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magnificent1rascal
Over 90 days ago
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Divine Rapscallion
Start the second paragraph this way:
Taking a step back from the window, Magain...
Taking a step back from the window, Magain...
Divine Rapscallion
That is really cool!
It's interesting that I haven't seen anything about this in the news locally -- you know, in Seattle.
It's interesting that I haven't seen anything about this in the news locally -- you know, in Seattle.
Divine Rapscallion
The Indies in Action anthology will be titled Twist of Fate and will include 74 written entries plus photos.
My poem The Squall is among the selections, and other Stories Space members are contributing as well.
My poem The Squall is among the selections, and other Stories Space members are contributing as well.
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by gypsy
What inspires you to start a story or poem? Is it a word prompt, the theme of a writing contest, subjects you've been thinking of or are concerned about? Do visual images or scenes you see suddenly let your imagination take flight?
Yes to all of the above.
Words inspire me, words such as peppier (pep-ee-ay) and hinge (rhymes with thing).
Certain contest themes inspire me. The Summer Vacation contest here on Stories Space led me to consider sending Bellingham Sam on a family vacation, although the character himself had been inspired by something else altogether. My favorite contest inspiration to date was the one that required entries to include a cat, a nice Rottweiler and the phrase, "It was a dark and stormy night," which resulted in my story Writer's Block, the third-place finisher in the contest. The Indies Unlimited weekly flash fiction challenges often have fun prompts as well.
Sometimes a contest theme is what I need to get me working on a story I've had in the back of my mind anyhow, as was the case with the New Beginnings contest here prompting me to write The End. A subsequent contest that had to center on a holiday theme and include a recipe spurred me to expand a portion of The End into a separate story, The Crèche.
The visual image of finding four pairs of pants on the floor when I returned home from an overnight trip prompted the first poem I had written in years, and that led to other poems about my favorite clotheshorse.
I'll have to come back later, when I have more time to answer fully, to talk about other inspirations.
Divine Rapscallion
20 Quotes on Writing by Stephen King
1. “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”
2. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
3. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
4. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
5. “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”
6. “Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”
7. “So okay – there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.”
8. “When asked, ‘How do you write?’ I invariably answer, ‘One word at a time,’ and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that [thing] from space without a telescope.”
9. “Running a close second [as a writing lesson] was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
10. “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”
11. “If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
12. “Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.”
13. “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
14. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
15. “I’m a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don’t read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read.”
16. “If you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far. Just an idea.”
17. “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
18. “I have spent a good many years since–too many, I think–being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
19. “I am always chilled and astonished by the would-be writers who ask me for advice and admit, quite blithely, that they ‘don’t have time to read.’ This is like a guy starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn’t have time to buy any rope or pitons.”
20. “The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”
http://azevedosreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/stephen-kings-20-quotes-on-writing/
1. “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”
2. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
3. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
4. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
5. “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”
6. “Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”
7. “So okay – there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.”
8. “When asked, ‘How do you write?’ I invariably answer, ‘One word at a time,’ and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that [thing] from space without a telescope.”
9. “Running a close second [as a writing lesson] was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
10. “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”
11. “If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
12. “Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.”
13. “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
14. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
15. “I’m a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don’t read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read.”
16. “If you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far. Just an idea.”
17. “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
18. “I have spent a good many years since–too many, I think–being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
19. “I am always chilled and astonished by the would-be writers who ask me for advice and admit, quite blithely, that they ‘don’t have time to read.’ This is like a guy starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn’t have time to buy any rope or pitons.”
20. “The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”
http://azevedosreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/stephen-kings-20-quotes-on-writing/
Divine Rapscallion
The title is often the first thing that comes to me, or if not the first, it happens early in the writing process. To me, the title is an integral part of any piece and usually sets the tone. For example, when I first conceived the idea for a story about a guy who confuses his fantasies with reality, my idea had a rather dark tone — but as soon as I decided to call it "The Secret Life of Bellingham Sam," the character instantly became more like Walter Mitty and therefore more endearing in my mind.
Divine Rapscallion
Not as bizarre as a crow drunk on mead,
But strange in its own way, oh yes indeed,
Is the sport of cow tipping,
Or bovinary flipping,
Requiring plenty of chutzpah and speed.
But strange in its own way, oh yes indeed,
Is the sport of cow tipping,
Or bovinary flipping,
Requiring plenty of chutzpah and speed.
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by gypsyQuote by magnificent1rascal
Oh boy, here we go again...
errant --> nth (which happens to be the only acceptable answer to the "nt" conundrum)
Or you could have gone for anthrax...
Nope, not if a word exists that starts with just the last two letters of the previous word. For words ending in 'nt,' there's only one valid reply, according to my dictionary — nth.
Divine Rapscallion
'And makes me look like a jerk,'
Is that the point of it all?
Life's a bowl of cherries, so they say,
'Til everything crashes in a mighty fall.
Is that the point of it all?
Life's a bowl of cherries, so they say,
'Til everything crashes in a mighty fall.
Divine Rapscallion
For I miss her when we're apart –
That is certainly true.
Though saying it pains me greatly,
I feel differently about you.
That is certainly true.
Though saying it pains me greatly,
I feel differently about you.
Divine Rapscallion
Oh boy, here we go again...
errant --> nth (which happens to be the only acceptable answer to the "nt" conundrum)
errant --> nth (which happens to be the only acceptable answer to the "nt" conundrum)
Divine Rapscallion
Alas, the only praise of my own I'm singing is for being able to pull within one vote of the winner by the time voting ended. That in itself was a pretty good accomplishment; the fellow who won is a real juggernaut in this contest whenever he enters.
Thanks to everyone who voted.
Thanks to everyone who voted.
Divine Rapscallion
Time is winding down in the weekly Indies Unlimited flash fiction contest poll, so race on over there like a stampeding jackalope and vote! (Umm, please...)
(The shovelhead ravens, jackalopes, Bigfoot, zombie-herding gypsymoths, killer unicorns and centaur thank you for keeping Maggie Rascal in mind when you do.)
The poll closes at 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, May 23.
[url=http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/05/22/flash-fiction-vote-5/][size=6][b]http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/05/22/flash-fiction-vote-5/[/b][/size][/url]
(The shovelhead ravens, jackalopes, Bigfoot, zombie-herding gypsymoths, killer unicorns and centaur thank you for keeping Maggie Rascal in mind when you do.)
The poll closes at 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, May 23.
[url=http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/05/22/flash-fiction-vote-5/][size=6][b]http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/05/22/flash-fiction-vote-5/[/b][/size][/url]
Divine Rapscallion
I write the story. But once, I awoke with a complete poem in my head and managed to write it down before the words escaped. It's quite a good poem, too, at least in my view.
http://www.storiesspace.com/stories/poetry/fragmented-too.aspx
http://www.storiesspace.com/stories/poetry/fragmented-too.aspx
Divine Rapscallion
Here is a link that will take you directly to the post: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=506113932787440&id=124939287571575
I entered as M.P. Witwer, and I noticed Diana got there a few minutes before I did.
Fifty words — what a challenge! It's a good exercise in making your writing precise and concise, that's for sure.
I entered as M.P. Witwer, and I noticed Diana got there a few minutes before I did.
Fifty words — what a challenge! It's a good exercise in making your writing precise and concise, that's for sure.
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by CKAcres
Maggie maybe you need to trade in your dictionary
Good point, CK. I'll use yours.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nth
Gotcha!
Quote by SpreadMyWings16
Educate~Temper
Welcome, SpreadMyWings16. You've caught on to the idea of the game, but you inadvertently took two turns. Your answer should have been:
Erased~Educate
But, let's carry on from where we are now...
temper --> error
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by CKAcresQuote by magnificent1rascal
urticant --> nth
I be thinking that we be stretching the rules a bit.
Well, nth appears in my dictionary, unlike urticant, ahem...
Quote by gypsy
Next person, take your pick: if you're left handed, go with gyroscope, if right handed, ingrate.
ingrate --> testy