NaNoWriMo 2015
November is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing – that crazy literary marathon known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where the sane lose their minds and attempt to pen a novel in 30 days. As always, we at Virtual Writers like to crack the whip…ahem encourage writers, by offering a veritable calendar of delights – word scrimmages, write-ins, as well as inspirational workshops, talks and articles from successful authors. Join our Second Life® group Milk Wood Wrimos for event reminders and follow us on Twitter for daily tips – you’ll find lots of great links under the hashtag #virtualwrimos. Virtual Workshops We are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a selection of free online workshops from successful authors. Click on the link below to participate at the specific time. These workshops are held in Second Life®. For details on how you can participate check out the following article. Thursday 5th November, 2015 12 noon Pacific Time/3pm Eastern Time/8pm GMT Boost your Writing Using Second Life® with Lizzie Gudkov NaNoWriMo is a demanding challenge and getting stuck is not an option! We’ll address a few simple ways you can turn a virtual world into your NaNoWriMo backup plan. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Friday 6th November, 2015 2pm Pacific Time/5pm Eastern Time/10pm GMT Writing like we speak – or – Authenticity in dialogue – or – Say what? with Diana Hunter Ever start reading and someone in the story says something that’s just…wrong? Maybe the language is stilted or the phrasing isn’t right. But something pulls at your ear and poof! You’re out of the story. Or you’re reading a book and, what may be arguably worse, every character in the story sounds like every other character in the story? There are pages of dialogue and you can’t tell who’s speaking because they all sound the same! Writing perfect dialogue isn’t mysterious or difficult. Diana Hunter (Diana Allandale) will present some tips and techniques to writing conversation in this NaNoWriMo workshop. There will be some time within the workshop to write, so come prepared to work! http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Sunday 8th November, 2015 1pm Pacific Time/4pm Eastern Time/9pm GMT Inspiration Stalking with Gwen Enchanted Your creativity is not a finite resource. Gwen will teach you how to tap it when it seems tapped out. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Monday 16th November, 2015 2pm Pacific Time/5pm Eastern Time/10pm GMT How Do We Turn History into a Novel? with Arlene Radasky Join us as we discuss ways to use our imagination and turn research gathered by anthropologists and archaeologists into an engaging story, one that others will want to read. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Friday 20th November, 2015 12:30pm Pacific Time/3:30pm Eastern Time/8:30pm GMT Word Roulette with Emerian Rich Learn how to play Emz’s fun game to help generate ideas for stories, keep your mind active, and open up the idea stream inside you in a relaxing, non-stressful way. Bring your idea book and imagination. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 NaNoWriMo in Second Life® If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit our sim in...
Read MoreStephen Dearsley’s Summer of Love by Colin Bell
It’s 1967 and the start of the Summer of love. Life will never be the same again for the young as they celebrate liberation and nonconformity, but also protest against prejudice, repression and war. In Brighton, Stephen Dearsley is tempted and intimidated by the way his generation is casting off traditional ways of dress along with the old ways of thinking. His hippy housemate Dys provides an open door into his own possible summer of love, but will autumn still find him in tweeds, or will he be in colourful loons and tie-dye? His ambition to become a biographer is fulfilled when he’s commissioned to research the life story of Austin Randolph, and the revelations of hypocrisy, class prejudice and homophobia lead him to make his decision. Summarize your story in one sentence: Stephen Dearsley, in 1967, is the original young fogey who wants to be a biographer but the Summer Of Love puts some tempting obstacles in his path. What are the main themes? The book is about 1967, an extraordinary moment in cultural history but it is also about how we have to balance our knowledge of history with the necesssity to live in our own times. It is also about how, hopefully, a little person like Stephen can be more powerful than the charismatic super hero, his biographical subject, the dastardly Austin Randolph. Stephen Dearsley has to find himself and come to terms with his develooping sense of self while the world is changing around him. Oh yes, I suppose the book is also about love. Who or what inspired your story? I read that the brilliant biographer Michael Holroyd, a hero of mine, studied in a public library and not university. I thought this held interesting seeds for a book about the relationship between a would-be biographer and the man he would have to write about. Also, I was inspired by the wonderful use of bathos in the last paragraph in Graham Greene’s novel Our Man In Havana. My novel’s ending was always going to be a reflection on that – but enough said! I was also determined to draw on my obession for a certain song by The Rolling Stones which I’m not going to reveal for fear of doing a spoiler! Finally, yes music again, I guess the book wouldn’t have happened without The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper and All You Need Is Love. What do you like best about your main characters? I am very fond of poor Stephen – maybe I’m a softy for the underdog but I love Stephen’s earnest attempts to fit in and find himself and even to challenge the things that he’d always thought were important to him. Many of the other characters too, I think, are redeemed even if they are damaged by their search for love. Emilia Jefferies and Philip Irving have a tremendous capacity for love and a hidden strength that impresses me even if it does llittle to make them happy. Dys is a...
Read MoreA Story Waiting to Happen: StoryBrooke Gardens
Literary inspiration from Lizzie Gudkov and the virtual world This month we’ll visit the wonderful StoryBrooke Gardens, a small plot created by Lauren Bentham above Baja Norte’s beach. I must admit I’m not sure I’m the right person to write this month’s column. I have never written children’s stories and I know them only as a reader. Yet, being absolutely mesmerized by this gem, I couldn’t resist. The fact that Lauren has done an impressive job will definitely make my task easier. Upon arrival, the visitor is greeted by two friendly bunnies. Now, which way should we go? The warm welcome makes it difficult to decide. Ok, southbound. A child jumps merrily, followed by his dog. Is he going on a trip? He looks happy, but he’s carrying a bindle. Is he running away from home? Or is he simply embarking on an adventure? Within spitting distance, a fairy talks to a giant bee. Her small little feet splash playfully in the water of an old fountain. Nearby, a magical bicycle waits. It’s propelled by colorful balloons and if a dreamer sits on it, it will take him on a magical journey. A track of colorful stars leads the way into a big tree trunk. It’s hard to resist, so here we go. On the other end of the trunk, we turn left and almost trip on a gardener tortoise who insists that we must read the Book of the Butterfly. “The best is yet to come.” A few flowers grow from one of the pages. It must be magical too. The tortoise then urges us to talk to the magician. The initial plan was to find ideas for a story with lots of fairies and bunnies and… Oh, well, let’s go talk to the magician. Tea is brewing and, at the tempting offer of a cup, we spot a caldron filled to the brim with incantation books and a skull on a stack of novellas guarded by a doll plagued with a mysterious pestilence. Umm… Caution is of the essence. In the meantime, the magician foretells a rather eerie and enigmatic future at the sound of a haunted music box and the cawing of crows in the distance. He sends us off to search something. He means characters and stories, most likely. In doubt, we hurry away. Back on the main track, let’s follow the flying ladder. White balloons are always a good omen. Right around the corner, a white fox and a family of mice seem to be extremely busy – happy mouse, mommy mouse, two mice in love, a few sleepy ones and Excalibur. Excalibur likes to fly, something his family and friends find totally preposterous. A mouse was not made to go around flying, especially not holding on to such a fragile leaf. After witnessing an endless family argument that follows with Excalibur throwing a tantrum and defiantly flying away, we move on. Oh, gosh, Humpty, what happened to you? He doesn’t reply. He wiggles his...
Read MoreReflecting Jane by Sue Tame
Reflecting Jane is a story of one woman’s struggle to hold onto the past whilst living in the present. Telling the tale of her childhood, her life and her three, very different, husbands (Vash, Kenny and David) this is a touching tale – and poignantly funny at times. Narrated by herself, Jane shows us what it is like to look into a mirror and see an unrecognisable face staring back, trying hard to remember what her life once was – and having to sit and watch an unrecognisable world go by from a window. Jane is a woman who does not suffer fools gladly, and despite the increasing loss of her memories, her acerbic take on life will make you laugh, and then make you cry for her. It is a story of a woman who reminds us all to live our lives to the full – and to make as many memories as we can, whilst we can… Summarize your story in one sentence. Jane (lively, aloof, but with a wicked sense of humour) lives in a Home for the Elderly – for whom she has little time for, and has problems relating to suffering as she does from ‘vagueness’ (Dementia) – and so she retreats into relating her life story to her ‘companion’ – her own reflection. What are the main themes? The theme of the story is one of loss – loss of liberty and privacy, and ultimately Self. Jane is affected very deeply by this, and being in the place she bewilderingly now finds herself. Particularly her inability to practice her pagan beliefs – which she is aware would be inappropriate somehow – and her mental drift between the worlds of her past and present add to her confusion and the feeling, somehow, that she is losing herself in this house of strangers. Who or what inspired your story? The inspiration for Jane came from my time working as an Elderly Care Nurse in a rather exclusive Residential Home. I went in with the usual raft of opinions, but quickly began to see the residents with different eyes and found their characters, viewpoints and life stories to be absolutely fascinating – gold dust to a writer! Jane is a mixture of two of the ladies I became especially fond of. What do you like best about your main character, Jane? I have to say, I really enjoy Jane’s wicked sense of humour, coupled with her inability to see the blindingly obvious – especially when it’s not what she wants to see! She would gaily announce black was white if it suited her, then pointedly ignore all the open mouths around her. If you can’t do that when you’re in your eighties, when can you?! How is she flawed? It’s difficult to determine Jane’s flaws (though probably the above!) because so much relates to her condition and her feelings of vulnerability at finding herself so lost. She can be insensitive, boorish even, and often has an utter disregard...
Read MoreThere’s No Such Thing As Writer’s Block by Carmel McMurdo Audsley
There is no such thing as writer’s block – end of story. Anyone who says they have this so-called affliction is just being lazy and stalling for time. If you call yourself a writer then that is what you do – write, about anything or anyone. The key to becoming a good writer is simply to write. I have held many classes for creative writers and I always start with one simple exercise. I tell my students to choose any object in the room – a pencil, book, glasses case or whatever is within easy reach. Then I ask them to describe that item – the way it looks, feels and smells or even tastes. Take a pencil for example. It may be six inches long and painted red with a logo. It may be a lead or coloured pencil. It could be blunt or sharp. If it has been recently sharpened perhaps you can smell the wood shavings. Then you might think about who used the pencil before you picked it up and what they may have written with it. After a few minutes you have a description about a seemingly ordinary object and you have a little story. When you have a bigger project such as the beginning of a book, or the opening of a chapter, simply write. Our minds are always ticking over and quite often you know what you want to say but you just can’t find the right words to put on the paper. So start with the wrong words, any words, but just start writing. Once you get your initial thoughts on paper you can come back later and rearrange the words to mean your intention. If you think you don’t even have a thought, then you are wrong. The thought may not be related to the subject of your book, but right down your thoughts anyway. Once you start the process of writing then the right words will come to you. Like actors, a lot of motivation and ideas for writers come from observing people. To get inspiration, take yourself off to the local bus stop, train station or shopping mall and just sit still and watch the passing parade. You will get descriptions for your characters – what they look like, the colour of their hair and eyes, the clothes they are wearing, the things they do – and you can create your own characters from the people you observe. Always carry a little notebook with you and keep a pen and paper by your bedside. I often have great ideas last thing at night but would never remember them if I didn’t write them down before I go to sleep. Sometimes in the morning the idea doesn’t seem as great, but at least it’s there in case I need it. In summary, there is no reason for anyone to ever say they have writer’s block. If you are truly a writer, then you will always find something to write about. The more you write...
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