Creeping back

Summer's almost over, at least, speaking of a school-kid's view.
I hope to return to blogging very soon.
Jason's inspiring poetry about a rock and Bernita's musings about the simple monetary facts of real life and their usual lack in fiction were two threads to start to lead me back to where I feel some part of me belongs.
Whew.
What a long sentence.
I'll be back I think.
I'll be writing Halo again, finishing it one fine day...
Hmmmmmmmmm...
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How was your summer?
What are your plans for the near future?

summer's toll

It's been almost a month since my last post.

I try to collect my thoughts, but my days are so loud and noisy I can't really think about writing as such. There are some ideas lingering in my head, as to the upcoming end of my Halo, but...the noise around...and within my head...Can't wait to see the school get started :P

I keep visiting the blogs I like and although I do not comment as often as I used to do, I do read them all, and enjoy them anyway.

That's been all for today and it's almost midnight.

Under another Full Moon, I'm falling into the bed now...

some

oooops, I killed someone else HERE. This is, as per usual, a great contest by Jason, with lots of supportive comments and nice feedbacks - go, I say, over to Jason's and help yourself among the many surprising and well-written entries*.

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In other news, Hail's still alive, immerged in computer games I suppose...

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How often do YOU do something else INSTEAD?

To be honest I'm quite satisfied with having done at least SOME-thing.

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*I found it quite to hard to praise the entries in one go when mine's there too - I hope you don't misunderstand me.

have not

yet.
'll be back.
'm drowsing off to
.
.
.
.
.

Full Moon

and I'm on my way to kill someone I like and know oh-so-well.
It's not the first time, not the last one, either.
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How many times did you do this?
What was it like?
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PS: thank you for your kind comments on my expert. It seems that the adding of small references to perceptions within a particular situation enhanced the dialogue.

I am going to keep the descriptions of the surroundings.

I was to, anyway, but your opinion helped me to stick to my mind.

version two

For reference, see the post right under this one.

The following conversation is almost the same one, but I added some reference to the surrounding and their behaviour here.

Your advice and suggestions are welcomed as to 1.) whether the adjustment improved or made it worse 2.) anything else about practically anything.

I've already made my mind about the changes, but I'd like to hear your opinion as well.

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- Uhm, you should drink and eat healthy, Hail. – The pattern on the shoulder of Hail’s winter coat, now hung above the shoes, bore a slight resemblance to the shed skin of pumpkins.
- I will. The office is closed. What a progress I’ll be making during those entire four days! My fingers are already itching.
- We were worried about you.
The snowflakes were melting on the coat. Beyond the clothes rack, the only light intruding the darkness of a larger room was the flashing of a standby.
- I see, but you should not. I am fine now. I hear the calling.
Darkness stayed. The photos on the wall remained silent.
- You’ve got any plans, like visiting relatives, or friends? Does he even have those?
- Uhm, nothing special. It’s not that you would not understand. It’s that it’s my own quest.
- Well, have a nice time then. – The shoes were arranged neatly on the shoes rack. The smell of shoe polish mingled with something he could not trace quite well. I wish I could get some of those chocolate cakes for Anna.

words

Finally, I've returned to some polishing. I'm not yet finished, thanks for asking - it's the usual 'rolling revision'.

Among many other important factors, Bernita mentioned that a good dialogue should be as much interesting as the action scenes and should be able to carry the story further on, just the same.

The dialogue I'm working on is short, is between 2 people (main character and another person) and it is a dialogue, nothing more.

I thought I would be adding something else, to make it go beyond words. But everytime I re-read it I don't see anything that can be or should be added. I think it's because I know it almost by heart. I know that the obvious advice is to leave it as that and return later on...

But you know what?

Here's an excerpt: this is part of the dialogue. The whole conversation is 245 words, and the word count for this little piece is 104.

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- Uhm, you should drink and eat healthy, Hail.
- I will. The office is closed. What a progress I’ll be making during those entire four days! My fingers are already itching.
- We were worried about you.
- I see, but you should not. I am fine now. I hear the calling.
- You’ve got any plans, like visiting relatives, or friends? Does he even have those?
- Uhm, nothing special. It’s not that you would not understand. It’s that it’s my own quest.
- Well, have a nice time then. I wish I could get some of those chocolate cakes for Anna.

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Do you think the scene needs indication of physical actions, hints of movements, description of the flat they have just arrived into?

Do you think their inner thoughts should be italicized?

Do you find this conversation boring to some extent?

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Thank you for your suggestions. Shove them into my thick skin.

It is official -

I am a lazy bastard.

Damn, I have the same addiction as Hail, my main character does.

Computer games.

When I'm feeling blue I feel deep blue: where my life is going to?

When I'm feeling better, I suggest I'm just getting experience to write my WIP from a better perspective. Is it a lie?

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In the meantime, I'm suggesting you take a look at a contest HERE on my other blog. The rules are also available there.

It is connected to movies, some well-known, some not-so-much.

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I do hope you are doing better in achieving your goals in writing - I'm still *coughs* collecting.

Full Moon

Did you know that there are organized meditation events in association with the Full Moon? I did not, either, but it's fascinating. I'd love to take part in one of those, if there was one near me and in my own language.

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For the time being I walk in our garden, watch the heavenly body grown full, among the branches, enjoy the scent of elderberry and of moist soil...

I hold my head up high in contemplation, with my eyes fixed on the sky... and I wait for the inspiration to come....

a long time

Yes, it's been a long time since I last addded a single word to Halo - and I don't even remember the last time I added anything to Copper Moon, either...

Hail, MC to Halo is a loveable creature. With all his bad dispositions and bad fate, he's one likeable hero. I like him and I'd like to meet him and see and register how his fate continues.

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Today I read some lines and I liked him even more. The sorrow I feel for neglecting him is almost painful. I wish I had the time and quietness around me.

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I'm still searching for the real end of the story.

Fighting the obvious

I have not written anything in the past couple of days.

Good news? Bad ones? Definitely bad, for me. But the value of my non-writing to literature is a completely different question. You see, today I screened through the fight scene, only to find horrible sentences like this one:

Hail’s left foot moved forward and raised his sword above his own head.

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Bitter moments, my dear. When I came accross things like this in my own writing I ask myself the obvious: why?

Plus: Why English, for God's sake?

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I do want to finish it.

Part of me wants to finish it as soon as possible - to get over this. Part of me wishes to wait until I'm relaxed and able to concentrate on writing. I think I'm listening to the second half of me.

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I made the photo on 27 April, 2008. It is an ancient Hungarian martial art called Baranta (all 'a'-s are pronounced like the vowel in the English word 'one'.)

Full Moon

She's hiding among her courtsladies.
So is my inspiration.
A dry spell? Perhaps.
Loss of interest? I don't think so.
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The end of my WIP is still awaiting to be written.
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As I mentioned earlier I took up the habit my MC has in Halo. I must confess I'm almost living the life he has. Almost.

I'm grateful for the difference.

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Have you created any heroes that you'd gladly swap life with?

Or, if you are not a writer, which fiction character's life would you most like to take over?

Let me see.

From the LOTR series, I'm definitely partial to Eowyn. She's faithful, supportive and fierce. She's got strong emotions towards her man, her country and her kindsmen.

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And you?

If your choice is not so well known, please support your choice with a short description of him/her.

Hiding

I woved not to expose any excerpts from my WIP.
If my work was to published, this might make sense.
But now it does not. OR not really.
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The photo depicts my son, aged 11+, who likes to hide himself in clothes, especially when being photographed :-)
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I think I chose not to give out samplings because I wanted to finish it first. This I will stick to. I don't want to be disturbed or digressed because of peer's opinion. But once I'm done your opinion is of extreme importance for me.
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What's your idea on flashing?

statistics - UPDATED

Heehee, I'm done with the fight scene.
This is my first-ever fight scene. It is 555 words from the very beginning to the end.

I have never, ever written a fight scene before. The valuable notes of my fellow bloggers were of great help in starting and finishing it. I'd like to express my thanks to Bernita, Charles and both Steves.

First of all, I made a small draft which composed of the basic events.

It went something along this: after the first few chops, MC retreats, finds a suitable shelter to get into the back of the antagonist and with a surprise attack, gets his head off. Searches his clothing and finds a map inside. These words were the skeleton I used.

When actually writing the scene, I found MC retreating into a small cave where he found out that he might as well use a charm upon his enemy. This charm slowed down the enemy's movements. This idea came as strikingly new to me at that point....

Later on I recognized I was listening to Cole Porter's 'When they begin the beguine' taken from the film De-Lovely :)

Unintentionally, I imagined the antagonist following the swaying motion of that music...

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The total words count is 4895. I'm not finished with it yet. There are at least 3 scenes left.
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For the interested, here's the videoclip, taken directly from the movie. Thank you YouTube.
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UPDATE: in the comments section, where upon Ropi's question I ponder about the importance of first things. You may add your own two cents about the importance of doing things (anything) 'first'.

too good?

Having finished a larger chunk of official work, yesterday I returned to writing Halo. I did not write much, I added just a few lines.

When I was done (and my family did not let me go on with my writing any longer...arrgh...) I noticed that these lines might just as well be suitable for my other, long-neglected WIP.

It makes me uneasy.

It makes me feel that there are similarities between the two works.

To be honest, there are similarities and I knew them right from the start.

Or almost from the start.

I'm determined to finish off Halo first, but those lines felt somehow too good for it.

Then I felt ashamed.

Is there a thing as too good in writing?

Isn't it that the writer has to write up to his upmost capacity and bring out all the feelings he has inside and master it with practical skills up to his best knowledge?

If a line, or a paragraph feels awesome and great - that is how it should be, isn't it?

One should not save a great paragraph for just in case - should he?

For later works?

For whatever might come along the way?

experience all right

Without spoiling the plot of Halo, it is about a man who has a strange addiction.

Now the idea came into my head unexpectedly when I started writing it for the contest held by Jason, but now...

Things are taking an interesting turn.

*coughs*

Although I found that some traits of the main character resemble me, I kept a distance. The problem he's in is much more deeper than the one I face. His addiction is much more profound. This is what I used to tell myself.

*coughs*

I thought finding a virtual solution to Hail's problems would help me as well. Or at least, his solution might give me some information about the way out.

In fact my problems are not serious at all.

This is what I used to tell myself.

*coughs again*

Well...

What else can I say?

I think I got to finish it before it's too late.

The end

No, no, I'm not quitting this blog :)

Right now I have a job so I don't and can't really concentrate on writing Halo, but the other day I was walking along the streets and ...

well, I was thinking about the end I imagined for Halo.

The idea, that sounded fun and a great ending seemed flat and well, not-so-interesting.

I don't know.

I thought it would be a funny twist.

Now I don't know.

I've even started thinking about alternative endings.

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I think I will NOT be dealing with writing the ultimate ending* right now.

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Things I have to finish with Halo are:

- a fighting scene between MC and someone else (I keep postponing writing this for some reason!)

- the scene that leads to the ending

- the ending scene with a dialogue between MC and someone else

- the aftermath*

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I'm a great fan of various music.

From Mozart to Brenda Lee to Nina Simone, from Metallica to KD Lang, anything might come.

But give me some rock'n'roll and/or hiphop and/or rap and I no longer wish to say hello to you.

I' d say goodbye for good. Hee.

Happy Easter

Easter comes with the turning of the seasons (coming of spring is March 21) and a Full Moon. In our family, there are two birthdays and a so-called name-day between 21 and 25 March. In Hungary, each day of the calendar is dedicated to two or three names. Those who bear that name usually have a small party to celebrate their name-day. My daughter is called Rozália and her day is on 4 September. We give her small presents and a cake. This is a small celebration.

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A festivity is are great opportunity to write about various cultures, to give a hearty description of events, clothes, customs, behaviours.

Real or fictional, they provide interesting reads.
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Also, one might write about a local or family event, like a birthday.

I have not covered festivals and/or special customs in my writing, but I think I will certainly do.

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Special customs create an athmosphere of a circle and all those who are not in, are out.

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How many birthdays/special festivals, be them fictional or real, have you written about?

Do you like covering the subject?

Mines and yours

Jason exploits some of his own childhood experience while coming with a cutting edge psychological piece. It takes the form of a dialogue. It starts with simple questions only to reveal the disturbing truth beneath a shiny surface.

Events of childhood, as he puts it in his comment in response to my comment, can lead to stress in adulthood.

Traumas are almost always excellent sources of writing. To me, they are golden mines. If I am the one who went through some suffering, my writing about it helps me in the first place. And if my personal hell somehow matches the reader's own, then my writing might be of some help for him as well. Double the advantage.

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When I read about personal sufferings that were not part of my life though I am either

1 - bored, because the stuff has no relevance to my life at all.

2- releaved and loose, because I thank Heavens for not letting me having to experience such horrors.

It's so good to see that what is yours is not mine.

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At the same time, opportunity is always there. What was/is yours can be mine. So it's better to be aware.

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I like psychological writings. I think Halo somehow will be psychological, too. Provided I'm writing it.... At the moment I'm not.

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What's your take on mines and yours?

the four-piece exercise is over

Chris has set up a special place where all the entries can be read. This blog is up until we all have evaluated each other's entries.

This exercise was something special - we were told that there would be 4 pieces, and each piece was writtten according to special parameters given to us by Chris.

The parameters are on the sidebar of that blog, while the entries are posted as blog entries.

I don't know if outsiders are allowed to comment, but I accept any (supportive) comment as to the grammar, structure, flow, story, way of telling, vocabulary, or anything of my entry.

My entry is about 1000-1200 words long - You might leave your comment here.

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If you do not have time to read my entry through, that is all right by me.

Sometimes you just don't have the time.

I find myself quite occupied at times, too.

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When your brain is crowded and you need some intellectual refreshment, yet you do not have time to read 3000+ words, really brilliant words...

What dou you do at those times?