Characterization: Vol. 2 – An Exercise in Perspective.

Like Erica, I’m constantly battling my characters, but in a different sense. After she beautifully described characterization in her post on it, I want to discuss that always is prevalent in writing: and that’s perspective.

It dawned on me as I was running this week. Let’s say for hypothetically speaking, that I’m not a writer, but a protagonist of a short story, where someone is writing about me running. Me personally, I don’t think I’m a story at all when I’m training – I have a distinct beginning and end, wherever that may be, and I have a purpose. I may be the protagonist in their short story, but as the observer, what do they think of me?

Are they keen in to what my running gear I’m wearing? Am I wearing something appropriate and conducive to the climate?

Am I running toward something or am I running away from something? Only I know, but that’s up for the writer to figure that out, without using run-on sentences of course!

What is my struggle, my triumph? Is it the scowl on my face? Or my sweat-laden brow pushing for the extra mile?

These are all decisions that are subject to the whim of the writer. But, as the writer observing the runner, here are the exercises I would use to challenge yourself to improve your writing and to make your writing more 3-dimensional.

WRITE FROM YOUR GUT UNABASHED.

Smock style, assault your new found subject matter, and write what you think his thoughts are, making him the protagonist, and flesh out his purpose. Is he losing weight? Is he training for a marathon? Is he trying to look cool? Show this all in your words and your word count.

CHANGE YOUR ANGLE.

After you have your first perspective, write another one, of the same person. He’s not running towards the finish line, perhaps he’s running away from the cops, and disguising himself as a seasoned marathon runner!

CHANGE YOUR ANGLE. AGAIN

Push through the limits of your creativity. Saying you don’t have any more perspectives on a character is even more reason to challenge yourself to do so. Let’s see what you got.

Until next week!

- Ralph, Rambunctious Smock.

Comic Spotlight: 100 Bullets

Let's set a scene. You're sitting on a train on your way home from work. You haven't had a day off in months and you still have no idea how you're going to pay your rent. Life generally sucks. It wasn't always like this. At one point, you were successful. You made insane amounts of money and lived a life that most people only dream of. This only makes your fall from grace that much more awful. As you sit on the train and dream of downing a bottle of Jack Daniels, a man in a dark suit boards and sits right next to you, despite the train being mostly empty. Your annoyance gives way to surprise as the man turns and calls you by your name. He tells you not to be alarmed and for the first time, you notice the briefcase sitting in his lap. He tells you that he knows all about you. He knows about the pictures that the feds found in your laptop and he knows who put them there. He says that in the briefcase is irrefutable proof of who did it and why. He then says that in the briefcase is a gun and 100 untraceable bullets to do with what you will. He then leaves you the briefcase and gets off at the next stop.

100 Bullets explores what happens when people are given that choice. It also explores the identity of the man with the briefcase. I'm a huge fan of the noire genre. I like exploring worlds where everyone is something more and no one is completely innocent. I thought that this week I should spotlight a comic that you may have not read. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso do an excellent job of crafting one of the best original ideas in all of comicdom. Still waiting on HBO to do series though.....

Until Next Time

Thierry

Memoir To The Purple Fighter

Last Sunday, Writer Smock convened to discuss the theme of the afternoon, “determination”. Easily, I could have presented a written piece dedicated to my own perseverance, but I chose to do something different. Instead, I dedicated this memoir to a good friend of mine that contracted Lupus years ago. Throughout our friendship, I have come to learn much about her struggle, and grown to admire her strength in dealing with it. So, I present to you, my memoir dedicated to her. Enjoy!

Purple Fighter

The passage of time has brought us together. Friend is what we are; overtime, our bond has grown thick like the chain that keeps us linked. When I first met you, I didn’t know anything about you. The seasons flew by and here we are, friends for life. Your struggle is bearable yet, torture. I understand your pain, albeit, I see light at the end of your tunnel.

You’re warm and cool like the colors red and blue, respectively. Blended together, makes an interesting compound color. It makes sense, considering that is your favorite hue. Purple is well imbued in your veins. You’re blood stream is bright like the birthstone to your birthday. The appealing color is uplifting, encouraging, and creative to no end. You are spiritual as well, possibly see more than what’s within. I suppose it was heaven sent.

A product of an environment that stands under the shower of a disease that you didn’t ask for, painful as it is. Yet, you still remain strong and don’t let it bother you at all. I can see it in your eyes and posture, treating it like another day in the life. With short stature and hidden muscles to my surprise, you treat it like another day, another fight.

She is the purple fighter! You fight with fists held high, eyes stern with a gaze that pierces through your enemy’s skull and possibly through the wall. With grace and mental toughness, she has the capability to fight with elegance like a purple flower that shines under the sun. No matter the weather, rain or shine, stand tall and head held high under heaven’s eye.

“Determination” is the key that unlocks the door to her strength, such a powerful tool that is the source of her panacea to this arthritic leech. Fight hard and keep going. If ever you falter, get back up. You have my support and others as well. Get well soon and of course I bid you adieu. And one more thing, “Together we will find a cure!” That is what my wrist speaks in potent volume.

Until Next Time,

Jeff L.

Smock Salute!

Growth.

Smock Salute Jeff has inspired me to take an overdue trek into my old journal entries. Although my style has changed DRASTICALLY, I find my 16-year-old self hilarious. Here is one of my pieces about a fast food confrontation junior year of high school. :)

Fast Food (Slow Diss)

as the skinny girl
next to me in Mcdonalds
grilled my
#2/ 2 cheeseburger meal

I explained to her anorexic ass
that there were
children
starving in Africa
and she shouldn't
waste those fries

she
having the nerve
staring at my belly
to ask
"are you eating for all of them?"

having no energy to fight
as the negroitis hit me
i said,
"trick don't let me write a poem about you"

_________________

hey fat girl, thick mama
let me holla for a dolla
let me love you like no other
never treat you like my mother

the cries of ignorant men
as i grace the streets
of NYC

because their's no beauty
in just being black no more
there's just beauty in
being three's or fours

preaching to the meatless girl beside me
i stated,
intelligence is something we woman don’t strive for
because men are scared of challenges
so we avoid sandwiches

but not me
denzel washington couldn't get me off KFC
and no i will not give back my DD's
or chubby cheeks
and as many diets and exercises
i've done
i never lose the bones you see

always coming to the conclusion
that if my aunts, mom, and grandma are
im genetically inclined to be
a full figured woman

i've come to love my figure
and no man or TWIG
will take that away from me

and the skinny chick rolled her eyes times three
but before she could throw her tray away
i took up her fries
and made for the door to leave.

-Riva

Smocker Deuce

Messy Monday's - The Week That Was #7

Good day! It’s been almost two months since the first Smock meeting commenced and thus far everybody is still active and contributing very good writing material. I would like to thank all readers that actively read our blog posts and appreciate your time.

Yesterday’s seventh meeting convened at Panera Bread with all members present except the “Numero Uno Smoker”, Ralph. For those that are not aware, he went on vacation but will be present and in full effect at the next meeting.

The theme of the day was dedicated to the intangible “determination”. The smock members presented their own personal perspective on perseverance. Thierry read his short piece dedicated to the potency of will power that can translate into persistence. Jeff (myself) wrote a beautifully written memoir dedicated to a close friend. Riva recited one of her personal poems that which was emotionally gravitating.

Thierry presented one of his favorite DC comic books “Green Lantern Rebirth” to us and gauged my interest into the story with little knowledge that I once had prior. He lent it to me to read, and I will read it with great interest. Also, he plans to bring a new comic book every week for our personal enlightenment. The next one should be dedicated to a character that goes by “100 Bullets” Can’t Wait!

Everybody is still well at work with there projects. Next weeks theme is – “invisibility”. Let’s see how the Smocks will tackle their own interpretation of the subject matter.

Until Next Time

Jeff L.

Smock Salute

TRAVEL WRITING

Conspicuous by absence, instead of meeting with my fellow smockers on our weekly gatherings, I was due south, abroad from my home state. Writing was always in the forefront of my mind; but I was pre-occupied by the grueling 5 days of my first (and perhaps, at least for a long time to come) family vacation.

But since yesterday, as I successfully sent off my wife, her brother, and my in-laws back to New York, here I stay in the outskirts of Orland to handle some rather immediate business. And at 4pm, as those that are confined to the corporate world count down the last 60 minutes to their two-day, three-night freedom, I was able to concentrate, and get back to what I do best – write.

Today’s post is an ode to that downtime when you’re away, isolated instances where you can let your pen flow freely on a blank slate: Travel writing. It doesn’t have to be so formal as the name suggests. Hell, if you were at a park five minutes from your house, that’s still “away.” Sometimes, a break from the monotony, of your normal space of choice in writing can do you a whole lot of good.

Different venues that I’ve written sporadically this week was poolside in a backyard, soaking in a searing 90 degree Florida sun, the sands of Smyrna Beach, and on the back of a napkin while at Universal Studios in Orlando. What I love about travel writing is that you can look at your surroundings at an angle of 360 degrees and pick any object and just write – or at the very least have new ideas that may inspire you in the future.

Your surroundings especially if their new places and new experiences can be the basis of a new poem, a unique character in a future novel, or the backdrop of a short story. Case in point, travel writing, to me at least, is important. It breaks up the mundane, takes the ordinary and with words can be dressed to read extraordinarily, and is showcases the best part of writing – YOU CAN WRITE ANYWHERE!

Numero Uno Smocker,

Ralph

Postscript – WHERE’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO WRITE?

Poetry In Motion: The Birth Of "My" Poetry

BEHOLD, my first poem written below:

"I" Love

Dear Love
I know you are going to miss me.
We were together like white Nikes and crisp tees.
Now we are apart like sweat suits in the summer heat.
Oh how could I've missed thee?
We were always together.
Side by side, holding hands, simply inseparable from beginning to end.
But unfortunately for the past month, I have mistreated you in the worst way.
Oh how I pray that things can change between us.
Weeks ago, you passed away.
You have no idea how much I prayed.
I tried and tried, but you couldn't be revived.
Two to three days later, my sister brought you back to life.
I am most thankful for her for that.
But weeks later which was yesterday, I mistreated you once again in the worst way.
We ran on the track together.
It turned out to be a good day until I left you by your lonesome and forgot to comeback to you.
How could I neglect you, the one and only thing that spoke sweet lyrics and sang to me?
I came back for you as soon as I realize, but it was too late.
Seems like someone else better has swept you off your feet.
Now we are apart.
I have a deep scar in my heart.
But despite the distance, I will forever love you from afar.
Even right now as I write in the color that represents my mood which is the color blue.

You may be under the impression that this poem is about a former girlfriend of mine that I have “mistreated in the worst way.” Seemingly so, you are partially correct yet that’s not the case. It is actually a poetic personification of my formerly misplaced IPod Nano. Go figure! This is what sparked the commencement of my poetic journey.

After rereading the poem that was written long ago, it took me back to the exact day, the first of September 2009. It was mild weathered aiming towards the last month of the summer. Fellow Smock member and friend, Ralph, invited me go run and train at the local elementary or middle school. We ran two laps or so for warm up prior to running two hard miles around the track. Initially, I was running with my “former love” gripped in my right palm during the warm up trial. Afterwards, I decided to place “her” on a secure spot on the synthetic turf laid underneath my t-shirt for lack of visibility from others. In turn, negligence was my worst enemy that evening as I picked up my shirt without picking up my “muse” (who does that?). An hour and half later, I came to the sudden realization that I forgot “her”, subconsciously knew that someone else “swept her off her feet” and I was single again!

Although I was completely heeded at the fact that “she” was stolen from me, optimistically, that frustration was transcribed into beautiful poetry. And since then, a compilation of poems birthed to be personally hand picked, my favorites and best, for my future poetic anthology coming soon.

Stay Tuned!

Jeff L.

Smock Salute!

Messy Mondays: One Less Smocker.

I know this post is coming a bit later than usual. However, I've been running around like crazy trying to get my mind right for my vacation this week. Speaking of vacation, you may notice that it's me--Riv--instead of Ralph on the 1's and 2's this Monday. Ralph is on a short hiatus in the great FL, but he'll be back in full effect sooner than later.

The smockers met up at Panera once more--sans our huge breakfasts' which was replaced by HUGE conversation. Jeff is working on choosing pieces worthy of a poetry compilation, Thierry is coming along great with his graphic novel development and even looking for an illustrator, and Ralph and I are working more than diligently on our manuscripts. Smockers were a FORCE this week!

Our topic was change for the week and everyone had an incredible way of penning evolution. Theirry shared an emotional piece on how a tragic event revolutionized his entire world, Jeff shared a piece he wrote at the start of the New Year in his Shakespearian wonder, and I shared a piece about a negative change happening in someone I love.

After short contemplation on our pieces, we exchanged banter of change and evolution within all of our lives. Relationships, interests, rocket scientists, the past and so many more topics lingered near our table of discussion.

Although its only been a few months, I feel like we've become a little writing family. The fact that things flowed smoothly sans Ralph proved this to me. Smockers unite? Word(s)

-riv-

MOOD WRITING - THE TOOLS UNDER OPTIMAL CONDITIONS

Pen and paper simplistically always suffice, when quarantined in the serene niceties that encompass places like the beach or the park. One day, in a diva move (if I do say so myself) someone asked me why I refused to write with a bic. I’d pose this question to anybody that’s serious about his or her craft. Would you wear dress shoes to play basketball? Would you drive a minivan to a race? Bic’s ballpoint pens will do – but why do that when I’m trying to conjure the best material I can?

Your only as good as your tools – here are the ones I use when I do get down with the get down.

PENS

Papermate flair’s – The inks thicker than a bic, but smoother than a sharpie marker, but has the same feel as one. With its felt tip, it’s my main weapon of choice. The best part of it is that if you have the right paper, it won’t bleed on the other side. This is a big issue for anyone that’s prolific.

Livescribe Pen – this is an anal retentive writer’s dream – it has the feel of an regular analog ball point pen, but when coupled with a livescribe notebook, you can create virtual notebooks, and pdf’s of your handwriting. Ah, the beauty of the 21st century.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

PAPER

Livescribe Notebooks – just when you thought the sheer fact that you can document all your writings electronically was enough, you can also record what they call “pencasts” – which are recordings that sync to the stroke of your pen! I’m surprised that this combination hasn’t won the Pulitzer Prize for writing ridiculousness.

MOLESKINE Notebooks – In everyone of their notebooks, they boast the following fact: For two centuries now Moleskine has been a legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers – Vincent van Gogh and Ernest Hemingway. But I don’t get into the theatrics of what it did to the departed – all I know is that the quality is unmatched, and NEVER bleeds. Enough said.

MUSIC

Instrumentals – Since writing is such an active action, TV’s, movies, and entertainments will affect your concentration. And in a sense music will too. I stay away from Hip-Hop because I find myself reciting the lyrics, thus taking my concentration away from the pen and pad. I like using instrumentals because they can evoke emotions with melodies, that explode on the paper.

Foreign Tongues – Bossa Nova, and other foreign sounds are the best especially when I need that voice to guide a beat. Although it’s listening to a song that’s in Portuguese or French, it helps that I have no idea what they are saying. It’s a soundtrack that isn’t too distracting

JAWBONE JAMBOX – We all know how well iPod’s work. But if you want to soak in the sounds of Mother Nature as well as your music, try using the Jawbone Jambox. Equipped with Bluetooth technology, the Jambox is perfect for syncing to your computer, your mobile device or tablet, to hear stereo quality sound instead of using the inferior speakers that your devices may have. Beware – Jamboxes are addicting and sexy!

What are your favorite writing tools?

Until Next Time

Ralph, Rambunctious Smocker

The Art of The Comic Book Script

"Where do I start?". That was the question I asked myself when I sat down to create my first comic book script. As it turns out, guys like Frank Miller or Brian Bendis make a very difficult process look easy. I decided to dedicate this post to those, like myself who have decided to stop just buying our favorite form of four color entertainment and start to create it as well.

"Thierry, what makes a comic so hard to write?" Glad you asked, a comic is difficult because not only do you have to organize a coherent story, but you must do it in a certain framework. Comics these days are usually done in story arcs. For example, many of you have seen "The Dark Knight" by Christopher Nolan. Had the story been told in the form of a comic, it would have been about four to six issues long. A comic is released monthly and the only way to get readers coming back to leave them with cliff hangers so they pick up the next issue. For example, the scene where Heath Ledger's "Joker" crashes Harvey Dents fund raiser could have been the end of an issue of a comic. The joker would have been drawn coming off the elevator; taking the party goers hostage and finally grabbing Rachel and asking her the iconic question "Wanna know how I got these scars?". The issue would have ended there, forcing the reader to come back next month in order to see what happens next. Every issue has to pull this off, they must each engage the reader and make them feel that they've read a complete story while at the same time leaving just enough questions so that the reader returns for the next issue.

The next problem for a comic writer is the layout of each page. In most cases this is done in conjunction with the artist of the book. Together, they would decide on how many panels should be on each page and how to link them together. This is important because it engages the reader and helps them to know which panel to read next.

Finally, there is the dialogue. Much like a screenplay writer, a comic writer must not only describe the characters surroundings but be able to put words in his or her character's mouths.

All of this is difficult, but not impossible to master. My best tip to aspiring comic book writers would be to start by doing what you already love. READ TONS OF COMICS!!!!!......TONS!!!! Read so many that the people around you start to worry about you. Read until you look like Tom Hanks in "Castaway".......well, maybe don't go that far, but you get my drift. The other resource that has been invaluable to me so far, has been that there are an unprecedented number of scripts being released by both of the big two comic book companies. Picking those up and picking out the techniques you like best will have you putting the proverbial boot to proverbial ass in no time!!!

In Brightest Day and Blackest Night, No Smocker Shall Evade My Sight!

Thierry

Until next post.....

The Usefulness Of Dictionary.com

Within my excursion of reading and writing, I have carried a useful tool to aid my comprehensive meaning of certain “diction” that never seen before my eyes until the moment they pop their dreary texts before me in conversation or the page of a book. With the help of this facile accessible tool, it can solve wonders behind words and sentences. My resourceful instrument for these preconceived grammatical enigmas is dictionary.com.

As we already know, a dictionary is a great and handy tool to carry. Rarely, readers and writers carry hard or soft copies, so the best and easy way to carry your own personal dictionary with no physical effort is to download the application. Since technology is an increasing norm, it can be downloaded on your cellular phone or simply, accessed through its website.

I find dictionary.com very resourceful. It provides the definition of a particular word along with its synonym and antonym. When encountering an unfamiliar word, usually, I go directly on my phone application to find the meaning behind it. The same goes for writing as well. Instead of repeating or using a boring word that is commonly known to others, I have a tendency to spice it up with a synonymous word that brings additional flavor to the body of work.

Daily, I have been jotting numerous definitions (“Word Of The Day”) in my own personal notebook for over a year to utilize them for future encounters in books, conversations and writing. Percentagewise, I most likely retain ten percent as opposed to the remaining ninety. Albeit memorizing the same words over a long period time, I still left with something knowledgeable for future encounters. Remembering a few is better than none at all.

Here are other useful ways to utilize dictionary.com aside from collaborative efforts between reading and writing:

Ø ENHANCED INTELLECT & FORMAL DISSERTATION: When having formal conversations with your peers, they will be easily impressed by the above average usage of vocabulary and punctuality.

Ø ENHANCED COMPREHENSION: When surrounded by those that feel intellectually superior, you can comprehend and possibly counter attack with surprising words that are least expected.

Jeff L.

Until Next Time, Smocker Out!