Once Upon a Halloween...

As part of the WEP Blogfest, I'm sharing a Halloween-themed short story today. This story features Zane, Kev and Elise from MY ZOMBIE DOG in an all new tale:

Once Upon a Halloween

I lean in, the torch illuminating my solemn expression. Outside the wind howls and our tent rustles. It’s the perfect backdrop for my Halloween story. 'Once upon a time—'

   Elise exhales a dramatic sigh and makes a show of dropping her shoulders.

   'Something wrong Elise?'

   'S-boring Zane. Don like 'pon time stories.'

   'Yeahsh,' Kev agrees through cheekfulls of marshmallow. 

   My turn to sigh. 'Fine. A long time ago, in a faraway town—'

  'Uhhhghhh.' They complain in unison. A marshmallow bounces off my forehead.

   I point the torch at my little sister. 'Do you want to tell the story?'

   Elise shrugs. 'Spose to be scary.'

   Kev scrambles up from his sleeping bag. 'Zanie boy here doesn’t like scary stories—do you Zane?'

   Elise giggles.

   'He gets so scared he needs to leave all the lights in the house on when he sleeps.'

   This is totally unfair of my so-called buddy. It was one sleepless night, I’m really not that easily scared. The torch light dims and we are thrust into a moment of darkness. I shake the torch until finally the light flickers back on. Phew.

   'Wan a story with a sseep.'

   'A scary story with a sheep?' I ask.

   'Yeah, and a turtle.' Thanks Kev.

   'How is a sheep and a turtle scary?'

   'Zaaane.' Elise’s bottom lip pokes out.

   'Okay… One dark and stormy night a sheep and a turtle set out to cross through forbidden tunnel—'

   'Why would a sheep and turtle want to go through a tunnel?' Kev asks.

   'Because… they were meeting with a duck at the fountain in town. So anyway, they set toward the forbidden tunnel and the turtle says—'

   'Why’s it forbidden?'

   'Because there were rumours that a scary monster lived under it.' Pretty proud of that one, made it up on the spot.

   'Eh, that’s alright, but it’d be better if one year ago to the day a horrible, horrible murder took place right in the middle of that very tunnel.' Kev snatches the light and flashes it on his face. His ginger eyebrows are casting fuzzy shadows on his forehead and it’s creeping me out.

   I cough and nod my head toward Elise.

   'Wan’ scary hobbible murder story!' She squeals. 

   Great. She’ll probably have nightmares.

   'Ohh, I don’t know Elise,' Kev says, 'Zane might get too scared!' 

   Elise giggles.

   'Will not! I’m fine!'

  'You sure Dude? Remember what happened last time we went camping?'

   'That was ages ago, and besides, I told you, I just had too much orange juice.'

   'All right then… so the sheep and turtle approach the tunnel and the turtle’s saying how it was exactly midnight that the last animals were slaughtered in this very tunnel one year ago. The sheep looks at his watch—'

   'Hey!' I protest, but Elise shushes me and turns attentively back to Kev’s illuminated face. I try not to look at his dancing eyebrows. 

   'The sheep looks at his watch and says, Hey it’s almost midnight now. Well sheep are pretty stupid because they continue on into the tunnel, which is very, very dark. Halfway through they stop and the sheep asks: did you hear that? They listen and there’s a scraping noise along the wall. It sounds just like a sharp knife being dragged along the stones. Scrape… scraaaape… scraaaape…'

   I grab Elise’s arm. You know, just to make sure she’s okay. We both lean in close.

   'They try to run to reach the exit of the tunnel where they can see a slither of moonlight, but ahead of them comes that same scraaaape…. scraaaape… and they see…' Kev’s voice trails off into a whisper.

   I bite my lip and lean in closer.

   'What? What do they see?'

   Kev leans in too, so we’re all really close and he whispers, 'They see a shadow, it becomes clearer in the moonlight … and that’s when they notice its face…'

   Friday the 13^th stabbing music blasts from Kev’s phone.

   'Eeeek!' I squeal, I mean, I think it was Elise who squealed.

   'Zane scared!' Elise giggles.

   Kev speaks into the phone, 'Yep … no probs … I’ll ask.'

   'Dude,' he nods to me, 'it’s your mum, she wants to know if we want hot chocolate?'

   I look out the flap of the tent and see mum waving from the kitchen window. Sure. Hot chocolate would be good, may as well have it inside, no point in making her bring it all the way out here. I very calmly agree and slowly make my way up to the house.

   'Hey!' Kev calls after me, 'You don’t need to run!'

Find more spooky stories, or join the blogfest at:

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Join the Spooky Blogfest for Halloween!

Denise Covey is hosting a fun Halloween blogfest. We might not be big on the actual trick or treating here in Australia, but we do like our spooky stories!

Want to write something spooky for Halloween? Pop on over to Denise's site: 

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com.au/

 to join up.  You could write a story... or a haiku!

On my new site for kids and teens, I show how to write a spooky haiku - you can check it out at:

iTeenWrite

I'll be sharing a story here on October 30, and I look forward to reading a few spooky tales!

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Why You Need a Writing Hero

Lately I've been reading a lot of guides on business success. One thing I've noticed every good marketing, sales, or business success book includes is this key piece of advice:

Find a mentor, someone who already does what you want to do. Model your actions and attitude on that successful example.

In other words, have a hero.

I have several heroes for various aspects of my life, but today I'll stick with writing. I admire many, but my hero would be:

 Ray Bradbury

... because he gets it done.

This blog hop is hosted by Joy Campbell and celebrates the release of Saving Sam. Check it out on Amazon today!

Who is your hero?

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Overcoming Stress; or how I stopped being insecure about pressure and painted my nails instead.

Deadlines, obligations, accomplishments, and expectations... these words have been highlighted in my life lately with the big fluro yellow marker of stress. I need to let go a little.

Another self-imposed deadline! But a fun one.I'll post my wrap up of the blogfest tomorrow. Want to visit the participants? Click on the image.

Deadlines can be great for productivity, but not when the pressure outweighs the benefits. In Theories of Productivity I included the triangle theory - the idea that you can successfully prioritise up to three segments of your life at any one time, but accept that there are many more divisions which will have to wait their turn for attention (to read more, you can see that post here). The problem is, each of those departments wants to be at the top of the triangle all the time.

I love being busy. But I take advantage of that trait and pile it on too thick sometimes. 

Do you convince yourself everything needs to be done NOW? I do. 

My natural rhythm is to be an early bird. I love, love, love sleep and can't wait to curl up in bed each night and get excited to jump out of bed early each day. Not lately. I've stayed up until midnight on my websites tweaking, fixing and then mumbling curse words at WordPress. Then I drag myself out of bed early ('cause, you know, I'm an early bird) and walk around in a daze. Of course that leads to being unproductive all day, so I feel I have to stay up late to catch up and... well, you can see the pattern.

The solution

You didn't think I'd just depress you all for nothing? My solution was two part. 

1. Get to bed! Sneaky me, set a challenge for the family. For one week we all must be asleep by 9pm and awake by 6am. They took the bait. Three days in and I'm feeling great and getting more done each day than I could in a week when I was tired.
2. Paint my nails. I was never much of a nail painter. It involves sitting still too long for me. But during my weeks of no sleep and high stress, I realised that was exactly what I needed. I paint my nails and then I CAN'T move or touch anything, or do any tasks until they dry. I do several coats so it takes a good hour to dry properly. I've also noticed family members seem to value my nail-drying time more than my work time. They leave me alone, do things for themselves, even offer to do tasks for me, all because they don't want to ruin my nail polish.

I appreciate that last suggestion might be tricky for some guys - but find something that makes you stop thinking and just sit still. You need time to take a big breath before you dive back under the ocean of deadlines, obligations, accomplishments and expectations waiting for you.

My next read is Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Work Week

This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group. To join up, click here:

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Imagination Sparks Blogfest

About the Blogfest

Time for our Imagination Sparks Blogfest! It's not to late, you can still sign up and join in - the link's below. What is the Imagination Sparks Blogfest? Simply share with us a creative writing prompt, or suggest a way to warm up your imagination before you sit down to write - it's really up to you. Then pop around and see what other bloggers suggest, try out one or two activities (or all of them if you're really keen for a creative week), then on, or around, the 8th of August, do a post to let us know how you went. Did you learn something, find a new story idea, discover a favourite writing prompt? Let your imagination go wild.

My Creative Spark

I must admit, this is not something I usually do to spark creativity, but I decided to try something a bit different for this blogfest. Today I'm using music to prompt my writing. I first discovered the power of music for story writing when I was eight. It was 1977, and my mother took me to the cinema (a very special treat back then) to the see the magnificent Fantasia. I will never forget the amusement of the dancing hippos, the wonderment of the frolicking cupids, and, the concern when Micky's brooms just wouldn't stop marching! But most of all, I remember that terrifying finale, with the huge devil letting souls slip between his claws to the soundtrack of Night on Bald Mountain and Ava Maria.

Years later I enjoyed the spectacular release of Fantasia 2000 with my girls, and it was an instant win for them too (aww, that sweet little whale getting separated from his mother).

Today I've included two classical masterpieces for you to write to. Choose your favourite, or try both. Both have a good mix of emotion and rise and fall in the tempo. Try to write a story, or whatever comes to mind as you listen. Here's hoping you get something surprising!

I'll be checking in with all the other participants and trying the writing prompts/exercises. Hope we get lots of sparks this week!

I'd like to just give a little shout out to a couple of musical friends this week. Perhaps they'll inspire something creative in you!

I don't watch much television and never reality competition shows, so I got a pleasant surprise to learn one of my students from my old school (which I do miss a lot!) was an entrant on X-Factor. Not only that, but she made it through! Please check out Veanka Howard, she has an amazing talent...

And I also discovered one of our writing group buddies plays around with producing electronic music with his band. I think this could inspire a sci-fi story...

That's all from me today, now, I've got a few blogs to visit and a hankering to watch Fantasia over and over.

PS: for those following my website design journey - I'll post the first few steps in my progress after the blogfest is over.

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Getting your website off and running

My new website project is coming along nicely - and I will show you how soon!

Hello bloggy friends!

I'm on a bit of a high at the moment. Why? I've got a new project. Whenever I begin something new, I'm like a kid on red cordial. I stay up late and wake up early and can't wait to get started. 

But I'm not writing. This project is not a story, it's a website. A website I did not want to make ... because it would be hard. Now I'm getting some (slow) progress, I'm really excited. I promised to share the steps, so I've been taking loads of screen shots and making notes all along the way. In fact, that's my first tip: If you adjust, rebuild, start from scratch, or touch ANY button on your blog/website, keep a notebook dedicated to your site by the computer. Write down everything you do. That way, if you delete the whole project (as I did, not once, but twice) you'll be able to backtrack and at worst, will have the steps to repeat (minus the deleting bit).

I'm so keen, that I'm not just starting my website, but a few others as well! I'll be creating:

iTeenWrite - a site for all my workshop materials for kids and teens who want to write (I'm even making vlogs!).

Happy Family Challenges - anyone who knows me is familiar with my whacky challenges I set for myself and my family. I'm now going to share various activities and challenges you can take to bring your family together in a fun way.

illusions4kids - one of my challenges was to set a project for my daughters to start up a small business and run it for six months, at which time it will be evaluated for its success. They started off with ideas like dog washing, but quickly moved to an online platform for their business. They'll be following Pat Flynn's advice on setting up a niche website business. They plan on making videos performing magic tricks, only revealing the secrets to kids who sign up to the young magician's club (all free). They're hoping to be sponsored by products relevant to the magic world. Matilda is a magic lover and now a young entrepreneur (teenpreneur?).

Phew! I've got my work cut out for me. I'm hoping that recording all the steps will make it easier for each new site I have to set up.

Soon I'll post the first step. Just to remind you, I'll be using Just Host (who also go by the names Host Clear and Super Green Hosting). There are other good hosts, but I can only recommend the one I use and like (when I had a problem late last night, I hopped on the chat function and had it solved and explained within 3 minutes). 

My next post will show you how to register your domain name and install Wordpress via the 'cPanel' (fancy name for dashboard), and even how to choose a 'theme' (template, layout design for your site). If you want to see how I'm going so far, here's my landing page (most links don't work yet - but they will soon!).

www.charmaineclancy.com

And for even more excitement! My good bloggy friend, Michael Di Gesu is revealing a new novel by Siv Maria Ottem - featuring a cover illustrated by Michael! Pop over to cheer them on:

Michael Di Gesu ... In Time

Siv Ottem ... Been there, done that.

And one last thing ... have you signed up yet for the Imagination Sparks Blogfest? It's a fun event where we all share one of our favourite ways to warm up our creative muscles before writing. Do you take a walk? Have a writing exercise? Something we can try? Share it for the blogfest, then go around to others and try a few of their ides.

Sign up now and please spread the word!

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Imagination Sparks Blogfest

You might remember this blogfest from 2011, well I've brought it back!

This is the IMAGINATION SPARKS BLOGFEST

What does that mean? It's easy. We all know at least one good warm up exercise to get our brain geared up and ready to write. That one creative task that gets your imagination bubbling with ideas. I thought we'd share them and try eachother's.

Here's what I want you to do:

1. Register your blog in the link list below to show you are going to try and participate. Sign up will be available from now until the end of the blogfest. If you'd like to use the image above to let others know about the blog hop - go ahead!
2. On the 1st of August (or there about - I'm not strict), post one of your favourite writing exercises that we can all try. 
3. Read other people's blogs and try some of those exercises.
4. Around the 8th, do a follow up blogpost to let people know which exercises you tried and what results you got. Visit the other blogs to see how they went with the exercises. (we all have different time zones, so anytime that fits your schedule is good for me)
5. Get new ideas and make new bloggy friends!

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Holiday Spirit Blogfest

Here comes Christmas! I've always loved this time of year, the tacky decorations, lights in yards and the glorious food. But, the last few years I started to lose my Christmas spirit. Started to seem the last few occasions had me running around madly the day before, looking for the perfect present for my kids. And each year our gifts would get more and more expensive, trying to outdo the year before. We'd spend thousands. Don't even get me started on the trend we had for a while buying a pet each year! Got me down.

I'm a big one for challenges. I sign up for them online, but I also try to implement them at home. We have family meetings and someone will suggest a new challenge. We've had fun with no electricity days, spend nothing days and no tv month. But my Christmas challenges were shot down this year. I started with the 'no presents' idea. Ha. Then I tried the 'handmade gifts' idea. Raspberries. But, I am happy to say we settled on a limit. The kids could spend up to $50 of their own money on each other and we would choose gifts for them up to $100 each.

The kids'll still get their sack filled by Santa, but at least now I feel Christmas has become more about our family gathering than the gifts. Looking forward to the Turkey, ham, plum pudding and hosting family and friends.

The Holiday Spirit Blogfest at romanticfridaywriters prompted me to do up a flash fiction piece. I guess that longing for Christmas to be about family and not money influenced me:

Home for Christmas

Jade poked at the dirt with a stick. Midday sun scorched her dark skin and burned her scalp even through her thick curls. Her cotton shirt stuck damp to her back, sweat pooled under her chin and ran into her cleavage. She swatted away blowflies and took another swig from her water bottle. The water was warm and did not satisfy her.

‘We’ll head back soon, I’m nearly done here.’ Her father emerged from his one man quarry. ‘I’ve found some good stones today aye luv. Gonna get a good bob for these.’

No he wouldn’t Jade thought. He never did. Always the same. Go out to the lot, fossick for stones, opals being the prized goal. He’d get them home and those promising flashes of colour would turn bland under the kitchen light. He’d talk up the find. ‘Gonna get a hundred quid for this one, easy.’ Most were worth just a few dollars. He’d return, a burger and fries for Jade and a heart-full of shame. He’d drink and cry and promise to move back to the city. Get a job.

At first Jade believed him. She’d secretly pray for his findings to be short,  so they could leave. A few times she even packed. Back to the city, back to school and Janine and Tracy and all her friends. Back to see her mother and her grandmother. He’d go back out for one more find, just enough money for the trip. He’d get all excited about another useless rock. 

She stopped packing. She’d go back to the city, soon, without him. But for now, he needed someone to share his shame with. Someone to pick up the empties and pretend to believe him when the next rock was dragged up from the ground. 

Next week was Christmas, he’d need her to get through that. After Christmas she’d go. Or maybe after New Year.

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Art Prompts Fiction - Romantic Friday Writers

Is it just me, or do his eyes follow you around the room?

My writers group (Vannguard Writers) took an excursion to Queensland Art Gallery. Ok, so the art gallery is right next door to the State Library where we have our writing sessions, so it wasn't a big excursion, but still it was a nice change in routine.

Denise Covey, friend and fellow Vannguard writer, hosted this arty session with some creative writing exercises using the artworks as prompts (you can read more about this excursion on Denise's blog). One of the exercises was to imagine yourself as a character in the painting, or put yourself as an extra character into the scene. I flipped this around and took my character out of the painting... literally.

Getting yourself out and about, using prompts to inspire can freshen up your writing, and new layers and textures. Maybe you could visit a museum and write about the interesting items or times, or, a restaurant and write about the smells, tastes and atmosphere.

This week Romantic Friday Writers are hosting a horror blog challenge, and I decided my response to our art exercise would fit in nicely. So if you're up for a bit of afternoon horror, here's my take on the requirement of a scary tale with a touch of romance... (1,000 words - FCA as always, I welcome critique and am not at all sensitive to feedback)

John Opie's Portrait

Christina tugged at the chrome armchair. It was heavy, but with some focused grunts she managed to pull it across the large glass doors. She sighed. Her arms burned, but she couldn’t stop now. She’d have to make sure he couldn’t push those doors open. Exhausted but determined she manoeuvred all six armchairs shoved up against each other.

Feeling safely hidden for the moment she allowed herself the luxury of sinking down to the floor. He would come for her, she could only pray the doors would hold. Outside she heard the wailing of mechanical monsters. So many inventions in this world! Like the voices. When she’d found that poor man in the darkened corridor crumpled in a pile, his uniform patch announcing Chubb Security, Christina had bent to see if she could help him. Too late, she knew as soon as she saw his life spread  to form a dark stain. She’d spun to run, but heard them. The voices. Looking back she thought they came from the dead man. Crackling demons taunting. But there was a box by his side and someone called Doug was checking in on Larry. She didn’t know what checking in involved, but she knew a worried voice when she heard it. She called to the voice, begged him to come, to send help. She warned him the devil himself was loose. 

The only response was a repeat for Larry to check in. She could hear him but some dark magic kept him from hearing her. Maybe help would come in time? She’d didn’t think so. Each time she was pulled from the dark into a newer version of her world, he’d come for her. That was all she could remember. Everything else was hazy. There was only him, his need for her.  And John! It was coming back now. John had warned her, tried to save her each time. Did he succeed? She didn’t think so. If he had, all their souls would be at rest. Instead she kept being ripped from that horrid painting. 

It was always the same and yet Christine could not conjure a clear memory of how the events would run.

She looked around the room only dimly lit from outside. The walls were adorned in many paintings and small round tables displaying pottery and china under glass boxes. She pulled herself up and moved about the room, treading softly so as not to make a sound. She squinted at the plaque by the door, there was just enough light from the hall to read Brisbane State Art Gallery. She knew not of Brisbane. The last time she emerged from the painting she was still in London. The painting had been shipped to this new location. And those foolish teenagers had obviously known the legend and snuck in here on this ungodly night to conjure their own dark magic. But to summon him? Surely the stories of his violence and taste for blood had survived the hundreds of years since the fire. John had made sure the world knew about the Count, the monster he really was. 

But the girl, maybe sixteen with witches eyes and sharp metal swords and rings pierced all over her face, had thought she was resurrecting a lost love. The love between Christina and the Count. It may have started that way, but John Opie came riding his carriage into town, armed with scientific equipment, little pins wobbling along measuring unknown entities and vials of hissing and foaming liquids. He’d been tracking the Count for years. He claimed the charismatic man was actually a demon sent from the depths of hell to devour human souls. Christine had laughed off the claims about her husband. But girls started to disappear. One by one. All of Christine’s servant girls. The Count in turn accused Mr Opie. 

The Newspaper clippings had convinced her. One for each of the places the Count had lived and visited. Missing girls. It was true.

Fire is the only way to return a demon to hell. Christine slipped from her husband’s bed and burned their home down. She would have made her way out too, out to her beloved John. But her husband awakened with a vigour and caught hold of her.

‘Then we die together,’ he’d snarled. And they had. As the flickering heat enveloped the room she saw their wedding portrait remained unharmed. Mocking her through the the flames. 

The teenagers had frightened her with their chants, but she was more terrified when she turned to see the Count smiling beside her. She’d screamed and run.

In the darkened art gallery she’d stumbled about until she’d come full circle. There were the teens. Dead in a heap. She ran on. The man with the Chubb badge stretched across the floor. The sound of the Count calling to her.

‘Christine, my love, wait!’ He appeared, arms stretched to reach her. She spun to the right and ducked down a corridor. Now she hid in the darkened room alone. Or was she? A shadow moved in the corner. She wanted to scream but was too weary with fear.

The silhouette stepped forward until the moonlight through the window revealed his face.

‘John!’ She leapt into his arms.

‘Christine, you bought me back,’ he smiled down at her.

‘I’m so sorry, I tried to come to you, but he held me back, I… I couldn’t get out.’

‘Shhh, it’s okay now. I was there too. I came for you.’

Christine stepped back. ‘But you couldn’t have. I sent the servants home and locked every door.’

‘You remember how this goes?’ John smiled.

‘I don’t understand, I’m confused…’

‘Christine!’ The Count banged on the glass doors.

She gasped and leaned into John’s strong protective arms. 

‘Christine!’ The Count yelled, ‘It was him, he’s the monster, run Christine!’

Christine spun to look up at John, but his face had changed, his teeth exposed, long and pointed. She tried to run, but it was too late.

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Setting Rules Story

Snoopy's world was limited in space, but imagination meant anything could happen!
Click on the picture if you want to get this as a wallpaper

Setting is often a key element in our story. Sometimes it can even be a character in the story like the big old house in Tim Winton's Cloudstreet. But often new writers overlook this and just have the setting as somewhere for stuff to take place.

I have an exercise I do with students when I run creative writing workshops for kids, it helps them to understand how setting can affect our story. I thought I'd share it with you now. Try this exercise with the setting to your WIP, but first use a few of the random ones suggested here as a warm up. We did this exercise in my writing group today and there were some interesting writing prompts from it.

If you're in a group, write these settings down on scraps of paper (add some of your own if you like) and disperse randomly. Otherwise, pick out two or three to work with.

Possible Settings:

• Pirate ship
• Prison
• Australian bush
• Homeless gathering
• Skyscraper
• High school
• Space
• Fantasy land
• Ski lodge
• Police station

Now you simply write two lists. 

One list is for plot ideas or motivations that can be generated from this setting, e.g. in a Prison, escape, trying to stay good for parole, guard might on their last day because they're quitting for a safer security job, governor or head of the prison might be trying to meet budget cuts or there could be an alien invasion on earth and the prison is the safest place from land attacks. 

The second list is all the threats that setting presents. In the Prison it could be knifing, drugs, vicious guards, attack dogs, lockdown and left without food in your cell (as all the guards have been killed off by the aliens), riots, lack of empathy from outside community, or losing your sanity.

Once you have a few lists, pick a plot idea and at least one threat then write for 10-15 minutes and see what you come up with, you might find yourself with a decent piece of flash fiction or the start of something bigger!

Now you've warmed up properly, pull out your own setting and see if you can find more threats or possibilities that could strengthen your WIP.

I'm currently working on a story where the little sister of Isis is resurrected in New York City 5,000 years later. So my setting is split between Ancient Egypt and New York City. Here's my list for Ancient Egypt:

Plot ideas

• Mummification
• Prophecies
• Secrets and plots
• Gods
• Superstitions and religion
• Afterlife
• Amulets and protection magic
• Came race

Dangers

• Mummified alive
• Cobras
• Assassins
• Rabid Camel
• Crocodiles
• Heat, sun exposure
• Dehydration
• Floods (The area by the Nile was not a desert but quite lush back then)
• Evil Gods
• Sacrifice
• Sentenced to death

If you try it out I'd love to see some of your suggestions for plot ideas or dangers for setting.

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, challenges are posted once a month, you can sign up to join in here (or click on the picture). Now there's a few hundred participants, so it'll take me a while to get around to everyone, but I'll certainly try before the next challenge!

Realised, I should mention my writing insecurity! Mine is when I've finished that first draft and got all the plot details down, I won't be able to figure out that magic ingredient that adds life and pop to the book, it'll end up a bit bleh. What I do about it is exercises like this one to strengthen different elements of the story.

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How to recycle posts and build worlds

You may get a feeling of deja vu reading my post today. No you're not imagining it, this is part of a great blogfest run by Denise Covey (L'Aussie to most of us online) over at Romantic Friday Writers. The idea is to repost one of your favourite posts from the April A-Z Challenge. I love to recycle, so here is my W post from April. Click on the pic to go sign up for the blogfest!

World Building Workshop

Build an amazing world for your story

Today I'm sharing a creative writing workshop I run for kids. It's on World Building and this is an important part of science fiction and fantasy stories. You can follow along and write up your own responses, or you can use the worksheet we use in class. It can be downloaded and printed from here:

World Building PDF

I've broken this workshop into two parts, the lists and the drawing. You can do either first, I love the lists, my kids will probably want to draw theirs first. 

 Step 1: The Written World Description

• Binaries and Parallels - What's the same as our world and what's different?

• Temperature - Is it below freezing or really humid? The temperature of your world will affect the type of vegetation you have, and even the action that can take place (imagine The Wizard of Oz without a tornado). Is your weather seasonal or is it always like this?

• Landscape - When your character stands still, what can they see and how far can they see? Can they see Mountains, ranges, hills or a horizon?

• Ground cover - Dirt, rocks, pebbles, sand, grass or snow? How does it feel to walk under your character's feet? What sound is made when they walk on it?

• Vegetation - Tree varieties, weeds, shrubs, edible fruits, mushrooms and flowers. This can create scents and colour to your story. Plants are used for more than shelter and food. Sometimes they can be medicines and sometimes they are just for enjoyment. Do your characters like to pick flowers? Or maybe there's a plant like tobbacco that they smoke? And maybe it's not good for them and they find out they could die from it. Maybe some yummy looking berries are poisonous.

Now beyond the ground.

• Laws of Physics - Will your land obey them? Is there gravity? How might this affect your characters?

• Sun/Moon/Stars - What is the natural light like or what alternatives are there for light? Does sun or moon or stars play a role in your character's religion?

• Civilisation - Is your world built up or entirely natural? Are there pathways, roads, houses, airports, industry?

Step 2 - Drawing

• Draw rough maps of the entire area and show how your different locations meet up.
• Draw up an outline of each town, where are the homes, the shops, the tavern, etc.
• Then go wild and paint or sketch lots of views of your world, be as artistic as you want!

Want to visuaslise your world but don't have crayon skills?

• Make a virtual world in a game like Sims3 or Second Life or perhaps you can suggest one?
• Search online, steal National Geographic magazines and travel brochures. Cut out all the elements that match your world and glue them onto a large sheet of cardboard. Layout the pictures to align with your map, showing where the rainforest is compared to the Castle and what you pass when you travel from one to the other. You can keep this by your desk while you write.

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Blogfest - HATE

Tessa's Blurb hosted a blogfest on Friday, and although I missed posting on time, I decided to give it a go anyway. The idea was that we would all post a scene with a character showing hate. I hadn't noticed before, but none of my main characters express hate in my stories. I did manage to find a scene in My Zombie Dog, where Zane's mate Kev expresses strong feelings against the girl of Zane's dreams. Here's is Kev's hatefest:

I could get a real dog, a nice Border Collie like Max. Molly and I would have matching dogs, we could spend afternoons together down at the off-leash park. Perfect. Except, it seemed like I was forgetting something…

Then it hit me. Actually he hit me. Kev. He punched me in the arm and said, “Miss Seagull let you out huh? What do ya want to do? Handball?”

“You don’t have a handball.”

“We can confiscate one from the grade 2 kids.”

I gave Kev a look, then looked over at Molly, still sitting alone, head down staring straight at her uneaten sandwich in her lap.

“Um, I think I might go and talk to Molly.” I made it sound like no big deal.

“What? Why would you want to do that?”

I shrugged. No big deal.

“Molly O’Mally? I hate that chick.” Kev narrowed his eyes in her direction and kicked a stone on the asphalt.

“Why? She’s alright. She’s kinda… nice.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. No big deal, no big deal, no…

“Dude, she’s my nemesis.” Kev grabbed me by the shoulders. He could be dramatic at times.

I was sceptical. “Really? You have a nemesis?”

Kev swiped the question away with a hand through the air. “Yeah, haven’t you noticed how we match wits in class all the time?” He crossed his arms and looked back at Molly, like he was weighing her up. “I’ll give her this, she’s a worthy opponent.”

“Um, Molly’s really smart. I mean like genius smart.”

Kev shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right, we’re probably just enemies because we’re too much alike.”

The bell rang and lunch was over, along with my only opportunity to talk to Molly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

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Writer's Dream Diary - Results

Look at that date - 8th August - that means we've come to the end of our Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Well I say Pffffft! to dates. I've read some fantastic writing exercise ideas from the blogs participating (you can visit them too, at the links below. I've been trying them all out this week and gotten some interesting results. Soooo, I've decided to extend the date and blog my results of each exercise I tried separately. If you're taking place, please blog your results too, so we can see how you went.

I'm starting with Milly's post from Paper Dolls. Milly is 13 and blogs reviewing tween and teen fiction with her little sister Tilly (they're also my daughters, so books are pretty major in our house). Both girls like writing and Milly's favourite writing exercise involves recording her dreams.

All writers know you should write down your dreams, and we all mean to... but... sometimes we need reminding. I tried this exercise for three nights with a pad and pen right by my bed, but kept forgetting to actually write things down - I'm pretty dopey first thing in the morning. I'm sure I had amazing dreams those nights.

On the fourth try I finally remembered to write down my dream. I was teaching a very disruptive class of teenagers English in a demountable classroom.

What?

In real life I teach (amongst other topics) English to teenagers in a demountable classroom. Even the kids were the same. I pointed out of Facebook that this dream was a bit of a let down. Who wants to record a dream just like real life? Then I thought more about it. One of the kids was trying to sneak out of the class. Why? There was a visiting carnival to the school and these kids were not allowed to participate. There were rides and shows and a scary looking clown. I kind of think the clown might have been someone evil undercover. 

Ta da! School taken over by evil circus and the only people left to help are the naughtiest kids in the school and the very tired teacher. Or maybe the clown is a pedophile, the kid that escapes class is sneaking around the back of the buildings in time to catch him trying to abduct a child. These kids might be disruptive, but they're brave if nothing else, and they always stick up for each other. There's no way this kid would just walk away.

Did you dream any good plots this week?

And I'm loving this blogfest so much, I've decided to run it again (maybe same time next year?) but next time let it run for a month (although I don't dictate how many times you post about you inspiring exercise).

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How to Get Writing Ideas

This week is dedicated to the Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Writers are sharing their favourite writing exercises on their blogs. It's not too late to join, simply add your name to the list at the bottom of this post. Post on your blog which creative exercise gets your imagination warmed up and visit the other blogs to see what they suggest. Some people are super organised and blogging several exercises, but you can do just one if that's what you prefer (we're pretty easy going here at Wagging Tales).

In my last post I blogged about a great way to get your mind in the zone to write by Tom Evans - check it out, there's a free audio!

On the weekend I attended a writers workshop (I've been sneaking in a lot of them lately) hosted by author Sue Whiting about writing for children. It was a great day, very productive, and I picked up a new writing exercise. Apparently Sue picked this one up from Markus Zusak (The Book Thief).

Here it is:

On a big piece of paper, a whiteboard, or even on your laptops (I used an app from the Mac App Store called SimpleMind) you write, in the top left hand corner your first idea or action for your character. It could be something simple and everyday, like 'doing homework'. If you look at the pic, you'll see the idea I started with was 'Kitty loses her mobile'. Kitty is an 11yr. old mystery solver from my novel DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I'm looking for ideas for the second book.

The next step is to think of 5 things from that first idea, they can be 5 things that could happen next:

In case you're wondering, Spade is Kitty's Miniature Schnauzer, not some overzealous friend. Great, already you have 5 ideas, but from there, you add to EACH idea, 5 things that could happen next. That gives you 25 new possibilities! Here's a close up of 5 things that could happen after Jessica tries ringing Kitty's number:

Do you know what you do next? Yep, 5 things that could happen next of each of those. Then you spend a couple of minutes looking over your ideas and write for a few minutes whichever ideas you like. My idea from this is that the girls come across a body hidden in the overgrowth by the river.

Got an idea you want to share? Come on, sign on! Or checkout the blogs below for some more imagination sparks.

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Imagination Sparks Blogfest

It's here! My first-ever blogfest!

This is the IMAGINATION SPARKS BLOGFEST

What does that mean? It's easy. We all know at least one good warm up exercise to get our brain geared up and ready to write. That one creative task that gets your imagination bubbling with ideas. I thought we'd share them and try each others.

Here's what I want you to do.

1. Register your blog in the link list to show you are going to try and participate. Sign up will be available for one week.
2. On the 1st of August (hey, we won't be cross if it goes up a day or two late), post one of your favourite writing exercises that we can all try. You might want to credit the creator of the exercise if you know where you found it.
3. Read other peoples blogs and try some of those exercises.
4. Do a follow up blogpost to let people know which exercises you tried and what results you got. You can post your followup whenever you can. Visit the other blogs to see how they went with the exercises.
5. Get great new ideas and make new bloggy friends!

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Games for Writers

Alex J Cavanaugh is hosting a blogfest today about our favourite games. Here are my top three that I think writers will like:

Cluedo - hands down, my absolute favourite. Of course I forget to actually try and win and just have a wonderful time throwing red herrings and making accusations. Every time one of my opponents even flinches, I quickly jot down their suspicious activity. These notes do not help me win at all, but they do give me some fun new ideas for stories.

Sims Pets - Okay, I don't actually play the game, but I do love creating the dogs :) Sims is great for creating your characters, you really need to think about their features and dress sense.

Charades - Hey, it's cool. Yes it is. I just think this can be so much fun, and it makes you really think about words and their meaning.

I would have included Scrabble, but I have a wonderful friend who is zany and fun, but when it comes to Scrabble - she's turns it into a deadly extreme sport. Check out the blogfest, maybe there's a game you'd like to play with your family?

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First 250 Words Blogfest

During a happy blog hopping session, I came across this neat blogfest: Post the first 250 words to your WIP. You'll find the links to lots of WIP beginnings at Elle Strauss. This was meant to be posted yesterday, but I couldn't help giving it a go too :-)

Chapter One of Dog Show Detective:

Spade danced around Kitty’s feet, his enthusiasm showing he sensed a great adventure ahead. But then again, Spade sensed great adventures everyday.

Kitty wiped her palms on her crisp navy skirt for the third time, then she adjusted her black velvet headband for the fifth time.

“Quit fidgeting Kitty, you’ll be fine.” Mrs Walker looked up from her copy of ‘Dog Show World’.

Around Kitty’s ankles the black and silver dog jumped, turned and jiggled his behind.

“Maybe I should take Spade for a walk.”

Spade yapped enthusiastically and his short tail wiggled even faster.

Mrs Walker folded her magazine, placed it beside her fold-out chair and reached for Spade’s leash. “Good idea, a walk might calm you both down.”

Another mention of the word ‘walk’ did nothing to calm Spade. “Rup, rupt!”

Kitty furrowed her young brow. “He better calm down before the Junior Handlers comp. I’m not taking him in the ring like this.”

After snapping the leash to Spade’s collar, Mrs Walker pulled a brush out of her bag.

“Mum, I’ll brush him after our walk.”

“This is not Spade’s brush, it’s yours. You’ve fiddled with your hair so much you’ve mussed it all up, now turn around.” Mrs Walker started to rake the brush through Kitty’s straight, but tousled, honey hair.

“Mum, I can do it!” Kitty hoped none of the other juniors would spot her getting her hair brushed by her mother.

 The chapter goes on to have Kitty find a small lost dog on her walk which sets off the mystery - but perhaps I should be starting with the finding...  do you think I need a stronger opening hook? Will you be posting your opening? 

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