Memorable Characters

Apparently, there are set of questions that can help us building a character of a story.

Here's some of the things we should think through:
1.What do you know about this character now that s/he doesn’t yet know?
2.What is this character’s greatest flaw?
3.What do you know about this character that s/he would never admit?
4.What is this character’s greatest asset?
5.If this character could choose a different identity, who would s/he be?
6.What music does this character sing to when no one else is around?
7.In what or whom does this character have the greatest faith?
8.What is this character’s favorite movie?
9.Does this character have a favorite article of clothing? Favorite shoes?
10.Does this character have a vice? Name it.
11.Name this character’s favorite person (living or dead).
12.What is this character’s secret wish?

You can find the rest of the questions from this helpful site.

Alrighty, enjoy answering the questions and reveal the character for your story!

Bisous,
us

Cliches Happen

Hi :)

Sindrow here. Gonna tell you a little bit about Shrines.

As I said in the Author's note preceding the story, this one's originally written as a screenplay. I'm currently tackling on another writing class which is basically killing me slowly by demanding me to write different stories every week. And not just stories! Screenplays, to be exact.

As this is sort of my final week for the class, I'm required to develop a screenplay. It has to have Act One, which is the opening. Act Two, which is the 'movie' where the character is confronted with the obstacles and what-nots. And finally, Act Three, where the problem is resolved. Along with those 3 acts, I had to come up with a premise, which is basically a summary-- not unlike the one you read on the back of a DVD enclosure. They also wanted me to come up with a message, a character arc, and a central question (i.e. will Indiana Jones beat the Nazis and find the Ark of the Covenant?). But enough about the technical stuff.

I was scrambling when I had to the assignment. I've used all my resources for past writing assignments and I've exhausted my brain for my other classes. So I turned to the most cliche advice: Write what you know.

And so I did. What do I know?

• I know obsess about things-- so let's make my character be somewhat obsessed about something.
• I know like movies-- so my character will watch movies
• I know I memorize quotes from movies-- aHa! let's make my character speak in quotes!
• I know I'm somewhat awkward when it comes to meeting people-- of course, why make our character's life any easier, right?
• I know I love Love Actually-- hey, let's throw that in the story as well!

So, from all those stuff, I put together:
A premise
Cooper Conlan is an average guy with a dead-end job as a video store checkout staff. He becomes obsessed with the movies that he’s watched. When a girl, Lanie Stotts, comes into the picture, he tries to impress her by reenacting movie scenes. But she knows movies as well as he does and she doesn’t seem to appreciate what he’s doing. Now Cooper has to learn that what happens in a movie doesn’t always work in the real world.

A message
Somebody else’s words can’t compare to your own.

A Character Arc
Cooper Conlan lives in a small town where nothing exciting ever happens. His job in a video store requires him to know every single movie on the shelves. He becomes slightly obsessed with them. He makes comparisons between the real world and the scenes that he saw on his TV and comes to the conclusion that his life would be far more interesting if it were like the movies. Now that the girl that he likes appreciates originality more than anything, Cooper must let go of his obsession of movies and start to direct his own life.

And whaddya know? About 12 hours away from the deadline, I finished a whole story.


So there you go. As much as I hate to admit it, cliches sometimes work.
Write what you know, even if it means you have to write about yourself ;)

-Snd

Once More With Feelings.

Hello, hello, hello!

How's everybody been doing? We hope you're all doing fine and being as creative as you can be :)
However, those of you who's been a bit stuck, in terms of having a writer's block, we got a little tip on how you can get things to start rolling.

First, if you can't write, put down your pen and pencil (or step away from your computer, however you roll). Get out of the room and go somewhere else. It could be as near as your back yard, or as far as the nearest park, mall, or museum even.

Second, when you get there, enjoy yourself. Just be there for the moment. Really soak in what you see, hear, and feel.

Third, take your time.

Finally, when you got home, sit back down in front of your pen & paper or computer and just write about where you've been. But elaborate things a bit more. Give more texture to your words to build the atmosphere of your story.

so instead of saying, for example, "the fountain was pretty"
try saying, "the fountain was undoubtedly beautiful under the streaks of the setting sun. It glistened with every splish and splash of water, coming out of spouts that are concealed as mouths of two golden seahorses guarding the graceful marble structure."

ok that wasn't an amazing example, but you guys get our drift right?

the point is: be as descriptive as possible. get into the details. write every single sound that you hear. write every color that you see.

write with all your senses.


xoxo,
us.

The word is out :)

Hi, gang!

First of all, Eid Mubarak to all the muslims out there. may your good deeds during the Ramadhan be a trigger for all the good deeds to come! :)

Second of all, it's time for another update on our Word-Of-The-Day (re)tweets!
We'd like to remind you that we tweet a particular word everyday (well, most of the time :P) to get you going in that creative process of writing. check it out on our twitter account: @thebalonudara

Those of you who are already following us, come join the fun! it's a completely effective way for you to get out of the writer's block. and plus, it's also exciting to see what other people come up with!

And to those of you who are already tweeting us your writing, thank you so much! and as a token of appreciation, we're posting your writings here.

Here we go... (click on the read more button if you can still see it)

BalonUdara goes Tweeting!

Unless you're one of the relatively healthy people who actually live their life by staying away from the internet, chances are you have an account (at the very least) on Twitter.com. Well, so do we.

What makes our tweets fun to follow is, any of you can participate in what we'd like to call the BalonUdara's creative process. See we provide the word-of-the-day in our tweets, and you can tweet us your creative writing using the word. We will retweet your work (and your ID of course), and share it to the dreamers out there. Another fun part is, well, you have to manage to write in 140 characters or less. Challenging, isn't it?

Below is an example.

On 30 August 2009, our word of the day is "paragon" and here are what some of us and some of you had created:

@Runii "A vain girl. With her beauty she could get away with murder. Her predecessors made her the paragon of a perfect girlfriend."

@theycallmenurk "He just killed his 8th victim. No trace of blood, hair, not even a part of a fingerprint. Perfect, & unsolvable. He calls himself Paragon"

@parakeetums "the paragon was a gentleman's club incongruously located between two bakeries. like the women inside, its facade was warring with time"

We also give Indonesian words.

On 2 September 2009, we made "pilin" (which means "twist" in english) as our word of the day, and voila:

@bittersherry "Sudah sedari kemarin . Menunggu di bawah pohon beringin. Sendiri, diam, dingin. Desau daun, terpilin angin."

@Runii "Salahku, yang memelintir jernih pikir, memintal waktunya menjadi kelambuku saja. Memberi contoh. Sekarang rasaku dipilinnya."

@frauassenava "Hoakiau tengik, kau pilin fakta dengan hikayat konspirasi lalu menjerukun akal bulusmu dengan suapan materi!"

@irasaidnaN "berpilin-pilin kau di bimasakti, berpendar-pendar kau menari. oh, bintang, benarkah kau bukan dari masa kini?"

@tyrantmouth "dapatkah kau pilin ruang dan waktu sehingga hanya ada kau dan aku?"

@theycallmenurk "berpilin-pilin nasib manusia kupegang kuasanya. ironis, aku sendiri terkungkung tak berdaya memilin-milin nasib sendiri."

Want to join the fun of writing, reading and of course, dreaming? Follow us at http://twitter.com/thebalonudara

Another exercise.

Since we've been so dry on ideas lately, here's another writing exercise. This time it's inspired by a book from Joe Brainard called I Remember.

Basically what we gotta do is write a poem about something that happened in the past, starting with the words "I remember". Simple, isn't it?

Here's what Joe Brainard wrote:

I remember the only time I saw my mother cry.
I was eating apricot pie.

I remember Aunt Cleora who lived in Hollywood.
Every year for Christmas she sent my brother and me a joint present of one book.

I remember shower curtains with angelfish on them.

I remember how embarrassed I was when other children cried.

I remember one very hot summer day I put ice cubes in my aquarium and all the fish died.

So, again, there aren't really any rules to this. You just write whatever you want :)
these are ours:


I remember
everything was white,
everything was black.
It was so easy to wait and not go back.

I remember
the cloud started to turn grey,
the gloom fairy had sprinkled the pain dust.
If only i could just pray that pang is not a must.

I remember
my eyes couldn't see a thing,
my ears couldn't hear a melody.
Life then was very numbing and blinding.

I remember
the beam spangled, sequined, flickered,
it was on, off, on, off, on, and finally off.
I thought i had been answered, not sent off.

I remember
everything was dark,
everything was murky.
I know nothing and nothing is known.

I dont remember
life in yester years.
I dont remember
life at the moment.
I dont remember
life after tomorrow.

I remember
I have a long term memory damage.
I remember
I remember.
--Nandia


I remember you
and me
--Runi


I remember
the rush on my horrified feet
pedaling away from fear

I remember
the menacing footsteps against the tar
the sound of terror

I remember
the sinister stare over my shoulder
the eyes of the hunter

I remember
my five-year-old self escaping
my neighbor's dog
--Sindy


I remember
the twilight where we sit waiting
for the closing time to come

I remember
us smoking together
happy and numb

I remember
for i wish then
time would stood still
--Nielam

be sure to tell us yours!

Up, down, touch the ground. Exercise!

So, after an uninspired while, we decided to break out of the mold and do something new: a poetry exercise.

This exercise is taken from a wonderful book called Poetry Everywhere by Jack Collom and Sheryl Noethe. So, basically we're given a stanza which we must complete with our own words. But the trick is to not use the first word that comes to mind. For example, instead of saying simply “bird,” we gotta write something like “hollow-boned/ winged creature”. Seems simple enough, right?

Here's the original exercise:

My soul moves like __________
dreams about __________
smells and feels like __________
has been seen _________

there's no right or wrong. we can write anyway we want to... it's just an exercise :)
anyway, here are our versions...

My soul moves like a crippled fairy trying to flutter free
dreams about a wondering little boy questioning a dream
smells and feels like burnt feathers rotting slowly
has been seen struggling against the obvious fate of human touch
--Runi


My soul moves like a broken mermaid in the ocean
dreams about waltzing out of tempo into a lethargic dance
smells and feels like the air of a coming storm
has been seen cursed and confined to the depths of the heavy seas
--Sindrow


My soul moves like the spectrum of gemstones matrix
dreams about the girl that simpers at games of mind
smells and feels like a leaf that bites the ground
has been seen bemoaning and applauding the growing misteries
--Nandia


My soul moves like a broken dream that shattered by the loved one
dreams about an eternity of a childhood where some fairies are waiting in between
smells and feels like hopes that flying away and vanished into the thin air
has been seen laughing matters that no longer there
--Nielam


cheers!

Closed for a while.

Dear readers,

We're closing the blog momentarily.
Look forward to our printed version :)
--will post pictures as soon as possible.


lots of love,
us.