist. Though all of my antagonists committed crimes and are very bad guys, only one is the guy “whodunnit”. Let’s see what the cards say for his Ordinary World reading.

Antagonists Ordinary World

Ordinary World: Page of Swords- someone who spurs you on with discomfort and irritation rather than command

What he likes: Knight of Swords – passionate thinking and mental determination

What bothers him: The Fool – a new beginning, an impassioned start

My interpretation:

This reading makes sense for my character. He is the type of guy who is constantly coming up with a new “business venture”. He likes finding the business idea and starting it, but then, when it doesn’t work out, he hates the disappointment. He would like some security for his family and a constant pay-check, maybe some benefits, but then he discovers the “next great idea”.

Ask Your Character

  • How has your life been different than what you imagined?
  • How would you like to be remembered?
  • Do you have any regrets?

Word Of The Day

imbroglio: n. a confused, embarrassing situation

8 Action Verbs:

accomplished          briefed          constructed          distributed

generated                led                   presided                 searched

Poem prompt

What symbols represent your antagonist? Pick one and use it as a metaphor for your antagonist’s ordinary world.

King Of The Forest

pride
fiercely protective
awareness to competition
long and steady, not quick and easy
he knows he is king of the forest lands

strength
the elk calls his herd
to cross the river
he smells other elk
drawn to the salt, he licks

stamina
the still air cracks
he runs until he falls
chest heaving with final breaths

Awesome Sentence Challenge

Simile: Imagine a person or object. This is the A of a comparison A is like B. Make a list of everything A is like. Try to get as abstract and creative as possible. List 30 to 40 things A is like. Look back through your list and choose your favorites. Compare A to B using like or as.

Similes are important for describing sensual information, so you may want to choose a sight, smell, taste, or texture for A.

Today’s Simple Task

Focus on your genre. Write a genre specific scene. If your novel is humor, write a comedic scene. Writing a thriller? Write a scary scene. Writing a mystery? Write about a red herring.

Warm-up Exercise

Set a timer for 15 minutes.  What does your antagonist want and why? What’s the first thing they will do to get it? -prompt inspired by Diana Gabaldon (Nano poster)

Recommended Word Crawl

Since today is about antagonists, I recommend the Mean Girls word crawl. Then, once you’ve reached your word goal, you can relax and watch it Mean Girls.

Have a great day of writing and reading!

 

National Novel Writing Month (#NaNoWriMo) Day 1: The Ordinary World

Day 1
Word count: 0 words
Word count goal: 2,000 words
Mapping the Hero’s Journey: The Ordinary World
Save The Cat: Opening image / Theme stated

The sense of smell triggers emotional memories

Welcome to the first day of your new novel. Today is all about that opening scene. What is your protagonist up to when first introduced? What is her daily life like before the conflict of your story happens? What is the call to action of your story? What happens that creates conflict and makes your protagonist break from the monotony of routine?

Don’t forget to draw the reader in with rich sensory information. I’ll be focusing on smell and texture in my opening scene.

#vss very short story

After the crash, he spent days wandering the forest. His mind began playing tricks on him. He smelled Ivory soap everywhere, bringing the panic of being locked in that horrible bathroom.

Plotting with Tarot

reading nov 1

So let’s see what the cards have to say about my protagonist’s ordinary world. Thinking about my character, I draw a card. This represents his Ordinary World. Then I draw two more cards and place one to the left and one to the right. The card to the left is what my character loves about his Ordinary World; the one to the right is what my hero believes is lacking about the Ordinary World. It’s what bothers him.

Ace of Pentacles – a new sense of security found through work and determination

The Magician – represents a new beginning- creativity and productivity and a connection to the divine.

Queen of Pentacles – practical and thrifty; knows how to make much with very little; as such is never in a state of want

My interpretation:

I hope this reading gives you some insight into the Ordinary World of your main character. Here is how I interpret this for mine. Please keep in mind that I am brand new to this and only using it as a plotting tool.

My main character has recently retired, but has strictly scheduled his time, volunteering and working at his investment properties. He was an engineer and now spends most of his time fixing things. The Ordinary World card, Ace of Pentacles, speaks to his new retired life and his new self-imposed rigid work schedule.

What he likes about his Ordinary World, The Magician, represents the projects he’s working on and the joy he finds working with his hands. He also finds community in his church and does not respect idleness.

What he doesn’t like, Queen of Pentacles, represents frustration that the things he fixes keep breaking. Something is always in need of repair. He feels like he is never making headway on his to-do list. It also upsets him that his investments of time and money don’t pan out for him. Sometimes he feels like the world is out to steal away every penny he has earned.

This is all great fodder for introducing my character. Now, I have to find ways to bring it into today’s scenes.

Ask Your Character

  • What are you proudest of in your life?
  • When have you felt most alone?
  • What are your hopes and dreams for the future?

Word Of The Day

autodidact: n. a person who has learned a subject without a teacher or formal training; a self-taught person.

8 Action Verbs:

One thing I’m constantly working on is using stronger and more precise language. Try to use at least one of these action verbs in your story today.

accelerated         balanced          consolidated          discovered

gathered             lectured            presented               scheduled

Poem prompt

In his book, This Year You Write Your Novel by Mosley, Walter (2009) Paperback, Walter Mosley said,

“Poetry is the fount of all writing. Without a deep understanding of poetry and its practices, any power the writer might have is greatly diminished.”

I ended up using some poems I wrote in my first novel. I recently read Mogens and Other Stories by Jens Peter Jacobsen and he included  a poem (in the form of a song) in every story. You never know what writing a poem will inspire. Throughout #Writober, my poems inspired my story ideas, so I hope poetry prompts with do the same for you.

I also found that combining many different prompts made for more creative poems. Can you combine one of the visual images with the word of the day, or something in the tarot reading and/or the action verbs?

Shadowpoetry.com has great explanations and examples of different poetry forms. I recommend trying a different one each day.

Today’s poetry prompt: Have your main character write a poem about his or her ordinary life. Let them express their current emotional state in a present tense free verse.

I Don’t Write Poetry

I would not write a poem, but
If I gathered up some words for today
And presented them in that kind of way
I might say my time is not meant for wordplay

I would not write a poem, but
I hear a loud squawking jay
Lazy bird stealing others’ eggs
Nature’s archetype of foul play

I would not write a poem, but
Let petals fall where they may
Life is a state of constant decay
But hard work helps the end’s delay

 

Awesome Sentence Challenge

Writing a novel is not only about writing an engaging story, it’s also about writing exciting and interesting sentences. So with the help of Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Achieving Excellence and Captivating Readers by Barbara Baig, I hope to improve my sentences with a daily challenge.

Because today is about getting to know our protagonists, today’s challenge is about collecting language.

Sentence Challenge: Find your character’s voice – Imagine your character speaking. Make a long list of words s/he uses. Use the words to come up with sentences and phrases your character uses often. Discover a catch phrase or two.

I have a friend who started to do impressions of my family members. Whenever he voices my brother, he says, “Always a pleasure.” I hadn’t noticed my brother said that phrase, but now I can’t not notice it, and he says it a lot.

Since then, I’ve noticed my friend says, “I see,” and I say, “No problem,” way too much.

Do you know what your catch phrase is? Listen for it (Or not. Once you discover it, it’ll probably drive you nuts).

Today’s Simple Task

Today is not only about introducing your main character, you need to put that character in a setting; his or her ordinary world.  While describing the setting, describe an object you know will be important later in the story.

Warm-up Exercise

Set a timer to 15 minutes. What does your main character want and why? What’s the first thing they will do to get it? – prompt  by Diana Gabaldon (Nano poster)

Recommended Word Crawl

Something I have found fun and motivational about NaNoWriMo are the word crawls. They are story, or task related games that challenge you to reach your word goals. On the NaNoWriMo website go to the forums and find Word Wars, Prompts, & Sprints. There you will find different crawls that writers have created. Nice NaNoer CJ Grace put together a google doc with a bunch of crawls you can download and do offline if you like to unplug while you work. There is also a great list of crawls at wikiwrimo.org.

Today, I recommend Write Your Way to a Clean House word crawl. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to meet your word goals and have a clean house to start the week?

Final Challenge

Keep a notebook and pen on the nightstand, or somewhere you will grab it the second you wake up tomorrow. The moment you open your eyes, try to describe the last dream image of the night. Write everything that pops into your head for at least one page. And yes, I mean before your first cup of coffee.

So there it all is. A ton of fun ways to stay motivated today. All of these prompts are meant to get your ideas flowing and words on the page. Pick and choose what works for you. I hope you have the best NaNoWriMo ever. Check back tomorrow for more inspiration, prompts and fun. Now to the writing!

Happy Reading and Writing

Planning For #NaNoWriMo: Plotting with Tarot

Koscej Nesmrtni by Ivan BilibinThis will be my third adventure into National Novel Writing Month. My first two were “wins” as in I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days, however, they have stayed in their not-quite-fully-realized draft state since their conception and that is not what I hope for this year’s novel.

Like my very first novel, this idea somewhat landed on my doorstep. Well, more like it showed up for my dad in the garage. I’ve been thinking about it for months and it has turned into a twisted saga of super-fun proportions.

Because it has more twists and turns, characters and settings than my previous work, I wanted to approach it in a new way. I have decided to add a little more plotting to my plantser and try something completely out of my element.

Plotting your novel using the Tarot

Before last week, I had never had a Tarot deck; I had no idea what any of the cards meant and I would have never imagined using the cards. However, I was reading Jumpstart Your Novel by Mark Teppo which talked about plotting with the Tarot and my writing buddy was talking about using Mapping the Hero’s Journey With Tarot: 33 Days To Finish Your Book by Arwen Lynch to plan her NaNoWriMo novel, so I came up with an idea.

I found printable color your own tarot cards on Tarot Taxi and decided to create my own tarot deck. I love symbolism and as I go through the month, using the cards to plot my novel, I plan to artistically collage them with my own imagery.

If you’re not interested in coloring and creating your own cards and would like to buy a deck, you may want to look at some of these Tarot cards.

To learn the meanings and interpretations of my cards, I went to Psychic Library.com while I waited for some library books that I put on hold.

Making the cards

Making the hanged man

What I used:

printed black and white card images
scissors
glue sticks
a ruler
a pencil
scrapbook papers
decorative sticker paper

I cut a selection of scrapbook papers to 1/2″ larger than the tarot images on all four sides then cut out and glued the images onto the papers. I let the images choose which paper design worked best with them.

For the laminated backing I chose to cut different portions of Victor Bilibin’s painting of a Knight who hacked off the heads of a three headed dragon. I love the colors and had a bunch of stickers to recycle.

hanged man back

I watched some YouTube videos on learning the meaning of the cards and how to do a reading while I made all the cards. In Jumpstart Your Novel by Mark Teppo it shows how to use the Celtic Cross spread to plot scenes in your novel. Here is my first reading.
My first celtic crossThough it looks like I might not have shuffled by the amount of wands and swords in the reading, I assure you I shuffled a ton. The cards actually make sense for my character and my story. I was pretty impressed.

I’ll be doing both the Celtic Cross readings and The Hero’s Journey reading from Mapping the Hero’s Journey With Tarot: 33 Days To Finish Your Book by Arwen Lynch throughout NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo Inspiration

So what do I have planned to stay motivated this year? All sorts of fun stuff. I learned from #Writober that I like combining lots of different prompts, so every day this month, I’ll be providing visual prompts, word prompts, poetry prompts, a poem, a tarot card reading, writing exercises and everything else that I find inspiring.

This year I donated to NaNoWriMo and received a prompt poster. Many of the prompts are geared more toward short stories, but some of them will make their way into my daily posts. I also bought the Writer Emergency Pack which is a deck of cards with prompts that I’ll be mixing in.

Like #Writober I’ll have specific headings that I’ll repeat every day and a daily poem. Unlike #Writober, the days will not be random. I have a plot-structure method to my madness. Each day will follow the Hero’s Journey and I will also try to map it to the story beats of Save The Cat! and the Simple Tasks of Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days.

I have pulled out all of my references for this (literally; the house is a mess) and will be pulling inspiration from all my favorite resources. If you like something I’m referencing, it will most likely have come from one of the books in the list below. Click the link, and get yourself a copy to enjoy all year long.

Bibliography:

Books on Writing: These are the books I’ll be using and referencing this month.

Jumpstart Your Novel by Mark Teppo
Mapping the Hero’s Journey With Tarot: 33 Days To Finish Your Book by Arwen Lynch
The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition by Christopher Vogler
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Achieving Excellence and Captivating Readers by Barbara Baig
Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days by Denise Jaden
Crafting Dynamic Dialogue: The Complete Guide to Speaking, Conversing, Arguing, and Thinking in Fiction (Creative Writing Essentials) from the Editors at Writer’s Digest
Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell
Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell
Writing for Emotional Impact: Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End by Karl Iglesias
Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months by John Dufresne
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master by Martha Anderson
Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen
Writing for Self Discovery: A Personal Approach to Creative Writing by Myra Schneider and John Killick
Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer
This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosely

Books on Tarot

The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life by Jessa Crispin
The Tarot Handbook: Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols by Angeles Arrien
Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card by Mary K. Greer
Tarot Beyond the Basics: Gain a Deeper Understanding of the Meanings Behind the Cards by Anthony Louis

Reference Books

The Elements of Style 4th edition with revisions by William Stunk Jr. and E. B. White
The Wrong Word Dictionary: 2,000 Most Commonly Confused Words by Dave Dowling
The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers (6th Edition) by Chris M. Anson
A Writer’s Reference by Diana Hacker and Robert A. Schwegler

Fiction: Don’t forget to pick out some good books to read in November! I picked:

A Man Called Ove by Frederic Backman
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park
The Hiding Place by David Bell

Happy Reading and Writing!

I hope you’ll join me and find lots of inspiration here at Experience Writing!

#Writober Day 31: Words magically open doors

writober 31
photo by Christopher McKenney

This image is full of story potential. It makes me think of magical worlds like Narnia and Oz,but it also makes me think of all those great stories where the story an author is writing becomes real like Stranger than Fiction, Secret Window and In the Mouth of Madness.

What story do you see? Is he going on a fantastic journey or returning home? Are those his pages swirling, or is he the character created by the words? So many possibilities.

#vss very short story

As the pages of his manuscript swirled on the warm breeze, he took a deep breath, turned the doorknob and stepped into his new story.

#OctPoWriMo

I survived

The words I chose from the random word generator:

metallic      harvest      accomplice     elongation        anyplace
timeless      gritty         horrors            exhibition          burden
The First Frost
A metallic shimmer covers the harvest
Winter’s accomplice spurs dark shadows’ elongation
Covering anyplace in darkness, frozen and timeless
Nourishment resting in gritty horrors
The exhibition of this year’s creation, now a belated burden

#FlashFicHive

flashfichivefinal
graphic by Anjela Curtis

Here it is. The final day of #Writober. How did you do? I hope you were inspired and wrote a bunch of flash fiction. Don’t forget to share your successes over at #FlashFicHive.

#NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow. Are you ready? I am very excited to get started on my new novel. I have so many fun ideas to stay motivated and inspired every day of November. I’ll be writing more about it later today. I hope you’ll join me. Would like to be my NaNo buddy? You can find me in NaNoWriMoland as marialberg.

Happy Halloween!

#Writober Day 30: The skeletons are out of the closets!

writober 30
from kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com

An invasion of skeletons. Are they only after you because you accidentally summoned them with a spell book or an ancient amulet? Have all of the science class skeletons risen up to take over the world?

This image makes me think of the attack skeletons from Jason And The Argonauts but it also brings up the scene from Signs when the alien is on the roof.

I hear a lot of strange noises in this house. For the last couple of weeks, my neighbor across the street has been banging away at something with machinery and the banging sounds like it’s in the house. I’m going to try hard NOT to imagine that it’s the sound of an army of skeletons trying to get in.

#vss very short story

Suxie-Q wished she hadn’t motivated all of her listeners to air their dirty laundry. Now the skeletons were out of the closets and they were coming for her.

#OctPoWriMo

Theme: Forbidden

This theme fits great with the idea of letting the skeletons out of the closets. What forbidden secrets do they represent and why were they hidden away?

Today, I’m trying the abecedarian since I skipped it on Day 21, opting to use the theme from Day 19. The theme from day 21 – Nothing Remains the Same also goes well with the skeletons coming out of the closets.

T.M.I.

Agatha’s atrocious artifice is avarice
Bob’s bloodthirsty brutal beatings bruise
Chester is a callous cold-blooded cheat
Diana deludes depraved degenerates
Elmer engages elaborate evil edifice
Francine forces fools into fake fascism
Gunther is gross with gluttony and guile
Harold howls hateful heartless hubris
Irene invents inhuman injurious infections
Keith kills
Leonard’s lips lust for lies
Mike makes up murders maliciously
Nancy’s nefarious narcissism needles
Opal obfuscates obloquy
Quinton quakes in a quagmire of qualmish quaaludes
Ramona rigs a rotten ruse
Sandra’s sinful subterfuge stinks of scandal
Ted’s terribly twisted trick turns table
Uma’s unnatural ululating to a ubiquitous underworld causes umbrage
Victor vituperates vile violence
Wally walked off with your wallet
Xena is xenophobic
Yolanda yowls yarns of yearning
Zeus zigzags zany for zaftig

Note: That was super fun! I recommend reading it aloud for extra pleasure. It reminds me of The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey or the The Sesame Street Library stories that would focus on only one letter. I especially remember a dragon story for the letter D.

#FlashFicHive

flash fic hive 30
graphic by Anjela Curtis

Sadly, #Writober is coming to a close. Not today though!!! We still have today and tomorrow to write awesome stories. If you get a chance today, pick your two favorite images from #Writober2 and write anything and everything that comes to mind. Have fun with it.

Looking back through all the great visual inspiration, the two images I choose to focus on today are the great Gregory Crewdson scenes from Day 9 and Day 10. I hope you’ll join me and finish strong.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#Writober Day 29: Alien Invasion

writober 29
Alien by Ivan Mityaev from artstation.com

Isn’t this image amazing? I love this creature. Such a great design and rendering.

Last year, the alien image inspired me to write a story about the subtle reptilian invasion going on under our noses; co-workers and friends in human form until “the change”. This year, I’m thinking full-scale, violent invasion. A whole army of these awesome aliens coming right atcha!

It makes me think of Mars Attacks! and Independence Day but I think I want my story to be less silly blockbuster and more The Elephant Man and Frankenstein. The plight of the poor, misunderstood monster, alien invasion style.

#vss very short story

When the Shnaggerfens arrived, they believed they were alone on Planet Gerfenx 1024. Their eyes did not register the billions of angry and confused occupants they kept squishing.

#OctPoWriMo

Theme: Breathtaking
form: Villanelle

The Day We Arrived

Today in the day we invade
Because it’s the day we arrived
Why do they look so afraid?

Leaders try to ply us with trade
But we are not in any need
Today is the day we invade

An officer thinks loud voice will persuade
Their weapons will do no harm
Why do they look so afraid?

Scientists use numbers in hope to dissuade
But we have no choice; our fate is set
Today is the day we invade

They ask for patience as options are weighed
Gathered in houses with spires and crosses
Why do they look so afraid?

Look at this mess they have made
Denying this inevitable day
Today is the day we invade
Why do they look so afraid?

 

#FlashFicHive

flash fic hive 29
graphic by Anjela Curtis

Since I didn’t participate in August, I looked back through October’s prompts. I had the most fun with Day 26‘s Circumlocution prompt, but I think my favorite writer’s prompts were the antagonist prompts on Day 23 and Day 24. I think I’ll take a look at an antagonists backstory and write from an antagonist’s point of view.

Are the alien invaders the antagonists, or the humans? Or are these aliens even invading earth? Maybe these awesome aliens have just discovered a new planet and encountered a completely different form of antagonist. So many ideas. Fun. Fun. Fun.

#RIP XII

Have you been doing the Readers Imbibing Peril challenge? How’s it going? Still a few days left. My planned reads kept changing, but I’ll make it. I only need to finish reading Slade House by David Mitchell for Peril of the Group Read and it’s good, so finishing shouldn’t be a problem.

Happy Reading and Writing!

#Writober Day 28: Underwater Living

writober 28
photos by Yang Yi

I love these haunting images of life underwater. They make me think of Atlantis in decay. Maybe a gritty crime drama set in the underwater city.

It makes me think of mermaids, but not The Little Mermaid kind. More like the scary ones from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I looked up scary mermaid movies and found H.P. Lovecraft’s Dagon. I know what I’ll be watching this weekend.

What story do you see in these images? Mermaids and Sea-monsters, or people living mundane daily lives who just happen to live at the bottom of the sea?

#vss very short story

After the war, many people returned home to live in what remained of their homes under the sea. Many were already occupied by sentient sea-creatures. Thus the war began anew.

#OctPoWriMo

Today’s theme is: Belonging
poem form: Clarity Pyramid

Trust
Honest
Speak the truth

Wrapped in acceptance
Home in fearless embrace
Calm in common interests

“Freedom from back-stabbing voices”

 

Note: For this poem, a mind-map of “Belonging” was very helpful.

#FlashFicHive

Write a 25-word version of your story:

After the dam broke, they lived peacefully in their underwater city until the mermaids moved into the area. All that constant singing day and night!

Have a great Writing Day!

#Writober Day 27: Watch what you wish for, it may show up in mutated ways

writober 27
Mutation by Maria L. Berg 2017

I don’t have much to say about this one. I’m listening to Nancy Sinatra  and wanting my plant to eat all the people.  Or maybe the (other) crazy geneticists have already made the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) that will reach out and ask how you feel about them as they eat you back. That is terrifying enough.

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?

#vss very short story

I didn’t think the first mutation was exciting enough to call the papers. Now, I think I might have wanted to nip that in the bud.

#OctPoWriMo

Theme: The Scent of a flower
Form: Haiku

 

Stop crossing the line
You know you are complicit
Time to make jerks go.

 

Sometimes I forget
Life is not debt to any
Mine to give all day

 

#FlashFicHive

Day 27 flash
graphic by Anjela Curtis

This is a good idea for today’s Mutation story, since I didn’t have a lot to say about my image. Exploring more images and words to go with it might help form more of a story idea. I made a mood/story board on pinterest.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Have a great Halloween Weekend!

Update to #Writober Day 26: Anagrams led to Occult Chemists – I kid you not

circumlocution anagrams

I was going to update my post from earlier with my collage inspired by today’s #FlashFicHive prompt, but then something amazing happened.

If you haven’t read today’s #Writober writing inspiration yet, today’s #FlashFicHive prompt is to create anagrams from the word Circumlocution. I started with “I color mic uncut” and “MC IC Outrun coil” which made me think how funny it would be if Ichabod Crane was and MC being warned about a coiled snake. This inspired the idea for the collage.

As I was trying to make one of my anagrams work, I searched my dictionary and saw loco which, of course, inspired “Cici loco rum nut!” I continued with my joyous anagramming and came up with a new word, uni-micro-occult. This made me think of a minuscule occultist in MC Ichabod’s crowd.

At this point, I felt I was ready to begin my collage and started searching for images. It took a while to find the right stage from the crowds POV from which MC Ichabod could sling his rhymes. Then I went with the least sexy Ichabod for a little humor. I wanted the coil to be a snake and found one with a little sparkle and finally it was time for my uni-micro-occult idea.

Here is where things got awesome!!! I hadn’t started out thinking of a tiny Aleister Crowley. I searched occultist and didn’t see exactly what I was thinking of. So then, just for fun, I searched my new word, that I made up, because it used all the letters in circumlocution and . . . images of diagrams of occult atoms!! I am not making this up.

uni-micro-occult atom

In 1895 there was a group of “Occult Chemists” who “exercised clairvoyant powers” to directly observe atoms. I found a paper from webspace.yale.edu called

Serious Scientific Lessons from Direct Observation of Atoms through Clairvoyance

that lays out the “science”. Too good.

First, my mom is a chemist, who won’t even acknowledge anything occult, hates when I even say the word ghost, and wants all my stories to be sunshine and rainbows. Second, the last time I talked to her, she called me on Mole Day. A mole is the unit defined as the amount of a chemical substance that contains as many representative particles, e.g., atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, or photons, as there are atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12 (12C), the isotope of carbon with standard atomic weight 12 by definition. This number is expressed by the Avogadro constant, which has a value of approximately 6.022140857×1023 mol−1, which is just over 602 sextillion (thousand million million million). The mole is one of the base units of the SI, and has the unit symbol mol (from wikipedia). So are these occult atoms? Is Mole day an occultist holiday? Is she manipulating space/time with her mind? I need to know.

I’m seeing her tomorrow at my sister’s Halloween party and I might carve my Jack-o-lantern into the shape of an Occult Atom or one of the lovely occult chemists.

How did I not know about this before? So many years of teasing and needling out the window. But tomorrow night, a new age has begun. I wonder if she already knows all about Occult Chemists and will just shut me down? The woman knows her chemistry, but weird occult history? I think I’ll have the upper hand.

Happy Halloween to all the Occult Chemists drawing the psychic anatomy of atoms!

 

#Writober Day 26: Are They Weasel People? Are They Rat People? Is One Less Scary?

writober 26

There are many really great images of old, creepy costumes on the internet. This one really grabbed me. Maybe, it’s because I should know what they are, but don’t, or the dead-eyed expressionless affection of their pose. Is it just me, or is there a bony ghost hand grabbing for her dress?

So what are these rat (or weasel) people up to? This image makes me think of Willard (2003). Which instantly makes me think of one of my favorites Rubin & Ed . Are these the people who killed Rubin’s cat?

It also makes me think of the great Halloweens I had in New Orleans. Halloween is a huge adult holiday with parades, and elaborate costume balls. I really miss it this time of year. So I took a look at the IMDb list: Horror movies filmed in Louisiana and found some amazing looking “art” I have not encountered yet. To get in the Halloween spirit, I’ll be watching, The Beyond, The Alligator People, Evil Remains (AKA: Trespassing) and/or Creature From Black Lake. Another way to get into the New Orleans Halloween spirit is to read something by Anne Rice, if you haven’t read and re-read all her books yet.

On the creepy side of children’s movies, this image also makes me think of  The Secret of NIMH and the live-action version of The Wind in the Willows.

How will these characters act in your story? Are they the protagonists, antagonists, or secondary characters? Are they what eventually became of Willard’s rats? Or are they Bonnie and Clyde going to a masquerade?

#vss very short story

When they handed me their camera, pointing and squeaking, chirpy-growling instructions, I went ahead and took their picture; not sure if they were just really into their costumes, or I should get checked for the plague.

#OctPoWriMo

A Once and Unruly Mind
From the picture prompts, I connected most with Chaotic mind and Finding Connections Mind.
poem form: Cascade

Rats In The Walls

Scurrying through the chaos mind
Lying in wait for crumbs to drop
Spreading plague and pestilence they find
This year, there’s a bumper crop

Not afraid to bite the hand that feeds
Sniffing the trash for their own kind
Lavishly flaunting their basest needs
Scurrying through the chaos mind

Pushing the bar but never learning the maze
Biting each other for a bit of slop
But doing back-flips and tricks to join the next craze
Lying in wait for crumbs to drop

The chaos it swirls and whirls ad nauseum
May they choke on the poison from which they all dined
They chewed through the cage that tried to contain them
Spreading plague and pestilence they find

Who leads the rat people they want to know
They send out the loudest, a ridiculous prop
Shouting lie after lie, lies that will grow
This year there’s a bumper crop.

#FlashFicHive

flashfichive day 26
graphic by Anjela Curtis

Today’s prompt is a little game. The objective is to make a new word or words from the word “Circumlocution”. I had too much fun with this. I hadn’t played with anagrams in a long time. Look for an odd piece of art from me later today.

I hope something in today’s post brings you some inspiration.

I truly appreciate everyone’s efforts that are inspiring me this #Writober. Special thanks to Morgan Dragonwillow morgandragonwillow.com@MDragonwillow and Anjela Curtis anjelacurtis.com@AnjelaCurtis.

Happy Reading and Writing!