Musings of Two Creative Minds

As part of my college studies, I took a class on Creative Writing this semester.  I've had some really good exercises to work on during the course, some of which I'll share with you all in time.  But what I wrote today just surprised even me and I thought I'd share it with you all and hopefully give you a  little laugh.  It's a very short story mind you and was done quickly so please excuse any grammatical or lack of serious detail.  I was following the guidelines of keeping it short.  Now the exercise was to write a short scene where a person has an audition/interview to go to.  And several things have to happen: someone unexpected shows up, a routine is disrupted, irrational behavior or thoughts occur, there are negative and positive actions, and finally a terrible thing to happen occurs.  So now I give you my effort at this exercise:             Jane couldn’t believe it, the call ha...

Just posted another snippet from my Horror/Mystery novel "THE SHIP".  This is my 2nd novel and is still underway.  I hope to have a completed 1st draft by the end of next month at the latest.  If you'd like to check it out here's the link... New post from my 2nd novel "The Ship" on my Wordpress blog http://akrummenacker.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/new-scene-from-my-paranormalhorrormystery-novel-the-ship/

     Today I want to discuss a setting and also a plot device I'm using.  Above you see the remains of a concrete ship.  Yes, you read correctly a ship partly made from concrete.  This vessel is the S. S. Palo Alto, built to serve in WWI when steel and metal supplies were becoming scarce.  She was part of a fleet of 12 experimental vessels.  Unfortunately, she was completed in 1919 after the war was over and made her only self-powered voyage to the San Francisco Bay Area.  There she sat for 10 years and was eventually purchased by an entertainment company and towed to Seacliff near Santa Cruz.  Once she came here, she was refitted and turned into an entertainment showcase.  An arcade, fine dining, a bar, even a pool was built inside of her to the pleasures of her many visitors.  The middle photo above is a model replica of her in those glory days when she was known as "The Amusement Ship".  Unfortunately, two ye...

     Shortly after coming to live here in Santa Cruz I began frequenting the cliff area overlooking the bay.  It seemed everywhere I went along these cliffs I would see surfers riding the waves.  As I watched I began taking notice of how they would paddle out and sit and wait for a wave to come.  As one approached I noted they turned their boards around.  Then as the wave raised the back end of the board, the rider would press down in the front and once momentum was established they'd lean back and stand up.         I found this hypothesis fascinating and consulted one or two of the veteran surfers nearby to confirm my suspicions.  And they were more than happy to congratulate me on my observations.  I was indeed right and would I be interested in joining a class and taking lessons.        Unfortunately, I wasn't ready at  that time, nor am I now.  But it is something I'd ...

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...

     I took these photos at the Long Marine Lab located on the campus of the University of Santa Cruz.  All of them are of a young Gray Whale skeleton that is 25 feet long and is obviously outdoors.  The creature has been put up on metal pipes to keep it off the ground and give it that more caught in the moment feel.  As you can see in photo #3 it has been placed next to a path and a mere 20-30 feet from a fence that allows visitors to look over a cliff and out at the ocean.  The view there is breathtaking and can really inspire a person's imagination.      In my case it inspired a terrifying scene for my second novel where a young female reporter has been snooping into matters regarding  Cassandra Elliott (billionaire heiress) and her lover Julie DeLuca-Cloudfoot (shamaness and internet erotic lesbian wrestler) my two leading characters for this novel.   They have been stalked by a strange figure wearing clothing...

My apologies for the long silence, but 2012 has not been kind to me so far.  Lost a dear friend recently and there were other things going on as well which I won't go into right now.  Now, college has started up again and I'm busy with that as well, BUT... I am making progress on a 2nd novel.  I got it up to 38,000 words already. I'm hoping to have a completed 1st draft by the end of this month.  Wish me luck.  In the meantime please check out my other blog which contains a sample of novel #2 which I've tentatively titled "THE SHIP" I hope you enjoy it.  Here is the link: http://akrummenacker.wordpress.com/