The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Bibliophiles Anonymous

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Hello, my name is Beth and I am a bibliophile.

I have been a bibliophile for most of my life, from the days when my parents would stack cardboard books by my crib, from the days where I memorized Madeliene and convinced my father I could read (little did he realize that I held the book upside down), to the days when I read my first real chapter book, Ann Rinaldi’s A Break With Charity, when I was 8.

My room is filled with books. Stacks of them. Old books, new books, books that have been thumbed through a thousand times and books that I have yet to read. Not to mention all of the books I have floating about in my head, waiting to be written.

My recent book loves are varied. Histories of spy organizations, children’s books of the Dahl variety and epic French literature (I finished Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and will be reading Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo soon). My time to enjoy these works is slim. But still I read.

Books…oh how to praise them without resorting to the usual cliches? They are entertaining and enlightening. We can travel to new worlds and learn about ourselves through characters in books.

But, why do I love books so? Why do I love reading? Writing?

Honestly, I don’t know. My mom bribed me when I was little so I wouldn’t watch TV. $1 a week bonus to allowence if I watched less than 2  hours of TV. It worked pretty well–I didn’t watch any TV show until Lost premiered in 2004 (and I’ve been a pretty loyal fan; am finally watching season 6). But I digress.

My love of books began long before those days and has continued even after I belatedly discovered the awesome stories that can air on TV (24, Lost, The Prisoner) and how great movies are. If anything, I’ve become more of a bibliophile, being drawn to new authors, and to more classic works. If it hadn’t been for The Prisoner, I doubt I would have read Kafka’s The Trial or anything by John Le Carre (I love research. Have I said that before? I LOVE RESEARCH).

Books, unlike television, aren’t dependent on a schedule or pricey cable package. I can always go to the library and get something new to read.

The Magic of Google Docs

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

There’s something great about using Google Docs to write, both fiction and term papers.

The fact that it displays how much time its been since the page has been edited.  How helpful! I’m easily distracted at times, and being able to see just how long its been since I worked on a project is magnificent.

“Oh dear, it’s been fifteen minutes since I edited the document!” I exclaimed. “I suppose I better get back to work!”

I don’t like seeing the ‘last saved’ numbers get beyond three or four minutes. That’s time wasted, time I should be writing, producing, creating.

It’s very good for keeping me on task. I’ll have to try writing more using this.

An adventure story lover turns to chick lit…

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Inside this hardened, speculative fiction and historical fiction loving soul there is a chick lit book waiting to escape. I have the scenario in my head. I have characters semi-developed. I even have a killer opening (no, not literally, but that would be pretty awesome, if an entirely different genre).

Thing is, I don’t read chick lit. By and large, I don’t even read romances (I read stories where there are romantic relationships, but they aren’t the focus). In the last year, the most chicky-typical book I read was PS I Love You (Alexander McCall Smith’s books don’t count). By and large, my reading selections are more along the spy story, black comedy or classic route than traditionally girl books.

I’m not familiar with the genre. I really don’t want to read too many of the books within the genre–by and large they don’t appeal to me. But I have a story in my head that I must tell. I’m sure it will be filed away with countless other tales to be told, fermenting and biding its time until one day when it attacks me, springing forth with teeth bared, wearing designer stilettos.

A Call for Beta Readers (pretty please?)

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Hello dear readers!

So, I’m entering a short story contest and I was wondering if anyone would mind being my beta? I haven’t decided which story I’m going to submit, but I’ve narrowed it down to three stories I’ve written recently–two historical fiction based on the Battle of Britain and one more observational, a modern tale set in Boston.

Anyways, the submission is due on February 1st, so it doesn’t give me too much time. Fortunately, my stories are all under 3000 words, so they should take too long to read. XD

If you’re interested in being my beta, leave a comment.

Look Ma! No Paragraphs!

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

So, as a counterpoint to the light movies I’ve been watching lately, I’ve started reading Kafka’s The Trial. I’ve never read anything by Kafka, and this work is mentioned rather frequently in the research I’ve done on The Prisoner, so…reading it I am.

One thing that I’ve noticed  about the book is the lack of paragraphs. There isn’t any separation between dialogue; the end result is massive paragraphs that go on for an entire chapter. I find that I can’t skim-read; I must read each and every word to know who is saying what. Otherwise, one missed dialogue tag and I really am clueless.

I hadn’t given much consideration to the separation of dialogue by different paragraphs. It, in my eyes, was a given. A new character speaks and there is a new line.

Not so in The Trial. Lines run together, making it some times difficult to figure out who is speaking when. The result is, though, fitting for the story. The reader, much like main character Joseph K., is left confused. The story, focusing on a man who is arrested and not informed as to what his crime is, leaves the reader in a state of uncertainty. Who is this Joseph K., really? Who are his tormentors? Why has he been arrested?

The lack of separate paragraphs provide a cramped, uncomfortable, almost prisonlike in your inability to escape. The text is closed. When reading, I can’t help but want to escape the bounds of the page, no doubt just as Joseph K. longs to escape the rigid, though ill defined, justice system.

The uncertainty is killing me. But I like it.

STREEETCH: My favorite writing exercise

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And one, and two, and three, and four! Okay writers, time to stretch!

I’d make a crappy aerobics teacher. But that’s okay.

When I was in middle school, my awesome English teacher taught my class this writing exercise. It’s great for group meetings, but can easily be adapted for individual use.

I call it “The Paper Bag Game”. It’s pretty simple and pretty quick.

Here’s how it works.

First, you gather five paper bags and lable them as “Main Character”, “Secondary Character,” “Location,” “Plot,” and “Object.”

Second, distribute pieces of paper to the group. Have the members write up descriptions for each of the categories. They can be as simple or complex as you want. For example: “MC: An old man who was a convict but is now reformed.” “SC: Persistant police officer” “L: Paris”, “P: A cat and mouse chase through the years between MC and SC” and “O: Silver candlesticks”.

Let these get silly.

Next, put these into their appropriately marked bags. Shake. Withdraw ONE from each category. Set your timer/watch/cell phone alarm for 5-7 minutes and get writing.

At this point, the group can decide whether to hold on to the used sheets or throw them out. The unused characters, etc. ought to remain in the bags, with new ones being added each meeting.

As I said earlier, this can easily be adapted for solo writing fun. Come up with many different characters, plots, objects, etc. and pull at random.

The writing time (5-7 minutes) can be extended for any length of time, but the short time works well for groups, as those who want to share afterwards can.

Don’t worry if you can’t get all of the components together–this is just meant to get your brain thinking.