My regrets for not making it last night folks. I will catch up on Cabin Fever Daze stuff with you this week. I enjoyed doing the homework Nicole and can only imagine the shared stories last night. Have a Merry Christmas break everyone!

Luanne Armstrong Workshop Pictures

Inspired by Character

This assignment is for the meeting on December 14, 2010.

We will introduce a character and put them in a predicament. This character could be one you've made up in the past or someone brand new. Tell us about them in all some of their glory.

KEY COMPONENT: Give this character an idiosyncrasy that will become relevant to the story line. The predicament or conflict they get into will be a direct link to this idiosyncrasy. Essentially we want their idiosyncrasy to "get them into trouble".

An Example: ((From Building Believable Characters in Creative Fiction)) Do you know one of those people who have an annoying ability to remember everybody's birthday, anniversary, death and goodness knows what and loves sending cards of congratulations. (Well, maybe not for the deaths!) Think of how this obsession might have a bearing on the story. Maybe they sent wedding anniversary cards to two couples, but put them in the wrong envelopes. What trouble could that cause? What if they saw an obituary of a distant acquaintance and sent a card of condolence only to find that it was not really the friend just someone with the same name? Imagine someone who loves to use long or obscure words. What if someone overhears what a character says, gets the wrong end of the stick and acts upon it?
Read the Entire Article

These examples are spin offs into longer stories so try to keep it short; whatever you can read in less than ten minutes. No need to complete the story unless you can in reasonable amount of time. I'm hoping this exercise will help us develop character, introduce conflict and leave the reader craving more...

Oh, and for the poets; feel free to write poetry on this topic.

This will be our only meeting in December so we will have *WINE* Also, bring an appetizer. Should be fun!

Isolation Meeting Wrap Up

Nina hosted a great meeting last night that turned out to be a small and welcome lecture on poetry. Isolation and humour crept into a warm up exercise full of Synquain's, Quatrain's, Haiku's, and Limerick's.

We moved into the main event and one by one a glimpse of isolation was unveiled. To some of us isolation was as welcome as solitude. Isolation came in forms where family was missing and where individuals were alone. Isolated nations, isolated people. Isolation sprinkled with depression and isolation observation. A rich topic that proved to be a great leaping point for inspiration.

A snowy morn...

Really enjoyed the group last night gang! I appreciated, as always, the willingness to 'put it out there' with our writing and explore some known and unknown territory. Some laughs, some teary eyes, some poetic justice and injustice. (Dick is still a dick) Looking forward to delving into some rich characters for next time and don't forget a christmas nibblie!

Isolation

A little poem on how writing about isolation makes me feel. You know you're struggling when you write about writing...

Isolation
Trepidation
Perspiration
Inspiration
Salutation
Permutation
Compilation
Completion

Writing

Hi all,

Lately I have found myself with much less time on my hands, so I am opting out of our writing meetings for awhile. I feel that I need to put my head down and write, write, write in order to complete some of my personal projects. When I have achieved a sense of completion, I hope to re-join our group, and hopefully participate in a critique group.

Happy writing!
Susan