ABC, G for Gefuehle (emotions)

ot your tissue box ready?!
A wise word of advice in consideration of some books, like 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows'. On more than one passage I couldn't read properly, because of the tears in my eyes were blurring the lines. There are other books, where something was so funny that I couldn't help but laughing. Sometimes you could hear me shout a terrified 'Don't!' or a disgusted 'Yuck!'. Or some other super sweet nasty kitsch made me gag. If something like that happens with a reader, the author has done his/her job well!

If you now expect some tips for "Expressive Writing" I have to disappoint you. I have something different in mind ... as soon as I'd managed to sort out that chaos in my head!

Quite some time later:

Do you know that phenomenon, when you have an interesting thought, or at least you think it's interesting and then you can't find a way to express yourself? Suddenly your thought seems to be not so interesting anymore!

Some more time later:

Okay, today is obviously not my Hercule Poirot day to deliver a watertight chain of arguments! Instead I just give you the thought snippets swirling around in my head:

• Like written in the intro, in the best case there's an emotional connection between the book and the reader.
• The other side of the medal: There's also an emotional connection between the book and the writer. Maybe even some interaction and emotional exchange.
• How was J.K. Rowling's day before she began to write such emotional scenes? Did she feel good or anxious because of the coming? How did she feel while writing: Emotionally involved or more like a distant observer? How did the scenes influence her feelings afterwards?
• Key question: When a writer has to be a director (like I've claimed just a few days ago), he/she also needs to be an actor? A good actor, who gets into character to convey the emotional intensity so believable, that it can be felt through the pages? Or is it enough just to be a good observer? Could you write happy scenes on a personal bad day, and vice versa?

Hope, you could make some of your own sense out of it? What are your experiences?

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ABC, F for Freewriting

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reewriting - 10 Rules:

1. Chose term, title or theme as starting point.
2. Set a stopwatch on 10, 15 or 20 minutes.
3. Write, whatever comes into your head.
4. The writing hand is always in motion.
5. Don't read, what you've written. Continue writing.
6. Don't delete or correct.
7. Don't care about spelling and grammar.
8. Debaucheries and nonsense are okay.
9. If nothing's going on, then just write 'I have no idea.' (or something similar) until your next thought appears.
10. When the time is up, just finish the just started thought and then stop.

Enough with the theory, let's get practical! From creativewritingprompts.com I've picked Nr. 186: "Freewrite for 15 minutes using this opening line: Behind her, the noise escalated..."

Behind her, the noise escalated ... what has happened? What could make such a noise? An accident maybe. Maybe somebody is having a dispute, more and more and louder until not only being at daggers drawn, but also flying plates ... speaking of plates, it could also be a joyful noise. A wedding, no, how is that called, where the pottery is shattered ... can't remember ... right! Eve-of-wedding party (Polterabend in German)! Maybe the noise came from a collapsing building, after Fokushima (is it written that way?) the thought on a natural disaster had to appear! All right, okay, the noise behind me gets louder and louder, how do I feel? Am I scared? Do I want to turn over, in order to know, what's happening behind me? Do I really want to know that? Just have to think on a growling dog, that's standing threateningly behind me! Cujo was really ... Yuck! Don't get sidetracked! Focus! I have no idea! I have no idea! Damn! Noises - That's not my thing! The noise behind me gets louder and louder - now I have to think on turbines of a starting airplane! That's it! Somewhere in the outback, a solitude in the nowhere, heat, dust, starting turbines, the tense expectations, a flight in a rickety nutshell, und the pleasant anticipation for a safari. Wild animals. Reclusion in the Kalahari or wheresoever, elephants on a river, lions yawning under the trees, luxury lodges.

P.S. I did that freewriting exercise in German, it's simply easier without thinking about vocabulary and grammar, but after finishing I've translated it for you as precisely as possible.

P.P.S. Another very creative 60-second-addiction is The One Minute Writer!

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WQ-12. World Building.

30 Days Of Writing Questions 12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of world building? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?

World building then ... this makes me think of any kind of science fiction, where literally whole new worlds were created and Harry Potter with his magical world and not to forget J.R.R. Tolkien with 'Lord of the Rings'. In my opinion he's the master of world building: Middle Earth including new races, completely new languages and a detailed history.

This time I really can only think of the great work of others, because my own written worlds are plain and simple. Every story I've written so far takes place in the world we know, maybe in a different time and there might be some paranormal activities, but it's still our own world. Nothing really new! Well, I should think about that in future!

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ABC, E for Einzigartigkeit (uniqueness)

inzigartigkeit, uniqueness.
u-nique [yoo-neek], -adjective (Definition by dictionary.com)
1. existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics. 2. having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable. 3. limited in occurrence to a given class, situation, or area. 4. limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities. 5. not typical; unusual.

96.500 books were published in the year 2007, whereas 86.000 titles were new publications - only in Germany! (Source: http://www.boersenverein.de/, Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen)

I read my lines, think of my plot and I get the feeling, that there is nothing unique in there. Everything has been here before in a similar way. It's like in that song of the German group 'Die Prinzen':

German refrain:	English translation:
Denn das ist alles nur geklaut, (eo!, eo!) das ist alles gar nicht meine. (eo!) Das ist alles nur geklaut, (eo!, eo!) doch das weiß ich nur ganz alleine. (eo!) Das ist alles nur geklaut und gestohlen, nur gezogen und geraubt. 'Tschuldigung das hab 'ich mir erlaubt.	Because it's all just stolen, none of it's mine. It's all just stolen, but I'm the only one who knows. It's all just stolen and lifted, just copied and robbed. Sorry, I took the liberty.

Karin's cuisine offers as current specialty a young 'Jane Austen' woman going on a ship, doing the 'Robinson Crusoe' on a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' island. Then becoming a female 'Indiana Jones' with a touch of 'Lara Croft' and spiced up with a touch of a mysterious curse.

Who should want to taste this, if the ingredients are already known? Just because the recipe is new? Or the way of flourishing and spicing up the dish? Is that the key to uniqueness? To find an unusual, solitary way to combine the familiar?

Do you concern about that topic? What makes your writing unique?

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Wreck This Journal: Infuse This Page With A Smell Of Your Choosing.

This page is dedicated to my most favorite smell 'In Love' by Betty Barclay.

Well, pink isn't necessarily my most favorite color, but that little bottle simply challenged it. But honestly, what's love without rose-colored glasses, right?

That sculpture is called 'Eternal Spring' by Auguste Rodin. I got a postcard of it hanging above my desk. So, I see 'love' every time I look up!

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ABC, D for Drehbuch (screenplay)

rehbuecher/screenplays ... movies were made of books. In 99% my disappointment wins over my excitement to see one of my favorite books on the big screen, because nothing's better than the movie in your head.


I dare to say, every writer has that great movie in his/her head. (Btw: Let me know, if there's another method!) My first go transferring a brain movie to paper ends up with something between 6 and 40 pages. Which is okay until I judge one story could have the potential of a full grown 400 pages book. I regularly panic then! How could I ever reach that number, when my whole plot is already told in 10% of the needed pages? From where should I only get the other 90%? Of course I know better, those few pages are just a very, very basic plot line.

In the following time I consider myself as a director, only my two media are exchanged. And I use the very same aspects a screenplay has:

• Act & scene
• Action: description of what the viewer sees.
• Camera: instructions for the camera.
• Cut: instructions for cutting.
• Sound/music: noises and music instructions.
• Character: name of the person, who's going to speak.
• Dialogue: spoken text of the character.
• Additional information for the character, of how to speak the text.

I would even go one step further and consult the other film departments, too:

• Costumes, hair and make-up to emphasize the character's personality.
• Props, used by the characters.
• Set design, how does the set improve, influence, give atmosphere during the scene.
• Etc.

This screenplay technique works pretty well for me by asking just one question: "What can these film departments do to enlarge and enrich my scene?" I'm the director and when I do my work well, my readers can read the vision of my brain movie.

P.S. That 1% exception, where the movie is better than the book, I have to grand Mr. Peter Jackson. What he did with 'Lord of the Rings' was simply outstanding!

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ABC, C for Checklists

haracter, cliffhanger, checklists - my Top 3 C's.
According to my own rule not to collide with one of my other serials, character has to step aside for one of the others. Well, cliffhangers are intriguing, but...

So, today let's talk about checklists. Various lists cross my every day life. I check the bestseller lists for new book inspirations. I check my grocery list to bring home really every needed item. The blogger in me lately discovered '30 days of lists' as potential summer month blog challenge. But what does the writer in me?

You know, I do my novel writing on the computer. The file is covered with virtual post-its and the only thing close to a checklist is my short list of editing aspects:

• All 5 senses used?
• Logic?
• Number/frequency of dialogues?
• My voice vs. Cathryn's voice (my heroine)?
• Metaphors?

But I've never given much thought on using any other writing checklist ... until I made a little research for this post! Have you ever registered how many writing related checklists are available? There are checklists for conventions, fluency, organization, word choice, ideas, story structure, good writing, technical writing, creative writing, revision, ... some air please ... and so on and on and on. It's mind-boggling!

I got overwhelmed by the mass of results and like an addict I was greedy for more. After that first rush my brain restarted and became clear enough for some logic: What's the real worth of checklists?

In my opinion it's good to have them ... as additional support. But the main aspect - and I'm sure all writers out there will agree with me - is writing. Writing and writing again, delete and rewriting, experimenting with words, collecting your own experiences and finding your own style. To quote freely from the movie 'Matrix': Checklists might help you to find the way, but you have to walk through the written world's door only by your own feet! If you do, you can put a 'Done!' on that point of your checklist!

P.S. Character, cliffhanger and checklists are wonderful examples of English words integrating in the German vocabulary.

P.P.S. If you like to know some of my thoughts about characters, you might like these blogposts:
Writing Exercise 06: Developing Characters
WQ-02: Number Of Characters
WQ-05: Youngest & Oldest Character
WQ-09: Creating Characters
WQ-11: Most & Least Favorite Character

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