If I asked you to make a sound that matched the word “eerie”, chances are good that you’d start mimicking theremin music.
Weekly Eldritch: Kingdok!
Last week it was a painting from 1515, this week a character from a 90s graphic novel: Kingdok from Bone.
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Weekly Eldritch: Saintly Temptations
Renaissance paintings of the lives of the saints – or rather the gruesome torments and horrible deaths of the saints – are definite precursors to the imagery of modern horror movies. The topic was a kind of license for the painters to all at once let their imaginations run wild, deliver proper religious instruction, and scare the absolute bejesus out of sinners.
Here’s a great example: “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” by Matthias Grunewald, painted sometime around 1515 .
The best part is that old Anthony doesn’t look too perturbed by it all.
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Upcoming Talk at SSI Library
Looking forward to this!
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Movie Stills for Dialogue Prompts
Here’s a good idea for a writing prompt – look up photos of scenes from old movies, and fill in the blanks. What’s happening here? What’s the backstory? What happens next?
Write some dialogue for this scene…
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Weekly Eldritch: Arthur Szyk
Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1945) was one book we owned that really creeped me out as a child, partly because of the morose stories, but mostly because of the illustrations by Arthur Szyk (1894-1951).
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Writing Club: Three Act Structure
Today we’re going to look at the basic structure of stories, which should really help you organize the events of your plot. But first a warmup…
5-minute prompt: WINTER
What do you think of when you think ‘winter’? Think of as many words for different kinds of snow and ice as you can. (Skiers and snowboarders should be good at this.) Can you think of any specific smells, sounds or tastes you associate with winter? Continue reading
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Weekly Eldritch: Miscellaneous Eyeballs
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Writing Club: Character Arc and Motivation
What, more character work? We’ve created our characters, now it’s time to figure out where they’re going.
But first…
5-minute prompt: CAR
(5-minute, stream-of-consciousness exercise, write whatever pops into your brain on the topic. Don’t bother with sentences, paragraphs, or punctuation. Just write.)
Think of all the kinds of motor vehicles, makes and models of cars you know. There are an awful lot of specific terms for all the different parts of a car, and how each can break down as well! (My 20-year-old auto is always teaching me this lesson.)
How about all the sounds a car can make?
Cars can also be a tool to revealing character: what assumptions do you make about people based on what they drive? Continue reading
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Young Writers Contest
Calling all writers! Here’s a new contest, this one from the Young Writers of Canada.
for writers aged 5 – 18
360 words maximum
open theme (but no fan fiction)
DEADLINE: March 14, 2014
cash prizes!
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