Something to take your mind off our crazy world by Nancy M Bell

TO learn more about Nancy's work please click on the cover.

It seems the world has gone a bit crazy. So I thought I would take your mind off it for a bit by sharing some writing advice. I hope it works. I also everyone stays safe and healthy.

Building the backdrop of your story is a little different that wholesale world building. I liken world building to crating something piece by piece like Lego, where as I view building the backdrop as a less intense (but not less important)endeavour, more like creating a water colour with wide bold sweeps of creativity.



Building the Backdrop
Nancy M Bell

Where do our stories take place, can our characters exist in a vacuum? Of course not. Our stories need to play out against a rich and engaging background. The environment our stories take place in can become as important as the actual characters and an integral part of the reader’s experience. Examples of this are Tolkien’s Middle Earth, McCaffrey’s Pern, Graham’s portrayal of Cornwall in his Poldark books, Rowling’s Hogwarts and alternate London to name just a very few.
Whether we are creating a whole new world complete with maps and exotic flora and fauna or are just setting our tale against something that exists in reality (or close to it), the behind the scenes part of our creation needs to be the layered, deep and rich foundation upon which we tell our story.
As the creator/author you need a strong concept and vision of what your world consists of. Where is it located, what types of characters live in the background to give flavour to our main characters. Consider the weather; are there seasons, is it always hot or cold, is the environment harsh or lush, are you building a backdrop in a city or a town or a more rural area. Take the time to think about these things before you begin. Draw maps if you need to in order to give you a sense of scope and ground yourself in the environment. Those maps may never get into the actual book, but it will help the author navigate through the fabric of his story and weave his characters into that fabric in bright colours.
You need to develop a 360-degree view of your characters. What dialogue will they speak? Is it cultured? Rough? Upper, middle or lower class? Consider how and what they say and what they don’t say but can be implied by their actions/reactions or movements which may be enhanced or initiated by elements of your backdrop. Sometimes what isn’t said comes across more powerfully than what is said.
Mine the stories behind the main story without distracting or overpowering your main characters. This helps create a vibrant and rich tapestry for your story. An interesting experiment is to write the same scene from different character’s point of view. This often gives a deeper view into the circumstances surrounding your main story thread and enrich your world.
Another important thing to consider is how your characters react to these four things:
Money, sex, food and sleep. This is a good way to get into your characters’ heads and will aid in your development of the characters and the backdrop against which they play their parts.
You want to evoke in your readers a strong emotional connection to your characters and to the world through which they move.
The backdrop is important to your character as it will dictate how they behave; their personal motivation should be reflected in the world you create for them.
What is the economy of your world? Supply and demand is a concept that knows no barriers as to genre or length of story. Consider how the economy you create shape and affect your characters both primary and secondary and the world dynamics. An example of this would be the Avengers and the Blue Cube (Tesseract) all you need to know to grasp the essential concept is that people want the Blue Cube and that dictates the rules of the world. The basis of this world is the Tesseract is the containment Bessel for the Space Stone, one of the 6 Infinity Stones that predate the Universe they’ve created and possesses unlimited energy. This one concept is the basis for the foundation of the that world and the fabric of the backdrop for their adventure.

Be careful not to over explain things, show don’t tell is still a rule to live by.
Consider what the character wants- this algorithm will drive your story forward.
You can draw from history for the foundation of your religious and political systems, given you’re not writing non-fiction you can mix and match from different sources, taking what works best for your story.
Your economy isn’t just based on wealth or class- supernatural powers or lack thereof can enter into it, as well as exchange of power or energy.
Don’t forget the sensory issues when creating your backdrop, what are the sounds, smells, what kind of food, what tastes do your characters enjoy, how tactile is your backdrop, can your reader appreciate the feel of your world, smooth concrete, rough cobbles, deep sand, rolling surf etc. You reader need to feel “immediate” in your world. That is to say engaged in the whole experience of your story. Give your readers physical sensations they know intimately- we all know what a paper cut feels like, or burning your hand on a hot pot etc.
Be sure your created fabric isn’t too perfect or sterile- there must be costs attached to actions, consequences for things that do or don’t happen. The reader needs to feel and enter into the tension and care about the stakes.
There are three hills to die on. Three points of high conflict which helps define your world. Know what they are before you start and work from there.
Alternatively, there is Dan Harmon’s Story Circle consisting of 8 major points to hit. Not unlike the various versions of the Hero Cycle.
Remember to write the book. Don’t get stopped or hung up by the little things. Write the climax first if that is what comes to you.
Write with a ragged edge, release control and allow yourself to be nimble.
Don’t be afraid to kill or rehome your darlings.
Always think “what is the point of this scene.”
Does it serve to drive the plot forward
Be sure your backdrop doesn’t over power your characters or story line- they need to mesh and be compatible.

Until next month, stay well, stay healthy. Please don't hoard food or paper products. Reach out to those vulnerable members of our communities. You can drop groceries or other needed items at their door without any contact if that is what is needed. Seniors are in the high risk group - as well as other vulnerable demographics. Let's all do our part to be sure everyone is safe and taken care of.

March Is For Murder

March Is For Mysteries

 

Though today is St. Patrick’s Day and I have a smidgeon of Irish in my blood, I would rather talk about writing mysteries and suspense. Murder and Mint Tea was my first ebook and still remains one purchased. 1998 is a long life for a book. I did have to do some updating when I reissued the book. House phones and station wagons area thing of the past. So I had to give my heroine a cell phone, something she reluctantly uses and give her friends new rides. I’ve lost track of how many copies of the book were sold over the years but the number is many.

I’ve written only one romantic suspense. Code Blue began as Code Blue but the first publisher changed the name to Obsessions. When Book We Love took over the story we went back to the original title. That pleased me. This is another book that has been around for a long time and has also had some updating. Not enough according to one reader but that’s all right. The interesting thing I discovered is the rough draft of another medical suspense put away after my long ago critique group and some doctor friends were upset with the subject. I’m going to rework this story because I really enjoyed reading what I wrote and so some day you can read Committee of Angels.”

Leprechauns in Leinster, by J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb - DarknessDescends 

Short-listed for Best Young Adult Book 2018,

The Word Guild

Book 2 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

The rolling hills and mountains around County Leinster are home to Ireland's famous attraction: the leprechaun. The wee fellows, and there are only fellows, stand about two feet tall and are known for their mischievous shenanigans. According to folklore, the leprechauns live in 'faery mounds' found under solitary trees. 

They are talented shoe-makers (only the Irish would conjure up a tradesman fairy) and love to dance so much that they wear out the soles of their shoes. True! If you are able to outsmart a leprechaun and catch him, you may be able to find his pot of gold. He will grant you three wishes in order to be released but since he has magical powers and can disappear in an instant, the chances of having your wishes granted are slim.

If you scoff at the idea of actual leprechauns dancing around the Irish countryside, scoff no more. Under European Law, leprechauns are an endangered species. Don't laugh, it's true, I'm not uttering a single dollop of Blarney. In 1992, the European Commission declared that a forested area in County Carlingford be officially protected land for the estimated 200+ leprechauns that live there. This land is under the European Habitats Directive.

Oh, those Irish! My own Kavanagh clan hail back to the Kings and Queens of County Leinster in the 11th century, well before England invaded the Emerald Isle. Hmmm, I think there may be an historical story brewing...

If you love a good tale, then you'll love my books, The Twisted Climb and the sequel, The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends. Find out for yourself why both books were voted Best Young Adult Book in 2016 and 2018. Enjoy!

J.C. Kavanagh, author of

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada

AND

The Twisted Climb,

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll

Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh

www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh

Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)

Remebering Einstein

On March 14, 1879, a hundred-and-forty-one years ago, a son was born to Hermann Einstein, an engineer and salesman, and Pauline Koch, in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, in present-day Germany. Pauline was well-educated and showed a passion for music. It was on her insistence that Albert Einstein took up violin lessons at the age of five, which developed into a life-long passion.

The young Einstein was slow in learning to speak. In fact, his condition prompted his parents to seek medical help. But this disorder affected his learning in positive ways. His imagination was astounding: he tended to think in terms of images rather than words. When his father gifted him a compass at age five, he puzzled constantly over the nature of magnetism.

He tended to be rebellious, questioning conventional wisdom, which resulted in his being expelled from one school and for another headmaster to famously declare that the child would never amount to much.

Despite his struggles in speech, Einstein showed his genius quite early, especially in mathematics. In primary school, his gift for this subject became apparent and he obtained the highest marks in his class, performing far above the school requirements. By age twelve, he had mastered applied arithmetic and decided to learn algebra and geometry on his own, which he did over a summer vacation.

His great breakthroughs in physics came directly from his thinking in images. He conducted a series of mental experiments, which he named Gedankenexperiment, or thought experiments. At age sixteen, he imagined what it would be like to ride alongside a beam of light. But the dictates of the physics of the day didn’t correspond to his imagination. He wrestled with that mind experiment until, ten years later, he arrived at his Special Theory of Relativity, a ground breaking theory that shattered the conclusions of Newtonian physics.

In 1905, at the age of twenty-six, Einstein worked at a patent office in Switzerland, as he was neither able to get a doctoral dissertation accepted nor obtain an academic job. Despite working six days a week, he produced four papers in his spare time that changed the course of history. The first showed that light could be described as waves as well as particles, leading to the field of quantum physics. The second proved the existence of atoms and molecules. The third, the Special Theory of Relativity, said that there was no absolute time or space. And finally the fourth propounded and equivalence between light and mass, represented by the famous equation E=mc2.

Much of what we take for granted today comes from the work of this great physicist. Among these are cell-phones, satellite communications, lasers, semiconductors and atomic power. And many future discoveries still await unfolding, such as space travel and quantum computing. Rarely has one man’s work entirely changed the course of history. Einstein is one such man.

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper," a fantasy and "Karma Nation," a literary romance. www.mohanashtakala.com, www.bookswelove.net.

Keep safe...by Sheila Claydon

Click this link for my books and author page

COVID 19, or Coronavirus as it is more commonly known, is taking over the world. Countries are putting the most drastic measures in place to contain it and, in the process, damaging the global economy, causing what may be fatal disruptions to some small businesses, and upsetting the normal routines of their citizens. Despite what is still a relatively small number of people affected when measured against the world population, it has everyone running scared.  Especially those who have compromised immune systems because of other underlying illnesses, and the elderly.

Although I have visited many other countries around the world and know some of them well, in this instance I can only speak for the attitudes of the people in the UK, where measures different from those of the rest of Europe and beyond are beginning to unfold.  The decisions are based on the developing science of Coronavirus as well as from discussions with experts across the world. Only time will tell if they are the right decisions. In the meantime there is a new problem. The influence of social media. Despite clear and repeated guidance from medical experts, and despite there being 24 hour advice and access to free medical care, many people and organisations are beginning to panic and, instead, to copy the restrictions that are happening elsewhere. Again only time will tell if these personal decisions will interfere with the science the government is trying to follow. In the meantime most of us are doing the best to get on with our lives, especially the older members of the population even though they are in the high risk category.

Where I am life is continuing more or less as normal. The only difference is that everyone is making sure their larders and refrigerators are well stocked just in case they have to self-isolate, and this is a community top heavy with older people. Jokes about the situation circulate daily, neighbours wave cheerily and there is not a mask to be seen. Attitudes have been likened to the blitz spirit of 'we are all in this together' in WW2. Of course it will only take a couple of local cases for this to change but in the meantime the writer in me is fascinated by the phlegmatic attitude of so many people. Maybe growing up immediately after the war when food was rationed and choice was limited has had a long term effect, or maybe it's because older people have so much life experience that they are less easily frightened. Or maybe it's just that because so many of them don't follow social media that they remain exempt from the fears percolating the rest of the world.

Whatever it is, it is to be admired, and it is that spirit that is imbued in the very elderly grandmother as well as in some of the other older characters in my book Remembering Rose. Whatever happens in the world, writers can't help storing up the experience for future use. In the meantime, my cupboards are full, my family is safe, the sun is shining and the dog is asking for a walk.

Until this is over, stay safe and take care. Tomorrow is another day.