Last Day to Sign Up For "Mastering Scene & Sequel"
Presented by Ariella Moon
Friday, August 12, 2022
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Pacific Standard Time
Online Zoom Writing Lab
All registrants will receive a presentation recording
With “Mastering Scene and Sequel,” writers will learn:
·The core psychology behind scene structure
·How to set up action scenes followed by reaction scenes
·The specific duties and obligations of scenes
·How to craft mission driven scenes
·How to “cut and thrust”
·How to strategically place and vary scenes
Ariella Moon invites you to join her for this informative and interactive writing lab. If time permits, Ariella will guide each attendee on the live zoom call with an analysis of a brief scene from their work in progress. Please have your scene handy!
#writing class #writingcraft #fictionwriters #writinglab #PalmSpringsWritersGuild #AriellaMoon #storystructure
Here in the hot California desert, people don't just read by the pool, they read in the pool.
E-readers are great, but for reading outside in the summer, paperback books top my Must Have list. Now you have a choice when it comes to reading The Viking Mist, a historical fantasy adventure with strong heroines, time travel, and an epic tale of Love and Magic.
An award-winning author, Ginger Hanson has written everything from historical romance novels to Federal Aviation Administration instructional manuals. She launched Saderra Publishing, a micro publishing company of her works in 2013. A workshop presenter at writers' conferences as well as schools and libraries, she enjoys sharing what she’s learned about writing.
The phrase “As you wish” firmly planted the character Wesley (The Princess Bride) in pop culture. William Goldman, the author, was a prolific writer noted for his talent in writing dialogue. Dialogue is not a natural skill for every writer, but improving that skill can be.
In this workshop, Ginger Hanson will provide insights into how well-written dialogue enhances storytelling. She will focus on dialogue pitfalls to avoid as well as how to incorporate body language, props, and setting to give your dialogue more depth.
Unable to attend, no problem, all paid registrants will receive a video replay of this presentation.
You will receive an invitation to the Zoom online meeting after you have registered and payment is complete. Meeting begins at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.
The Viking Mist cover is up for Book Cover of the Week!
Let's show some love for cover artist Amanda Matthews! To vote for Amanda's fabulous cover, or to peruse the nominated covers in the Creme De la Creme Cover Contest, hop over to InD'tale Magazine.
Exciting News as we move through the Dark Moon. The Viking Mistis now available on Nook!
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Travel The Two Realms to the Bosta Iron Age House
Bernera, near the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Photo by Ariella Moon
Your steps will quicken when you cross the short wooden bridge that leads to the Bosta (Bostadh) Iron Age House, a must-see experience for travelers in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. As you take note of the babbling brook, and the emerald upward sloping glen dotted with daisies and buttercups, you may feel transported to a Tolkien shire.
The Bosta house is semi-subterranean, with only the tops of the double walls and the timber roof visible above ground. These were covered with sodded peat during my visit. The peat, the knowledgeable docent explained, had proven to be quite delicious to the hungry local rabbits. From some angles, the dwelling blended so well with the surrounding glen, one barely noticed it. Small details like this is why, as a novelist researching settings for The Viking MistGreat Bernera (often referred to as just Bernera) proved to be such a treasure trove.
Photo by Ariella Moon
Photo by Ariella Moon
The only door is accessed via a few stone steps that curve downward toward a very low opening with a heavy stone lintel. The design was meant to prevent wind from blowing the door open. But for my novel, I imagined the semi-subterranean structure, with its hidden-from-sight door, as excellent camouflage and defense against Viking intruders. But what if the design inadvertently blocked a Halfling on a desperate quest to find a potion stolen by the human mother he never knew?
He had almost missed the low, oval farmhouse, cleverly hidden behind a berm and topped with a sod roof. Had the sun’s last rays not glanced across the sheep in their hidden pen, he would have leapt past it. His sudden appearance had set the sheep crowding and bleating. Certain he had landed in the right garden next to the pen where he had seen his mother, he now waited, hoping it was her behind that door.
Shivering from nerves, he drew his cloak tightly around his body. The breeze iced, carrying the musty, metallic stench of Cold Iron. His chest tightened, and his skin beneath the serpent bracelet burned.
Travel The Two Realms: The Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis,
Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Photo credit: Ariella Moon
Have you ever noticed faces in boulders or seen standing stones that resembled people? Spirits embedded in stones may appear alien, their faces distorted like a Picasso Cubist painting. There may be multiple faces and figures on a single standing stone. Some, like some of the Callanish* Stones on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, unmistakably resemble humans who, while gathered in ritual, were struck by a malevolent or accidental spell and turned to stone.
The Callanish Stones were first mentioned in print around 1680 in A Description of the Lewis by John Morisone Indweller There:
“There are great stones standing up in ranks, some two or three foot thick and 10, 12, and 15 foot high; It is left by traditione that these were a sort of men converted into stones by ane Inchanter…”
I made my first pilgrimage to the Callanish Stones years before writing The Amber Elixir (Book 1.5 in the Two Realms) and returned there in 2017. On both visits, I was so struck by the human-like appearance of some of the megaliths, that I created a subplot in the novella where Merlin’s spell turned two handmaidens of the Lady of the Lake into stone.
The Lunar Standstill
In 2017, famed amateur archaeologist Margaret Curtis was scheduled to meet with our small tour group to discuss her findings at Callanish, which encompasses four sites. I was anxious to hear more about her theory about the Lunar Standstill, which inspired a major plot point in The Viking Mist. Alas, she was ill and unable to join us. Ms. Curtis’s photos of the Lunar Standstill at Callanish, which occurs every 18.61 years, can be seen here. The next opportunity to see this phenomenon will be in 2025.
Ritual at the Callanish Stones
A druid friend once told me that standing stones are like acupuncture needles in the earth—they conduct energy, the universal life force known as chi. Having visited major standing stones complexes including Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Callanish Stones, as well as minor stone circles that dot the English and Scottish countryside, I have noticed that many stones feel energetically walled off—shut down.
How can you awaken the energy? Enter these sites as the ancestors during the Bronze Age might have—ritualistically. Some stone circles have two obvious Guardian Stones that you must pass between, leaving behind the mundane realm and entering the mystical. Not so at Callanish.
Photo Credit: Dr. Gail Higginbottom and Roger Clay/RCAHMS
The Callanish Stones form a Celtic cross (cruciform or dragonfly) with a central stone circle. To enter the main site as the druids might have, access it from the north, away from the car park and visitor center. With this approach, you walk between two rows of standing stones that form a long avenue. (Imagine a cathedral’s nave.) By the time you reach the stone circle with its imposing central stone and cairn, you will have mentally and physically transitioned from the ordinary to the non-ordinary realm.
Photo Credit: Ariella Moon
Pilgrimage
Like most pilgrimages, the journey to the Callanish Stones is, for most, long. First you have to reach Ullapool on mainland Scotland, then take 2-hour, 45-minute ferry ride (Climb to the top, front room for comfortable seats and a spellbinding view!) to Stornoway, then a 12 mile drive. Or travel to Uist on the Isle of Skye and ferry to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris, and then drive north. Both ferry services accept foot passengers and vehicles. As always when you travel the Two Realms, the journey is well worth your time.
*Historic Scotland uses a Gaelic spelling, Calanais.
Next Tuesday we travel to Bernera to discover an Iron Age House.
