Author Archives: storytellergirlgrace

My Bookshelf

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

They say that you can tell a lot about a person by the books that they read. If this is true (which I fully believe it is), then I’m about to reveal a large part of myself that my readers and friends may or may not already know.

Here are two pictures of my bookshelf (well, one of my bookshelves). I have several shelves full of books, and several more boxes in the attic of books that I don’t have room for right now. One day I want to display them all in my own library. Anyone remember Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and that enormous library that stretched to the heavens? Yeah, that’s my dream library.

But I digress. Until I’m able to have the Beast’s awesome library and show it off to my friends and readers, then we’ll all have to be content with the skinny shelf that’s next to my closet door.

The top two shelves:

Bibles go on the top shelf. It’s something that’s important to me, so I want them displayed for prominent visibility and easy access, because I use them a lot. And no, I do not equate The Chronicles of Narnia with the Holy Bible (despite its Christian message). There just wasn’t room on any of the other shelves for it. Lame reason, yes, but that’s what I did.

The next shelf down features some books that I deeply enjoyed reading and have gotten a lot of meaning from, and some of them I’ve read many times. It’s a random assortment of books, the arrangement based on a combination of importance in my life and space on the shelf.

The next three shelves:

The first shelf has a lot of my favorite fantasy books on it (Lord of the Rings and Narnia encyclopedias, the Bone series). Other assorted cool books fill up the rest of the space, like the Norwegian collection of  Beatrix Potter’s stories and the picture encyclopedia of musical instruments. This is also the tallest shelf, so again, it’s mostly about space issues.

The next shelf has all the littlest books on it, which conveniently are mostly foreign language dictionaries and other non-English books (some of which I can sort of read, others I’m clueless). Sadly, the tall Norwegian Peter Rabbit book wouldn’t fit on this shelf.

Then there’s the shelf of total randomness. Again, some of my favorite books, and ones that I enjoy looking at or re-reading. It’s everything from a collection of stories about Inuit women to 17th century religious poetry to historical fiction about ancient Egypt. And, of course, another Narnia book.

Not pictured is the very bottom shelf, which houses my atlas, some photo albums, other assorted oddities, and is shielded by a cardboard box to keep my rabbits from chewing on the books.

So there you have it—one of my bookshelves. Interpret this how you like, but it’s me, for better or worse. Hopefully I didn’t hit a TMI level with this.

And what about you—what does your bookshelf say about you?

Music Review: “Dobbelis,” Máddji

Posted in Music Reviews, Music, Movies, and other Muses by

Since I love music almost as much as I love books and writing, I’ve decided to do another music review. This time I’m writing about Dobbelis (Beyond), the first release by Norwegian Sami singer Máddji (full name Ánne Máddji Heatta).

Máddji and her music come from Guovdageaidnu (also called Kautokeino), a town in northern Norway. Máddji is a Sami—the indigenous people group of this arctic area. All of the songs on Dobbelis are in her native language of Northern Sami.

Musically, the influences of other famous Sami singers like Mari Boine and Ulla Pirttijärvi can be heard; but Máddji’s songs are not a copy of any of them. She brings a unique amalgam of new age, tribal, and even a hint of jazz to the world of Sami folk and rock music.

Songs like “Cihkosis” (Hidden) and “Guhkki” (Far) have the hypnotic quality of the spoken word to accompany the singing. Equally hypnotic is “Iđitguovssu” (Dawn Light)—Máddji’s clear, breathy voice floats through this trance-like song, punctuated by distant and haunting percussion.

For those who prefer songs with more energy, there’s “Idjarávga” (Night Creature) and “Stállu.” The title song “Dobbelis” (Beyond), while also upbeat, still has Máddji’s voice wandering through like an ethereal wind from her homeland.

Sami yoik—a traditional wordless chanting—dominates much of the album, especially evident in songs like “Báru Luohti” (Yoik of the Waves) and “Ovllá Niillas.”

“Idjarávga” gives Máddji an opportunity to show another aspect of Sami yoik—the mimicking of animal sounds. The imitation of a wolf howling is unmistakable , threading in and out through the background of the song.

I’ve used a lot of tracks from this album as inspiration/mood music for my writing, and I look forward to hearing more from Máddji in the future.

I would highly recommend this album to anyone who is fan of Mari Boine or similar music. And if you haven’t even heard of any Sami musicians but are looking for something new, then Dobbelis might just be the thing for you. Give it a listen!

Máddji’s site: www.myspace.com/maddji

Máddji – “Guhkki”

NaNoWriMo

Posted in Writings about Writing by

NaNoWriMo is two weeks away. What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? If you’ve been around the writing scene for any length of time, you probably know that it’s National Novel Writing Month.

Every November, writers from all walks of life sit down to write 50,000 words (basically a short novel). The idea is not to have a polished masterpiece ready for publication, but to just simply write.

As much as I’ve written over the course of my life, I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo before. I’ve seen it all over Twitter and Facebook every fall, and my writer friends talk about how fantastic it is.

So this year, I’ve decided to do it. I’ve signed up on the NaNoWriMo site. I’m reading all the blogs and Twitter tips about how to get organized before I start, how to prepare my mind and my desk for this month-long writing blast.

Will this help me to manage my time and my writing throughout November? I don’t know. Can I come even close to pounding out 50,000 words in 30 days? No idea. Will it be challenging? I’m sure. Fun? I hope so.

If you’d like to join me in this endeavor, you can go to the NaNoWriMo website to check it out. If you’d rather just watch my progress (while either cheering me or shaking your head in disgust), stayed tuned to my Twitter feed during November. If you’d rather just ignore the whole big mess, feel free to do that too!

By November 30th, I might join with those who have been shaking their heads in disgust! Or, I might have the rough draft of book two of my fantasy trilogy finished. Time will tell!

Any veteran NaNos out there? Any newbies? Are you excited about the idea of writing a novel in 30 days, or scared stiff by it? Please share!

The Awesome Idea

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses, Writings about Writing by

Everything that’s ever been created or ever will be created starts with a thought.

Sometimes this idea starts like a tiny seed—just one small unassuming thought that grows and develops into a full-blown Awesome Idea.

Other times, the Awesome Idea hits full grown and the one doing the thinking is bowled over by the intensity of the beginning, middle, end, and solution all wrapped up in one package all at once.

I’ve had story ideas come to me both ways. Sometimes I’m inspired to write because I get the whole plot—or at least the rough outline—all at once. Even this full-grown Awesome Idea gets built upon, of course, as I write it down. (I have yet to think up a whole story—complete with every word in place, dialogue tags done, no mistakes—without actually writing it down first. Now that would be an Awesome Idea indeed).

But usually, the Awesome Idea for a story comes to me in bits and pieces, and I have a lot of work to do before I have something that’s concrete enough to even begin writing it down. A character, a loose concept, one word or one line, an image or a musical phrase that captures my mind—these little disconnected flitting thoughts are usually what I begin with. Then comes brainstorming, building, experimenting with combining two or more of these disconnected ideas to see if they could gel together to begin growing into the Awesome Idea.

For my current project, I can actually trace the Awesome Idea that is the trilogy I’m writing (hopefully it’s awesome!) to one exact moment, one specific kernel of an idea. It’s grown and changed, of course, and went from a stand-alone book to a trilogy. The setting moved from Russia to Finland, and my one main character was joined by a sizable supporting cast.

But it all began when I was watching a movie called Kautokeino-Opprøret (a Norwegian film; the title translates as The Kautokeino Rebellion). The movie is based on the true story of a revolt by indigenous Sami people against the encroaching government, in a remote village in Norway in the 19th century. There’s one scene where the Sami are combining their separate herds of reindeer into one giant herd, to prevent one particular woman’s reindeer from being taken by the government in payment for a fine.

A line popped into my head: what if an entire herd of reindeer just vanished? And thus was born The Vanished Reindeer, the first novel of my trilogy. I then enhanced that core of an idea with a small dose of Finnish mythology and a large dose of fantasy.

Just a reminder: I’m talking about the birth of an Awesome Idea. The final product—my novel—has absolutely nothing to do with the Norwegian movie, is not based on a true story, and is not intended to be a commentary about indigenous peoples or governments. But that’s where it started.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Writers, artists, musicians, and creators out there—how do your Awesome Ideas develop?

Music video/trailer for Kautokeino-Opprøret, music by Sami singer Mari Boine:

Characters are real people, too – part 2

Posted in Writings about Writing by

A while ago, I did a post with tips on writing well-rounded characters. I decided to follow that up with another post, featuring three more tips on how to flesh out your characters and make them just like real people. We are all more than the sum of our parts, and your characters should be, too.

1. What’s the motivation?

There’s always a why behind the what. Nobody does anything for just “no reason,” even if it seems like it at the time. Even something as innocuous as stopping for ice cream on the way home from work just on a whim has a motivation—you wanted ice cream more than you wanted to get home in a hurry.

Where the plot of a story is concerned, character motivation is a very important feature. Actually, I could devote an entire blog post to this (and many talented writers have already done so). But in short, your characters, major and minor, have a reason for doing what they do. The decisions that characters make is the main thing that drives the plot.

For an example, I’ll use Dumbledore and Snape from the Harry Potter series. (I must insert a quick confession: I’ve actually read only the first three books. But assuming that the movies were at least slightly accurate to the books, I feel comfortable in using these characters for this particular point).

Both Dumbledore and Snape spend the series protecting Harry. They go about in radically different ways, and that stems primarily from their motivation. The end goal for both men is the same: protect Harry. The reason? So that he can defeat Voldemort. But each man has a very different personal motivation for devoting the rest of his life to protect the boy who lived. Just in case you haven’t read the books or seen the movies, I won’t give away all the details; but it’s apparent right from the beginning that Dumbledore and Snape have very different motivations for everything that they do.

2. Challenges and struggles hit everyone

This can be related to motivation, because the way that character responds to challenges and struggles is what makes a plot. A story with characters who never go through troubles, never get stretched or challenged, and make no decisions because they have no motivation, is not a story at all.

There are basically two types of challenges (in stories and in real life): self-imposed struggles, and externally-imposed struggles. A story about a man who loses his wife could be told in many ways: did he lose his wife because of his stupid financial decisions and his refusal to curb his temper (self-imposed struggle), or because his wife was killed in a plane crash (externally-imposed struggle)?

In the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman, the characters all become involved in the plot in different ways. Lee Scoresby finds himself involved in a multi-world war (the struggle) simply by doing a quick helpful deed for a strange little girl (his motivation—kindness and a desire to help out someone in a rough spot).

The character of Will Parry becomes involved in the war (the struggle) because he is on a quest to find his father and will stop at nothing to get answers (his motivation). Because the motivations of these characters is different, they respond to the various challenges and struggles in different ways. They also are faced with their own set of individual struggles (some self-imposed, especially on the part of Will), apart from the war that is the overall plot of the series.

3. Whose head are we in, anyway?

This is sort of a point of view tip (which I blogged about here). But as it relates to characters, the point of view or perspective can be used as a tool for the development of characters. If a story is being told in first person (narrated by I) or limited third person (he or she) then the reader can learn about the character’s quirks, faults, motivations, and decisions through interior monologue as well as external actions.

Characters who are not narrators of the story can only be developed through their actions and dialogue, as presented by the narrating characters. This doesn’t mean that non-point of view characters are flat or lacking some way—it just means that the author must chose a different way to develop the character.

I could use most any story for this example, but I’m going to use Ruse, a short-lived comic book series that probably few people have heard of or read. It was a Sherlock Holmes-esque sleuthing story, set in a steampunk Victorian world. The two main characters are Simon—the detective, and Emma—his assistant and the narrator of the story.

Even though the story is told from Emma’s point of view, complete with her inner musings about Simon, the two characters develop equally well throughout the series. Simon is a well-rounded character because of all of the points that I’ve covered in both of these posts—his quirks, his strengths and weaknesses, his motivations, his response to struggles. Emma’s thoughts about Simon contribute to this, because she is constantly second-guessing him and wondering about his actions.

As a narrator, Emma shares her thoughts with the reader—but not every thought. She has secrets of her own, which Simon often figures out just as fast as the reader does. Simon has secrets too, and towards the end of the series, the reader feels that they know Simon perhaps better than Emma does—specifically because of her inaccurate interpretations of his actions and motivations.

Emma’s quirks, weaknesses, and motivations are revealed as she reluctantly divulges bits and parts of her secrets to Simon (and the reader). Simon’s quirks, weakness, and motivations are revealed as Emma interprets them through her own personal filter. The writer(s) of this series used this limited point of view narration to develop two very strong characters in two very different ways.

Please share your thoughts! Any other tips or ideas about developing three-dimensional characters?