Omens and superstitions

I run a craft / textile class and recently we had to move from a building we've used for a long time and liked, to a building in a different area. It was necessary as money had to be saved and our new home is well run and pleasant. However since we started in January someone has been violently ill in class and another has wept. Alarmingly, I showed someone how to do a blanket stitch and I pricked my finger. I thought nothing of it until my blood appeared on the work. I've never bled on a piece of work yet. This person received bad news a few days later.

What a time we've had. What would a superstitious person make of that?

Although superstitious rituals weren't encouraged when I was growing up I am aware of them. I went to school with people whose parents were superstitious and who had rituals for all kinds of situations such as walking near ladders, buying purses or spilling salt.

As an adult I believe in omens and really wish I didn't. Sentences and images stand out and cause me concern. The work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez is informed by superstition. He was brought up with his grandparents who were extremely superstitious.

Perhaps in the past people made sense of life with such rituals.


Write a story about a drop of blood being spilled on something. You choose the situation.
The story can be funny, serious, dark, gothic, modern or historical.
What does the spilled blood signify to the people in the story?
What events are going on in their lives that seem more or less significant once the drop of blood has been shed.?

What words, phrases or expressions exist to describe blood.

Write a list of colours that might describe the colour of blood.

Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

gabrielgarciamarquez.org

superstitions and omens

   

magazine fiction

Workshop for would be magazine fiction writers. Hope you can make it.

Remembrance

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. So many dreadful stories have emerged from this period of history and many of them have taken a long time to tell.

In some research I did on this period of history one group of people who were persecuted as the Nazis pursued a pure race were Romanies. It was customary for this group of people to pass on their stories verbally at gatherings of families and friends. Artefacts, objects and heirlooms didn't seem to be a feature of their lives and it is quite possible that whole areas of their history have been destroyed for ever.

If you have time to research you could consider some of the people who were sent to concentration camps, political prisoners, for example. There were others. Write diary entries for the week before they were captured. Try to imagine or research the ordinary events of their lives as well as anything extraordinary.

world war sinti

Inner turmoil as the basis for a plot.

I'm back at my computer now that it has been repaired and returned to me after it had an accident. In its absence I wrote by hand but missed adding to my existing work badly. I need to write to stay sane. As long as I can write stuff down and channel my thoughts I can be cheerful.

Being computer-less and also sharing a house with poorly family members and being poorly myself I have watched a lot of telly. I don't usually and enjoyed it very much. Too much. I'm weaning myself off it this week. What I noticed about a lot of the drama programmes is the plots.

Some rely heavily on violence and shocks or they start out being very exciting and scary but taper off in the concluding scenes. Why is this?

I think it happens when the story is driven by plot and not character. Viewers like action. Nothing new there but in order to create drama through a character we need time to get to know them and understand when something out of the ordinary has happened for them. 

Also, a lot of drama is internal and invisible. Think about the panic you feel when you get an unexpected bill or realise you have arrived at work without an important document. Perhaps things become more visible when you bump into your ex or someone you had an argument with and more visible still when you are pushed or shouted at.

Lots of people cover their internal dramas. Inner torment  isn't as easy to show in a dramatic way on telly as it is in a short story. 

It might be interesting to write a short story (500-1500 words) about a person who appears to be living life as usual when in fact they are in a state of turmoil. Sometimes the ordinary can be used to heighten drama because it's close to home. Think about how to introduce the inner action and how to give the story a good end. Good ends are every bit as important as good beginnings.

Could your story frighten anyone or leave them feeling affected. Have a go.

Interior dialogue.

This is a photo of a disused brewery in Newark, Nottinghamshire UK. I love this building because of its wonderful roof and rounded doors. It's possible that members of my family worked here about 120 years ago.

When I visited it there was a fence around it and a derelict air about a building that once would have been important and productive.

Could you write a story using two voices about this place?

One is the voice of the last person to leave the building and lock the door on its useful days.

The second voice is that of someone who is now living in one or two rooms inside the building. There is no heat or light but the rooms are insulated and warm enough. The building hasn't been completely cleared out and objects remain.

Security guards patrol the perimeter of the fence and the outside of the building for two hours once a week.

Who are the characters?

Why are they important?

What do they want?

What stands in the way of them getting what they want?

It could be a story or a longer piece. If the characters are alone it might be a good time to enhance your skills in writing interior dialogue.

I might have a go at this myself, later.

writinginteriordialogue

Writing fiction for women's magazines - workshop in Huddersfield.

I ran a day long workshop on writing fiction for women's magazines on November 15th and it went well. The emphasis of the workshop is on getting work published in this niche area even though some of the information can be used in writing generally.

The workshop will run again on Saturday 28th February 2015 at The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and another Saddleworth location is to be confirmed. Same Price (£35) and conditions as before. Booking essential.

lawrencebatleytheatre.com

Dining room dialogue

Listening to other people's conversations can sometimes be intriguing. Over the weekend my family has been celebrating and this has involved eating out in restaurants. I am so curious about other people and have enjoyed finding out, by eavesdropping, what people at neighbouring tables have been celebrating too. Birthdays, anniversaries, retirements... so many cakes with candles and overheard speeches.
Some people eat too much, drink too much and say too much. Petty squabbles break out and relationships are sealed or damaged in such close quarters.
This brings me to dialogue. The most frustrating part of eavesdropping, for a curious person like me, is not knowing the back stories and events that people share. This means that sometimes I haven't understood what a conversation was about or I've had to guess.
When writing dialogue it is important to establish the nature of a relationship by what is said and also what is not said.

For example, two people on a first date might not know each other's favourite foods. It would be acceptable for one to ask the other.

'D'you like pasta?'

and the other to reply

'I love it.'

A sense of newness is conveyed.


If  two people who had known each other for twenty five years were eating at a restaurant they wouldn't ask this question. If they did it would seem odd. Instead one might say.


'I think I'll order the spaghetti bolognaise.'    

and the other might reply

'Not again.'


Here a sense of knowing someone who always orders spaghetti to the point of irritation is conveyed.

To try your dialogue skills out ...

1. Pick a place to eat - greasy spoon or very posh as long as there are several tables.
2. Focus on four tables with 2-4 people sitting at them.
3. Decide what conversation is taking place at each and remember to give each person a motive that determines what they say, mean and ultimately want. Think about the reasons for them being together, such as reunions, affairs, business......
4. Give each table 5 minutes of dialogue each. This dialogue should form a story with a start middle and end so that four complete stories are being told through words. Then mix the pages so that the conversations run into one another and form interesting juxtapositions. This will add to the tension and anticipation.

This could create a twenty minute one act play if you worked at it and edited it carefully. You might get something else from it. 
The idea isn't new. The playwright Terence Rattigan wrote two one act plays collectively called Separate Tables. Have a look at how he went about the subject.

www.terencerattigan.co.uk

separate tables terence rattigan