Helen Lowe's Blog, page 141

The Tuesday Poem: Storm Front

Storm Front

Tomorrow
after our war
clouds stream
out of the nor’east,
seagulls fleeing
before the wind—
a voice on the radio
talks about what it means
to be . . . human, beating
against each other, asks
who will pick up
all the shards, piece
together the joins, dark
fractures enclosing
the whole.

Helen Lowe

—

Don’t forget to read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world—just click here.

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How’s This For Awesome?

Some very atmospheric pics from my writing retreat in Nelson last week. Enjoy! (You’ll know I did. )

Looking west to Mt Arthur:

This (below) is more north-west across Tasman Bay:

And this (below again) northeast toward what I believe is referred to as Nelson Haven:

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Worldbuilding In “The Wall Of Night” Series: The Medieval European Setting (3)

USA

UK

On Friday, I looked at my deliberate decision to give The Wall Of Night series a “classic epic framework”, which in turn drove the quasi-medieval European milieu.

I also said that in taking something that on the surface looked familiar, I hope to then emulate Emily Dickinson in approaching that familiar terrain at least somewhat “slant.”

In addition to aspects of culture and locale referenced yesterday, many readers and reviewers have also noted that not only is the lead character in T...

Worldbuilding In “The Wall Of Night” Series: The Medieval European Setting (2)

UK

USA

Yesterday I looked at my deliberate decision to give The Wall Of Night series a “classic epic framework”, which in turn drove the quasi-medieval European milieu.

I also said that in taking something that on the surface looked familiar, I hope to then emulate Emily Dickinson in approaching that familiar terrain at least somewhat “slant.”

For example, the Derai Alliance that garrisons the Wall of Night is alien to Haarth and has imposed both its own war and traditional enemy on the indig...

Worldbuilding In “The Wall Of Night” Series: The Medieval European Setting (1)

USA

UK

From time to time, questions come up about worldbuilding in The Wall Of Night series and one of the perennial favourites is why I chose a setting that is reminiscent of medieval Western Europe.

The answer is that I deliberately set out to write a book that was very ‘classic epic’ in its initial form, so that drove the Western European medieval-style setting, as did the mythological basis to the work which draws on the Greco-Roman, Norse, and Celtic traditions.

Another reason for choosi...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Heir Of Night”

UK

USA

As I observed last week, revealing the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood sparked an ambition to send some on-blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, in the same way I spent time on the world in A Geography Of Haarth.

I also decided to on the more minor players to begin with, because: “Sometimes I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

I shall start at the beginning, wit...

Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Sinbad”

~ by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

After the success of Robin Hood (2006 – 2009) and Merlin (2008 – 2012) over on the BBC, it must have seemed a fair bet for Channel Sky1 to try and fill the Saturday night slot by broadcasting their own take on a famous fantasy hero: Sinbad. Unfortunately it didn’t do as well as its predecessors, lasting only a single season and never picking up much of a following.

So why do an article on the subject? I have an underlying fascination with shows that never qu...

The Tuesday Poem: Orison

Orison ~ a Meditation on Katherine Mansfield, in the south of France

A bell calls on sleepy air
resonant
with late afternoon

sheep click & clack
over cobbles
the smell of fleece
hangs on the hour

an olive tree taps
against glass –
through twig and leaf
there is sea, bright
beneath a blaze of sky

the page on the desk
is blank, the pen
a burden to the hand –
she lifts it
draws in breath
…………..will again
until the final line
.

Helen Lowe

~ first published in Takahe 62, 2007

—

Enjoy. And don’t f...

Thinking About Characters

USA

I’ve been pleased over the past week or so at the number of visits to the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three), both here and on the Supernatural Underground.

Their release, together with recent posts such as “Writing Epic Heroines” and “When Characters We Love Die”, has kept reflections on storytelling and the importance of world building and character creation uppermost in my mind.

Such reflections tend to focus on big name, main point-of-view characters...

A Quote For Sunday — Attributed to Vincent Van Gogh

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

—Vincent Van Gogh

—

I think this is so true (of just about anything, really) but also reminds me of the famous Lao Tzu quote that ” the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.”

Because it’s only all those single steps, one after the other, knocking off one mile after the other, that allow the the thousand-mile milestone to be achieved.

Although I think there’s a little more to the van Gogh quote, since a painting...