Hop to it!!

The Question:
Who has been most supportive of your writing?

I would say that hands down my wife has been most supportive in my writings. That, and she has helped me with all of the wonders of using the computer to write. Thanks, Babycakes! I'd also say that my big sister, Becky has also been a huge supporter, ever since I began writing at the age of ten. She's extremely intelligent and I highly value her input, ideas, and criticism.

The rules
1) Follow this blog.
2) Follow Elizabeth Sharp, the host of this hop
3) Follow the featured author of the week.
4) Go to Sharp words and copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there.
5) Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
6) Answer the question
7) Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite! This post serves as a perfect place for you to say hello!
8) If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9) Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

The Rise of the Anagonist

Keeping track of characters and events is the easy part. Having them do what you want is even easier. It's kind of like a perfect world. Everything goes the way you want. Then there arrives a point in which you're almost 'forced' into making a decision you had not intended. But then again, it's surprisingly fun.

A good story usually has parts to it that you don't like because the course events may take that leave you telepathically screaming 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' That makes a story more believable because it mirrors life in that 'the cookie doesn't always crumble the way you want it'. While we all want everything to go well, the good guy to win, and for the world in our stories to go on as perfectly and smooth as it could be, that would be incredibly dull and boring. Adversity adds flavor, creating interest which lures in those who may wonder: What happens next? That one little thought generates curiousity which is  satisfied by exploring the story, usually from beginning to end.

Another facet of that little wrench in the works, adversity, is the antagonist. Everyone loves to love the bad guy. Some may be utterly evil, invoking a shudder of extreme revulsion at their very being. Others are masked beneath a thin veil of smiles, popularity, approval, and good intentions. Others still have become the bad guy, usually through a series of unfortunate events. But they all have one thing in common: they're fun to write, usually more than the hero. I love to write them, particularly when trying to write the baddest of them all. I look at it like Alexander the Great on his deathbed naming a successor from among his generals: Kratisto, To the strongest.

Weekend Enjoyment

After an Easter weekend of enjoyment with my family, I feel a little guilty having neglected my writings. It was an excellent trade-off: fun with the kids, outstanding food prepared by my wife who is the ONLY one in her family that can cook! And finally an exciting morning for our kids seeing that the Easter Bunny had visited, leaving all manner of colored footprints about their rooms.

But I feel compelled to return to my writings, especially having received loads of inpiration from my wife and children. I feel the dam is about to burst, and I can't wait to spill my ideas all over the page- er, well type on the computer. I will still enjoy the rest of my holiday weekend before the work must resume. I feel so good about this all, and can't wait for the end to finally be written.

But, I will be patient. And in the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero- Dum Spiro spero.

Friday Blog Hop

For Elizabeth Sharp one of the most useful tool in my writing arsenal is Urban dictionary. What is your most referred to website for your writing?

I google everything, getting info mainly from wikipedia. Any other info I may need to know I get from my collection of dictionaries (English, Latin, German, French) to add to my more diversified style.


1) Follow this blog.
2) Follow Elizabeth Sharp, the host of this hop
3) Follow the featured author of the week.
4) Go to Sharp words and copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there.
5) Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
6) Answer the question
7) Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite! This post serves as a perfect place for you to say hello!
8) If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9) Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

Research

I love researching either what I'm writing about, or comparing too. I love learning, and that goes hand-in-hand with writing. Most of my research consists of history, language, and geography. I get as lost in my research as I do in my writing. It's swimming in an eternal ocean. There is so much to learn, and as a writer, infinitely more to expand on. Writing stories set in this world is a fun exploration, a kind of Socratic journey. But it's magnified when an entirely new world is created either by sheer inspiration for something new, or a parallel to something real.

Often times my kids inspire me to make certain adjustments or add new elements to create a unique environment or character. Many of my characters are inspired by them, adding a 'new set of eyes' to the creative process for elaboration.

I've gained an insane amount of knowledge researching for my works, and it was well worth it. How much research is too much? To me, the answer is that there is 'no too much'.  What do you think?

It is what it is

I've often wondered how descript or graphic to get when describing a scene of horror, war, or suffering. And each time I come back to the same conclusion: it is what it is. Now I'm no fan of the slasher gore-fests that so many have become accustomed to in today's media, but I am one for making it as real as possible.

A believable story is one that immerses you in what you're reading. I hate stories that you really have to try and think about what the author is trying to say. But the ones that tell you what is going on to whom that you can just feel it, those are the stories that make for excellent entertainment.

That is what sorts the exceptional writers from the mediocre.

Writer's Follow Friday Blog Hop!

This week's question is Shakespeare asked What's in a name? But we all know better. So let's talk about names, specifically our blog's name. How did you come up with yours?

My blog is my pen name, that I combined from two historical figures I admire immensely: Julius Caesar as a determined general of antiquity, and Marcus Tullius Cicero as a staunch supporter of the Roman Republic and the Optimates, who oddly enough was an enemy of Caesar. I chose this name out of several others because I felt it had that epic sound and feel.

The rules
1) Follow this blog.
2) Follow Elizabeth Sharp, the originator of this hop
3) Follow the featured author of the week.
4) Go to Sharp words and copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there.
5) Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
6) Answer the question
7) Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite!
8) If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9) Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

Writer’s Follow Friday Blog Hop!

This is the blog hop for the writing community. Every Friday writers who blog come together and hop!

This week’s question:
Inspired by the spectacular melt down of Jacqueline Howett on Big Al’s Book Blog, how do you deal with a bad review?

How would I deal with a bad review? I haven't been published yet, but I've received many reviews over the years. I'm proud of the work that I do, but am fully accepting in any and all criticism. After all if my work is no good, then it's my fault. Having said that, I would not accept a bad review from someone who would just like to make waves and not offer any real substance. So it really depends on the situation.



The rules
1) Follow this blog.
2) Click the quill photo and follow Elizabeth Sharp, the originator of this hop.
3) Follow the featured author of the week, Nichole Chase
4) Copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there.
5) Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
6) Answer the question
7) Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite!
8) If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9) Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

Order of Things

I find that writing in order can be somewhat counter-productive. Now that isn't necessarily true all of the time, but it is most of the time for me. I've found that writing in order, from beginning to end, can be slow to the creative process as you tend to forget details or scenes important to your story. So often I'll jump around and write out of order, rather frequently to keep the high and low parts flowing as well as the fast and slow. It's much easier to connect the dots than to struggle to keep facts straight just plowing right through. At least that's how it works well for me.

It's just as entertaining trying to piece all of the parts together to form the whole. At times new or different ideas may come to mind to improve or better 'season' it. Now typically I'm very regimented in nearly everything that I do, so writing out of order seems a dreadful step from my norm. Fortunately, it works! For me anyway. 

It's kind of similar to how movies are filmed, with all of the similar scenes and characters done together and out of order. That way there is less hassle to run back and forth from this location to that eighteen hundred million times. I know it sounds rather disorganized, but it really isn't. Having kids really helps you to function effectively with organized chaos. 

Or maybe it's better to liken it to building a bridge: you start with the supports and then connect them with the actual bridge itself. 

A lot of times I come up with new or better ideas than before to more proficiently accomplish the same result.

Encouragement

Hearing criticism, for me is empowering. Both positive and negative fuel my drive for excellence. Being competetive helps too. It helps to shape and form my work into a much better image than just blind creation without any outside influence. True, art is just that to the artist, but it is also inspired by those who view or read it.