Story Challenge Update

There's a fairy house in my garden!
click to expand

I did not plan on failing. I will have to improve my plan when I try again. 

I will be making some hardcover copies of Ghost Wind - the story that my daughter and I wrote together, one windy day on the prairies.

This fall I will take a writing class and join the Storytelling Guild of Manitoba.

Thimble Planters

Just now I am busy helping a family of fairies move into my garden.

Fairy wash day

I will be back to try the story challenge again soon.

Fairy lights

When We're Together, It's A Party.

Things happen fast with a four year old boy. When Matthew suggests that we play,  I know to jump into action immediately.

Hey! dum diddlee dum,

Hey, dum diddlee dum,

Hey, dum diddlee,

Hey, dum diddlee, 

Hey! dum diddlee dum. 

Everyone gather round,

With a hey, dum diddlee dum.

Cause we've just found,

This brand new sound, 

It's a hey! Dum diddlee dum.

- Matthew's first ukelale song

We invent games, songs, and language together on the fly.

Matthew leaves a sparkly trail behind him and my world is brighter and sweeter.

(Note: Those are my eye glasses.)

Grandmother and Grandson. 
A very special relationship.

Ghost Wind

The Prairie is full of ghosts.

You can hear them on a windy day.

That's why the prairie is so windy.

Ghost Indians, buffalo ghosts, 

ghost pioneers, and animal spirits.

If you listen you can hear their stories.

This is a story that my daughter and I wrote together, one windy day on the prairie, when she was four.

Allegory And An Honorary Dinner

The Soul

For Shannon Yeats O'Brien

I have been asked, short notice, to say a few words about a past President of the Irish Association of Manitoba, whose board of directors I served on. The dinner honouring Shannon Yeats O'Brien is tonight at the Irish Club.

When you join a group like the IAM, you will find that it is a microcosm of the world, and you will have the opportunity to try yourself socially and politically, and you will find out what you are made of. Believe me when I tell you, if you enter with any illusions of grandeur, you will leave knowing the truth about yourself. In this way, it is a true test.

There are few things that the Irish love more than a good story, especially an allegory. All Irish mythology is allegorical. I am going to take advantage of the situation to practice some storytelling.

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, greed, or envy. 

Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

 Human Vanity - Harmen Evertsz. Steenwyck

Once there was an old, old woman and she had been walking for a long, long time and her feet hurt. Finally she came to a little town and she went up to the very first door of the very first house. She knocked upon the door.

A young woman answered. 

Old woman: I was just passing through and I thought you might be able to spare a little bit of food or something to drink... 

Young woman: No, I have nothing for you, and she shut the door in her face.

So she tried the next house where the answer was the same, and the next, and the next... Finally she was so tired and hungry that she sat down on a little bench to gather up her energy and strength. 

She heard a noise then, the sound of a galloping horse - she looked and she saw coming up the road into the main square a huge, black horse and up on top of it was a handsome young man with a long, flowing cape. Then she heard the sound of all of the windows in all of the houses being flung open and women and men leaning out to see the young man approach. They ran from their houses carrying goblets of the finest wine and platters of their best cheese and meat. They fought with each other to feed him. 

The old woman was not amused. 

She waited until the crowd had gone away and she made her way up to the young man on the horse. She got his attention the best way she could - tugging on his trouser leg. 

He looked down - Yes? 

Old woman: Excuse me, are you the king? 

Young man: Me? No, I'm not the king. 

Old woman: Oh.

Young man: Why do you ask? 

Well, she says, when I got here I knocked on all these houses and not one person spared me a morsel of food - and you - when you got here sure they were fighting to give you the finest things they had - so I want to know: who are you? What's your name? 

Oh, he said, that - well my name is story. Everywhere I go, everyone wants to see me because everyone wants to hear what I have to say - and you being treated so terrible - who are you to be treated this way?

Old woman: Oh, that. Well, my name is truth. Everywhere I go no one wants to see me, no one wants to hear what I have to say, they all close the door in my face. 

The young man thought for a moment. 

Young man: Do you see my fine, big horse?  

I do, she says. 

Young man: And do you see my fine, long, flowing cape?  

I do, she says. 

Young man: Well, you could ride up here under my cape and we could travel the world together, and whenever I get food - you'll get food, and whenever I get wine - you'll get wine. 

That's great idea, she says.

And that is why, to this day, inside every story there's a little bit of truth.

This is a reworking of The Naked Truth; a Jewish archetypal allegory. 

The truth is, Shannon Yeats O'Brien, you have been tested - and your test was especially hard; and it has been witnessed that you never faltered in being good and true, loyal and brave, generous and kind-hearted. You gave it your all, and you did a fine job. 

TO THE TOP

Day 9: 30 Day Story Challenge. A Portrait of the Author as a Young Woman

According to Susan Sontag, the writer must be four people: 

1. The nut, the obsédé - supplies the material 

2. The moron - lets it come out

3. The stylist - is taste  

4. The critic - is intelligence 

A great writer has all 4 – but you can still be a good writer with only 1 and 2; they’re most important.  

Reborn: Journals and Notebooks: 1947-1963 by Susan Sontag 

Reference: Brain Pickings: The Quartet Of Creativity 

Caricature

A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way.  

In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.

Claire Fletcher

The work for the remaining story challenge will focus on introducing and caricaturing the story characters and creation of the storyboard, and then finally putting finished images and text together.

Helen Oxenbury

Day 8: 30 Day Story Challenge: Character Development

Bringing Séamus Into Focus 

His greeting started out direct and friendly, with an ease afforded by his distinctive size. Then, with a deceptive downward tilt of the head he gazed back steadily through a fall of hair, seeing. Seeing more than you would voluntarily surrender; or maybe he was just a little hard of hearing in one ear.  

Day 7: 30 Day Story Challenge: The D Draft Day.

Expect The First Draft To Be a D+

I imagine that you, the reader, are like me. Ambitious about a creative project. Lacking enough experience initially. Determined. Realizing, with effort, that the task (the initial stages are a job) requires skill acquired with practice.

Expect the first draft to earn you a D and work up from there. This is great advice given to me by a client yesterday when I finished my description of the progress of this story challenge by confessing that I could taste the fear in my mouth. She has managed many team projects.

Frank Zappa's Rules For Success

1. Give it all you've got. 

2. Keep going.

3. Don't stop. 

More learning, more practice, more patience, more vision, and more effort are all required. Otherwise there is only despair. 

Day 6: 30 Day Story Challenge. Time To Make Some Decisions

The drawing on the left is the first drawing of an Irish wolfhound that I drew a year ago, 

the drawing on the right was drawn June 2013. See! There has been some improvement.

Even though the title of this post is Day 6, it is actually the 11th day since my story challenge began. The project would seem to be faltering. 

A lot has been happening behind the scenes here, but none of it has been hugely productive, yet. Originally I thought this project journal would simply be daily drawing and writing as I developed the character and the story, and I suppose that is still my goal. It is a delicate time in my development, however.  I must remember that I am learning and to give myself a chance. I am taking the time to learn about the basics of storytelling. 

The project is off to a creaky start, but I am confident it will build momentum as I figure things out, practice writing and drawing, develop skills, and with dedication and focus - apply myself; certainly the purpose of the challenge..

Matthew

To meet the goal of this challenge: to write, illustrate, and self-publish a Séamus story, I have decided that this story will be about a day in the life of my grandson, Matthew. Great adventures can start right in your own backyard. What happens when Séamus comes to play? 

So back to the drawing board... 

I'm looking forward to the next challenge: A 30 day intensive abdomen-strengthening, self-improvement project. It's going to be a cakewalk after this.

Day 5: 30 Day Story Challenge: Character Development

In language, a character can be presented through dialogue, action, body language, physical attributes, and interior monologue. Because I am favouring not giving Seamus the unnatural ability to talk (for a dog), interaction with other characters and their view of the protagonist are two other methods that I plan to use to present Séamus. Social status is of particular interest to me.

Accumulated information that is merely gathered data rarely brings a character to life, however, description, background, and explanation can help get us started. In the fiction I admire, it seems that the most vivid character takes on life not so much from an accumulation of information as from the experience of watching this individual in action over a number of scenes. And even then, the most memorable characters will sometimes leap to life in a single moment that reveals a unique and peculiar detail of manner, or a unique and peculiar turn of phrase in dialogue. Something, in other words, that causes a sharp flash of recognition... the telling detail or revealing speech pattern is so sharp and fresh and singular that it automatically contains within it all the rest I need to know about the character. Somehow the writer has found a detail so precise and suggestive that it hints, in a way that perhaps even the writer may not fully understand, at an entire unique soul. A Passion For Narrative Jack Hodgins

Miner's Ledge, Muckish Mountain, Donegal County 

Photo by Gareth McCormack

  The Seamus Files

Basics

Full Name: Séamus McManus
Meaning of Name: A Celtic name, the Irish equivalent of James
Nickname: Irish
Birth Place: County Donegal, Ireland  
Age: Advanced: the lifespan of an Irish Wolfhound is 6-10 years, 7 years being the average
Nationality: Irish
Race: Irish Wolfhound
Hair Color: Brindle combination of golden, red, black, and grey
Hair Style: Coarse
Shape and Features of Face: Shapely head proportionately sized in length and breadth to match an impressive stature, with mustached flews and bearded muzzle
Eye Color: Amber
Scars or Distinguishing Marks:
Disabilities:  
Build or Body Type:
Height: 
Weight:
Gestures:
Weakness:
Special Abilities or Powers:

Brindle Colour Chart

Family, Childhood

Mother:
Father:
Birth Order:
Brothers:
Sisters:
Other Close Family:
Best Friend: 
Other Friends:
Enemies:
Home Life During Childhood:
Town or City Name(s):
Details of Town(s) or City(s):
Sports - Clubs:  Lure Coursing, Racing, Running, Tracking, Agility, Rally, The Irish Wolfhound Club (est. 1885)
Favorite Toy or Game:
Schooling:
Favorite Subject:
Popular or Loner:
Important Experiences or Events:
Health Problems:
Culture:
Beliefs:

It is recommended that characters begin life in the imagination, exert their pull from there, and once they begin doing that, then they require detailing that only experience can supply. Roger McDonald

Characteristics

Bad Habits:
Good Habits:
Best Characteristic:
Worst Characteristic:
Worst Memory:
Best Memory:
Proud of:
Embarrassed by:
Driving Style:
Strong Points:
Temperament:
Attitude:
Weakness:
Fears:
Phobias:
Secrets:
Regrets:
Feels Vulnerable When:
Pet Peeves:
Conflicts:
Motivation:
Short Term Goals and Hopes:
Long Term Goals and Hopes:
Exercise Routine:
Day or Night Person:
Introvert or Extrovert:
Optimist or Pessimist:

Mullangore Woods, Donegal 

Photo by Gareth McCormack

Preferences

Music:
Foods:
Sports:
Social Issues:
Clothing:
Games:
Greatest Want:
Greatest Need:

Fanad Head, Between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay, Donegal

Photo by Martina Gardiner

Now

Home:
Favorite Possession:
Most Cherished Possession:
Neighbourhood:
Town or City Name:
Details of Town or City:
Significant Other Before:
Children:
Relationship with Family:
Best Friend: Hilary Courage
Other Friends:
Enemies:
Career:
Dream Career:
Dream Life:
Love Life:
Hobbies:
Guilty Pleasure:
Sports or Clubs:
Talents or Skills:
Intelligence Level:
Greatest Strength:
Greatest Weakness:
Health Problems:
Culture:

Life Before Story

Past Careers:
Past Lovers:
Biggest Mistakes:
Biggest Achievements:

Coming Soon: The missing details

Character Chart From: Charlotte Dillon

Day 4: 30 Day Story Challenge. Character Development

The Twelve Common Archetypes

Dr. Carl Jung defined twelve primary types that symbolize basic human motivations. Each type has its own set of values, meanings and personality traits. Also, the twelve types are divided into three sets of four, namely Ego, Soul and Self. The types in each set share a common driving source, for example types within the Ego set are driven to fulfill ego-defined agendas. We have traits from several of the archetypes at play, however, one type tends to dominate the personality. 

The Ego Type

• Innocent 
• The Every Person / The Orphan
• The Hero
• The Caregiver

The Soul Type

• The Explorer
• The Rebel
• The Lover
• The Creator

The Self Type

• The Jester
• The Sage 
• The Magician
• The Ruler

A lot of a character's development happens behind the scenes, and even if details about a character are not in the story, it is important for a writer to know their character intimately, they often decide a character's decisions and actions.

Séamus is a combination of Hero - Explorer - Sage:

Hero
Motto: Where there's a will, there's a way

Core desire: to prove one's worth through courageous acts

Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world

Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a "chicken"

Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible

Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight

Talent: competence and courage

The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

Explorer

Motto: Don't fence me in

Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world

Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life

Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness

Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom

Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit

Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one's soul

The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.

Sage

Motto: The truth will set you free

Core desire: to find the truth.

Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.

Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.

Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.

Weakness: can study details forever and never act.

Talent: wisdom, intelligence.

The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.

Reference: 

Soul Craft: The Twelve Common Archetypes by Carl Golden

Andrew Miller: Creating Characters

Charlotte Dillon Character Chart

Day 3: 30 Day Story Challenge: Time To Take A Tally

 This is what I have so far:

• Séamus is an Irish Wolfhound
• Irish Wolfhounds are sight hounds, not scent hounds
• Irish Wolfhounds are big dogs
• Séamus has simple pleasures
• Séamus likes to drink tea
• Tea, little smackerels for teatime, and naps are some of Séamus's most favourite things
• However, Séamus has complex concerns
• and unusual ambitions
• The two possible themes of this story are contradiction and vulnerability
• General conflict: to overcome the odds, despite idiosyncrasies
• I have a story outline (see July 2011: Introduction Post)
• All and any of this could change
• I haven't decided if Seamus talks or not

The call to write has been long and deep for me. This challenge gives me an opportunity to educate myself, to practice writing in a structured, strategic way, and to work with a defined purpose. This challenge gives me a chance to honour the call.

I write because I care, because I need to understand, because I am curious. I love storytelling. I think that it is as powerful as in ancient times when a storyteller had more power than Kings and Queens; times long ago when a story could last six hours.

Un Jour, Un Chien by Gabrielle Vincent

Day 2: 30 Day Story Challenge: What Makes A Story Great?

Rafferty by Valerie Davide

Writing is like stretching. If you stretch to a certain point, the muscle reacts by gripping. The thing to do when this happens, is to breathe, let the stretch happen, and to not let the tightening sensation take control. 

When you decide to start a writing project, it is when you are staring at the blank page or screen, that this gripping sensation can take hold. This stage requires courage, clarity, knowledge, and insight. Perhaps this stage needs a little yin too. Deep breathing and softening.

I do not have all of the skills necessary to complete this project, and it is a fearful stage. But it is only a stage. I cannot see Séamus clearly yet, and I cannot answer the questions: What does Seamus want? What are the stakes? I have not figured out setting or plot, or the particulars of the conflict or theme. I even have conflicts with my character. I don't want to lose the fact that Séamus is a dog, yet I want to give him superpowers. I struggle with where I should begin his story, how to reveal and how much to reveal of his character. 

I do have the foolhardy courage of a beginner, and contradiction here- the experience and perspective of a mature person. I can also work at adding to my knowledge. This will give me time to catch my breath and it is sure to help me figure things out. So, let's keep going...

What Makes A Story Great?

According to the bestselling author, Brenda Novak, it all boils down to core storytelling basics.

1. Start the story in the right place- an unusual or exciting event or a worthy challenge.

2. Save the back story for later. Add it carefully and sparingly - just when the reader needs to know. Essential details only. 

I've been trying to decide if I should start with my original story idea (introduced in my first blog post, July 2011) or start by introducing Séamus. It would be more fun for both of us to jump right in to an adventure.

3. If it didn't have to be pretty, how and what would you write?

4. Build conflict. Conflict is the engine that drives the story. Layered conflict that grows or changes keeps the story interesting. 

5. Don't underestimate your reader. Do not over explain, especially when explaining action sequences and character thoughts. Use subtext.

Subtext is like a gift to the astute reader—an additional layer of meaning implied by the text but not accessible without a bit of thinking. … Experienced readers aren’t confined to the text—what’s printed on the page—they interact with the text, fully participating with the writer in the making of meaning in the story. Alicia Rasley 

6. Skip the boring stuff. Use realistic dialogue. Avoid too many tags and adverbs (he smiled sadly...)

7. Keep the reader in the action, moving in real time using specific details, better diction, and stronger verbs. Avoid clichés and generalizations. 

8. Help your reader suspend disbelief by avoiding a plot that is too contrived or coincidental. Use your best material only when it is relevant.

9. Avoid writing that is overly dramatic or self-indulgent.

10. Avoid saying too much or too little. Too much and it will be pretentious, too little will make it difficult to connect with characters and affect the emotional impact.

11. Create layered characters who are not perfect and who are properly motivated to be believable. Describing body language adds texture and depth to the story.

12. Make them laugh. Look for opportunities to add wit, unusual perspectives, and small, believable understated incongruities.

13. Make them cry. When a story causes laughter and tears it will be memorable. Take your time and let emotion build from a single seed.

Reference: Writer's Digest: 7 Simple Ways To Make A Good Story Great
Learn The Basics from A Best Seller: 10 Things Every Writer Should Do In Their Novel

Day 1: 30 Day Story Challenge

The Muse

For the next 30 days I will write and illustrate a Seamus story, and blog about the process involved. I will develop the character in picture and word, from the very beginning, step by step, figuring it out as I go. At the end of the 30 days I will self publish the story. 

A 30 day format gives structure to the project and encourages a daily habit. Figuring out what will fit, what I can accomplish, is largely an unknown. 

My main character is an Irish Wolfhound and it is important to me that he view the world and make choices influenced by his unique perspective. I want to exercise my narrative skills to be able to show, not just to tell, important details about the character and the other elements. I will be developing the illustration at the same time and with the same objectives. I think I'll need to focus on the illustration. Finally, I want a good companion in Séamus because I'll be spending a lot of time with him. I figure if I can fall in love with him, you may too. 

Getting Started

Five basic elements form the framework of a story:

• Main Character: Séamus McManus, Irish Wolfhound: simple pleasures, unusual ambitions, complex concerns
• Setting: to be determined
• Plot: undecided
• Conflict: to overcome the odds, despite idiosyncrasies
• Theme: contradiction, vulnerability

Reference: Flocabulary Five Elements Of A Story Hip Hop Video

Story Teller - Writer

@ Pinterest

A 30 Day Challenge

The Worldly Adventures Begin...

I have decided to kick things into gear around here by writing, illustrating, and self-publishing the first Séamus McManus story - in 30 days - starting June 1, 2013.

It is in honour of my grandson's 4th birthday and the birth of his cousin. It is also a decision spurred on by a competition with a young author whom I know. Sofie is twelve. We are competing to publish first. It is also my third 30 day challenge this year and I like the manageable size of the undertaking, especially with something new and intimidating.

This seems most important

I have been researching Irish Wolfhounds, practicing storytelling, writing, and learning about storytelling. Now it is just time to do it.