Marzi's Page of Wonders (and other oddities)

I wrote the opening scene to a new story today, and it's a scary one. Not brutal or anything, but hopefully scary. Suspense is trick sometimes--knowing what to put in and what to leave out. There may be things that I think "oh, this is a scary aspect to the scene!" But at the same time, I can't clutter it up with a bunch of description. I've got to encode the descriptions in there and keep the action moving. Also, using unique words. I dont' want to use old cliches, but I also don't want to take… Continue

I've got a challenge for myself and anyone who may happen reads this: write a paragraph-long story. Sounds crazy to some, maybe, but I think it sounds like fun. I'll give a prompt below, and you see what you can do. Post it as a comment, if you like. I'd be happy to see what y'all come up with!

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Sadie gazed from her window. The gray sky dripped rain onto the laden trees, and rocky had long ago retreated into his kennel. When would this stop?

I've decided to try and instill emotion without blatantly stating the emotion. Which is what I usually do, I guess :-P So instead of writing "A wave of terror washed over her", I'll try something more like "Her body felt suddenly weak. Her breath left her tightened chest as she realized her fate."Not perfect, obviously, but something like that, anyway.

I drew up a relatively quick pic of the main male character in my latest. As it turns out, he looks shockingly similar to Buster Keaton, which m… Continue

So I've just been trying to edit a scene from my spec-fictiony romance today. Sigh. I'm trying to manipulate emotions without getting cheesy or self-indulgent. It won't be easy for me, I think. How does one say that his gaze captured hers (after all, that's what happened), without writing "his gaze captured hers"? Most of the time, when I read a romantic scene, I end up giggling, and I don't want that to happen with my story. I want the reader to feel what the character is feeling, and if that m… Continue