Musings of Two Creative Minds

Well folks, this week will be my finals at college.  I've completed a couple of them already, but I still have more to take care of this week.  I've started my new job as well, so I've been pretty busy.  I'm really hoping to be get back to my regular posts about writing very soon, so please bear with me.   Now I know I've mentioned in previous posts getting ideas and materials for your stories from life.  Well, I've been taking 4 dance classes this semester (Jazz, Ballet, Improv and Latin).  I've attached a YouTube link below to show you some of what I've had to do for my Improv Dance Class final.  The performers are myself and my wife Helen performing our own take on the Bruno Mars "Lazy Day Song".   We had a lot of fun putting this little number together and performing it.  I've also gotten a lot of ideas from the entire experience that I'll be using in my writing down the road.  Please keep this in mind.  If there's somethi...

Recently I've been doing a lot of things at college, especially dancing.  I'm currently taking 4 different dance classes: Jazz Dance, Ballet, Latin and Improvisation.  Each of these dance-styles are unique unto themselves but also share aspects such as "Core-Building", fluid movements, music, etc.  I enjoy trying all these different styles and how my body reacts to them.  Also, I find how they make me feel emotionally and mentally quite stimulating and refreshing. Now what does all this have to do with bringing characters to life?  Simple.  To me, a person's life is the sum total of their experiences both good and bad.  How we react, what choices we make, all of these things shape who we are and who we may yet become.  So if a life is shaped by experiences and how they made you feel, how can your characters be any less human than you or me?  But a character is just that.  A made up person with no real past or experiences, EXCEPT for the...

Greetings one and all.  I survived my first week of College, got all the classes I wanted and a nasty case of Heat Exhaustion.  Doing better now, but it has been quite an experience.  Which brings me to today's topic... A lot of people wonder where can they find inspiration, settings, characters to write about.  My answer is, look back on your life.  You may not think you've led a very interesting life or maybe you've been all over the place and have had numerous adventures and wouldn't know where to start.  In either case, you have a wealth of material to draw upon. For example, in my novel I chose upstate Connecticut.  My grandmother lived there for many years and the place always fascinated me.  She was caretaker for a famous architect who owned a mansion there, that dated back to the 1600's.  Beyond the mansion was a 100 foot hill with a little cottage at the top.  While near the house my grandmother lived in was a large kennel, ...