 Action/Adventure: May 27, 2015 Issue [#7018] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Summer Inspiration Edited by: Leger~  
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This week's Action / Adventure Editor
Leger~
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Summer Adventures
In the northern hemisphere, summer is just beginning. The time to be outdoors and trying new things. Many families take vacations in new places and see new sights. This is the time when I refuel my creative tank. I'm a photographer. I take tons of pictures, many of them are of really random things. Recently I visited Ft. McHenry, so I came home with shots of cannons, jail cells and barracks. When I see a landscape setting or even a room I find interesting, I take a picture. When I get home, I sift out the family photos, put them in the proper place and then take all my random stuff and sort it in general categories like buildings, landscapes and people.
Okay, okay I admit, I sometimes take pictures of people. No, I don't know them and will probably never see them again, but sometimes I see a person that my mind says is a great image for a character. I certainly don't stick my camera in their face and snap a shot...that's rude! But I take the photo over the shoulder of someone I'm with or shoot quickly from a distance and zoom. People like park rangers or tour guides are used to having photos taken, but most often I ask when we start out if they object to being in shots. I don't sell these photos, I don't display them, I merely keep them for reference. And a couple I keep just because they make me laugh.
Landscapes are inspiring too. A fun shot from the edge of a cliff (don't do this) is great for reference writing an action scene. Waterways are interesting...even shots of glens in the woods, right? Add a few dancing sprites and you have a setting in your story.
Even if it's not a perfectly framed shot, even if it is a little blurry, it doesn't matter, you have a jumping point for your imagination. So go through your old vacation photos, family and class reunion pictures, and those shots you can't remember why you took and see if they inspire something to Write On!
This month's question: Do you keep inspiration shots?
How do you use them in your writing?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: Emily had begun to think that life was passing her by, and the relationship with Raymond, though satisfactory, occasionally left her with a feeling of unfullfillment. He was fifteen years her senior, attentive to her needs, but never satisfied her physically in the way that she thought she deserved. A number of younger men had crossed her path, but loyalty to her partner and the company which they ran had always held her back from anything more than social flirting. That had been before the arrival of Daniel – a twenty something who had seriously turned her head.
Excerpt: No one ever expected them to give us a chance.
All the stories, all the movies, not even the academics anticipated what first contact would mean. The movies always had us fighting an evil alien force and triumphing by our indomitable human spirit and snappy one-liners. Kid stuff, but damned if the Secretary of Defense didn’t buy into it 100%. He wanted nuclear strikes on the ships within an hour of their ultimatum. The professors and researchers all came up with important-sounding theories like the “Methuselan Principles” or the “Paradox of Contact.” Not one of them could explain why our search for extraterrestrial life was so damn futile, though. We’d been active in our local stellar region for generations, and had scanned the skies long before that for any sign of a message. We hadn’t heard a single thing; not until they wanted us to.
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Excerpt: Erillion stood on the ramparts in the dark of the night, her long dark hair whipping about her face in the breeze. The acrid stench of the besieging army carried clearly to her as she watched the twinkling of myriad campfires. There were more of them each day. Her heart sank as she contemplated the inevitable end of the siege. This mountain pass had protected the open plains from the savage tribes beyond it for generations. She cursed the mysterious Mage that had empowered these savages and organized them into a formidable army. Turning to her Lieutenant, Gerdin, who had been a huge support to her in the organization of the defense of the pass through the Western ramparts, she asked, “Any news?”
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Excerpt: Mr. Seaworthy slid behind the wheel of their family station wagon while Lavonia and her mother climbed in among a pile of tottering birthday presents. Laughing and singing, the family headed toward Whispering Pines, a park chosen by Lavonia to celebrate her seventh birthday.
As their car rounded a sharp curve, a heavy package fell onto Mr. Seaworthy's right foot. Struggling to push itt aside, he lost control of the wheel.
“Watch out, watch out,” screamed his wife as the car skidded off the road, and flew onto rocks below.
| | Alicia (18+)
She only wanted to help Devin fulfill his dream. A 2014 Quills Winner
#1988920 by Bikerider  |
Excerpt: The smell of cigarette smoke and floor polish filled the warm air in the windowless room, as Devin sat in a chair facing the three men who would either fulfill his dream—or dash it. Only the loud ticking of a wall clock and the low murmur of conversation taking place a few rooms away cut the silence.
The man seated at the center of the table blew a stream of cigar smoke into the air and asked the first question.
“How long have you been with the New York City Police Department, Officer Delaney?”
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Excerpt: Justin removed the gift he had bought for Sylvia. "It's for you." He stood beside the table and gave it to her.
She stared at it for a few seconds, then sneered. "Such an ugly doll!"
"You don't like it?"
"Of course not! It doesn't even have eyes. Daddy, what kind of things do you buy for me? Did you get it from the dustbin because that's where I'm going to dump it right now." She had already begun stampeding her way towards the back door in the kitchen but her mother placed a palm over her shoulder. "Sometimes I wonder whether you even love me."
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This month's question: Do you keep inspiration shots?
How do you use them in your writing?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Do you think an author must be a funny person to be able to write humor?
Joto-Kai  replied: No, a writer doesn't need to 'be a funny person.' They need to at least stumble on a formula, one of the rules that make things funny. I did it once with blunder comedy. Trying to make drama, I asked, "What could go wrong?" Only something went wrong in practically every sentence. The result, being still logical enough, was a decent comedy (My only one. Unfortunately, I didn't save it before my computer froze- apparently the 'what went wrong' leaked out into the real world.)
Indelible Ink  tells us: An author doesn't have to wear size 17 shoes or have a water-shooting flower in their lapel in order to write humor, but they'd better have a decent SENSE of humor -- and an appreciation for what constitutes "funny" -- or their attempts may fall a bit short. (Honk-honk)...
Smee  answers: A tricky question which perhaps depends on how you define being funny. Is it the ability to come up with the comedy itself, or is it the ability to deliver it to an audience successfully, by whatever medium.
I am a hopeless artist. Give me a pencil and don't expect much beyond stick-men and lollipop trees. However, art packages and programs these days provide many tools and tricks that can allow me to produce artwork which can be appreciated by others. Arguably the internet, youtube, and other resources these days could offer much the same for someone who endeavoured to be funny. Happy Writing
benjwriter14 adds: No, definitely not unless your specifically writing in the comedy genre with the likes of Dave Barry. I think most of us have a humorous side. If we get to a point in our writing where we can let our personality show, we'll bring our natural sense of humor, wit, dry or otherwise, with it. When humor fails most often is when it is forced but if we're sitting around telling stories with friends, the humor naturally flows.
Quick-Quill  said: A comedic writer? I don't think so. There are probably many writers out there who don't consider themselves funny. Yet people read their work and laugh at the antics of their characters. We draw on our own life and many have just very funny family situations to draw on.
billikus admits: What an outstanding article! I loved it! As you know, I can be funny sometimes, but when I TRY to be funny, I ain't. I think that shows in writing too. Funny is funny. It's like this cartoon I saw the other day: There's a big brown bear standing in the woods, and next to him is a little furry rabbit. And so the bear says, "Does it bother you when you get poop on your fur?" The rabbit answers, "Nope."
At which point the bear reaches down, grabs the rabbit, and uses him to wipe his behind.
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