Life in progress

Tag Archives: fiction


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#SoCS – In the Books

I think this year will go down in the books as the one when everyone died. Then again, all the pioneers of modern rock, the movie stars, and the famous people I’ve grown up with are getting older. Was it like this for my parents when the likes of the Rat Pack began to die off? I suppose. And I’m sure all the young’uns now will have an impact on our kids’ generation when they begin to pass away. Yet somehow I think this is a bit different. It seems to me that aging bands such as the Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zepplin… they have a continued base in society unlike the greats of old. When the remainder of those bands disappear it won’t just affect we who are now in middle age. It will affect us all.

So today, Mohammad Ali. I found a meme on Facebook which included a quote:

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Things we should all strive to be remembered for.

On a lighter note…

I picked up a book off the bargain shelf a long while ago, and I’ve just started reading it. I have to say, half-way through I’m totally engrossed. It’s a little romantic, but mostly it delves into the quirks and psychology of its characters in an amazingly profound way. It’s humorous, sad, and absolutely entertaining. Faking It by Elisa Lorello is something you’ll want to pick up. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=faking+it+elisa+lorello

I use Booking.com a lot. In fact, I’m sitting in a room in a B&B as I type this. It’s warm in here. I’m in Kingston, and half-way between temptation to walk around and take pictures of doors and wander around the waterfront (and find a patio to sit and eat lunch) and take advantage of the quiet time away to work on one of my books. I’m this close to getting my novelette published (just have to go through proofreads and get a blurb written), I’m that close to my final edit of my epic novel, The Great Dagmaru, and I’m dying to work on finishing the first draft of the sequel.  Maybe I’ll work on one of those until I get really hungry… or my bum goes numb.

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to join in! https://lindaghill.com/2016/06/03/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-416/

SoCS badge 2015

 


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#atozchallenge – Reflections times two

I learned a lot from both of my A to Z Challenges.

First, I wasn’t sure I had enough material to pull off the theme I chose for this blog, which was parenting a Deaf child as a hearing mother. I was afraid I’d repeat myself. I don’t think I did. In the process of writing it, I also learned that what I do without really thinking about it on a daily basis is extraordinary. Not to say that I believe myself to be special, but like anything we do until we are no longer conscious of the mechanics of it, whether it’s touch-typing, driving a car, playing a video game, or whatever it is we do well, if we take the time to break it down into steps, we can usually find ourselves awestruck that our brains can do so much at once. Putting it that way, I don’t think I’m any different than anyone. I just have a different set of circumstances.

At the same time, I hope by sharing my life and what it’s like to survive as a Deaf person, I’ve raised some awareness for those who may never know, but who might meet by chance, someone who cannot hear. They are everywhere. To find my challenge from the beginning, click here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/04/01/all-about-alex-atoz-challenge/

For my second challenge, I took on the task of showing rather than telling different characteristics of people in fiction. I learned that it’s not easy, when writing less than 200 words, and in some cases only 50, to pull a virtue or flaw out of a character and relay it sufficiently. I’m sure I failed a few times, but hey, it was an exercise to better my craft. We learn from our mistakes as well as our successes.  You can find the start of my fiction A to Z here: https://lindaghillfiction.com/2016/04/01/apathetic-a-z-april-blogging-challenge/

As much fun as this year’s A to Z was, I admit I’m glad it’s over. As well as editing my epic paranormal romance novel, I’m also planning to self-publish my A to Z fiction (a romantic comedy novelette) from two years ago. I’ve promised myself the latter will be available for sale next month.  On a related note, as you may know, I plan to turn this year’s A to Z on parenting a Deaf child into a book. Therefore, I’ll be removing it from view on my blog at the end of this month. If you haven’t read it all yet, and want to before I compile it for publication, do it soon!

It’s been great meeting new bloggers through the challenge. I hope to participate again next year. It’s been a blast!


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Themes Reveal

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Yes, I know, I’m a week late. My excuse is that it’s taken me this long to a) decide on my theme, and b) decide whether or not to incorporate the same theme on both of my blogs. Being the glutton for punishment I am, I’ve made up my mind to flog myself participate in the challenge, using two completely different themes.

Here, on Life in Progress, my theme will be living with a Deaf child as a hearing parent. It’s a subject I’ve considered writing about in length for quite some time, with the goal of writing a book about it. I’m hoping this challenge will get me well on the road to where I want to go. Some entries may be heartbreaking, each will probably contain humour, but my ultimate plan is to make them entertaining and something anyone can relate to.

On my fiction blog, Inspiration in Progress, my theme will lean toward creative writing, and in particular, character types. It took me less than three minutes to come up with a title for each letter of the alphabet, so I took that as a good sign. Each post will include a scene or a story containing a character described by the title of the post. I’ll also include an explanation of how I came up with the inspiration for that character. I have listed my fiction blog as Adult Content (AC) on the sign-up list for the A-Z Challenge, but it is not my intention to write AC fiction. The thing is, I never know how the muse will strike me, nor what the outcome of my writing will be until it’s written. Thus, the AC categorization just in case.

There’s my big TA DA! for today. If the whole enterprise turns out to be too difficult, I’ll consider buying a flail for next year.


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Nano Poblano – Day 18: What to do about a Book Sale

Don’t ever let me loose at a used book sale.

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There’s more that one bit of good news in this though. The nine books only cost me $21, and the proceeds went to the Alzheimer’s Society.

But while I was browsing the thousands of books for sale that day, I got to thinking: what if I had my book published and gave away copies at events such as the Alzheimer’s book sale? Wouldn’t that be a neat way not only to get my novel out there, but to give to a worthwhile charity at the same time? Heck, I could even sit there and sign them. But then I got to thinking – does that make the sale suddenly more about me than the cause?

What do you think? Should this even be a tough call?

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Speaking of Masochism

Why do I set such high goals for myself? Okay yes, it feels great when I achieve them, and usually I do because I don’t like giving up on a challenge I set for myself. But the downside is that I end up getting stressed when I have too many things to do.

The latest goal of course is NaBloPoMo – write a post every day during the month of November. Together with Nano Poblano which gives me the extra challenge to make my posts spicy, I’m thinking by the end of the month my posts will be unreadable garbles of swear words. That should be fun!

Yet there’s something extra I’m contemplating to drive myself crazy reach for, and that is to extend my Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right series to 365. An entire year. I’m working on getting ahead of myself to cover the period in December when I won’t be around. They’re already scheduled a day or two in advance, so what’s two weeks? Nuthin’! My eventual goal with the series is to turn it into a calendar. I’m not sure exactly how that would work as an e-pub, but I’m sure I can figure something out. The idea came up a while ago, and I spoke to another blogger about possibly animating it, but that sorta fizzled out into nothing. So far. I should re-visit the idea and see if there’s any interest, though the 365th episode is still 300 away from being completed.

Any thoughts? Anyone who’s reading it think it might be a good idea? Click here for a link to one of the scenes that stands alone (meaning it has no back-story nor any follow-up so far) if you’ve never read one. You may just be amused.


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Character-Driven vs Plot-Driven Stories

There are many writers out there who craft their stories based on a “what if” situation. They will come up with a scenario, such as “what if a meteor hit the earth?” or “what if a guy goes to the store and finds all the cars in the parking lot stacked on top of each other?”

These two scenarios may sound very similar, but they’re not. Yes, both start with the same three words, but the difference is this: the first revolves around a plot. The plot has yet to be populated by humans (assuming there are humans left alive after the meteor hit). The second scenario already has a human in it. Here may be the difference between a plot-driven story and a character-driven one.

For me, populating a story that contains a story first (aforementioned meteor crashing down) is near impossible. I can’t wrap my head around a crowd of people who have been plunked down in the middle of a situation. But give me a person to work with first, and I’m off and running. What any ONE person would do in a strange situation is fairly unique to that one person. That, to me, gives a story its excitement and its hook, if you will.

This whole topic came about when I started to think about how difficult it is for me to write a short story. Given a plot, I may be able to bang out a few words. But when I get my head wrapped around a character I find it hard to let go after just a few hundred words. I get attached to my characters very easily, and once I have them in my head I don’t just want to tell a bit of their story, I want to tell it all. Before I know it, I’m well on my way into a novel.

When I first began writing, I belonged to a Yahoo group in which a bunch of writers developed characters who not only interacted with one another, they told each other stories of their lives before they met one another. Quite like anyone would in real life. So I’m thinking about writing a character on my fiction blog rather than attempting and consistently failing to write short stories. Just a thought at the moment.

The character-driven story is a subject very dear to my heart. My characters become almost like  family to me, much as the characters do in some of the novels I read. Especially the ones I’m sad to put down when they’re finished.

I’d like to hear from the writers out there – do you write character-driven or plot-driven stories? Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone and tried the other one?

And from the readers – have you ever become attached to a character that was so well written, you never wanted their story to end?


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Horror vs. Slice and Dice

I was having a little discussion, as I do, in the comments on this post with my friend Foolsquest on his blog, 642 Things about horror movies and what makes us laugh, and I got to thinking about the horror I write.

I don’t particularly like watching horror movies. I used to enjoy them when I was a kid, even though they scared the bejeezus out of me. I remember one night when I was about 15, babysitting a couple of young kids in this old century house. It had a clawfoot bathtub in the washroom. Anyway, I’d read and thoroughly enjoyed the book Carrie and the movie was on TV that night so I decided to watch it. I admit I was fine until the damned dream sequence at the end. I’m sure that bit wasn’t in the book. Suffice to say I was so grateful when the parents got home that night I almost hugged them. But I digress.

I DO, however, enjoy reading horror books. And I enjoy writing horror. What I really can’t stand are slasher films. You know the ones – they invariably include a half naked chick getting stabbed through the bare naked chest and a bunch of people who can’t seem to run as fast as the bad guy can walk. At best, they make me laugh, but for the most part, I think they’re a waste of time.

Now give me a psychological horror and I’m all over it. Even better if it’s in print, because there’s only so much psychology that can be related on screen, The Silence of the Lambs notwithstanding. So I got to thinking, maybe it’s the blood and gore I don’t like. But then I reminded myself of this bloody little gem I wrote just over a year ago and I realised that’s not necessarily all there is to it.

I think blood is okay. Sometimes it’s necessary to fully explore the world in which the characters live, if they’re very off balance or have particular … er … tendencies.

I just can’t see the value in watching pointless violence, just for the sake of violence. Do you?


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Rock-Star Writer

I feel like a rock-star sometimes.

Look at me here, with my happy-go-lucky lifestyle

Not a care in the world but

My laptop with my novel open

To the juicy bits – the personalities with

their fabulous lives and exciting drama

their ups and downs and their

…oh their endless passions

and love.

I’m a rock star.

My characters make me so.

Do you ever live vicariously through your characters? I’m thinking about my upcoming trip to Ottawa where I will go backstage at the National Arts Centre to see the dressing rooms and the back hallways where the stars meet. I’ll go on stage and look out at all the seats and maybe I’ll do a little dance.  But it’s not just the fact that my main character happens to be a performer. There’s so much more going on in his life than that; it’s only a facet of who he is.

My fictional characters go through their own lives with the dramas and fears and loves that I only wish I could experience. Sure, sometimes they are tortured by those very same things. But their stories are interesting – worth telling. Is my own life worth a tale? Sometimes, I suppose. But not like the lives of my characters. They live out loud, doing things I can only dream of having the opportunity to do.

I suppose all writers of fiction live, at times, in the imaginary world where their characters exist. A fantasy world, if you will, where not even the sky is the limit, and where unexpected things happen.

Once in a very rare while, I feel like I’m really there. And in a way my research will take me there. I’ll have my notepad and pen and my camera on hand to record the moment, but for the most part I’ll be living it.

Has it happened to you? I’d love to know.


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Labour Day Indeed

It’s been a crazy day. I decided, finally, to do a garage sale. Unfortunately I didn’t get everything outside until 10:00am so I missed what might have been the morning rush. Final tally:

4 hours

8 dollars

1 crying kid (Alex wasn’t happy when we gave up waiting for the hoards of people he was expecting.)

I may try again next weekend, if I can get some help with the kids.

In other news, I’ve decided to re-release my “Second Seat on the Right” series on my fiction blog. It’s a series of scenes which take place in the second seat on the right side of a city bus. Written independently of each other, they often include repeat characters, each with their own ongoing story. The first one is published and an announcement will be made at the end of each when the next is scheduled.

Here’s a link to the first – hope you enjoy! http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/1-scenes-from-the-second-seat-on-the-right/