Friday, August 31, 2012

74 ~on writing

NAMING CHARACTERS





ANITA: “Cruella, isn’t that a new fur coat?”
CRUELLA DE VIL: “My only true love, darling. I live for furs. I worship furs! After all, is there a woman in all this wretched world who doesn’t?”


Magic Tip: Cruella de Vil’s name perfectly portrays a cruel and rich woman.

—101 Dalmatians, 1961, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman.


Character Names

How you come up with a name for your characters? There are some methods, from using a phone book or an obituary till running a random name generator.

Names are important because they directly relate to the character. Forget to name two characters with the same name, you’ll confuse your reader. Likewise, I don’t like to begin characters name with the same letter.

Sometimes a writer can even capture the spirit of characters names.


How can I give sense to a name?
  

Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf.
Magic Tip: Clarissa Dalloway is the main character. ‘Way’ and ‘low.’ It relates to the movement of Clarissa, and inner self.


Deconstructing INFATUATION, Merce Cardus.
Magic Tip: Marleen Walker is a tertiary character. She leaves right at the beginning. So she walks away.



 ***For more Magic Writing, click the topic 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry' on the right side. 

Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

73 ~ book news

THURSDAY LINKS: FLYING HIGH, PERFECT TARGET

Photo Credit: xkcd

Fifty Shades of Gray condemned as ‘manual for sexual torture.’ TheGuardian.


Wild especulation about the Nobel Prize in Literature. Jacket Copy. LATimes. 


Neil Armstrong: 1930-2012. BadAstronomy. Discover Magazine.



Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

72 ~on creativity

THE CREATIVE HABIT


Twyla Tharp. Photo Credit: Jeff Cravotta


Twyla Tharp, one of America’s greatest dance choreographers, shares her extensive experience in the creative realm in her book ‘The Creative Habit.’ 


“In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative.”


“I believe that we all have strands of creative code hard-wired into our imaginations.”


“Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature—all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won.”


“When creativity has become your habit: when you’ve learned to manage time, resources, expectations, and the demands of others; when you understand the value and place of validation, continuity, and purity of purpose—then you’re on the way to an artist’s ultimate goal: the achievement of mastery.”





Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

71 ~on curiosity

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE CURIOUS


“Someone great once said, To learn is to live.”

“Because the questions you’ll find are more important than the answers.”

“Keep curiosity running wild within you, let it keep pushing you to discover your passions and make you crazy enough to chase them.”


Watch this video:




Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Monday, August 27, 2012

70 ~on comparisons: zen story

THE MADNESS OF COMPARISONS

Photo Credit: Travelization

A samurai, a very proud warrior, came to see a Zen Master one day. The samurai was very famous, but looking at the beauty of the Master and the Grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior.

He said to the Master, “Why am I feeling inferior? Just a moment ago everything was okay. As I entered your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt like that before. I have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear—why am I now feeling frightened?”

The Master said, “Wait. When everyone else has gone, I will answer.”

People continued the whole day to come and see the Master, and the samurai was getting more and more tired waiting. By evening the room was empty, and the samurai said, “Now, can you answer me?”

The Master said, “Come outside.”

It was a full moon night, the moon was just rising on the horizon. And he said, “Look at these trees. This tree is high in the sky and this small one beside it. They both have existed beside my window for years, and there has never been any problem. The smaller tree has never said to the big tree, ‘Why do I feel inferior before you?’ This tree is small, and that tree is big—why have I never heard a whisper of it?”

The Samurai said, “Because they can’t compare.”

The Master replied, “Then you need not ask me. You know the answer.”

—Author unknown.


Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Friday, August 10, 2012

69 ~wizards

I SAY WHO, WHAT, AND WHERE!


Note: The Pythagorean Storyteller will be on break the next two weeks. If you are new, you can check out the topics on the right side. Stay well!



My novel I say Who, What, and Where! just came out in paperback—last version.

 “A fresh, witty, and inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely in spite of inner and outer conditioning.”

“A funny, heartfelt, often satirical portrait of 21st century life shines a light on the traps we fall into pursuing success, and how challenging can be to establish a hierarchy of values beginning with freedom, happiness, and love. Ultimately it encourages us to take charge of our own life, the sooner the better.”

“Marcy Hunt brings together Bridget Jones’ humor, Carrie Bradshow’s dreams, and Elizabeth Gilbert soul-searching, with a unique and compelling voice.”

Available in the following markets (Click the title):


Coming soon: Japan and China! Whoo! Whoo!

Enjoy the reading and don’t forget to tell me what you think about it.

For my Legitimate Readers, I leave you an excerpt of I say Who, What, and Where! :

CHAPTER 18. WIZARDS

Tuesday, Oct. 21. In the early evening.

Squeezing my head the whole day to find out who murdered Rolando and, in this way, fitting all the plot’s pieces together, evoked in my mind how fascinated people are with writers.

People sort fiction writers into the group of wizards, whose magic powers serve not only for creating threatened lives, in which the mortals can identify the similar slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as they withstand. But also, afterward, our magic brings the hero into a better world, eventually getting his elixir through either a learned lesson or a solved problem.

Likely, they are right.

I must confess that this magic waving of Merlin’s wand doesn’t come from demons or geniuses as the ancient Greeks and Romans used to think. We traipse all over town and other indescribable whereabouts, sniffing, eavesdropping, and stealing good stories, like private eyes, gossips, or word burglars. And afterward, we hide in our cave to puke out all that our senses have captured on a sheet. So I would say, we, the wizards, have a 24/7 job. We must stay alert constantly, even watching our dreams by night, as it were.

On the other hand, there are so many urban legends about writers out there, but thank all Gods we have already superseded the misconception that revolved around them: Most of us are not bohemian, neither alcoholic, nor drug addicts. I guess.

Basically, I’m saying all this, because when someone learns what I do for a living, they start pelting me with question-bullets, like an execution by firing squad. The bullets are: How’s your book coming? What’s it about? Where do you get your ideas from? Am I a character? Are you writing some personal experiences of yours? What’s the main character’s name? Could I read some of it? How many pages have you written so far? Do you know the end right from the beginning? Are you going to give me a signed copy? Is your writing similar to the well-known author’s writing? When are you going to end your book? Are you going to forget me when you become famous?

Wait a minute.

OBJECTION, your Honor! The questions are hearsay.

Trust me, I’m not exaggerating the matter. Not a whit.

As far as I am concerned, I don’t like to talk about my work. I consider that it loses its energy and magic. Besides, one never knows whether the inquirer likes to uncover some author’s real experiences, or is merely a Hollywood wannabe. So, between you and me, I enjoy sometimes making up a trivial story, nothing related to mine, for satisfying the busybody and trapping him in his own trick. Hah!

My point of view said, the manuscript is indeed in constant movement, above all in the first draft. So if I share with you what challenge the character is facing today, it may change tomorrow for the sake of the whole, and I would have to explain it over and over again. Trust me, it would be an interminable report. And what the hell, I don’t need to justify myself. I never ask about the entrails of the job that my friends and other acquaintances do!

Now, I recall the first day when I arrived in Miami, on my cab ride to the Splendor Condo, amazed by the cruisers leaving The Marina on my right hand and the mansions of Star Island on my left one, the Argentinian cab driver, staring at me through the rear-view, asked me the Question. The truth is, I got tempted to answer using my former job, but then it would have been worse. Picture it: putting on either a bitter-face or a sorry-face. So I was expecting the start-up shooting when he shot a new bullet to prove my point, “Oh man, oh man, you should write about my life!”

I caught a glimpse of his eyes through the rear-view.

He continued excited, “I’d like to write about my experiences in life. I’m in my fifties, so it would be quite interesting to close up the first five decade of my life compiling a memoir or a book with some of my experiences, though, I am scared. If I told you… oh man, my life has been a huge roller coaster. If I wrote it literally, I would go to jail and my wife would ask me for a divorce, so never mind… But if you write about my life, well, creating a new character, I mean, I’ll be saved.”

I do believe that some humans have more amazing lives than others–above all, those who don’t sit down in a chair like mere spectators letting their lives happen in front of them, but they take risks as heroes do, experiencing, living, becoming the main character—but no matter what, we all have at least one story to tell. To paraphrase the old adage, “Everyone has a book inside them.” But also I would say a story to hide, let’s not fool ourselves—yes, don’t look the other way, you too!

“Interesting,” I said, taking a deep breath.

When I thought it had just been small-talk, which most of the gossipy cab drivers always force clients to strike up, he handed me his business card. “Call me if you feel like hearing a good story,” he said. In exchange, he would invite me to share a deliciosa sopa de caracol [A delicious snail soup].

Wait a minute.

DISGUSTING!

I totally forgot I had his business card, just to use in a desperate case. But let me tell you, now having a stake in Rolando’s case… Fellas, I have bigger fish to fry.

Far bigger.


Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN  STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

68 ~book news

THURSDAY LINKS: MARS ATTACKS








Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

67 ~on learning

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS


Photo Credit: Getty Images
Chapter One

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost…I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.


Chapter Three

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it’s a habit…but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter Four

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five

I walk down another street.

  


Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

66 ~on books

11 COMMANDMENTS OF WRITING & DAILY CREATIVE ROUTINE




Henry Miller on Writing, by Henry Miller.



Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Monday, August 6, 2012

65 ~on creativity

WALK AS A CREATIVE SPARK


Watch this video:




Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Friday, August 3, 2012

64 ~on writing

TELL ME A FOLKTALE


Photo Credit: Virtual-History
KING ARTHUR: “I have no pride left in me. What I do, now I do for my people and for Camelot. And may they forgive me. This is my last act as your king. Do not be afraid. All things change. I am Arthur of Camelot, and I command you now… all… To fight! Fight like you’ve never fought before! Never surrender! Never surrender! Fight as you never….”
[Arthur is shot by several crossbow bolts]
KING ARTHUR: “Camelot lives!”

Magic Tip: Number 16: Struggle.

                                                      —First Knight, 1995, Jerry Zucker.


FolkTales

Have you ever read the wonderful Russian Folktales? Or Ian Fleming's novels (James Bond)? What about Indiana Jones?

They all have something in common: the same storyline.

Vladimir Propp in his Morphology of the Folktale analyzed the plot components of Russian folktales to identify the narrative elements (functions). Function is therefore the action of a character which defines the meaning of the climax.


The 31-character functions:

1. Absentation: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment.
2.     Interdiction: An interdiction is addressed to the hero.
3.     Violation of Interdiction: The interdiction is violated.
4.     Reconnaissance. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance.
5.     Delivery: The villain gains information about the victim.
6.  Trickery: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim’s belongings.
7.     Complicity: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy.
8.     Villainy or Lack: Villain causes harm/injury to family member.
9.     Mediation: Misfortune or lack is made known.
10. Beginning counter-action: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action.
11. Departure: Hero leaves home.
12. First function of the donor: Hero is tested, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper.
13. Hero’s reaction: Hero reacts to actions of future donor.
14. Receipt of a magical agent: Hero acquires use of a magical agent.
15. Guidance: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search.
16. Struggle: Hero and villain join in direct combat.
17. Branding: Hero is branded.
18. Victory: Villain is defeated.
19. Liquidation: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved.
20. Return: Hero returns.
21. Pursuit: Hero is pursued.
22. Rescue: Hero is rescued from pursuit.
23. Unrecognized arrival: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country.
24. Unfounded claims: False hero presents unfounded claims.
25. Difficult task: Difficult task proposed to the hero.
26. Solution: Task is resolved.
27. Recognition: Hero is recognized.
28. Exposure: False hero or villain is exposed.
29. Transfiguration: Hero is given a new appearance.
30. Punishment: Villain is punished.
31. Wedding: Hero marries and ascends the throne.


Magic Tip: Write down the above functions on cards. Shuffle them, pick five, and tell me a folktale!

Enjoy your writing!



 ***For more Magic Writing, click the topic 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry' on the right side. 

***Check out the new reviews of ‘Deconstructing INFATUATION’

Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

63 ~tales news

THURSDAY LINKS: FOR THE SAKE OF A TALE

Photo Credit: Sir Walter Firle




  • Is the story of Steve Jobs an inspiration or a cautionary tale? Wired.




***Check out the new reviews of ‘Deconstructing INFATUATION

Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

62 ~on learning

THE POWER OF SIMPLE WORDS



Photo Credit: TED
brevity

Noun: 1. Concise and exact use of words in writing or speech.
           2. Shortness of time.
            3. The bread and butter.


Watch the video:





***Check out the new reviews of ‘DeconstructingINFATUATION 

Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.