Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Perspective

Thought for the week:

In light of the fact tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would say a word on perspective. So often our circumstances and how we feel about them is directly related to our view of our circumstances. For instance, I have been fussing about my drafty old farmhouse lately. This week we lost power for about 24 hours. After a night with absolutely no heat...my old farmhouse and its clunky old furnace suddenly became quite appreciated.

Similarly, perspective plays a huge role in your writing. In my current project (sadly, still untitled), I had three characters I could have chosen to tell the story from. The Beast, the Girl or the Enchantress. I could not choose among them and have ended up with a really unique Norse tale told from all their perspectives. I had not realized how much story I had to tell before. The conflict between the characters is that much sharper because I am spending so much time with each of them.

Sometimes a fresh perspective is the best thing that can happen to you...even if it must come on the heels of a power outage.

Friday, November 21, 2014

What I am working on now...

The Five Enchanted Roses writing contest!! I am excited to be entering this year. I very much enjoyed writing for the Five Glass Slippers last year. Once again, I am working on two submissions for this Beauty and the Beast collection. Beauty and the Beast has been one of my all time favorite fairy tales.

Wither will be my first and primary submission. It is set in the same story world as After, a story I entered in last years competition: which, although it was riddled with creepers (the living dead) and furies (soul suckers), was not right for the collection because there was NO GLASS SLIPPER in my story. A flaw I realized after the fact. :) Wither is a very exciting story about an enchanted abbey, monsters escaping from the Underworld, and a heroine who would rather trounce Beasts than fall in love with them.

My second submission is yet untitled. I usually have my title picked out before I even name my primary characters, but not this time. Untitled is a unique attempt for me, as it is almost entirely developed around Norse mythology, a subject I have never attempted writing about before. My husband is actively involved with me in this one. He is even writing scenes for me to draw inspiration from. I hope to include some of what he has done in my final work! This story has some wonderful characters, including Odin's ravens and the gossiping squirrel Ratatoskr who races up and down the great Ash tree driving everyone to distraction: all characters from Norse legend.

More to come later!!

http://www.rooglewoodpress.com/fairy-tale-collections