TWO STEPS FROM HELL

Two steps from Hell…. In my opinion the most incredible and inspiring production music company today.

Two Steps from Hell is an American production music company based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Thomas J. Bergersen and Nick Phoenix in 2006. The company focuses predominantly on making movie and trailer music, and has supplied tracks to films such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men and much more.

Listen to one of their tracks from the Classics, Vol 2 album:

You can find more info on them on their website and you can buy their tracks on iTunes and google play.

http://www.twostepsfromhell.com/
Music does make you braver.

 

Writing characters problems, obstacles and goals

Writing a Dialogue 2

In real life if people talk to you, they’d all talk to you in a different way. They use different words and it all comes out differently. So how does each of your characters talk? The answer will depend on:

Geographic background
Educational level
Age
Personality
Your character’s relationship with the person he or she’s speaking with.
Your character’s attitude to the conversation topic.

All this will affect his or her speaking style. This may seem like a lot to manage as an author, but it’s simple to learn. Get in the habit of really listening to how people talk (not only what they say). Take every opportunity to eavesdrop, on the bus, on elevators. Get to know your characters deeply. If you haven’t done so already, take a few minutes to read about character development.
Once you have a clear vision of your characters, you can play out their conversations in your head. Put the characters in an imaginary situation, and listen to what they would say. Try saying their lines out loud. And then write down what you hear. Clean it up afterwards. Effective dialogue is not the same as the way people really speak. Writing effective dialogue is a delicate art. You need to sound authentic, capture each character’s voice. And you need to cut it at the right moments.

Some reasons for using dialogue:
To let the reader hear your character’s voice.
When the conversation is a key event in the story.
As background, to set a scene.
In other cases, dialogue’s not the best option, and it’s better to summarize the conversation.

Do’s and Don’ts for writing dialogue

Do’s:

Pay attention to each character’s different speaking style.

Edit dialogue to trim off most of the fat. A lot of what people say is just blah-blah-blah, but you don’t want to bore your reader.

Show how the character speaks instead of telling it. If the character speaks angrily, you can make this come through in her words — it’s therefore often not necessary to add an expressive dialogue tag such as, “she said angrily.” The same if a character is shouting or crying, etc. Keep the reader’s attention on your character’s speech, not your explanation of it.

Don’ts:

Don’t get too colorful with the dialogue tags. “Hello,” she shouted; “Hi there,” he cried; “How are you?” she queried,” “Fine thanks,” he shrilled”… too much of this stuff gets distracting fast. Put your thesaurus away. The basic dialogue verbs “say,” “tell,” and “ask,” have the advantage of fading in the background, letting the reader focus on what your character is saying.

Don’t feel obligated to add a tag to every bit of dialogue. If it’s clear who’s saying what without them, then you can leave them off.

Don’t let your reader get disoriented. Use dialogue tags when they’re needed to prevent confusion. There’s nothing worse than stopping in the middle of an exciting scene to retrace the dialogue and try to figure out who’s saying what (“Okay, it’s the killer speaking here, so this must be the detective who’s answering him, not his sister…”)

Life in every breath

Love this scenes from The Last samurai It shows how we are seeking meaning in life. That little bite of peace that we all seek and few ever find. Life in every breath.

Welcome to your fantasy

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Memories of a Geisha

Have you ever read Memories of a Geisha or watched the film? In one word master piece. love it. The music is just amazing!

Click on the pricture to listen to the play list.

Why using Points of View?

Choosing which type of point of view to use in a story can be difficult for some writers.
The point of view in a story is one of the most important parts; without this, the story cannot be told. Let’s review the Points of View again before we get into how to choose one that will fit your story.

First person point of view: the character is telling the story; “I”, “me” “my”, and “myself” are used (example: I sold the last chocolate chip cookie).

Second person point of view: the author is talking to you from the story; very rare that it is used in a narrative (example: I want you to answer this question).

Third person point of view: the story is told by an outside observer; “he”, “his”, “himself”, “she”, “her”, “herself”, “they”, “their”, The observer is not part of the story (example: She told Michael that she wasn’t interested).

Remember: Your story should use the same point of view the entire time.

Now, you are still wondering which point of view best fits your story. Well, that all depends on you, but let’s start at the beginning.
Okay, first off do not begin your story in first person and then switch to third person. Do not start with third person and then abruptly go to second person.
Establish the point of view within the first two paragraphs of your story and above all, don’t change your point of view.
If you do, you’ll threaten your reader’s trust and could fracture the architecture of your story. That being said, there are novels, and I might say pretty good FanFictions who do use two Point of Views. Some people can make it work, but it is difficult. Whatever point of view choices you make, be consistent.

Writing a first person point of view story
In first person point of view, the narrator is in the story and relating the events he or she is personally experiencing.
First person point of view is one of the most common POVs in fiction. What makes this point of view interesting, and challenging, is that all of the events in the story are filtered through the narrator and explained in his or her own unique voice. This means first person narrative is both biased and incomplete.
First person point of view is limited, narrators cannot be everywhere at once and thus cannot get all sides of the story. They are telling their story, not necessarily the story. First person point of view is biased In first person novels, the reader almost always sympathizes with a first person narrator, even if the narrator is an anti-hero with major flaws. Of course, this is why we love first person narrative, because we get a look into the character’s personality and their unique perspective on the world. When writing in first person, there are two major mistakes writers can make:

1. The narrator isn’t likable. Your protagonist doesn’t have to be a cliché hero. She doesn’t even need to be good. However, she must be interesting. The audience will not stick around for 400 pages listening to a character they don’t enjoy. This is one reason why anti-heroes make great first person narrators. They may not be morally perfect, but they’re almost always interesting.

2. The narrator tells but doesn’t show. The danger with first person is that you could spend too much time in your character’s head, explaining what he’s thinking and how he feels about the situation. You’re allowed to mention the character’s mood, but don’t forget that your readers trust and attention relies on what your character does, not what he thinks about doing.

Writing a second person point of view story
While not used often in fiction—it is used regularly in nonfiction, song lyrics, and even video games—second person POV is easy to understand.
In this point of view, the narrator is relating the experiences of another character called “you.” Thus, you become the protagonist, you carry the plot, and your fate determines the story. Second person pulls the reader into the action of the story, makes the story personal, surprises the reader, stretches your skills as a writer.

Writing a third person point of view story

In third person, the narrator is outside of the story and relating the experiences of a character. The central character is not the narrator. In fact, the narrator is not present in the story at all.

Third Person Omniscient. The narrator has full access to all the thoughts and experiences of all the characters in the story.

Third Person Limited. The narrator has only some, if any, access to the thoughts and experiences of the characters in the story, often just to one character.

However, this distinction is not really clear. Even to me! I have never come across a full omniscience in novels, it’s almost always limited in some way. But the most important consideration in third person point of view is this:

How deep are you going to go into your character’s minds? Will you read their thoughts frequently and deeply at any chance? Or will you rarely, if ever, delve into their emotions? Again, this is your choice, but try not to Go back and forth between multiple characters and their emotions because this can become a little bit too much. And of course, show, don’t tell. Another trick that might help with your story is to use character point of view. I use this a lot. For example, you can write a whole chapter in one character point of view and the next chapter you will write in an another character point of view.

So which Point of View Will You Use?

Well, first and second person point of view is closer to the reader and thrid person point of view is further away from the reader.
That said, A third person narrator could also be closer to the reader as a first person narrator. The point is there is no best point of view. You just have to choose and start writing. If you feel comfortable using one point of view over the other, then use it! Never feel the need to write someting you don’t want to do, but remember, it doesn’t hurt to try other options. Say you are used to first person point of view because you are the one telling the story about yourself. Try to tell the story using third person point of view. Experimentation will not hurt you; it can help you. You may have to rewrite the story, but hey,  you might produce a better narrative.

Point of View

The Point of view is an incredibly important part of the story. Its role is to allow the reader to “see” or “hear” what is going on. It provides a picture for the reader in his or her mind and can even make the reader feel as if they are part of the story.
There are varieties of point of view, depending on how the author wants their story to be read. For example, if the writer wants a character to narrate the story, they will use words such as “I”, “me”, and “myself”. This is an example of first person point of view. Other points of view include second person and third person.
It is also important for the writer to ask himself or herself, “How do I choose which point of view to use in my story?”

The job of an author is not only to tell the story, but for his or her readers to be able to understand what the author is trying to show in his writing. One way of doing that is to use the tool of point of view. Point of view is the position from which a story is narrated or observed. It is the position of where a reader is reading the story. Let’s break down the several different types of point of view:

First person point of view: When a character is narrating (telling) the story. The character will use words such as: I, me, my, mind, and myself. You get to hear from the character himself, so it is an advantage.
Example: “I was walking to the park when suddenly, I heard a dog barking.”
First person plural: When a character is narrating and telling the story of himself (or herself) and other people. Words used include our, ours, ourselves, and us.
Example: “Our mother wanted to see the project we have made for Science class.”

Second person point of view: When a narrator is talking to you from the story as if you are part of the story. The author will use words such as you, your, yours, and yourself. This type of point of view is rare and is used to make the reader part of the action in the story. It is seen in non-fiction, but not so much in fiction writing.
Example: “Did you know that powerlifting consists of bench pressing, squats, and deadlifts?”
Second person plural: When a narrator is talking to more than one reader as if they are part of the story. Words used for second person plural are: you, your, yours, and yourselves. Now, I think it’s best for a beginner to avoid this point of view until they have developed singular points of view and first person and third person plural forms. I wanted to point out that this kind of point of view exists.

Third person point of view: When an outsider (the reader) is looking into the action of the story. The reader is not a part of the story like with second person point of view. Words used in the third person point of view are he, she, his, her(s), himself, herself, it, and itself.
Example: “Kelly wanted to meet Brian, but she wasn’t sure if she felt ready to meet him.”
Third person plural: Same thing as third person point of view, but instead of he, she, his, etc., it is referring to more than one character. Words used in third person plural include they, them, themselves, and their(s).
Example: “They decided to go to the movie theatre tonight.”

Third person POV is the most used form of storytelling in fiction stories. It is easy to use and you can show the world that you have created, on a bigger scale to your audience than with another POV.

Writing Prompt
Write a story using any one of the points of view. Afterwards, underline the word or words used to show which point of view you have chosen.