Saturday, 19 December 2009

Why Photography and Writing are natural bedfellows

You hopefully won't be surprised to learn that as well as writing, I like to indulge my creativity with a spot of photography. I took the photo on the left last night, from a spot outside County Hall (this was before I got moved by security since, for some odd reason, you're not allowed to use tripods in that area).

London's a fantastic place to live if you enjoy photography. You've got your usual tourist-y locales, along with the many markets and shopping districts for those whose bent runs more towards street photography. Parks and nature reserves satisfy the nature photographers, and there are buildings galore for the architectural enthusiasts. Your two biggest problems are finding a spot among the other photographers, and trying to be polite to those idiotic passersby who seem to think it's vital that they occupy the pride of place in your shot.

Still, I love photography, and it satisfies the more visual side of my brain. Whenever I write, I try to paint a picture in the mind of the reader, so they can 'see' what I see in my head when I'm writing, but sometimes it's just easier to take a photo of it. Besides, photography is an excellent way to stimulate creativity - a favourite 'game' of mine is to browse the random shots gallery on Flickr, and use the first image that pops up as a story prompt. Try it yourself and see what you come up with!

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Icy needs your help!

I entered a micro fiction competition over at Misfit Salon and I've made the final three! Voting is open until December 28th, and it would be nice if you could mosey on over there, and vote for my entry, The Stairs. Of course, that's if you like mine the best...

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Happy birthday to...

...Jane Austen!

The lovely lady of literature would have been 234 today. My personal favourite of her works is, unsurprisingly, Pride and Prejudice, since Elizabeth Bennett is by far one of the greatest heroines of English literature. I do also like Northanger Abbey as well though; Catherine is a fine heroine. The only one I've never been able to click with is Emma, and it doesn't surprise me that it provided the loose concept for Clueless...

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Good Example of Dialogue

I wouldn't normally post links to Youtube videos but in this case I thought I would make an exception. Here's a wonderful example of characterisation revealed through dialogue! I give you Iggy Pop and Tom Waits in Coffee and Cigarettes.

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Reasons why I write; Why...?

So I'm sitting at my laptop, chatting on MSN and mulling over a couple of story ideas, when I suddenly realise I can't see properly out of the left lens of my spectacles. I take them off to find that a thumbprint has spontaneously appeared on the glass. It's not my thumbprint as I'm not in the habit of smearing grease all over my glasses, and I've been on my own all day, so it's not like it belongs to anyone else. Not anyone that I can see, at any rate.

This is why I write - for all those "Why?" and "How?" moments. How did a thumbprint suddenly erupt on my glasses? Whose is it? Why did they put it there? Also how did they put it there? The orientation was such that their hand must have been at a very peculiar angle indeed. It may even prove to become the vague concept that kickstarts a vignette or short story at some point in the future, but I wanted to share it for now as being the kind of incident that reminds me why I write.