I am a filter a sponge, a sea cucumber transforming the discarded
I am a creator a silkworm, an orb weaver stitching new dimensions
I am a canvas a cuttlefish, a chameleon changing hues and patterns with each discovery
I am a seer an eagle, a hawk watching patiently for movement
I am a tome an elephant, a whale heavy with memory and wonder
My fabricglass piece from outside
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this image by Jakub Rozalski
micro-story : When the war ended, the meka warriors were left wandering the toxic borderlands. Always on alert, they were avoided by all but the suicidal and insane.
Today I received my copy of Emporium by Aditi Machado (amazon associate link) Winner of the 2019 James Laughlin Award, so I thought I would recommend reading some of her poems.
She faces threats with effort and courage defends creative space from distraction two choices arrive of equal value
Wishing balance, she refuses to act until a unique solution guides her as waters rise, she leaves comfort behind
Instinct, an ally, leads toward challenges this new world is not as she imagined unpredictable and tempestuous
but pushing through rewards with abundance the journey back is restful and quiet resurrected the fool, wide-eyed, renewed
beginning fresh, energized with passion facing hope with a lucky, shiny coin
The Greener Path by Maria L. Berg 2020
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this image of a woman on a cliff by a mausoleum
micro-story : When I had insomnia, I would often climb the hill just before sunrise. I enjoyed the creepy lone mausoleum on the outcropping, slowly emerging from the morning mist, otherworldly, full of mystery. These chilly daybreaks had become my ritual, so her first appearance was jarring, a trespass. At first, I believed my sleeplessness and the slanted light played tricks on me, but she lingered and I realized the trespass was mine.
Forms Yesterday, we were challenged to create our own form. I got a start on it, but needed more time to play around with my ideas. I knew I wanted to incorporate internal rhyme and repetition with slight variation.
I wanted the form to reflect my daily interaction with my environment, so here it is, the Tappswave form:
The Tappswave is made of one or more eight line stanzas. The eight lines are couplets of sensation then reaction that repeat with variation. Each couplet has its own rules of rhyme and rhythm.
Lines one and two: Observation and attention like light shining on the water.
Line one: specifically describe a sensory experience my example An odd sharp chirp came from my plum tree Line two: memory or emotional response my example making me think of children shooting laser-guns
Lines three and four: Choppy, all one and two syllable words, like a cluster of small waves.
Line three: Expand on the sensory experience of line one, include internal perfect and familial rhyme to the last word of line one. I believed the tease or plea was a bird high on a branch unseen Line four: memory or emotional response to line three with internal perfect and familial rhyme to the last word of line two. the alarm bell rung, damage done when I was young
Lines five and six: Show what’s underneath the surface. Use words that rhyme with fish or types of fish for the internal rhymes.
Line five: Reveal a revelation about the sensory detail in line one. At last my search reveals the perp on his perch Line six: memory or emotional response to line five. and I’ll pass on the sass of this non-bird’s wrath
Lines seven and eight: Reflection and refraction/ ebb and flow
Line seven: Line two slightly changed to show reflection That laser-gun battle rages on Line eight: Line one with a slight change An odd sharp chirp from my plum tree
If I chose to write another stanza, I would start with a related but different specific sensory detail and explore it through the pattern of the eight lines.
My first Tappswave poem
Searching Out the New Sound
An odd sharp chirp came from my plum tree making me think of children shooting laser-guns I believed the tease or plea was a bird on a high branch unseen but the sound an alarm bell rung, damage done when I was young At last my search reveals the perp on his perch and I’ll pass on the sass of this non-bird’s wrath The nerve-shredding laser-gun battle rages on as an odd sharp chirp from my plum tree
Plum Tree Laser-guns by Maria L. Berg 2020
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this image that was hanging on my friend’s wall.
micro-story : She had always been told she had statuesque beauty. Once she had a fully integrated neural implant, she spent all of her time in the virtual world. Feeling no attachment to her gangly limbs any longer, she decided to fully embrace that beauty.
Read for inspiration and craft
Horror flash fiction story “Shedding” by Deborah Sheldon
Ever since I started playing with klecksography, I intended to draw on my inkblots and put poems on them, but I couldn’t get myself to do it. I even made photocopies of a lot of my inkblots, but still couldn’t get myself to draw on them. So to go along with today’s theme, I grabbed one of my inkblots, drew this happy creature on it and wrote my poem on it. I dared to try a poem form I’ve been wanting to try as well: a grid in which the poem can be read in rows, columns, and/or diagonally.
micro-story : She was tired of running up the stairs only to stare into an empty room. What did she think she would do if she saw the source of the banging, the footsteps? Her nerves were quickly fraying. What could she do?
The gypsy in a rage cursed him like a sour breakfast blueberry biting
He called her ugly and inert while flames flickered on the table caution
He had been drawn to her beauty warm like his mother’s sitting room festive
But disliked the fortune she told as the wind crescendoed to howl in waves
When she placed the cards one by one to keep teeth from ire and vengeance telling
She read he would face rejection like red hots, not like cinnamon piquant
And disappointment would follow misty, overcast, and chilly heavy
Because she revealed his future a sharp chirp to a yappy dog fulfilled
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose Judgement by Kamila Szutenberg
micro-story : And this was how Halia described the new legal system, of which she was a part: a giantess, mind engorged, pulsating with all knowledge, ever expanding, scrolls through her lengthening lists of wrongs, lording them over the disembodied masses, drifting through her realm as quantum switches.
Because I approach the page differently when I write by hand and when I type, I decided to set up a binder for my NaNoWriMo project. I collected worksheets and printables I think will inspire me and this week I plan to fill some in every day. If you find worksheets helpful, you may want to look at:
Do you have other worksheets and printables that inspire you?
I also found a bunch of Scrivener templates other authors have created. Though I like the one I set up and it has a lot of information in it already, I thought I would take a look at these other templates and see if they inspire.
Forms Diatelle or previous form didn’t try (I went with the Channeling Emotion exercise I mentioned above)
A Glow in the Darkness
Curiosity is throwing a lantern into midnight’s halitosis an unsettling smell that tickles like a crawling tick she picks locks on dream diaries though sometimes she doesn’t like what she finds her twitchy fingers touch everything collecting memories of textures and heat like a campfire under a full moon an antidote for darkness’s cover
Curiosity scoots her chair forward aluminum legs scrape along the floor she leans forward expectantly bright eyes wide, eyebrow raised she loves to dip a toe in the water though she’ll more often dive right in the questions burst with rapid fire digging for desired answers until the source of the well runs dry like dismembering the eclipse of ignorance
Holding her torch high, she plunges further into the void the bad breath left by forbidden fruit still stimulates her senses the entries in stranger’s journals may reveal the reviled a risk she takes on her eternal quest for all that’s new, she darts through every cracked door, ignoring boundaries, leaping fences breaking through limits to find a new shadow to light
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this image of giant flying man-o-war jellyfish.
micro-story : She knew they didn’t mean to kill. They were wild and new to flight. Their highly poisonous tentacles, swimming through the mist, were but sensing their environment, drawn to her as she was to them.
Read for inspiration and craft
Horror flash fiction story Bakhtak by Ross Jeffery
Yesterday, I got a good start on my list of sound collecting for my sci-fi soundtrack. I recorded some sounds outside, some piano, selected bass effects and played with some riffs. I practiced the drums, but decided to start with other percussion instruments. Music is definitely one way I relax and process my feelings, so I’ll keep playing with my ideas for music that hopefully will inspire my writing.
The other thing that helps me relax and process my feelings is reading, so I just stocked up on ebooks from my library. I borrowed titles on writing sci-fi and a whole lot of science fiction stories. I also picked up other books on writing, especially focused on plot because I want to have my outline ready for November first.
This week’s NaNo Prep 101 theme is Find, Schedule, and Manage Your Time. These days, time just flies by for me, even on strangely slow days. I have yet to accomplish my butt-in-seat goals, so I’ll keep trying. Like I’ve said, listing my goals and publishing them here tends to help me get things done, so this week, I will be in my office, typing, by 9:30 am each morning.
It’s a foggy, creepy morning. Perfect for photographing spiderwebs and getting into the October spirit. Happy first day of October and that means it’s time for some poetry and creepy, scary flash fiction!
OctPoWriMo
Poetry prompt Today’s OctPoWriMo prompt and the theme for this year is “Shine your light.”
Forms Acrostic or Kyrielle Sonnet
An acrostic, a poem in which the first letter of each line spells a word, felt like a good place to start this year.
Illuminated
I effuse creative energy limited only by scattered focus and languid corporeal existence untamed idea generator caged within muscles and organs that hunger and thirst incorrigible inventor flitting on negating intentions to circle back another beginning and another the bulbs lighting like stars in the darkest sky enraptured in exploring the unknown defused with the next spark
Horror online magazine Flash Fiction Online Though not specifically a horror magazine, it has a horror archive
Horror movie of the day
The Witches based on the story by Roald Dahl and starring Anjelica Huston. I love this movie and it will definitely get me in the mood to write a scary story.
NaNo Prep
There’s a webcast this morning 9:30 am Pacific. I have started a post about this week’s prep for Plot and Structure and will most likely post it later today.
October is right around the corner which means some fun daily challenges I participate in are coming up. I hope you’ll join me.
Writober
Writober is a daily flash story challenge with image prompts. I set up the daily prompts on a pinterest board, so you can see them all at once and jump around if you would like. This year is #Writober 5. Feel free to look through all the #Writober boards if you are looking for creepy and scary inspiration. Pinterest has changed and will not let me rename the pins by day, so my link here is how you will know which picture I’m writing to each day.
This year, I’m planning my first science fiction novel for NaNoWriMo. In hope of truly understanding the future I’m creating for this novel, I am completely immersing myself in science fiction, so each of my flash fiction stories this month will hopefully have something to do with my future world (though a pretty scary and dark side of it). Thus, you may notice the images I have chosen somewhat more future horror than paranormal horror, or so I plan to interpret them.
OctPoWriMo
October Poetry Writing Month is a poetry writing challenge to write a poem each day in October. Prompts are provided each day at http://www.octpowrimo.com/
I will also still be working on NaNo Prep 101 which will continue up until Nov. 1.
NaNo Prep 101
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) usually starts on Nov. 1st for me, but this year I got my idea early, so I’m participating in NaNo Prep 101 Workshop. Each week has a specific writing focus. So far, we’ve looked at the story idea, and character. October, we will explore Plot/Outline, World Building, Organizing life for writing, and Time Management.
