Writing Warrior Wednesday ~ How to Train Your Writing Dragon

When this movie first came out in the theater I was less than excited. It didn’t interest me. My husband, as a treat to our five-year-old son, took him to see it. 

Taking the kids to see animated movies, with the exception of Pixar, is usually a crap shoot, but we suffer through. In this case, when my husband and son returned that afternoon, our son was bouncing off the walls babbling about how awesome the movie was. This is not unusual. My husband, though, was also very complimentary and kept talking about not only the animation but the main character, Toothless, the dragon. 

Years have gone by and “How to Train your Dragon” is now on Netflix. We recently sat down one night as a family to watch it. 
I loved it, no I will preface this. I loved Toothless. 

Toothless has joined the ranks of my favorite silent characters. These include Wall-E, Silent Bob, R2D2, Sam (Benny & Joon), Pixar’s Lamp, Teller (Penn & Teller), The Red Balloon (from French movie of the same title), Wilson (Castaway) & The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin).

Chaplin, the master of the silent movie, was, and still is considered the master of conveying emotion, or character, without the use of dialog. One of the challenges every author faces is the ability to convey emotion through words. This can be done via dialog or description. An exercise most writers are tasked with in the very beginning of their pros is to write a scene completely devoid of description. The only venue you have to convey your theme is dialog. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, what if you had no dialog as a venue, only description?  As ours is not visual art, this poses quite a challenge. 

Visual expression, as brilliantly shown in the character Toothless, is astounding in the ability to have such an impact. The emotions attached to a silent character run a different, deeper, path than those who have a voice.  Another impressive modern example of this is Kurt Russell in the movie “Soldier” released in 1998. While this film was released with little attention from the populace, it is a touching and powerful example of expression without words. 

But how do we as writers describe the emotional expression of a character and exactly the same results? How do we describe anger, love, hate, frustration without words?

This, of course, leads us back to the #1 rule of fiction writing, show, don’t tell. 

One of the things I have started to do is to watch these characters and then describe their facial movements, their stance, and their eyes, trying to dissect what emotion is coming across, and how. 

So here is an exercise for all those who are interested in exploring this facet of our world. Here is a picture of Toothless. Use words to describe the scene and what is happening, the emotion involved in the scene.  Basically, recreate the picture in words. When finished you should be able to read the description and form the same image without the picture. 


Share it with us! I am excited to see what you come up with!

Come Find Me!

Don't have a Kindle, no problem. I've got you covered! Read eBooks on your phone, tablet and computer no Kindle Needed!

Teaser Tuesday ~ Sneak Peek Outsider in Oklahoma

The shadows grew longer. She estimated only a few hours remained until sunset. Raised in Pennsylvania, she wasn’t a stranger to farm life and their open fields, early evenings and mornings that began before the sunrise. Living across from a dairy farm as a child, she saw the farm hands work the cattle and the fields. It was a hard life, but not without satisfaction for those who loved it.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t picture Aidan here. His passion had always been with the publishing world, the big city and working with clients. Particularly the trends that defined sales, spikes, marketing and the future of the publishing landscape. Since working with him she’d grown to appreciate his passion for the methodology and chaos of it all. Aidan Durrant was an amazing man, and part of the reason she’d worked with him all these years.

The center of activity played out away from the house. Following a gravely, dirt path, the herd of cattle milled around the largest of three enclosures. She heard the familiar sound of a horse whinnying to her right and discovered the smallest enclosure corralled several sturdy, tall horses. A cowboy brandishing a black hat conversed with a second man while examining one of the horses.

Tess watched the pleasurable interaction between them. She hooked her elbows on the top rail of the fence, like a little girl at a rodeo she didn’t want to miss a moment.

The discussion about the horse ended in agreement. The man in the cowboy hat nodded in her direction. She couldn’t help but admire his muscular body. The worn dungarees and cotton work shirt silhouetted against the sun outlined a fine specimen of a man. Cowboys certainly knew how to stay in shape. The cowboy she’d been admiring gave her a wicked grin and Tess’s knees went weak, realizing beneath the hat was a familiar pair of green eyes, Aidan. Oh, God, I’ve done it now.

She had a weakness for alpha males, cowboys, the man’s man. In her childhood fantasies, her prince would kick ass and take names before rescuing her. Now, as an adult, she liked to think she could kick some ass of her own.

Aidan strutted across the enclosure; his expression mesmerizing her, and she couldn't help but blush. This wasn’t the same man she’d spent the last seven years with. No way. Aidan Durrant’s timeworn boots stopped a few feet away. When his green eyes flashed gold, her breath caught in her throat.

"Nice hat, " he said.

"I like yours better."

One dark eyebrow rose.

Who are you, and what have you done with my boss?

"How are you enjoying the fresh air?"

"I am perfect."

"Always have been."

Tess bit her tongue, but inside, she smirked.

"Something wrong with the horse?" Tess quickly turned the subject.

"Nothing we can’t fix with rehabilitation."

"I don’t remember seeing horses earlier."

"There weren’t any."

"Another surprise from Daniel?"

"My brother seemed determined to run up debt." Aidan scratched his head. "Wonder if he realized we were so far in we’d never crawl our way out?"

"Maybe he wanted to do something good for once." Her words were out of line and she knew it. "I’m sorry…"

"No, maybe you’re right." Aidan motioned her to follow him and locked the gate behind them. "You must be starving."

"And you must have heard my stomach protesting."

His hand landed on the small of her back. He leaned into her and pointed to a building across the path. "I need to finish with the Vet and get cleaned up. I’ll meet you in the dining hall in a few minutes."

"Sounds like a plan," Tess said, acutely aware of the warmth flowing from his hand into her back. Aidan smiled and rejoined the vet who was loading a horse onto a trailer. Tess leaned against the fence, puzzled by her reaction to his touch. They’d brushed shoulders a million times over the years. So what was different about this time?

Shaking the thought from her head, she wrote it off to the relaxed ambiance at the ranch, the fresh air. She’d always been aware of his beauty, but it never seemed as pronounced as now. Had she been so buried in her job, she never appreciated the finer things about Aidan Durrant? With that question lingering in her mind, she turned toward the dining hall.

***

Come Find Me!

Don't have a Kindle, no problem. I've got you covered! Read eBooks on your phone, tablet and computer no Kindle Needed!

How to Survive a Psychotic Killer Stalking You

 
Some of you may be wondering, how do you keep from losing your mind when your entire life has been turned inside out and upside down? When everything once within the illusion of your control is now running amuck like a bull in a china shop. We here are a few tips, from someone who knows.

If you think you are in control just let go of that right now. The more you try to control the situation the worse it is going to get! If you do find yourself the object of affection for some psycho lunatic, let’s be honest, there really isn’t shit you can do.

Tip # 1 - Buy a Laptop

First, if you don’t have a laptop consider investing in one. Most are fairly cheap  and you will thank your credit card later. This wonderful device will soon become your only link to the outside world, via email, online content and the occasional Facebook posting (although I would limit your exposure). You will also hopefully be able to salvage the remains of your life. Continue to pay bills, work remotely, maybe even buy a new pair of shoes (although you will need to set up a separate destination for delivery as you won’t to give yourself away). Laptops are also portable and can pretty much handle anything you throw at them, and most are water proof for the occasional melt down.

Tip# 2 - Prepare for the Late Night / Early morning crawl.

Next I would suggest you get familiar with Late night TV. Now I am not talking 11 pm David Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel. I am talking 230 AM TCM Abbot and Costello or my personal favorite, Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Planet. Rule of thumb, there is ALWAYS a Law and Order on somewhere. Also, just because it is black and white doesn’t mean it sucks. Best channels for late night / early morning are going to be, TCM, TNT,USA , and Cartoon Planet (does anyone else see a pattern here?). If you go cable you are going to run into soft core and since you probably not getting any at the moment probably not the best idea. 

A second option for your sleepless night dilemma’s is going to be your trusty DVR.  I would suggest, if you can, recording your favorite daytime soap or talkshow that you haven’t been able to watch in years. That will kill at least an hour with commercials. Now you may be thinking that you shouldn’t be prepared for the occasion of insomnia. Trust Me it will happen and better to be prepared than get stuck watching infomercials.

*Note - Do not try and work at 3 AM! First off, people are going to think you have fallen off the deep end. Second, although your eyes are open and your mind is spinning, how coherent are you really? Do be stupid and try to ‘keep up’, you don’t need to be sending drunk emails to your boss. (They found that people who drive after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent.)

Tip# 3 - Keep the little constants in your life alive and kicking

Moving on, try and keep some fragment of your life stable. (Impossible, right?) They say that children need a schedule for a sense of reassurance. Believe it or not Adults do as well. So obviously if you go running every morning you are going to have to put it on hold for a while (yes I know it totally sucks!) but things, small things, like your favorite creamer in the fridge or keeping up with you favorite blogs online. Even something as small as having Taco’s on Wednesdays can make all the difference in your ability to cope with the upheaval.

Lastly, and most important, DO NOT GIVE UP, it will end eventually. As you are already realizing, your friends and family are going to be supportive and wonderful but the fact of the matter is, you are going through this, not them.

So, do not give up, give in or let go of anything you want, wish and hope for. Those are the things that will keep you going. Things are never completely hopeless. There is always a glimmer of hope smiling back at you when you look into his eyes…hold onto the warmth of the memory, the sliver of belief that if it is meant to be it will happen.

God please make it meant to be…

So here are your tips to survival. I could go on and on but these are the must have’s in my opinion everything else is negotiable.

Stick to your guns and as Scarlett said…tomorrow is another day!

Author Amy Romine writing as Rebecca Gailen the Heroine of Trust Me Book 1 - Serenity Lost available at Amazon.com

Come Find Me!

Don't have a Kindle, no problem. I've got you covered! Read eBooks on your phone, tablet and computer no Kindle Needed!