Here are some of the cleverest phots I’ve ever seen: Impossible pictures by Erik Johansson
Conflict in “The Other Boleyn Girl.”
(If you’re looking for my post on the Afghan woman Malalai Joya, who was expelled from the Afghan parliament for speaking out about corruption, and violence against women, scroll down. I’ll post more on her when I’ve finished her book.)
Conflict in“The Other Boleyn Girl.”
I’ve been meaning to write something on this for some time. How does Philippa Gregory keep the conflict going in “The Other Boyne Girl’?
She has at least the following conflicts going.
1-The Boleyn family want Anne to become King Henry’s lover, but she is opposed to this idea (at first).
2-She secretly weds Henry Percy, and her family and Cardinal Wolsey force her to make out the marriage never happened.
3-The Boleyn family are always afraid that the Seymour family will put one of their girls ‘in front of king Henry,’ and the Boleyn family may lose their hopes of advancement.
4-King Henry needs a male heir and Queen Catherine keeps having miscarriages, sons
that die in infancy, or once, a live daughter.
5-Anne Boleyn urges Henry to break with the Pope and form the Church of England.
6-Anne refuses to give herself sexually to Henry until he promises to make her queen,
but has to keep him interested, while not giving in to him.
7-Anne and her sister Mary end up as rivals for the King’ affections, with Henry still pursuing Anne even after Mary has just given birth to Henry’s illegitimate child.
8-Mary and Anne fear for the life of their brother, George, because he is homosexual and this may lead to his death. (It does).
9-Mary becomes disenchanted with life at court, and wants to live a simple life in the
country.
10-Their brother George is force to marry Jane Parker, for whom he feels nothing.
11-Queen Catherine knows that the Boleyn girls are betraying her and fears that Anne may have her poisoned.
12-When Anne finally becomes queen, mobs heckle her in the street and she has to return up the Thames in fear of her life.
13-Finally, after Anne fails to produce a son, she ends up in the Tower of London, taking Mary’s daughter with her as a lady-in-waiting, much to the distress of Mary.
And those were just the thirteen I could think of without re-reading the book. I wonder
what more I’ll find a a second read?
Photos at La Trobe Uni (for the article on the Afghan member of parliament Malalai Joya, scroll down)
Being a woman and speaking out against corruption in Afghanistan
Sat 3 Sept 2011
Tonight I heard a woman who inspired me by her courage and her persistence. I went to the Melbourne Writers Festival to hear Malalai Joya, an Afghan woman who was elected to parliament in 2005, and expelled in 2007 for criticising the presence people she described as warlords and war criminals in the Afghan parliament. She has survived four assassination attempts. This going to be a very rough and inadequate first draft of this blog entry, because I’m writing it straight after returning from listening to her speech, and I will need to Google a lot of the names and groups she mentioned, since I can’t speak Pashto and don’t know the correct spellings. Look forward to a better version as I Google and read her book “Raising My Voice”.
She claimed that a lot of the ‘foreign aid” being channelled into Afghanistan is ending up in the pockets of tribal warlord and not helping ordinary people. She spoke of gang rapes committed by groups in police uniforms. And who do you complain to? The courts are run by people who are interlinked with the same warlords and religious factions that commit crimes in the first place. She described families selling babies for $10 because they couldn’t feed them. Some in the Afghan parliament, she said, were puppets of Iran, including the Minister for Electricity and Water (I couldn’t get his name down as I couldn’t get the pronunciation).
She said that the US and NATO had “pushed us from the frying pan (the Taliban) into the fire (tribal warlords.)”
She had a lot to say about the Taliban being invited to join the Afghan government for the sake of “National Unity” – and she didn’t like it.
I’ll blog more on this as I read her book.
Her Wikipedia entry is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malalai_Joya
Her book is sold under two titles in English-speaking counties: “A Woman Among Warlords” in the US and Canada, and “Raising My Voice” in other English-speaking countries
More to follow as I read the book.
Paper sculptures by Canadian artist Calvin Nicholls
I was sent these photos in an email:
Beautiful Paper Sculptures by Calvin Nicholls
Canadian artist Calvin Nicholls creates the following amazingly beautiful sculptures using sheets of paper. “Calvin has been creating his paper sculptures since 1986 from his studio north of Toronto Ontario, Canada. Working with sheets of paper and a scalpel, he cuts the component pieces to fit the final drawing and assembles the low relief artwork under studio lighting. When the sculpture is complete the lighting is adjusted to bring out the subtle form and texture. A large format camera is used to capture the detail on 8×10 film prior to scanning for print applications or art prints.”
Famous insults
A collection of famous insults:
The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor (the first female Conservative MP):
She said, “If you were my husband I’d give you poison.” He said, “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Also to lady Astor:
A dinner party where Churchill is greatly enjoying his wine and not greatly enjoying Lady Astor’s company.
Lady Astor:Mr. Prime Minister, you are drunk!
Sir Winston: I am, Madam. But you are ugly The difference is that in themorning I shall be sober.
A member of Parliament to Disraeli:
“Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.” “That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.”
“He had delusions of adequacy.” – Walter Kerr
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” – Winston Churchill
“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” Clarence Darrow
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” – William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.” –Moses Hadas
“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” – Mark Twain
“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends..” – Oscar Wilde
“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend…. if you have one.” – George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second…. if there is one.” – Winston Churchill, in response.
“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” – Stephen Bishop
“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright
“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.” – Irvin S. Cobb
“He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” – Samuel Johnson
“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” – Paul Keating
“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” – Charles, Count Talleyrand
“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” – Forrest Tucker
“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” – Mark Twain
“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” – Mae West
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go..” – Oscar Wilde
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts.. . for support rather than illumination. ” – Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music” – Billy Wilder
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” – Groucho Marx
A few more photos from around my street, and La Trobe Uni.
This page looks a bit messay cos I’m not used to posting photos and albumns on the same page.
Autumn: A few photos of the streets around my place.
It’s late autumn in Eastern Australia. Here are some shots of the streets near where I live.
- 1. I like the three colors of leaves on one tree.
- It’s the colors!
- And soon all the trees will look like this.
- Inside La Trobe University
Should novels have a “Moral”?
I recently posted this a facebook page to do with fiction writing, in response to a thread, “Do you think a fictional story should teach (or attempt to teach) a moral lesson?”
Should novels ” teach a moral lesson?” Well it depends on what you want. If I want to learn something theological, I’ll buy a theology book. If I want to know why an author claims that evolutionary biology supports atheism, I’ll buy something by Richard Dawkins. If I want to earn about a certain political view, I’ll buy a book from someone in that political movement. If I read Aayan Hirsi Ali about her experiences growing up Muslim, I know what I’m in for: but she writes as a polemicist, not a novelist.
But if I buy a thriller – and pay money -and THEN discover that I’m getting someone’s political or theological view I’m likely to get a little irritated and think that my $10 (or whatever) has obtained under false pretenses.
An example is Michael Chrichton’s State of Fear. I know it got to #1, and I do like Michael Crichton – I have several books of his on my shelf. But in State of Fear, one of his characters gave long lectures about how climate change modeling doesn’t prove anything. Well of course it doesn’t. Modelling never does. A model consistes largely of beliefs put into eqautions and then distured in some way: If we assume, or believe, that the world includes like A, B and C which between them produce X, and we change C by this much, the result is X changes this much. Of course the model doesnt proove that climate change is real: that’s not a model’s job. They illustrate.
Chrighton’s points would be appropriate (or not) in a scientific work if it had come from a reputable scientist. Crichton stuck in numerous footnotes and graphs to plug his views: I thought footnotes in a thriller??) For me they became, a boring and tedious diversion from the plot . Chrichton is entitled to his view, and he’s entitled to give lectures and write a straightforward polemical book about this. And he IS entitled to write the novel he did if that’s what he wants. We all have our rights. But doing this comes at a cost. The cost is detracting from the quality of the novel by making his characters clumsy mouthpieces for his own views.
If you want the novel to have a ‘moral’ it requires great subtlety. “The Other Boleyn Girl” might be read as a story with a moral about getting too involved in high stakes conniving and double dealing when you can’t control the one thing your life will ultimately depend upon (the ability to produce a live baby boy.) But it doesn’t have a character who constantly preaches that Ann will end up dead. We can see the risks she’s running for ourselves. The readers have brains. (And some readers know their history.) If you want to have a moral in your story, a bit of subtlety and ambiguity go a long way: try My Sister’s Keeper by Jody Picoult.
But Michael Crighton obviously disagrees. and his not here to defend himself. He died just after the book was published. It’s a pity. I would have liked to read more of him – but without the footnotes and graphs.
Donald Mass Writing Prompts
A fiend from San Diego kindly collated the writing tips that Donal Maass (Well Known Literary agent) has been sending out as tweets. Here they are collated:
01 What’s the worst thing your MC does? Whom and how does that hurt? Now work backwards, set it up to hurt even more. #Maass
02 What’s the most selfless thing your MC does? What good change or effect does that have on someone unexpected? Add that in. #Maass
03 Find any violence in your ms. Delete any shock, fear or horror. Replace with two *conflicting* emotions that are less obvious.#Maass
Today’s Breakout prompt may be tougher than it looks. Let me know. Ready? Here we go…
04 Choose a middle scene: What does POV character feel most strongly? Evoke that feeling without naming it, through actions alone. #Maass
A tragedy really puts things in perspective, yes? Help others, live strong, write. Today’s Breakout prompt for whenever you’re ready…
05 What should your readers most see, understand or be angry about? At what story moment will that happen? Heighten it in two ways. #Maass
We grow and change day by day. Characters can too, scene by scene. Today’s Breakout prompt coming up…
06 How does your POV character change in your current scene? Work backwards. Make that change unlikely, a surprise or impossible. #Maass
It’s Sunday, but no rest for fiction writers! Today’s Breakout prompt coming up in just a minute…
07 What does a sidekick or secondary character see about your MC that your MC denies? Force a showdown over it. #Maass
Our friends sometimes know us better than we know ourselves. Today’s Breakout prompt coming up…
08 What does a sidekick character know about your MC that your MC refuses to see? Force a showdown over it. #Maass
08 Over what does your MC disagree with his/her boss or mentor? When does the boss/mentor prove to be right? #Maass
Ever been in a place you just can’t seem to get away from? Today’s Breakout prompt coming at ya…
09 What’s a place in your story where something significant happens? Switch two other story events to that location too.#Maass
It’s characters inner lives that make fiction involving. Adding to that is not subtracting from story. Today’s Breakout prompt coming up…
10 In your current scene, what’s a setting detail that delights or disgusts your POV character? Why? Elaborate & add. #Maass
Sometimes it’s the small things in life that overwhelm us with their beauty. Today’s Breakout prompt sneaking up on you…
11 Find a small passing moment in your manuscript. What big meaning does your MC see in it? Add that. #Maass
How do we know that big events are truly big? Because of the details that stick with us. Today’s Breakout prompt coming up…
12 During a big dramatic event, what’s one small thing your POV character realizes will never change or never be the same again? Add. #Maass
Weekends are a good time for reflection–by your MC. Today’s Breakout prompt is coming up…
13 For your MC, what are the best things about these times? The worst? Create a passage of his/her take on this era. #Maass
The world of the story is mostly the world as your MC sees it. Today’s Breakout prompt is on the way…
14 In your climactic scene, what are 3 details of place that only your MC would notice? Cut more obvious details, replace with these.
Reversals big and small are one of the most dynamic effects in fiction. Today’s breakout prompt in a moment…
15 What’s one thing your MC hates as the story opens? By the end have your MC love that same thing. (Or vice versa.) #Maass
To provoke a noticeable change, create a sharp provocation. Today’s Breakout prompt zeroes in on your current scene…
16 What’s the precise turning point in your current scene? Make its trigger more dramatic—or less obvious. #Maass
Characters’ convictions anchor them. Pulling up those anchors is deeply dramatic. Today’s Breakout prompt is sailing your way…
17 Who in your story has an ironclad, unshakable belief? Shatter or reverse it by the story’s end. #Maass
Engaging characters are passionately engaged in life. Their feelings tell us so. Today’s Breakout prompt coming up…
18 Give your MC passionate feelings about something trivial: e.g., cappuccino, bowling, argyle socks. Write his/her rant. Add it.#Maass
It doesn’t advance the story, it deepens character. @suelder How does a trivial rant advance the story?
What do you stand for? What about your MC? Today’s Breakout prompt matters…
19 What principle guides your MC? At what moment is it most tested? When does it fail? Put it into action three times. #Maass
Saturdays are good for cleaning up clutter. Here comes today’s Breakout prompt…
20 Cut 100 words from your last 3 pages.You have 5 minutes. Fail? Penalty: cut 200 words. #Maass
Dialogue is an opportunity not to be missed—an opportunity for tension. No relaxing on Sunday, guys! Today’s Breakout prompt is…
21 In the last dialogue passage you wrote double the friction, disagreement, overt hostility or hidden agenda. #Maass
Exposition, inner monologue, stream of consciousness…whatever you term it, use it to create tension. Today’s Breakout prompt is…
22 In the last inner monologue you wrote insert one insight, question or worry that hasn’t hit you (or your MC) before now. #Maass
People’s observations—especially of other people—make them interesting. Same is true of characters. Today’s Breakout prompt is…
23 What does your MC know about people that no one else does? Create 3 moments when he/she spots that in others. #Maass
In fiction, obvious emotions rarely need stating. The reader’s already felt them. Go deeper with today’s Breakout prompt…
24 Find a strong emotion and replace it with a secondary one; find a throw-away moment and infuse it with rich feelings. #Maass
Secondary characters can come and go, making little impression—a shame. Today’s Breakout prompt is about to make a grand entrance…
25 Before a new character debuts, give your MC an expectation or fear. Make the reality three times better or worse. #Maass
MC’s make mistakes but often it doesn’t cost much. Today’s Breakout prompt is designed to hurt. Here it comes…
26 Whom is your MC afraid to let down? What is the sacred trust between them? What would cause your MC to break it? Break it.#Maass
What you don’t know can’t hurt you? Heck, why *wouldn’t* you want to hurt your MC? Here comes today’s Breakout prompt…
27 What secret is your MC keeping? Who is keeping one *from* your MC? Spill the truth at the worst possible time. #Maass
Why have your characters merely talk when they can snipe, attack, burn or lay waste—verbally, I mean? Here’s today’s Breakout prompt…
28 Set off fireworks between two characters. What’s the biggest skyrocket you can explode for the finale? Go ahead…kaboom!#Maass
Down to the last three Breakout prompts! Hope you’ve found them useful. Here’s today’s…
29 What’s the emotion or experience you’re most afraid to put your MC through? Go there. Do it. Now. #Maass
Emotional research: ask others who have @DeniseBruce22 but what if you honestly haven’t lived that emotion yet..don’t know how to write it?
Only two Breakout prompts left! How many have you worked into your ms? Be honest. Here’s today’s…
30 What’s the worst thing that happens to your MC? Work backwards. Make it something your MC has spent a lifetime avoiding. #Maass
This is it! The final day in this month of daily Breakout prompts. Which has helped you most?
For this final Breakout prompt, an adaptation of a classic Breakout stakes raising technique. Ready? Here it comes…
31 What’s the very worst aspect of the main problem your MC faces? Find one way to make it still worse. #Maass
And some nice news for Breakout prompt users: I’ll be posting weekly prompts for the rest of the year. Stay tuned. #Maass
— April 2011 —
Ever get an eerie chill, an empty feeling inside, and know–just know–you are somewhere unsafe? Here’s this week’s Breakout prompt…
32 Find a corner, crossroads or dark object in your story. Invest it with eeriness, unknown portent or dread. Go there three times.#Maass
It’s Breakout Tuesday. Today’s prompt is inspired by Anne Perry, noted for the moral power of her novels. But there’s a trick to that.
Does the message in your story drop like a rock on the reader’s head? Better is to make your MC sensitive to the morality of small moments.
33 Find a small hurt someone suffers. What’s the big principle or hidden injustice it represents? Stir your MC to anger over it. #Maass
Breakout Tuesday! This week begins a series of prompts focusing on plumbing emotional depths in your WIP. Here it comes…
33 In your current scene, what’s the strongest emotion? Why is it welcome? Why not? What’s good about it? What’s utterly wrong?#Maass
Richard Snow Writer 