Raven Bower's Blog, page 8

Setting to Illustrate Character Mood

 

 

 

A keen eye. Observation. Mood.

All of these are used to create vivid character emotions using that very valuable tool we talked about before – setting.

One other thing it takes to pull this off is knowing your character as deeply as possible and how she’d relate to the world around her.

It’s true that it’d be highly suspect if a character were to change their environment (setting) based on their shifting moods. Splattering different color paints on the walls throughout the day would not only make a heck of a mess, but create so many layers of paint over the years that there would cease to be a room at all. However, the way we perceive our environment varies greatly depending on our mood and outlook.

For instance, when I see a spider, I’m intrigued. I wonder what it has in its web. I look closer to see what type it might be and where it likes to hide. On the other hand, upon seeing a spider my friend Becca whips out the flame throwers and goes into the Mode of Flaming Spider Doom. Two entirely different people yes? Which would make for two entirely different characters.

Moonlight. Is it always soft? Maybe, if the character has a perpetually romantic view. But if it’s Arvon desperately trying to escape his enraged clan, well then, the moonlight stabs through the forest. He’s feeling hunted, viscous and so his mood affects how he interprets the moonlight. Two lovers basking under that same full moon, wine beside them, safe in their embrace would view it entirely different. Perhaps as shafts of glimmering silver shifting off his lover’s hair like a metallic waterfall.

When faced with a run-down barn one character might experience fond memories of his farming days when Ole Uncle Hoebert took him under his wings and taught him the joy of growing things. He might describe the smell of old manure and the plentiful plants and herbs sprouting with life around the ruin.  Another character in that same situation, perhaps one who almost died during a building collapse or, less dramatic but still workable, one who toiled in servitude at a farm under the iron yoke of Mean Aunt Mincy,  would have an entirely different experience. He might describe it as full of gaping holes of darkness, waiting to swallow the unwary into its maw of pain.

A character who has just lost a loved one, might look upon the mist covered mountains and liken the mist to a heavy, drooping shroud. In this way, a writer can describe a character’s mood without using the ‘telling’ device of ‘she was sad’. Those same mountains with that same mist in the eyes of a character in an adventurous mood, might be described as a swirling mist that veiled his eyes to the mountains secrets – but not for long!

These are, of course, blatant examples so the points are understood. They can be as subtle or bold as is needed for the mood of the story. But if you squeeze everything you can out of setting it creates a world that lives and breathes through your characters instead of being mere backdrop.

 

Movie Review ~ Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep

 

 

Title: Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep

Director: Tibor Takacs

Genre: Horror/Creature Feature

Rating: 2 bats

I really, really wanted to like this movie.  On the surface it has so much going for it that I usually like – a nifty sea creature, diving, watery doom, hidden treasure, nasty bad guys. Unfortunately, it flopped.

Despite the fact that they did some very good underwater shots and the CGI and FX were decent, the movie lacked suspense and the bad guys were wooden and a little too ‘tee hee’. The hero annoyed the daylights out of me. He was like a demented, ever-smiling, entirely too feminine…Barney! Yes. He reminded me of that blasted, toothy purple monstrosity. Creepy and not in a good way.

The plot, if done better, could have made for a really good movie.  Looking at the list of screenwriters on this one it’s not a surprise though – it’s the typical ‘too many hands in the pot’ problem where the plot and focus scatters to the nine hells.

Unless you’re so bored you’re tempted to remove your own eyeballs and roll them around on your table for fun – I’d take a pass on this one.

Friday’s Five Favs ~ Fun Weekend Reads!

 

Dark Desire by Christine Feehan~

They were masters of the darkness, searching through eternity for a mistress of the light . . .

The stranger silently summoned her from across the continents, across the seas, whispering of eternal torment, of endless hunger . . . of dark, dangerous desires. And somehow American surgeon Shea O’Halloran could feel his anguish, sense his haunting aloneness.

Drawn to the far Carpathian Mountains, Shea found a ravaged, raging man, a being like no other. And she trembled. For in his burning eyes she recognized the beloved stranger who’d already become part of her.

But was she to be his healer . . . or his prey?

Raven’s note ~ This is a fun, sensual book with a great hero. Loved the predicament he was in and how they had to work their way out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

Meg by Steve Alten ~ Carcharodon megalodon apex predator of all time, the most fearsome creature that ever lived a 70-foot, 60,000 pound Great White Shark. Hundreds of 7-inch serrated teeth filled jaws that could swallow an elephant whole. It could sense its prey miles away, inhaling its scent as it registered the beat of its fluttering heart, and if you ever came close enough to see the monster…it was already too late. For Navy deep-sea submersible pilot Jonas Taylor, it nearly was too late. Years ago, on a top-secret dive seven miles down into the Mariana Trench, Jonas came face to face with an ancient monster everyone believed extinct. Having barely escaped with his life, Jonas must prove to the world that Meg still exists. When an opportunity to return to the trench presents itself, he takes it, intent on returning topside with a 7-inch tooth! But man s presence in this unexplored domain releases one of the sharks from its purgatory, and now Jonas is the only one who can stop it.

Raven’s note: An enormous shark devouring things and well-drawn characters, what more could one ask for in a beach read? *evil grin*

 

 

 

 

Subterranean by James Rollins ~ Beneath the ice at the bottom of the Earth is a magnificent subterranean labyrinth, a place of breathtaking wonders–and terrors beyond imagining. A team of specialists led by archaeologist Ashley Carter has been hand-picked to explore this secret place and to uncover the riches it holds. But they are not the first to venture here–and those they follow did not return. There are mysteries here older than time, and revelations that could change the world. But there are also things that should not be disturbed–and a devastating truth that could doom Ashley and the expedition: they are not alone.

Raven’s note ~ Awesome creature book! Rollins makes it all so darn real.

 

 

 

 

 

Bag of Bones by Stephen King ~ Four years after the sudden death of his wife, bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving, unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at Sara Laughs, the Maine summerhouse that seems to be calling to him. Reluctantly returning to the lakeside getaway, Mike finds a small town in the soulless grip of a powerful millionaire, a single mother fighting to keep her three-year-old daughter, and a miasma of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors at his remote cabin. Drawn to Mattie’s dilemma and falling in love with her and with young Kyra, Mike must still face the terrifying forces that have been unleashed at the lake’s edge—what do they want with Mike Noonan?

Raven’s note ~ True King work here! Very creepy story 

 

 

 

 

Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury ~ The third edition of Bradbury’s much-loved classic adds three new exuberant essays on the pleasures of writing from one of the most creative, imaginative, and prolific artists of the 20th century–an author who truly enjoys his craft and tells you why and how.

Raven’s note ~ An inspiring walk into the world of writing.

Setting & Your Story

Lake Superior off Big Bay

 

Setting is one of a writer’s most useful tools. It can help set moods, show glimpses into the viewpoint character and help solidify their lifestyle, their beliefs and their priorities.

To create vivid settings Lain and fall back on our standard – research and world building. Plus some additions of deeply knowing our characters and the art of observation.

For instance the Apparitions series is based exclusively in northern Michigan, with the final two novels being set in the remote Upper Peninsula. Why? I adore northern Michigan and one of my dreams is to one day live upon the mighty shores of Superior. Hey, we all have dreams right?

So when I was in the world of Apparitions, Wendigo and Rags Beneath it was easy for me to re-create that mythical feel that I so love. How? I’ve been there. I remember. All it takes is recalling it and then building a fictional town and county for my characters to reside, utilizing they key elements of the area. I couldn’t for instance, insert things more common in cities into these small towns and have the reader believe my story. They’d call BS and they’d be right to do so.

It’s simply an entirely different way of life and fiction ought to reflect the many different places in our world – not just mimic what one expects because we’re inundated with same-ness elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Primal, I drew upon the feel of the night. There is a vast difference between energy on a full moon, half moon and new moon and this plays heavily into the Vengeance series. It was also fun to contrast the cities of Chicago and Detroit. Yes, they’re both cities and thus have much in common, but they have entirely different feels and entirely different populace. Then, contrasting those two with the woodlands around Marquette in the Michigan Upper Peninsula (I told you I love that area!) was a blast.

But, it also served a grander purpose – illuminating character. If you’ve read Primal, you probably caught onto it, if you haven’t I won’t spoil it here. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot of setting reflecting character and visa versa.

 

 

Fog rolling off the hills near Munising

 

 

When we enter into the realm of fantasy, like in Bleeding Edge and Nymph’s Lair, it’s really not that much different. The only major difference is that there’s more world building involved to keep the facts straight because these places exist only in our minds, hearts and spirits.

To create these fantastic settings we immersed ourselves in imagination but also in fact. There are certain things that will exist in a port town that wouldn’t in the middle of an ancient cemetery.

Where people choose to live says a lot about them because certain people are drawn to areas out of deeply personal motives and desires. Someone like me who loves forests, lakes and rivers is not the same sort of person who yearns for open plains with waving grasses, and they are of a different sort than someone who desires the glimmer sands of desert life.

Even if it’s a forced living arrangement, the setting can say a lot about the character and indeed, it’s a well used ploy in fiction to give a contrast between the character and their present living space. Someone in love with the city yet forced to the country might have a collection of say, impractical shoes that she can’t wear because the dirt tears the heels. Or maybe she does wear them and is sad over the chewed state of her leather. Perhaps he has lots of gadgets and gadgets, like an iPad etc that he can’t use because, vexingly, there’s no viable signal.

I’m running out of room here so more on settings & character later! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Grave Preparations

 

The soil in the cemetery area, with the exception of the last two graves which were outside of the contractors work area, was just as poor as Eastern border.  Even though we planned on making the graves raised – essentially functioning as tapered raised beds – slapping top soil on top of poor soil would have just soured the new soil. Instead we launched into a week’s worth of enhancing the soil in each grave area according to what the planned plants needed.

One of the many things I love about gardening in small or raised beds – flexibility! The grave that would house our vervain and skullcap we made into more of a forest, rich loam and used the tiller to dig deep into the earth, mixing it well. Whereas the area where we’re using hyssop as a backdrop to one of the headstones has a slightly more arid mix with lots of stones.

In the above photos, you can see some of the graves in their tilled form, the upper photo gives a view as to where the graves are situated in respect to the house/ Eastern border.

 

 

 

 

This is another grave shot, with organic matter piled on top of it to be tilled under. It’s a mess, but to create – you must destroy! Muauahahahah!

Ahem.

 

 

The next step in the processes was to clearly define the graves and mound each one. Keeping with the idea that this is supposed to be an old, Gothic cemetery, I wasn’t concerned with particularly straight lines or totally even grade. Not to mention, I’m sloppy, just like nature so it works for me

More shots on the mounding of the graves -

 

 

 

 

After they were mounded we took out the weed blocker! This not only has created a wonderfully mostly weed-free grave but keeps the mounded soil from eroding.

 

We went through and did the same thing with all the other graves except for one, which our son is using as his sunflower garden this year lol  A bit strange for a cemetery, but our tiller broke shortly after breaking ground for our veggie garden so, I don’t have a way to make him his own garden yet.

Movie Review ~ The Woman in Black

 

 

Title: The Woman in Black

Director: James Watkins

Genre: Horror/Supernatural suspense

Rating: 5 bats

 

Kudos to Director James Watkins for putting out a stellar supernatural suspense! I was a bit leery going in to this movie because of Daniel Radcliff as the lead – he just doesn’t do it for me.  I watched it anyway, drawn to the movie’s premise, and am so glad I did.

Watkins created a moody, realistic world rife with danger without leaping into  melodrama. The characters were odd ~ I mean that in the best of ways ~ and stood out from your typical cast. He captured the isolation, views and feel of a small, rural town. The settings were well done and the manor was so beautiful that I wanted to teleport it directly here!

Thankfully, he avoided the contraptions of over-use of CGI and instead utilized mood, lighting, actors and music to portray the supernatural realm. The toys – yeah – creepy!

The storyline was eerie, twisty and the end was very cool! This is a definite watch again!

 

Friday’s Five Favs ~ Drinks to Sauce Up the Weekend!

Bad pun   We’re getting a bit of freedom from the kids and so I’m in party mode!

Cheers!

 

 

The Martini! ~ The classic sort, made with gin of course! I rinse my olives really well for these because I don’t  like the salty taste. I recently received a tip from a fellow martini lover who said to rub the glass with fresh lemon before pouring the drink for a bit of a twist. Trying that this week!

 

 

Gin & Tonic ~ If you’re getting the idea that I like gin, you’d be correct    These are particularly refreshing on hot summer days! I skip the lime though, because it tends to cut the fizz of the tonic water and part of the appeal of this drink is lots of fizz!

 

 

 

The Pina Colada! ~ The whole coconut and rum thing again *grins* There are pina coladas and then there are Pina Coladas! Eons ago when I was but a young dragonling, I tasted the most luscious Pina Colada ever and it was love at first sip! Unfortunately, once I moved from that area, every pina coloda I tried be it at a bar and grill or restaurant or home-made recipe failed to live up to that first amazing drink. Until…I happened across this recipe for the Island Pina Colada and found creamy bliss once again! Yum!

 

 

 

The Margarita! ~ Get thine hands away from that margarita mix. Shoo. Off. Instead, try this fresher tasting recipe utilizing real lime juice. It tastes ever so much better – a real zing on the taste buds!

 

 

 

The Blue Bombcicle! ~ Made with UV Blue and lemonade. UV Blue is very sweet by itself, so using sweetened lemonade can make it rather…eh…sickly sweet for me. Fresh, unsweetened lemonade is far better and if you’re feeling lazy, like me, you can use lemon concentrate and water it down instead.

 

Enjoy!

Eastern Cemetery Border Prep

 

This is the eastern border of the cemetery area after several tillings. The soil was predominately clay so to lighten it and provide better drainage, we added peat moss, organic matter (leaves from last fall), a few cart loads of sand and a top layer of compost. After tilling those in until they were quite well mixed, we turned in some rocks of various sizes by hand.

 

 

 

After that, we hand graded it with rakes and created a gentle slope away from the house, instead of it sloping a bit in to the house as the contractors had left it. Why they thought that was a good idea and then then gave it a sharp slope downward further away from the house is a mystery that will likely never be solved. Grr. Anyway, after many hours, we fixed it.

 

 

 

One of my prime goals in creating this Gothic cemetery is for relaxation. With lots of writing projects on tap and deadlines, weeding is very low on my priority list    So, to help eliminate the need to weed, we installed weed barrier and added rocks because – if you haven’t already guessed this – I like rocks!

There are pros and cons to using weed block, each gardener has to assess which outweighs the other for them. For me, living with some of its downfalls is well worth it for us.

The line here is straight, but it won’t stay that way for long *grins*

More later!

Movie Review ~ Underworld, Rise of the Lycans

 

Title: Underworld, Rise of the Lycans

Director: Patrick Tatopoulos

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Horror

Rating: 4 Bats

First, let me state that I’m not generally a fan of prequels. And to be completely honest, this was an unnecessary prequel because the flashbacks and info we received in the first two Underworld movies about summed up this entire movie.

So does this movie show us anything we didn’t already know or had to know for the rest to make sense? NO.

Looking at this as simply a stand-alone movie and not part of the series, I really liked it. The settings were interesting and I enjoyed the peek into Viktor’s pre-modern days. I’m a fan of Gothics in general, so the whole swords and crossbows, horses and carriages, torches and deep woods appealed to me.

The storyline was fast enough to keep me interested yet with enough substance to keep me grounded. It was intriguing to see some of the other vampires and werewolves (lycan) of the series in their younger years.

Sonja’s character was spunky and rebellious, a good foreshadow to Selene.

I do fault this movie on several counts, however.

Gaping leaps of logic and plot holes. I understand why they were done, but the storytellers could have at least given us some reason for these rather silly decisions by otherwise smart people.

Friday’s Five Favs ~ Luscious Weekend Treats!

 

Banana Split Bites ~ I snagged this off a new Facebook page I’ve been haunting, Delicious Desserts, which is dedicated to desserts! It’s where I’ve found quite a few new favorites.

These lovelies are super simple to make and refreshing.

 

 Blueberry Quinoa Parait ~ You can’t beat nutritious and delicious! Plus I’m partial to blueberries

 

 

Tiramisu ~ The dessert of all desserts! *drools* It’s hands down my favorite and probably not at all good for me! In this recipe, I substitute the lady fingers for angel food cake because finding lady fingers around here is impossible and I’m not ambitious enough to make them from scratch.

 

 

 Coconut Cupcakes ~ I’m not a huge fan of cake, but I do make exceptions! Particularly when it involves coconut *hugs the coconut trees*  I don’t, however, like white chocolate eeeww! So I substituted some beautiful, dark chocolate in this one.

 

 

Coconut Rum Cake ~ Hey it’s summer so I can go nutty on the coconut! Plus, it has rum helloooo! Awesome combination   I must admit to two things:

1. I’ve never been that artful with the icing *blush*

2. I use more rum in the icing than what’s called for here. In fact,  I like to poke multiple holes in the cake and drizzle straight rum over the surface and allow it to soak in a few minutes before icing. Yum!