Author Archives for Anna

You Are What You Read

We watch what we eat to keep our bodies healthy, but how many of us watch what we read to keep our writing in tip-top shape?

I struggle to understand how some writers can keep churning out work without doing much reading of their own. For me, reading gives me much-needed inspiration, teaches me what to do and not to do, and often brings me new insight on my current projects. Authors are, after all, idea-magpies: we steal the shiny to build our nests stories. But I didn’t fully realize just how much influence my reading choices have on my writing until a few days ago.

I recently finished reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy as part of my 100+ Reading Challenge. I hadn’t read a classic in a good while, and although it took a while to sink properly into the style of prose, I found myself ultimately enjoying its complexity (and often unnecessary prolixity).

My own writing is generally direct, unadorned; writing description is one of my weak points. But as I set aside Madding Crowd and took up my writing journal, my pen had a will of its own. Out poured longer sentences, unusual adjectives, descriptions of the minute. Oh, the voice was my own, but changed.

You know when you met a person who speaks English with a different accent from your own, and you really get along? Eventually Accomodation Theory kicks in and you start speaking like them, often without even realizing. That’s what I was doing, but in writing.

All of a sudden it made sense why, when blocked, reading my favourite stories of a similar genre would help me start writing again. I suppose I only conciously noticed it because Hardy’s writing is so different from my own as to make the changes obvious.

Of course, this has a downside: reading too much of one genre or style could not only suffocate my voice, but limit my creativity.

You are what you read. Like with food, watching what you read can be extremely beneficial. And, as with food, a healthy, balanced book diet will ensure you’re at your writing best.

How much attention do you pay to what you read?

Come Salutare La Morte

[Cross-posted from quillsandzebras]

One of Gabriel Gadfly‘s most popular poems is How To Greet Death. You should read it; it sounds a lot better than my (attempted) Italian translation.

******

Come Salutare La Morte

Saluta la morte
Con le mani nelle tasche,
Stravaccato, calmo,
Controllato, e sicuro.
Con la traccia d’un sorriso
Ed un goccio di colonia.
Dille Perché ci hai messo così tanto?
Dille Sei indietro, zia.
Dille La morte va di moda.
La bara è il nuovo condominio.
Pallido è il nuovo abbronzato.
La vida muerta.

Saluta la morte
Con una manciata di girasoli,
Farfalle nello stomaco,
E due biglietti per l’alba.
Mettiti i gemelli di papà
E la fede della mamma.
Dille Te gli ho portato, cara.
Dille Baciami, baciami.
Dille Ma aspetta finché sorge il sole
Solo finché spunta il giorno.
Voglio mostrati qualcosa.
Hasta la muerte, te amo.

Saluta la morte
Con un coltello sulla gola,
il collo allungato,
il cuore battendo.
Senza niente.
Senza niente.
Dille Provaci stronza!
Dille Solo sui miei termini.
Dille niente
Ed apri la gola
E sanguina fino alla fine.
El final, el final, el final.

******

Read the original poem.
Gabriel, you’re awesome.
(Sorry for butchering it.)

Glossary

An alphabetical list of unique words and their definitions. Clicking on linked words will take you to that particular definition, whereas linked words in brackets will take you to a related wiki page.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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AFFECTED

A non-human, a person who has an affection of either the mind or the body. Affections are genetically determined, and not passed on through contagion, despite rumours to the contrary. The derogatory term is infected. Compare with unaffected.

ARANEA

A six-limbed race of affected with dark skin and round eyes, rather spider-like in appearance. They are notorious for their bad eyesight, and for the fact that very few male aranea are ever seen, leading to the myth that bedding an aranea leads to certain death.

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BLAND

A derogatory term for an unaffected person living underground, presumed to arise from the fact that humans are bland or boring due to their lack of special abilities. See also worm.

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CESAILIA

An aquatic race of affected who are half human, half octopus.

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ETTERGIN

Pronounced /eh-ter-gin/ (with a hard ‘g’), these are small mythical moth-like creatures known for grouping around corpses and living off the putrid remains. Their bite is not deadly, although some myths indicate it may cause allergic reactions in some humanoid affected. They hibernate during the colder months in dark, humid, warm spaces. In the Lakeside district, they are colloquially known as merrilees.

EWTE

A semi-aquatic reptilian race of affected known for their sharp business skills and penchant for thievery. Colorings and markings vary across regions, with some showing spotted or striped skin, anywhere from dull brown to bright green.

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HALFER

A derogatory term for an affected person of mixed werekin and human blood. Cross breeding is very much looked down upon, particularly because the halfer will have the instincts and desires of a werekin, without the ability to change.

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INFECTED

A derogatory term used by humans living underground to refer to the affected, due to the widespread belief that affection is contagious, and transmitted by blood.

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NITUM

A purple flower which grows solely on the island in the middle of the Lake, thus accessible solely to the ewtes. This flower is slightly poisonous to werewolves, more so when dried; if ingested, a werewolf will not be able to change to their wolf form. For this reason it is often used medicinally, to avoid accidental changes in cases of great injury.

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REBEL

The currency used above ground by the affected.

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SIPIDS

An affected person who shows no affection — while they may have some physical oddities such as an odd number of limbs, or unusual colouring, they are human in appearance in every other way. To those “fully affected” living above ground, sipids are only one step above blands. Some believe that sipids and blands are one and the same, except sipids have grown up above ground and blands have not.

SLAVERS

Those who deal in the trafficking of slaves. The industry spans across both underground and above ground societies, with underground slaves being sent to work in mining and building operations, and above ground slaves more often been sold for body parts, or as general labour.

STEIN

Male steine, female steina. A race of affected, human-like in appearance, whose outer layers of skin are hard and rock-like.

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TARI

A poison secreted by ewtes which, when ingested, can temporarily paralyse their prey. The poison of newborn ewtes is extremely strong, but it slowly diminishes in potency over time.

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UNAFFECTED

A human, a person who has no affections of either the mind or body. The derogatory term is worm or bland. Compare with affected.

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WARD

Female: wardess. The head witch of a particular coven. The position is held for life and passed down to a pre-groomed member of the coven.

WEREKIN

An affected capable of changing shapes between human and an animal form. Despite their shared abilities, werekin of different animal kinds do not mix, and often treat each other as if they were completely different species.

WORM

A derogatory term more often used by werekin for an unaffected person, due to the fact that humans live underground, like worms. See also bland.

Imaginary Friends

Have you ever noticed that your characters slowly grow and evolve, until they take on a life of their own? You’re writing a scene, knowing how it will end, but no! Your characters have a mind of their own and refuse to comply with your demands.

Someone who isn’t a writer may think we are all slightly insane. And perhaps we are. It is kind of odd to think about how much time and energy we invest in people who don’t actually exist.

I’ve been skimming through other writers’ blogs lately, curious to learn about their writing process, sources of inspiration, and more. I can’t remember where, but I stumbled across a blog post on imaginary friends, and, really, what are our characters other than imaginary friends?

I don’t know about you, but I began writing out of loneliness and frustration. There were so many things that child-me did not want to speak about to others, that I made up imaginary friends I could talk to, who understood me and valued me, made me feel part of something greater than myself.

I must have made up hundreds of characters. And when I wasn’t writing about them, I was daydreaming about them, creating a new character when I tired of the previous one.

Slowly I came to realize that all these imaginary friends were actually the same two people–under different names and appearances, in different settings, with different backgrounds, perhaps even different personalities–but with the same soul.

And to this day, I’m still writing about those two imaginary friends of mine.