Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Clare McCarthy Book Launch

You are invited on Thursday, April 11, 2013, at 7:00pm to meander into BookLore at 121 First Street in Orangeville for the launch of Banner columnist Clare McCarthy's book "Meandering".

Be exposed to the skinny on:

Running Naked Down Broadway

A Fine Art of Eavesdropping

An Irish Tale That Went Down with the Titanic

A Man Not as Smart as the Average Mutt

Being Old Doesn't Mean You're Daft

Blueberries and Black Bears

How Not to Light a Fire in Your Fireplace

Maurice Cline - Principal with Squirrels in his Attic

Murray Young's Rather Checkered Career

John Natalaski - Cobbler with a Soul

David Marshall - Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief

Jimmy Wilson - A Scot's Life of Booze, Bullets, Boxcars and Freedom


No doubt Clare's creative cartoon drawings will be included in this book. So please come out to BookLore and support a local author.

Poetic Notes from a Novelist

Hi gang.  I'll be giving a talk/reading at the Orangeville Library, Mill Street Branch meeting room on Tuesday, April 23rd at 1pm as part of the Orangeville 150th anniversary series Artists and Authors @ the Library.  I'll be talking about the challenges and delights of writing a first novel.  April is National Poetry Month, and in honour of this I will be performing some spoken word poetry as well as reading excerpts of poetic prose from several wonderful novelists.  Admission is free and nibblies provided.  Hope to see you there!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Hi gang.  You're all invited to celebrate the book launch of A Softness in the Eyes, my latest novel, at Booklore on Friday April 5 at 6:30 pm.  Reading, drinking, mingling, asking embarrassing questions.  A chance to win the collected works of yours truly (four books and a CD).  Hope to see you there.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Writing Exercise #2 from March 10th

I am sharing my results of the 2nd exercise posted below:

He ran out of the house, jumped into his car and sped off without a word to his wife who just told him she was having his baby.

He smashed the window with a rock and climbed inside what he mistakenly thought was an abandoned house - a house long inhabited by the dead souls of his ancestors.

He laughed when the detective told him he was under arrest for he thought he was being punked.

He gasped when he opened the door and found his elderly mother in a chair, bound and gagged, tears and blood streaming down her face.

She writhed in her seat when the fortune teller asked her, "Why have you not told your friend here the truth about her husband?"

Prompts for March 10, 2013 Meeting, Part 2

Another excellent exercise was provided by Marilyn.

This is just a truly fun exercise to see how riveting you can make the first sentence in your story or novel.

Remember you have about 30 seconds to catch and hold your reader's attention.

Below are a number of beginnings suggested (you can replace the word he with she or it) and you can choose to complete just one and then continue with your story. If you prefer, however, you can simply write compelling sentences for them all. However, that may not take you all that long and you may wish to add to one or many of them.

He ran...
He flew...
He jumped...
He fell...
He writhed...
He gasped...
He screamed......
He battled......
He sighed......
He wriggled......
He escaped......
He ploughed......
He stared......
He leapt......
He whirled......
He danced.......
He hid........
He fought.......
He cried........
He swam........
He plunged.......
He yelled.......
He begged......
He beat.......
He appeared......
He smashed.......
He chose.......
He whined......
He drove.......
He manhandled.....
He changed.....
He died.....
He laughed......
He plummeted.....

Please share your writing exercises on this blog.

Our next meeting is Sunday, March 24th, at 1:30pm. Nancy is scheduled to lead.

Prompts from March 10, 2013, Meeting - Part 1

There was a small group at this week's meeting due to the beginning of March Break. Therefore we had time for two different types of prompts. I will post them in two separate blog posts. Here is the first prompt (provided by Marilyn):

Creating a well rounded antagonist.

The exercise here is to write a character sketch of an antagonist. It is very easy to make your antagonist an evil person with no redeeming features (you only have to look at some of the blockbuster Hollywood movies - complete with all the explosions and car crashes and blowing up of all and sundry) to see what I mean.

But there are some very compelling antagonists as well.

1. If you saw it, remember Frank Langella as Dracula (hot and steamy and very, very delicious).
2. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs - remember he had a real soft spot for Jody Foster.
3. The colonel in Bridge on the River Kwai - apparently cruel but admired courage when he perceived it.
4. Even Gollum in Lord of the Rings had moments when he remembered and acted upon his better nature.

So choose any one of the following characters and draw a character sketch that depicts them as an obvious antagonist, but with redeeming qualities. If the sex is not identified, you can make them any sex you wish. A good idea would also be to name the person. The character sketch should include family background information, work information, psychological insight, physical description, education, etc.

A Roman Emperor
A Major in a South American army
A Russian spy
A CIA operative
A female wrestler
An alien from Arcturus
A cannibal from the deeply forested areas of the islands of the Pacific
A government official (senator, elected representative, or your choice - also your choice of country)
A blackjack dealer
A fisherman
A hunter

Please give this exercise a go and feel free to share it on this blog.