Author Archives: storytellergirlgrace

Vintage Home Decorating and Other Escapades

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

For this week’s post, I’m sending you over to one of my favorite blogs, Chronically Vintage. Since my blog features mostly writerly tips and bookish stuff (and music, and my blue hair, and so forth), I thought this post would fare better on a blog dedicated to all things vintage.

Jessica of Chronically Vintage is a lovely fashionista who shows her readers how to bring vintage fashion into the modern world in an affordable and attractive way. I’m honored to have a guest spot on her blog, writing about vintage home decor, antique furniture restoration, and more. Hop on over to her blog to check it out!

Five Questions to Help You Create a Fictional Culture

Posted in Writings about Writing by

If you’re a fantasy or sci-fi writer, then you’ve probably tried your hand at creating fantastic creatures and aliens of all sorts. But inventing convincing aliens or fairy-tale creatures involves more than just coming up with cool looks or inhuman superpowers. If all you need for your story is just a scary monster or creepy creature, that’s fine – but if you want an actual alien race or people-group for a fantasy world, then you need more than just the basics of creature traits.

Here are five questions that you can ask yourself as you’re inventing people, cultures, races, and creatures for your fantasy/sci-fi stories. Continue reading →

The Blue-Haired Writer Girl

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

If you’ve been on my social media recently, you may have noticed that I’ve updated my profile picture to show me with blue hair. Last year I took a big self-image leap of faith and dyed my hair blue. I found that I liked it, so I stuck with it, and at the six-month mark, I blogged about it again.

I learned a lot during those first six months. And now, this month marks one full year with blue hair. Continue reading →

Music Review: “Viena,” Värttinä

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The Finnish folk group Värttinä has been a major player in the world music scene for over 30 years. “Viena” marks their fourteenth album, and it is a beautiful combination of both old and new.

The lineup of singers has always been a constant evolution for Värttinä, from the band’s early days as a 15-singer children’s vocal group to the three-women trio of recent years. Folk singer and ethnomusicologist Karoliina Kantelinen is a new addition to the group. Her voice blends perfectly with the other two singers, Mari Kaasinen and Susan Aho. Continue reading →

Nitty-Gritty of Writing – POV

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POV – Point of View – is a vital element of narrative fiction. The point of view character is the one who is telling the story. There are three basic points of view for narration – first person, second person, and third person. Each one has different pros and cons, and different degrees. For example, in third person (where he or she is telling the story), there can be a single narrator or multiple characters serving as narrators. The point of view can also be very surface-level, as if you were watching a movie, or much deeper and more similar to first person narration (where I tells the story).

What I’m going to cover, however, is a lot more basic, and is something that I often see new writers struggle with. Even more experienced writers might struggle with POV a bit during their first draft, as they’re figuring out what sort of narration they want for the story. Continue reading →