Inspiration From a Graveyard

It’s been a while since I posted last, about a month or two actually, so I thought it was about time I posted something. We went up to visit my grandparents’ graves this afternoon. I got a spider on me. But while we were there we saw two graves side by side in a lonely corner and it inspired me to write this (which may be a poem I’m not sure) which is sort of based around Solomon Grundy. It’s called Side by Side.

Almost a Your Face Joke

I gave myself a little chuckle while I was writing War for the North yesterday (now testing the title The Longest Shadow instead). I came this close to writing a ‘your face’ joke and I had to share.

Finneas peered at the woman, making no effort to disguise his scrutinising gaze. Subtlety had never been his strong point in the face of commoners.

“What do you suppose happened to her face?”

“Well whatever it was, I know you won’t be happening to her face.”

“She’s far too skinny,” Finneas said. “All skin and sinew by the look of it. Not a whore at any rate. Not with that face.”

Arwell was about to make a remark about Finneas’ own face when Prince Marle stalked into the throne room. The crowd knelt before him as he made his way to the throne, his expression one of perpetual irritation.

© Jessica Wiles, 2013

A Story in 25 Words

Hoping to start WIPpet Wednesdays as soon as my assessments have been marked (July time maybe), but in the mean time, here’s a 25 word story.

I never saw my mother cry, but as the monitors beeped and I awoke, she was the first and last thing I ever heard.

My Story, My Rules!

God damn it characters are annoying! Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how much you plan something because your characters are going to do whatever they want and make you feel bad for trying to kill someone off because they love them. Stupid characters, thinking they’re people. I feel like I’ve got split personalities, but they all stay in my head instead of manifesting properly. I had planned to kill off one of my characters (well, several but this is one I’m not totally sure of), and it was going to be heart wrenching. It involved two characters, one being unconscious and on the verge of death, the other was in love with the first. There are some heartfelt words, a confession of love an then death. A bitter-sweet kick in the teeth. That’s how I roll.

To Kill or Not to Kill…

It’s that age old crisis. Will this character die or survive? Let’s face it, we don’t want to go all J.K Rowling on our characters and just murder everyone our readers ever loved.  When it comes to main characters dying, you have to really consider all the options. It has to be significant. Imagine following a hero/heroine through all their trials and tribulations and having them die needlessly or randomly. When it comes to the hero’s death there is one word that springs to mind. Sacrifice.

You’re Never Getting Out

That’s kind of how it felt when I went to the creepy psychology department today. A winding corridor that feels like its going on forever, even though it’s really not and it ends in a door labelled Exit. Only you can’t get out through the exit door. I took some photos to help me write and fiddles them to look creepier.

The Big Greek Brother Labyrinth

For what you are about to read, I am truly sorry, but hey, all that bad grammar and hideous ‘hip’ talk is in good fun.

*Warning! The following contains strong language themes which may be ideologically sensitive.*

Location! Location! Location!

I’m not very good at settings. In fact, I suck, mostly. I just can’t picture all the details of the location and keep them in the same place. I’m fine with small rooms, but ask me to cook up a building, a city, a land and I end up with a sparse setting where random objects keep appearing and disappearing. Lands are the worst. I’m no good at Geography. Seriously, I thought Durham was down south (though to be fair, I thought it was posh so I assumed it had to be down south). But my solution is here at last! Sort of.

Same Story, Different Version

Every narrator is unreliable to a degree. Let’s face it, they all have their own agendas and they all want to make sure they look good, no matter how honest they claim to be. It’s just a matter of working out how unreliable they really are. Course, you can’t really tell without a second narrator. And the more narrators, the more complicated it gets, but also the easier it is to find the truth. But mostly it’s more complicated.

How Writers Think

“If when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but writing…then you’re a writer.”

I learned that from Sister Act 2, which is a fantastic film by the way. And it got me thinking two things. Firstly, if I could sing like that I’d give myself a ten. Secondly, I had to know if that was true of me so I decided to monitor my first thoughts in a morning (all those years of chemistry taught me something about experiments). It’s not as easy as it sounds, plus sometimes my first thought is ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I need a wee’ or something like that. But I somehow managed to find a correlation.