The Colour Yellow

Haven’t posted anything for awhile - been busy with editing, promotion & doing research for a historical novel idea. All fairly constructive pursuits but I’m missing doing much actual writing.

Thought I’d share something we did as an exercise in my local writer’s group. The brief was to describe a colour to a person born blind. This was my attempt:


Yellow


How do I describe the concept of yellow to you who can’t see it?

Think of butter, creamy, rich & slightly salted. Think of dairy cows in a clover pasture, a country farm, peace & tranquility. Think of fresh warm bread with a pat of softly melting butter. You have tasted yellow.

Think of a bed of daffodils, petals silky & questing for the sun. Think of the gentle scent of them early in the morning or late in the evening. Think of walking in to a house closed for a few hours with a vase of daffodils on the table. You have smelt yellow.

Think of the warmth of a summer sun, the rays on your face. Think of the life giving force without which the earth would be cold & lifeless, formless & void. You have felt yellow.

Think of the eager twitter of a canary, its song rising as a tribute to the heavens. Think of the small birds, bodies caged but voices unconfined. You have heard yellow

We who are sighted may make the mistake of experiencing colour only as a pigment. You have probably seen yellow better than I.

So Much for the African Cultural Renaissance

Today I’m using my blog to rant about the steady reduction of library services in my hometown (Alberton, South Africa) Apologies to any foreigners who find it boring. Feel free to ignore me, I’m used to it. :)

I am however curious whether this is an issue in other countries / cities as well.

I have been an avid user of libraries since I was a child. My parents enrolled myself & my sisters as soon as we could read. Because I love books, reading & writing etc libraries have been an important part of my life & often a refuge when things were a bit tumultuous for me.

One of the first things we do as a family every time we move to a new area is joining the local library. I currently live 200 metres from the local library & used to make a practice of walking up every second Saturday morning to exchange my books, read the community notice board & just generally wander around enjoying the atmosphere. I even took out audio books whenever I could to play in my car on the way to work.

When I joined the local writers group (some of the greatest people I have ever met!) it met on Saturday afternoons in a room within the library building which was very appropriate.

Some time ago the writers group was told to find another venue as it was now policy not to allow meetings outside of library hours. Fortunately another venue was found & the group carried on.

Since them the library started only opening every second Saturday. A little inconvenient but still tolerable. More recently it stopped opening on Saturday mornings at all. It is only open Monday to Friday till 17H00.

This may suit schoolchildren & civil servants who do not contribute to the economy 8-5 every day, but it means that as an adult reader it is nearly impossible to make use of this “service” which is after all paid for by the taxes of those working adults.

I find this extremely sad considering the low literacy levels in South Africa & President Thabo Mbeki’s alleged commitment to the African Cultural Renaissance. Many of our people can’t afford to buy books & the library is the only chance many hard working adults will get to be regular readers.

We should be creating more opportunities for our citizens to read, not taking them away!

Visual Stimulation

Even though I write in words I think in pictures. On the surface that may sound a bit illogical but I’ve met many people who have told me the same is true for them.

I’m not sure if this is common to most creative writers or if it’s only a select (deranged??) few of us. For me it may be related to ADD as visual thought is an accepted trait that follows the condition, a condition I both love (for the creativity it engenders) & hate (because it makes me struggle to focus & organize things in my life).

Anyway it’s a part of who I am, so I accept it & move on.

Because I tend to think visually I find pictures & photographs etc. a powerful source of inspiration for stories. When I see an evocative image I imagine myself inside the place or event, observing & talking to the participants. This will often trigger a story idea, it’s as if the picture tells the story to me. Maybe that makes me a likely candidate for a straight jacket & a padded room but I can live with that. I embrace my insanity!!

To make it easier for me to find ideas I started keeping a scrapbook a few years ago. I cut out & collect any image that stirs something within me from newspapers, magazines etc. When I’m stuck for an idea I page through the book & stare at whichever picture catches my eye. It may seem like a pointless pursuit but it works for me & it beats watching 99% of what’s on TV!!

The other way I use my scrapbook is by collecting pictures of body parts (no, not that kind perve!!!!). I have whole pages dedicated to eyes, lips, hands etc. Sometimes it really helps to describe a character’s features while looking at pictures of actual peoples features. Sometimes it just creates a character that looks like something Picasso would have come up with while stoned but hey, you win some you lose some…..

Give it a try, you may find it helps & its fun anyway.

Finding Inspiration

I’m by no means the worlds greatest story writer (well actually I think I am but I’m trying to be humble here). However I have been asked quite a few times lately by people who have read my short stories or who know me where I get the ideas from. The usual comment is something like, “I just can’t make up good ideas & people etc.”

The truth is neither can I. I’m very bad at making up a storyline from scratch. Give me an interesting plot, event or character & I’ll write it up for you, but develop it completely from my own questionable intellect – very unlikely.

I usually get ideas from true stories & then modify a bit, or even merge a few real events or people into one. Newspaper clippings are a good source of inspiration, especially if you read the actual story & then play a “what if?” game i.e. what if the male character was female, or rich instead of poor etc. How would the people around them react? Changing the dynamics of a real situation can be the basis for a good fiction story.

Another technique that works for me is to take a real story & change the POV character. For example a newspaper reports on a kidnapping. All attention is focused on the victim, his wife & the kidnapper. What about the kidnapper’s wife, how must she feel? What is the reaction from the kidnappers colleagues, friends etc? Explore what drove him to it, he may well be a victim as well in some way.

An exercise we did in an online writers group a while ago helped me a lot. We were told to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood from a perspective other than hers, the grandmother, the woodcutter or even the wolf. Personally I find the wolf most interesting. What if he was human & the story was moved to a different setting & he kidnaps the grandmother instead of eating her. What if the woodcutter was a janitor instead who discovers & frees the old lady…….you get the idea? There are a dozen potential fictional scenarios out of this story, the same with a newspaper item.

I’m not suggesting taking a newspaper story & simply re-telling it. That is unimaginative & borders on plagiarism. Use the story as a spark to light a fire in your creative imagination. Let the fire run wild for a while & then tame it into a structured story.

Visual stimulation can also help……but more about that next week.

Teenage Poem

Today I’m going to take the chance to boast a little. My 15 year old daughter wrote this poem as homework for writers group. I think she has real talent & the writing is clean & direct, any comments?


Walking

Ever realised
There are different gaits
Long strides
Short strides

Angry strides
Happy strides
Loving strides
Thoughtful strides

You can tell a person’s attitude
By their stride
You can tell a person’s personality
By their gait.

Experience + Skill = Better Writing

Writing fiction, like any craft, improves the more experience you have & the more skills you gain.

Gaining experience is fairly straightforward of course. Write often, write passionately, write on any topic you find interesting. Simple hey - Not really! Nearly all the writers I know struggle with self-discipline. We all have millions of great ideas but battle to write them to completion. There is no substitute for just getting down & writing something everyday. A friend & former leader of a writing group I belong to lists the magic formula as “Bum in seat, pen in hand, write.” Simple yet profound. Another online writing group moderator I respect once said to us, “If you want to write well, well write!”

I read an interesting point of view the other day. “Writer's block is usually the result of trapping your characters in a dead end.” (Simon Hayes). I’ve always thought that the major reason for writer’s block is a lack of ideas, but this quote got me thinking. Maybe a lack of skills or planning also contributes. If you write a character or plot into a corner it is very disheartening & can lead you to stop writing for a bit. I’ve found lately that reading up & learning some new skills, specifically in the area of developing good plots & characters, has helped me to finish stories more easily.

All of which brings me (finally!!) to my point. One of the best ways to improve your craft is to practice it. The time spent in practice will be more productive if you write with more skill. Fortunately the gaining of skills doesn’t have to be a costly or full time affair, not all of us are able to go to college / university to study the art of writing.

There is a lot of useful advice available online from established & successful writers in the form of articles & newsletters. I’ve learnt a lot from these sources & would really recommend it to any writer as a cheap & easy way to gain some new skills.

Obviously you have to have some basic talent & a passion for the craft to start with, but any writer can benefit from the wisdom of others. There are many writers out there who have websites with lots of free writing tools & advice. Two of my favourites are:

Simon Hayes: http://www.spacejock.com.au/

Randy Ingermanson: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/

No Writer is an Island

One of the things I have learnt in my vast & profound experience as a world-famous writer is……umm, actually that’s not entirely true.

Ok, trying again:

One of the things I have learnt on my meandering & chaotic path towards being the best writer I can be is not to do it alone. I did that for many years & it’s a very isolated & frustrating existence. My dream when I was in high school was to write fiction for a living. Maybe that was a bit idealistic but it was my dream. I have been writing essays & little creative pieces since I was about 10 & short stories since my teens.

As often happens, life came along with a big pin called reality & cheerfully popped my little bubble. I basically abandoned my dream & wrote very little of any substance for about 13 years while I did my best to hack out a niche for myself in the corporate world, have & raise a family etc.

Throughout all this time though I was constantly frustrated as I knew I wasn’t doing what I wanted to. I dabbled with a bit of writing on & off but was never able to finish much.

The turning point for me came when I found out that there was a writer’s group right in my home suburb. What a difference it made to join & find myself among people who shared the same passion. I also became more actively involved in an online writers group I’d been a member of for years, mostly I just lurked & read others posts. Between these two actions I was really stimulated to take my writing seriously, even if on a part-time basis. I have written almost all of the material I’m proud of in the last three years.

So, for what it’s worth, I now encourage all aspiring writers who feel the same sense of isolation & frustration to find out if there is a writer’s group nearby & get involved. If there is no real-life group nearby there are some good ones online that can help as well. I enjoy being a member of both types. The interplay between the members will give you creative ideas & a good group will encourage members to read & comment on each others work so all grow & improve together. It also helps just to have friends with a common passion for when the road is narrow & the obstacles are many, large & intimidating.

The groups I belong to & am constantly grateful to are:

• Writers Ink in Alberton, South Africa &
• Cyber-Hacks, online group hosted on Yahoo Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cyber-Hacks/

Something For Nothing

No such thing as a free lunch they say. Not sure about that but there is such a thing as free story.

I just loaded a sample short story on my storefront, completely free in e-book format. Go check it out at www.lulu.com/trevorunderwood

If you like it BUY THE BOOK! How's that for a shameless plug huh. Either way, enjoy the freebie.

Finally...

After 9 months of writing, re-writing, editing, paranoia & a healthy dose of insanity I finished putting my current book project together.

It's published under the title "The Verbal Squatter", at this stage by Lulu.com. I'm currently working on a listing with Amazon to make it more freely available.

Check it out.

Fantasy

There is with in all of us in great or small measure the ability to fantasise. Some people suppress this desire and some embrace it willingly. Some grab a large stick labelled “sensibility” & beat every imaginary thought to a premature death. Then there are those of us who probably spend way too much time in an imaginary, fantastic world than is good for us. To find the balance between letting your imagination soar wild and free with no boundaries while still being rooted & stable enough to contribute something to society is to walk a thin & badly frayed tightrope.

Where is the DMZ between lunatic class wild imagination and boring conformity? As a creative person I would love to advocate living in the realm of the fantastical continually, but creditors don’t usually accept creative ideas as legal tender and children don’t raise themselves. Like it or not, life brings with it responsibilities. That said, an imagination allowed to run wild whenever possible certainly goes a long way to breaking the tedium of everyday life. Like all great forces however, it is most beneficial to us when it is harnessed in some form. Use your imagination & fantasies to add fun & excitement to your life, without taking you so far from reality that you wander into the woods of idiocy and never come back. Let a little discipline be the cord that guides you back to safety when necessary.

I have often wondered, if we fulfil all of our fantasies do they cease to be fantasy and become the ordinary and mundane, the very things we used fantasy to seek to escape in the first place?