Blocked Blogs

The problem with stories,
is that on occasion, you hit a block.
A "What am I supposed to do next?" scenario.

As I'm super good at setting up a scene, doing the beginnings and such.
But somewhere in the middle....
I loose traction, I'm not sure where the story goes.

And therefore, I'm blocked.

What is even more annoying,
is that I've been trying to update my story blogs for the past month or so,
But I've hit a block.
On like all of them.
(Or certain characters don't feel like talking right now >.>)
And...that means,
No updates.

>.<
So annoying.
I need to fix that.
Soon.
Soon.
Soon......ish.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Write Me

What happens when writers talk to each other?
At some point, we try out writing a story together.

That's exactly what happened between Me and Danielle E. Shipley. :)

It started out harmless enough, with a twitter post.

But then, the magic happens.
A story forms out of a simple sentence.

So be sure to go check out this short-barely-a-paragraph-really short story on her blog!

http://everonword.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/spontaneous-build-a-stories/


Did you click on the link?
Well, if you didn't. you should, and read the story.
Because this next bit will not make much sense if you don't. :)

Revisiting this short story was fun for me.
But of course, I wasn't satisfied with the ending.
Mostly because, I like happy endings.

So currently I'm trying to work out a 'sequel' short story.
Just for fun.
Where the girl, goes a 'h(a)unting'
Encounters handsome boy.
And somehow becomes human again!

lol, probably won't work, but you know. We'll see. :) It was a fun thought anyway. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi

...How To Write It....

There are times when situations happen to me, and I think "You know, this could be part of a story."

And many a time, that situation does spawn a story idea.

and then theirs others, where....I....I dunno.

Take...today for example.

I was caring for a sick animal today at work,
Doing everything normal, caring for it.
But after setting it back down.
Everything went....haywire.

It was like I'd cut a puppet from it's strings or something, because it just flopped down on its side.

I thought...maybe I'd set it down wrong.
But adjusting it, trying to get it to move.
Didn't help much.

It lay there.

It started...convulsing.
It coughed up blood from its nose and mouth.

And then....it died.

Right in front of me.

There was nothing I could do.
I felt so helpless.

I just...kept running my hand down its body, stroking, it whispering comfort to it, trying to convince it by the power of my words that it should keep living.

To no avail.

It's.....idk the words for it.
But I keep thinking, "I could have the animal live on, through a story..."
...I just...can't think of anything really that could work....
Then, do I really want to have this as a story?

At this moment...
I think I'm going to try and forget this scenario.

We'll see though,
Who knows, at some future point it might work its way in a plot....

-Sarnic Dirchi

Fresh Canvas

I bought a new notebook today.
-the paper kind, not the computer kind.

I didn't really need to buy a new one.....
I have at least a half dozen I still use that aren't filled yet.

But there was something about staring at the 'fresh canvas'
Not yet marked.
Not yet with a purpose.
Not yet with a theme.

That. I craved.

All my other notebooks have purposes. Specifics. Limitations to what I can put into which.
Usually they fall into two categories.
1) notebook focuses on a single story
2) notebook is on a 'current story' I don't want to interrupt by introducing other story concepts.

And with these limitations...it may be that my creativity wasn't being fully expressed.

Still, I tamped down on the urge to buy another notebook when I had plenty I hadn't even filled halfway yet.

Then, though....as I was browsing through the books, a title caught my eye.
"Since You've Been Gone."
And something sparked there. A brief story idea. Lines that I wanted to write down.
...and my current notebooks were stuck in "category 2."
But I wanted to write it down.

So, I bought the notebook.
To feverishly scribble down the paragraph that had been running through my mind, in my car.

And now.
It has a new purpose.

It's to write down my brief ideas.
This notebook will be to jot down ideas that come to me through various means.
It's a 'transient' notebook. Not meant to be used to write down long story ideas all at once, but to jump back and forth with quick notes, short scenes, inspirations, and possible ideas.

And this time...I'm being a little bit more detailed.
Numbering each idea.
Numbering the page.
Writing the date.
Writing down what/where I got the inspiration.

So that if any of them become famous books, I can come back to this little notebook 
and tell the people exactly where/when I got the idea. :)

;) 
Also, to be on the safe side.
In case another idea hits me and I'm in a bind...
I got a second notebook as well. With no purpose yet, but waiting and ready to be used. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Book Covers

So, there I was, with my Sister at a book store.
Our amazing Grandmother had given us each Giftcards for there
And we were anxious to spend them on books!!! :D

Anxiously we ran down the aisles searching desperately for the one, maybe two, books that we would soon call our own.
(okay...so we acted like the adults we were and walked and didn't make a scene...but where's the fun in that?)

And so, we came to the young adult section.
AKA: The Fantasy Stories!

We glanced through them, picked up a few titles, read the flaps, and weren't really finding anything that we desperately needed to curl up with and forget the world for a couple of hours.

Until I stumbled upon this series of fairy tale collections.

Usually, I don't pay much attention to them, but my sister has been on a fairy tale kick for the past little while and so, I noticed them for her.
That didn't stop me from picking them up to read the plot blurb of each one to see how the author had made it different from the usual fairy tale.

It was only when I had picked up all the books in that series, and put them back....
That I realized.
I hadn't looked at the cover of the books.
At all.

No, I pulled it out of the shelf, turned it to the back cover to read the blurb, and put it back.
Not once turning it to see the covers.
And probably wouldn't have realized I did such a thing until I noticed that Kikay was holding one of the books, and the cover looked really cool!

Thinking back.
I think I do this a lot.
I mean, if the book is out cover first on the shelf, easily viewable, I grab a book based on that.
But if I can only see the spine, I judge by the title, and then turn it so that I can read the plot blurb. If it's hard back I still get to see the cover, but paperback? Nope. Straight to the back of the book and no clue what the front of it looks like. O.o
Crazy.

No wonder I struggle to remember covers, author names, and/or titles of the books.
...I look for interesting plots instead. If it doesn't have that...I don't read it.
*shakes head*
I may need to change that,
because really there are some totally 'worthy to hang on my wall' covers of books out there that I may be missing just because I don't take two extra seconds to look at it.
Note to self: Look at front of book too, just for fun. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi

Drama And A Blank Mind

So there I was in Church.
Paying no attention to what was going on whatsoever in favor of working on plotlines/concepts/ideas/characters of a particular story I was working on at the moment.

It didn't meant that I totally tuned out. I could tell you the subject and some of the things that were said, but I wasn't strictly paying attention to the lessons.

But then this one line, I happened to catch. It was a quote focused on why we may not feel the Spirit at points in our lives, but it really could apply to writing as well.

I have no idea who said it but it went like this:

"If we are worried or upset in our feelings, the inspiration does not come."

That hit home for me, because really. It's so true.

I mean, I can have this total creative spurt going on, words flowing from the page, ideas tumbling about in my head, everything is ready to be put down.
And then something happens.
*powerdown*
Creativity. Gone.
Flowing. Stopped.
Nothing is happening.

And it's sooo frustrating! Especially when you finally have time to work on those ideas that have been running through your head all day.

I had that experience earlier this week.

There was a bit of an accident at my work, where I ended up getting bit by a monitor lizard.
Lots of drama. Lots of worry. And lots of waiting at the doctor's office to get it checked out and make sure I wasn't going to get an infection or anything.

Seriously. Lots of waiting.
Like two hours of waiting.
Which I was like "Hey! I'm stuck here, how about I start writing!"
I pulled out my handy dandy notebook and.....
Nothing.

My mind literally had gone blank.
At least in the sense that nothing sounded good for me to write.
I couldn't think of any of the scenes I was working on,
Couldn't generate new ideas.
Nothing.

Two hours of enforced writing time and badum. I'm blocked. >.<

Sooo frustrating!

But hearing that quote,
it clicked for me.

Because I was worried. Worried about the bite, about my coworkers, about paperwork, other things.
I was upset. That there was a hassle with the paperwork, that the doctor took so long to see me.

And therefore since it was a 'fresh incident' that was basically causing me stress....

My body was probably still in the 'we need to survive this' mode.
And not the "Oh hey, downtime, let's get creative!" mode.

*shakes head*
Ah well.
I know a good cure for that.
;)
Reading a book.
:) That sparks the imagination back to life. ^^;;

-Sarnic Dirchi