My Storytelling Mind

She glared at the mirror, teeth chattering, knowing full well that they were watching her. The cold water fell over her in buckets but she refused to let them see her humiliation. They may have stolen her freedom, but they would never break her spirit.  Find this blurb on Pinterest . Photo: (c) Nikos Reskos.

The book was his mother's, his only remembrance of her since his father remarried. He remembered the stories she would read to him when his father wasn't home, and how she would bring the beautiful pictures to life. He had seen mermaids, unicorns, fairies, and even dragons frolic about his room. This time, his mother wasn't here to read it, but he opened it anyway. A small letter fell in his lap, marked "To My Son, After I Am Gone." Find this blurb on Pinterest . Photo: (c) Amorphisss.

"Tom, come back," John whispered, stopping as he glanced over a shrub down to the water. "What now?" Tom asked, stepping back. "There's a girl in the water," John said, pointing. Tom pushed him out of the way to look. "She's not wearing anything," Tom said, and John nodded. "And what gentlemen would we be if we let her go around like that, John?" "No gentlemen at all, Tom," John replied as Tom smiled, mischievously. They ducked down and made their way, quietly, to the shore. Find this blurb on Pinterest . Photo: Queen Vicky Park , 2009 (c) Tom Hunter.

The flowers in the main hall were wilted when she arrived home, and the candles were more than halfway burned down. "Where were you?" he asked, coming out of the study. "I got you flowers." "They're beautiful," she replied. He didn't ask her again as he looked into his glass of whiskey. She excused herself to bed and he didn't stop her. Find this blurb on Pinterest . Photo: (c) Elsa Billgren

The basement swirled below her as she yanked and pulled on the handcuffs holding her to the railing. Whoever decided that chaining her to the railing would ensure the completion of initiation was an idiot. It was probably the same idiot who thought it was a good idea to initiate people in the abandoned lighthouse, she thought to herself, as the dark mass of water continued creeping up the stairs. Find this blurb on Pinterest . Photo: (c) Thomas Prior

In addition to several fictional works, I'm also working on a mass fantastic reference of mythological beings. I have Excel sheets, Word lists, and several combined notebooks just for this pet project, working to document as many creatures, and variations of those creatures, I can. It's fascinating and eye-opening work that provides all of these mythological entities not drained dry by mainstream media (poor werewolves and vampires, they've been through a lot). Mermaids have been through a lot, too. Today, I'm jumpstarting the actual deep research required for this project; I have the names, I have the mythologies, I have the geographical locations, but I don't yet have the myths or the facts or the images. Starting alphabetically (because Excel is fabulous), I started with the Adaro from the Solomon Islands , near Australia.  Solomon Islands Adaro Sculpture (c) JCC Jewelry The Adaro is a malevolent mer-person, often considered a sea spirit rising f...

Mondays are tough, and motivation always seems at its lowest on Monday mornings, regardless of how much the birds sing or how blue the sky is or how blustery it is. But words can change the worst of moods or attitudes, and poetry is a great, small way to wake up the creative centers of your mind. With creativity flowing, your motivation and inspiration is guaranteed to follow, improving your Monday at least a little bit. (c) Tyler Kent White Tyler Kent White specializes in short and significant poems, speaking elegant truths about the world. His poetry is a simple motivation and a beautiful one. This poem, for example, which I read over this morning, got me moving and motivated for class today - something I always have trouble with - and I'm cognitively functioning much better than if I let the Monday gloom stick around. For more helpful, insightful poetry, check out my Poetry board on Pinterest.

He stared at her, and she at him, watching the time pass in her eyes. "Not possible," he muttered; she only smiled. He was a man of science, but the longer he stared, the more he felt himself fading away, as if his time was passing faster and faster. The hands passing over her iris seemed to circle faster and faster until, as silently as it had begun, he was gone, dust upon the ground. She glanced at his followers; they had seen a Gorgon's power and would never forget it. Find this blurb on Pinterest ! Source: Unknown.

She was a life force in shades of pink; he could hardly look away without having to look back again. He followed behind her as she wove through the trees until, suddenly, she appeared in front of him, her eyes boring into his. She was unreal; he found himself reaching out to prove her existence. Warm solid flesh met his finger tips as he grazed her shoulder. She flinched, but only momentarily. Find this blurb on Pinterest ! Source: Unknown.

"Queen of Kings," Nyree Mackenzie for Moustache Magazine She glanced at herself in the glass, taking in the armor she wore for the first time. If only it hadn't come to this. If only she had known...  Find this blurb on Pinterest !

I learned this trick in a playwriting workshop at Eugene O'Neill Student Days , but the exercise works with any genre or kind of writing. The goal is to visually meet your character(s) without overworking your conscious mind; instead, this exercise lets your unconscious fill in the blanks. The original exercise asks you to picture a door in your mind - any kind of door, let your unconscious do the work. Once visualized, describe the door out loud to solidify the image in your conscious as well. I also find that recording it helps so I can keep my eyes closed. Then, knock on the door (or ring the doorbell, etc) and describe who opens the door in detail, also out loud. If you want, and have the time, this exercise can be extended to include an "interview" with your new character - their name, their age, their family, etc. In my adapted version, I've developed a Pinterest board specifically for doors, taking half of the work out of the exercise so you can concentrate ...

Lady of the Swamp (c) Lilla Marton Some fairies are larger than others, and hold greater power. Find this blurb on Pinterest !

I get emails from Knock Knock, Paper Source, Barnes & Noble, and multiple other companies that produce splurge-worthy notebooks. I would buy all of them if I could actually afford the splurge. Instead, I'm doomed to have neverending wishlists of beautiful, sassy, and inspiring notebooks. In the spirit of procrastinating my Reading Challenge (I'm halfway through, okay), I started online window shopping (there must be a shorter phrase for that) and added even more awesome notebooks to my lists. For anyone wondering, or looking to blow their budget, here are my top notebook providers: Knock Knock This Composition Book is Full Of... (c) Knock Knock Knock Knock is sarcasm and inner frustration printed prominently on notebooks , notepads, and office supplies. In addition to multiple notepads I really want ( My Portable Therapist or Paper Tantrum , for example), the site has some really fun notebooks. Pictured above is one of the tamer notebooks, and there are noteb...

Reading is hard these days. Case in point, I went to look at my Kindle library for this post and got distracted by that Disney Kingdoms app. Our minds are stimulated in such different ways now than from when I was growing up. Reading was easy, fun, and satisfying. Now that I've become a more digitally dependent person, I have to reprogram my brain for books . Reading Girl, A.C.W. Duncan Although I've read bits and pieces of books in the past couple years, and a few required books for school, I haven't (of my own vocation) read a full book in quite a while. To reintroduce my brain to not staring at a screen for entertainment, (1) I'm limited what's on my bookshelf here at school and (2) I want to start off with something I haven't read in a long time but have read previously. My thought process here is that rereading a book I enjoyed will utilize the muscle memory of my brain with much more specific memories. This narrowed the options to a really fun book:...

Inspiration for breakfast by Jennet Liaw Good morning, wordsmiths! In case I haven't said so already, I'm a major procrastinator. There isn't anything I won't procrastinate if it's an obligatory task - like homework or laundry or exercising or even writing sometimes. Hence my love of lists. I can list out what I need to do and work through the list in increments rather than being overwhelmed by just knowing I have to do everything. Today: A glass of water - I always wake up thirsty. Household tasks - A clean home is a creative home. Breakfast - Honey Nut and lowfat milk. Mmmm. Reading Challenge - Check back at 10am. Class prep - I told you. I procrastinate on homework. Dinosaur study - Midterm season is upon us. School time - 2 to 4pm, all about Imagination & Creativity. Grocery list - Yes, I do math before I shop. I'm on a budget. Watch new episodes of my shows - Bob's Burgers and The Flash, anyone? Anyone? Other blog work -...

(c) Sherri Hill Dresses Her laughter twinkled in tune with her dress; he couldn't help but smile with her, despite a frown on Susan's face. But Merrilyn's smile remained strong.  "I'd forgotten how absolutely hilarious your stories are," Merri said.  "A real hoot," Susan replied. He glanced at her but Merri ignored her.  "Well, I'm glad I made you laugh at any rate," he said, clearing his throat. "I can't remember the last time I made Susan laugh."  "God forbid I have more serious matters," Susan said, quietly. Find this blurb on Pinterest !

Tony Pinkevich for Untime The topic may seem totally random, but quite a few of my research topics need some context. In this case, I'm taking an Ocean Media class at university. We're assigned to a creative final project, which included the possibility of a creative story; of course, that caught my attention. Secondarily, browsing Tumblr, I came across a series of stories demonstrating how smart octopuses are, almost in a human capacity. I decided I really needed to know more about octopuses. Just bear with my dork levels for a couple of minutes. The above video gives us a front row seat to an octopus learning by observation - just like babies with walking, talking, or eating properly. In this case, at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Institute in Italy, two octopuses are watched in a super interesting study. The two octopuses are in adjacent tanks, able to see each other through a glass wall, and one of the octopuses (the Trainee) has experience with the experiment. A cra...

Pinterest is what started me on sharing my writing. I've been posting blurbs and prompts for over a year, and collecting tips & tricks for much longer. It's like the Google of inspiration. I'll be double-posting my blurbs here now, when I write them, and updating stories that you'll also find have their own boards on my Pinterest . Usually, when a story develops past two connected blurbs (and it's likely to keep developing), I make a board specifically for that story. Of course, I have several more stories offline, but some stories have their own visual addendum.  (c) The Barren Land, 2013 #1. Her feet left no footsteps, thought he didn’t notice, and she didn’t seem too preoccupied about the fact that she was terribly dressed for cold weather. He was intrigued, as he had been when he first noticed her out the window the day before. She had seemed too familiar with the grounds to be a random trespasser. Above, the first of over 600 blurbs on my ...

Let me start by saying I'm really not one for diaries or journals. I find it hard to open up, even if no one's reading. But I truly have a writer's brain - there isn't a single moment I'm not narrating my life, listing out things to remember, or envisioning a story I'm working on. Sure, I have notebooks. I have plenty of notebooks. I'll probably buy more notebooks at the next opportunity. My brain jumps around faster than a pencil; the only time I genuinely write in a notebook is during the drafting process. Or when I'm writing lists. Have I mentioned I'm a heavy lister? I decided I need a 'brain outlet,' something that I can dump all of my thoughts into - my research, my character naming jaunts, my blurbs, my daily mini-obsessions (documentaries, anyone?), and my creative juices for the day. Amid all the individual tastes of my mind, here you'll find writing prompts, lists, character creations, a glimpse at my writing proc...