Harmony Kent's Blog, page 108

Cooking, Writing, Scribbling–It’s all good

Hi everyone. Over on Story Empire today, Mae Clair has a fun post about scribbling, cooking, and writing. Well worth a look …

Hi, SEers! Mae here to talk about cooking and writing. At first glance these two things may seem to have little in common, but after applying some thought, I began to recognize a pattern. The again…

Source: Cooking, Writing, Scribbling–It’s all good

Basic Plots: Overcoming the Monster

Hello everyone! Happy Monday. Today, over on Story Empire, Staci Troilo brings us the last in her great seven-part series on the seven basic plots … well worth checking out …

Ciao, SEers. Today we’ll be discussing the last of the Seven Basic Plots as defined by Christopher Booker. If you’ve missed the others, you can find them here: Rebirth, Tragedy, Comedy, Voyage and …

Source: Basic Plots: Overcoming the Monster

My Week in Review and Writing Links

[image error]Hello everyone. Happy Friday! It’s been a productive week here with lots of jobs and lots of writing achieved. Still no hip x-ray, grrr … that’s been a good while waiting now. I will say that as long as I’m careful, it’s not too bad most of the time, just the odd bit where it gets me, lols. My partner and I had a nice afternoon in Mevagissey on Saturday (which is just under an hour away from us). Here’s a picture of boats in the harbour, taken on my phone …

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We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Recently, I bought a small self-folding mobility scooter, which meant I got right out to the end of the harbour wall for the first time ever! Usually I have to stop at the inner harbour.

As well as writing more on the short stories, I have scheduled four Story Empire posts which take me up to my mid-December commitment. A couple more, and I’ll be sorted until January 2019!

This Crazy English Language

Hello everyone! Today, over on Story Empire, Joan Hall has an hilarious post on the English language … well worth checking out!

My Week in Review and Writing Links

[image error]Hello everyone. Happy Friday! This week, I started making wedding crutches … I’ll show a tutorial on here at some point. So far, I’ve transformed one grey and scuffed crutch into something beautiful using satin ribbon, strong adhesive double-sided tape, and organza flowers. Now I have to get cracking on the other one–I just have to wait for the ebay seller to get back from holiday so that I can order more flowers, lols!! I love getting a chance to express my creative side

Keep the pressure on

Over on Story Empire today, Craig Boyack has an awesome post on plot tension. Please do hop on over to check out the full article …

Craig with you today. Sometimes I have topics to spare, and sometimes I struggle for one. Since this site is for authors, I need to deliver something that might help you with your own stories. I sp…

Source: Keep the pressure on

When a Character Hijacks You

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Image courtesy of Pixabay

Hello everyone. I hope you’ve all had a good weekend and great start to your week.

As you’ll know if you’ve read my Friday Week in Review post, which you can find HERE, I have finally finished my short story called IMPACT. It came in at about 6100 words in the end. 

I had intended for it to finish much sooner, but an unexpected–and unplanned for–character popped up from a hole in the ground–literally, lol. His appearance opened up a whole other realm of possibilities, and suddenly, the story went in another direction. It was supposed to end near this scene …

‘Why’d you do it?’

Jake shrugged, unable to answer for a moment. Then he said, ‘It gives me a rush.’

Gill snorted. ‘So, why not climb rocks or jump out of planes or something?’

That one stumped him. ‘I don’t know,’ he said with unusual honesty.

Into the void the long silence left in its wake, Gill said, ‘Oh, well, I don’t suppose it matters now.’

‘No.’

Which killed that conversation.

Eventually, Gill reached for his hand, and he took it, the both of them holding tight to one another. A while later, she snuggled up to him and rested her head against his shoulder. Even though he’d never admit it out loud, Jake welcomed the contact.

Gradually, so slowly that they didn’t notice it at first, the daylight dimmed and the air warmed until, finally, the light at the end of the tunnel snuffed out, and then the electricity failed, plunging them into total darkness. Jake fumbled for his mobile and navigated to the torch app. He saw no point in worrying about draining the battery. In the pale beam, Gill looked ashen.

And then my unexpected visitor turned up quite out of the depths of my imagination (and the depths of London’s underground tunnels). Which took the story in this direction instead of ending where I’d planned …

Just then, a round metal grate moved upward and sideways, tumbling with a clatter and a clang to the pavement by Jake’s side. Gill screeched. Jake jumped. A yellow-hard hat rose from the black depths, head torch shining. It shone right into Jake’s face, blinding him. He covered his eyes with a hand and squinted. The tunnel worker looked at them, bemused. Then the absence of moving traffic and the usual city noise registered. The guy stared at Jake, who said, ‘A huge meteor just struck Earth. You should’ve stayed down there, mate.’ He nodded toward the open manhole.

The man grinned. ‘You’re having a laugh, right?’

In a high-pitched voice, Gill said, ‘He’s telling you the truth. Why else would we be sitting here like a pair of morons?’

Sweat ran down Jake’s brow and dripped from his chin. With his jacket sleeve, he dabbed at his face. Then he looked at the workman, ‘You felt how hot it is?’

The guy’s eyes widened. ‘You’re not winding me up?’

Silent, Jake used his 4G to navigate to a news channel, and then he held out the device to the bloke half in and half out of the hole. How long would the internet and cell service keep working? Jake shook his head and watched the workman. As the guy read, his grin faded. All at once, he wobbled and nearly fell off the rungs. Jake lunged forward and grabbed his arms. The mobile fell to the ground. Panicked, Jake let go of the guy and grabbed for his phone. The screen had cracked, but the device still operated. A yelp reminded him about the workman. ‘Shit.’

The guy had managed to pull himself up and out and now sat with his feet dangling into the access tunnel, glaring at Jake. ‘Thanks, mate.’ Sarcasm laced the words rather than gratitude.

Jake stared. ‘What?’

‘You dropped me for the sake of your bloody phone. Cheers.’

Jake cringed and flushed. ‘Yeah. Sorry. Habit, you know? It cost a fortune.’

By his side, Gill snorted and said, ‘You’re worse than a teenager.’

Again, Jake apologised. ‘You’re right. I am married to this thing.’ Sheepish, he turned it off and slid it into his coat pocket. The light from the helmet gave enough illumination for now.

Then an idea occurred to him. He looked at the workman. ‘Did it feel cooler down there?’

The guy nodded.

Jake said, ‘Do you think it’s worth us going into the tunnels?’

‘Um, yeah, it might be.’ He gave it some more thought. ‘Yeah, yeah. I reckon. But we’ll need food and stuff. The heat pulse will last for hours. And then it will get cold. Freezing, in fact.’

Dumbfounded, Jake stared at the bloke. ‘How’d you know all that?’

The workman shrugged. ‘That stuff fascinates me.’

Jake grinned. ‘Well, it’ll come in handy now.’

I always love it when characters take over the story in this way, which is why I’m a pantser rather than a planner. I have made outlines and plans before, but somehow, my stories always end up taking their own direction. Does this happen to you? Do you prefer to plan or go with the flow or a bit of both? 

That’s it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you on Friday for my next week in review and writing links.

© Harmony Kent 2018

Story Empire (Co-authored)
Harmony’s Amazon Author Page
Twitter: @harmony_kent
LinkedIn: Harmony
Goodreads: Author Page

My Week in Review and Writing Links

[image error]Hello everyone! Happy Friday. I’m only pretending to be here today, as I’m away from home until Saturday, lol. Due to my short trip, my cut-off for new blog posts was Wednesday evening rather than Thursday evening this week. I’ll answer all your lovely comments as soon as I can, and the place I’m staying at should have Wi Fi so I can keep up to date remotely. I’ve had a productive week this week and have finished the short story ‘Impact’ at last. It came in at about 6100 words, but I can see scope for a possible novella or even a full novel somewhere in the future. Right now, I have far too many coals in the fire! So, it will sit in my ideas file. I’ve also had a dabble with more flash fiction, with the goal being to write each story in precisely 500 words–no more, no less. On top of that, I’ve got lots of other things sorted out and jobs done. Today’s quote resonated with me, both from the distant past and more recently … no matter what others might say, keep on writing!

Here are the writing links for this week:

FROM STORY EMPIRE

Book Signings and Author Swag by Mae Clair

Basic Plots: Rags to Riches by Staci Troilo

Friday Cover Share: Devour by Kurt Anderson by Mae Clair

 

FROM AROUND THE WORLDWIDE WEB

Does Your Book Cover Work in Thumbnail Size? from Just Publishing Advice

10 Tips for Pitching Your Book by Oliver Rhodes from Romance University

Overcoming Common Obstacles to Become an Author by Sally Keys from Nicholas Rossis

Occupation Thesaurus: Landscape Designer by Becca Puglisi from Writers Helping Writers … loving this series!

Picking a Book Title from Just Publishing Advice

4 Simple Marketing Strategies for Promoting Your Book by Elaine Bennett from Nicholas Rossis

Tools for the Visual-Spacial Writer (And the rest of us!) by Becca Puglisi from Writers Helping Writers

What is Passive Voice and How to Stop Using It from Just Publishing Advice … a post after my own heart and everyone MUST read!

Basic Plots: Rags to Riches

Hello everyone, over on Story Empire, author Staci Troilo has the sixth in a seven part post all about the seven basic plots. Well worth checking out …

Ciao, SEers. We’re up to our sixth of the Seven Basic Plots as defined by Christopher Booker. If you’ve missed the others, you can find them here: Rebirth, Tragedy, Comedy, Voyage and Return, and Q…

Source: Basic Plots: Rags to Riches

About the Recent Fire

Hi everyone, mixed news this morning. Many of you will have heard about the fires in Athens, Greece that started yesterday. Nicholas Rossis has an update on his blog … while he is safe, many have lost their homes and their lives …

Many of you have contacted me to ask about the recent fires. As you may have heard, we had two big forest fires raging not 30-40 minutes from our house. One from the North (Kalamos) and one from th…

Source: About the Recent Fire