Interview - Part 6, FIRE, the Hunger

Are you satisfied with the way the stories follow each other?

Yes, I have made a specific point to use the animal's or the human’s desire for FIRE at the beginnings and FIRE’S horrible appetite at the end of each story to weave into the next story so the characters push the plot along. This is called bridging or the segue, in which ‘FIRE, the Hunger’ is desired for the warmth and light, and how each character managed to secure their desire, or not and the following tragedy FIRE starts. There is a difference in time when the Greek and Roman gods secure FIRE for their followers and how the animals secured FIRE in the folktales from the Americans, the ancient of all worlds.

FIRE, the Hunger

Interview - Part 5, FIRE the Hunger

READ on WATTPAD.

How did you put the stories together?

First, I selected stories to prove my premise and compliment the theme, then arranged the order: the volcanoes and then the animals that helped to a hunter that steals FIRE to the tragedy of that theft burning down the forest, thus making the god Kaang’s warning true, “The human loss of harmony with the animals.” 

And for a constructive conclusion after the horrid FIRE ate the forest and homes, I added a creative story I wrote about a squirrel, Bertha Digby. who replants the forest. Which is fitting because if you ever lived among trees, squirrels are the busiest of creatures planting everything they get their paws on. In my yard, they are always in the Oak, Avocado, Magnolia, or Camille trees. And if they could, they would even plant apples and orange trees as they do the plum trees. The squirrels carry flowers seeds on their fur, and these seeds scatter around the ground while they dig in the acorns, walnut and avocado seed, which will grow into trees if not dug up for foods later.

  FIRE, the Hunger.

Interview - Part 4, FIRE the Hunger

READ on WATTPAD.

What is the theme that holds the stories together?

Fire’s personality is the theme. FIRE stays alive by eating, which is the horror of FIRE making it a monster. FIRE is a voracious, selfish, hungry, villain that has no guilt or shame and feasts on everything. FIRE eats oxygen out of the air, which is its very best friend.

FIRE has hypnotic powers to maintain a spell-bound entranced viewer. I witnessed this as a kid watching the hypnotic flames flicker back-and-forth sometimes yellow or orange and maybe green or blue fueled eating FIRE eating its wooden victim. As FIRE reached up into the sky, it popped sparks to escape the trees to satisfy its ravished appetite.Where I live now, FIRE burned the dried ivy from the house next door eager to eat the house and sleeping victims and damaged our shed in the backyard. Years later an enormous FIRE came from smoldering roots in the Public Park up the hill behind our house. The wind blew the smoking embers into flames, which roared down the hill eating homes, pets, and trees. When ashes fall, and the smoke gathered around our house, I panicked. I took weird things, like the dogs, chickens, phones, frozen chicken, and all our coats. And, all the photos I had because I worked on my Father’s family tree. That FIRE was drowned by Firemen just two blocks away from our home. The just last month, the horror of FIRE, crawling and eating all the plants, animals, buildings of 7,000 people and businesses in the North Bay area of San Francisco.

FIRE is a monster and the humans needed to know this and how to control its hunger.

FIRE, the Hunger.

 

Interview - Part 1 - 'FIRE, the Hunger'

FIRE, the Hunger

What made you decide to tell fire stories with the intriguing title ‘FIRE, the Hunger’?

When I was a child, I grew up in Colorado and loved the mountains. My Dad, cut timber up Highway 24 by Woodland Park, which at that time was not a city. My intrigue with Fire started then we kept it in the pit and burned our garbage and everything, tin cans, and shoes. Fire was very feared because it would burn the forests and take my dad’s job of cutting timber for buildings and making telephone poles.
When my Dad retired from that job because lumber was scarce in Colorado, we went camping every summer. I think every weekend. My Dad loved the outside so did my Mom; she was from the small farm in Limon, Colorado.
At camp, at night, my uncles made this big fire in a rock pit. They built the pit making sure no trees and no roots were near. They brought their wood or cut the dry wood for the trees. Cutting fire wood is not allowed today, too many fires burnt too many forests. 
We had a beautiful warm, actually hot, Fire at night with dancing sparks. When I looked into the air, the flames danced in the darkness. We were never allowed to start the fire or to feed it the wood. However, we could to roast hot dogs on long sticks and after wards melt or burn marshmallows.
 After the camp dinner, the men sat around the fire while the women cleaned up the dishes and put away the foods. Like a hunter's camp only in the summer with the kids and women could come. The men fed the fire and talked about their fishing adventures they had during the day. Now and then, they would drop into their hunting adventures. As the kids, we got to listen.
When the fire ate all the wood for that night, it was put out. Either smothered with dirt or drown with water on the glowing embers. The men killed Fire, so as not to have it escape into our camp or the forest. Sometimes the kids killed the fire.
Fire did burn if touched, always entrancing, magically, and ate all we gave and could turn into a monster taking what FIRE wanted eating everything in its path. As happened in our neighborhood about 20 years ago; 3,000 homes burnt. Now in North Bay in San Francisco where many friends and relations live. FIRE is a HORROR!
Children should know FIRE's charms and dangers.
FIRE, the Hunger

STORY, STORY, and more stories

STORY, STORY, and more stories ...

For the next month through NaNoWriCAMP, their July 2017 camp. I am pledge to write 10,000 words eight stories about FIRE, actually how gods of the ancients knew the humans should not handle fire---> which does escape from a dirt pit and eats everything around.

My writing progress will be posted with the Clarion Foundation Write-a-Thon for 8 finished stories.  And, stories will be published on my wattpad page called, 'FIRE, the Hunger.'

P'angu, the First Dragon, #AtoZ Challe...

Boundless - P'angu, the First Dragon

BOUNDLESS

Dragons Shape China

  
The first dragon, P'angu, is a traditional story in 'Dragons Shaped China', which is short, I mean scant, a simplified analogy of Chinese history - re-imaged, enhanced, and elaborated as any excellent storyteller does. This will be a Book, soon at Amazon and Smashwords.com.

Interview on wattpad.com

Interview by Seth_Kiven, Cortlan Blakely, on wattpad.com

1) What is your favorite genre to read?

Wattpadian Interviews

My favor genre in non-fiction nature, ancient cultures, and modern places, things, and ideas. Non-fiction opens the doors to many possibilities. To balance this genre, I read traditional folktales, faery tales, and legends and myths from around the world.

2) What is your favorite genre to write?
Fantasy is my favorite because I can create a world and characters that fit a theme or premise I want to speak about or prove, and the readers enjoy the metaphors and analogies plus they can view the story through a world they created.

3)   How did you find Wattpad?
 All started out at RedBook, out of San Francisco, one of the first website for authors to show their works, bio, etc. Of course, I was slow and my first book, Rhyonna's Fright, took a long time to write and in the meantime, RedBook (Craigslist owned them) sold to a Canadian company and became wattpad.com as we know it. I came on board as an add-in, 'join or not.' So I joined and has taken me a long time to learn how to use with all the different updates. There is Scribd., which does same and more with a controlled looks and felt hard, too much from too many, so I stayed with Wattpad.com.

4) What are some of your interests outside of Wattpad.com?
My interests outside of wattpad.com. First, is my family, husband, son and daughter their marriage partners, my grandchildren, my brother, his wife, their children, and my pets: dog Elvis, and cats Agarus and Sasha! Next is outside in the air to experience: nature, weather, gardening, walking, and just sitting and working in a garden, which is a form of my exercise. Then my friends are very important; they show what I know and where I’ve been and where I’m going.
  
5) What kind of music do you listen to?
Music, there are so many styles. Music, I think helps with the story theme and genre. For Rhyonna’s Fright, I listened to Celtic and Irish music, which gave a faery feeling; then for the horror scenes Tangerine Orange; the lively scenes Reggae, and for flying a more flighty feeling with NewWave music.

6) What is your dream job?
My dream job is to be a famed Artist, in mixed media. When I readied for college, my mom would not hear of me applying to an Art School as a graphic artist, which was not women’s work and would not make money. A teaching certificate was only possible. So, out went the artist in come the teacher! I did take as many art classes as I could. I lasted about 13 years as a teacher: first grade, Kindergarten, art teacher, then a home pre-school teacher. I stuffed art into whatever I taught. Now art is in my writing. Creating is important in our lives and keeps us balanced, no matter what type.

7) Who is your role model or who would you want to be?
My role model was my sixth-grade teacher, Miss Owen; she had an art studio in the back of her room. I started reading then. Who would I be if I could, of course, the altruistic person: professional, considerate, educated, open-minded, cheery, authentic, understanding, trusting, giving value to others, famous, an authority in creativity.

8) In your opinion, what is the coolest thing in the world? (Object, Activity, Person, Place)
The coolest, fun thing in the world is movement: dancing, swimming, walking, skipping, hiking, climbing, sweeping, raking, walking up stairs and down, biking, not running! I wish I could fly. I do fly in my head; most of my dancing, I performed inside my imagination.
 I good!

9) What's the backstory to ‘Rhyonna’s Fright’?
When I was a child in Colorado Springs, CO, I live by Fountain Creek, which is now a freeway. My brother and I with friends would swing across the creek on metal cables hung in the cottonwood trees by the workers who laid the Golden Cycle Railroad from the mill up to Cripple Creek, CO where the gold was. The mill then closed was on the hill up beyond the creek, now with houses sitting on moving sand from the milling. At the creek, the faeries flutter with the other woodland spirits beside horses, frogs, snakes, birds and the little minions that lived there. That is where I met my faery who has traveled with me. I got her on paper after about 35 years of trying to get her to settle, which she did on a dandelion, and her name became Rhyonna.

10) Why do you like to write on Wattpad.com, and what drives you to finish?
The community talks to each other with personal comments. One wonderful place to meet all ages, all genres --> writers, all wording rough draft stories. My followers drive me to a finish a book because they are interested in reading, vote, and leave constructive comments, must different that other social media sites.

 Seth_Kiven’, Cortlan Blakely, on wattpad.com receive Rhyonna’s Fright FREE from Smashwords.com  with the code, ZN72G (not case-sensitive). 


Describing fantasy characters or beasts!

in the air, a seed spirit floats

landing, the spirit  grows

When describing a fantasy character think movement. Move their wings, feet, arms, faces, ears, eyes, heads around in your mind as you see the beastie. Then think of the voice or noise it makes. Best of all, become the creature; you are the actor: stand up, and talk, move as you want the creature to act. The more you move, the more you speak as the character or beastie, the better your description of the character in your verbal telling as well as your written words. When you charge the looks or emotions of a fantasy character, put in hints of the movements and voice, you visualize. Seed us clues along the way to create surprise. (Remember, do not describe all at once, which is boring and has no suspense). All of us have some idea how to visualize a griffin, dragon, monster, wizard or witch, warrior or princess in our minds; we need just a bit of your imagined details and off we go into our minds to enjoy your story.

So where has the writer/storyteller gone, or was?

Long story went to Europe -→

 
Traveled by car around Ireland, in southeast France and northwest coast of Italy then came home with a cough and cold. Resting just enough to go to art camp in Quince, CA. Of, course the cold came back. Sometimes I think if one had processed a ton of new information, and still caught in what they were doing before taking on the new, there is a body break-down, shouting 'rest' 'relax', 'sort goals'.  I had finished the A to Z Story Realm, combined with NaNoWriCamp and on wattpad.com and all the while planning the long saga rode-trip meeting in France grandsons and mother and father. Driving through Europe mostly lost, which is one mass of roads and buildings, crowd. Europeans are helpful and friendly! But as one of my favorite stories, 'The Troubadour' states along his way, "A traveler can never make the wrong turn." We did have adventures.

Short story is I'm overwhelmed -→
and have too many projects to finish and the critic is on me, that is me after me, and I don't know which project?  So still resting.

Rhyonna at Smashword.com

Today's cover 2016

First Cover 1986

One thing, Rhyonna's Fright, the ebook, is at Smashword.com. My link Bobbie Kinkead,  You may download for kindle (device or computer), nook, and palm reader, or just computer. Please honor and respect my rights as author and creator. Will look like a kids book, really about overcoming challenge. I wrote the story as an analogy about my fear of achievement, using the realm of faeries, which is my alter world, I love gardens and the spirits there.  

OH, if you have any thoughts on how marvelous or any critical words, leave a review. PLEASE, take the advantage and read Rhyonna's story.

Books as SERIALS

I've done a lot of looking at the e-publishing, web digital writing market. I'm a senior and seen a lot of changes which started for me in 1984, when joining SCBWI, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. At that time the libraries had their funding cut, and the bookstores emerge.  Today lots of change in book publishing, the booming e-publishing where authors write, product, and market their own stories. 
-->Millions of ebooks are sold!  Soon readers on the many different electronic 'devices' will buy a chapter at a time. A good price per chapter is 99⍧ as an online song once cost. --->A 'series' book chapters as will be sold; check out wattpad.com and Jupebox.com, to mention a few sites. Where a Beta reader reads a chapter at a time and make comments to better the author's work. Why not have the reader pay for this time and privilege?
---> Back in the history stories were told by letters or hand drawn book, we still write individual letters. Think of the value of this process in today's cost of time, physical material, and postage, pieces of art, yesterday's cards --->Then printing machines were invented, and stories printed in newspapers as a series. The author earned a penny a word; I read a lot of those wordy first novels. 
---> SO today, gear writings for this change, 'serial chapters' in the digital publishing. Use less words to create a simple, clean story to be read a at one time in our busy time. Also, as any excellent writing have a strong hook at the beginning of the chapter and stronger hook at the end of that chapter, so the reader buys the next serialize 'chapter' in your novel.

Computer as a peer character

My work partner is my computer.

What a complicated character is the computer. Not an old character, most likely about 36 years old. Its development was a bit older so lets say about 42. So what does this character do for storytelling 1) writes, 2) records, 3) video tapes, 4) prints projects, 5) shares links, shares messages, and shares emails around the virtual expandable vast web. Only beware of the bugs and don't get caught while surfing, although fun, or observing what others have pinned to their nets, remember on a web, one side is sticky one you can get stuck, and held.  

The Producer for BobbieTales,  Bobbie Kinkead

The director throws the image!

SUCCESS!

The reader, listener, or viewer need a stage. An artist paints images within or around a frame to bring the viewer inside and hold them, same with a photo. The writer has written words symbols that pull together and create images of person, voice, and scene/place on a flat page. The storyteller, who faces the audience, has that audience looking at them while acting the voices and gestures of characters. A storyteller directs the voice, words, gestures, and body movements.  The goal is to keep the listen/viewer in their own minds while the storyteller directs the video/movie of the story. The place, the clothing, the character the viewer/listener supplies to the story. Writing a story is like this and depends on a voice in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person and in present or past tense to immersed the reader into the scenes. The readers lifts the story off the page to play in their minds as they read. A writer need to fill in the image with more word symbols while the storyteller uses tones of voice, face expression, hands, and body gesture to direct actions. The character is not on the stage, or painted on canvas, or worded on a page; character and plot are in the mind of the listener/viewer. When the viewer looks at a picture, one is in for the moment and makes-up the story, most times without a plot. 
Using all three is an exciting way to process a story journey. The joy is creating the story.

The Producer for BobbieTales

EBOOK, where are the pages?

Ebook! When first seeing and hearing this word, maybe 5 years ago, I wondered about formatting, which was important in my writing. An ebook reads on a device with a continous flow of words.The need for readers to turn a page dismissed by a flow. All the options for fonts, size, etc. gone. As an artist and writer, the placement of any object;  a square, house, flower, or a word involves space, turning a page is the space to see the images of the character or story plot. In an ebook each word must hook a reader, who words that are concise to complete the images. Use of the ebook's chapter is the best hook and end of the chapter the net so the reader continues. The challenge is to write a story without the aid of illustrations and embed the worded images in a constant flow. 
-->So the challenge is how to choose words carefully to keep readers in my story.

The Producer for BobbieTales

Epublishing another character!

Internet epublishing is like a flower growing fast in the Spring of it's life, and stretching and pushing in all directions for energy while spiders crawl, butterflies flutter, aphids eat, bees pollinate, and humming birds enjoy. 

What does epublishing mean besides publishing on the internet? What are the bios, tag words, categories for the word e-publishing of ebooks and PODs? How does one correctly spell epublishing, or e-publishing, or Epublishing; the spell checkers on my computer say it is missed spell in any form. What is marketing of the Authorperneur?  

--> Epublishing is a creative flow that needs a language to be understood.
--> I have began my study: now overwhelmed!

The Producer for BobbieTales

Always plan too much to accomplish!

Rhyonna is finished! — on 12/31/2014 her story became a book and she flitters around excitedly appearing here and there, well mostly sitting and watching the streaming.
Rhyonna waits for her story to be offered as an Amazon Kindle. So I'm taking Kristen Eckstein’s 30DayKindle Challenge. 

The Kindle challenge is a jump started for my next e-publishing project of all the picture book stories I wrote and compiled into the 'Bryce Community'. My master project in story writing while active in SCBWI. These stories came before writing the 'Elfin Letters' for my granddaughter. My masters in being a grandmother and lover of the elves and trolls and other land spirits.

So busily viewing videos for LearnScrivenerFast by the Scrivener Coach Joesph Michael to reformat the Bryce stories and the Elfin Letters. All this while in NaNoWriCAMP to start my story series 'BOLD TALES TOLD'. Because I love story have learned and told hundreds. Included in the ABC series are many of my original stories and others learned while verbally storytelling. The first ABC segue is about Able Womenfolk. 

And all this while going while going to classes to master wordpress; one must have a website. Or, does one, too much is too much! I'm sure all above are important for the plan I have, e-publishing my stories.

And if that was not enough, now taking a online class Virtual Podcast Tours, to go on the virtual road and share my stories in audio form. 

The Producer for BobbieTales

       

Summer writing CAMPNANOWRIMO April 2013

The month of April I spent editing and rewriting  Rhyonna's Fright, my faery story. Rhyonna has been with me since fourth grade when living in Colorado Springs and play at Fountain Creek (now a freeway). Faeries flew around and danced and sang while my friends and l built forts, hunted frogs, blood suckers and minnows. We built dams and swung on a wire rope hung by men who made the railroad tracks from Cripple Creek to the Golden Cycle Mill, that processed real gold. I do have my first  illustrations. Rhyonna's story grow with my daughter and her friends' interest and help  in writing classes and critiques.

I had a jolly time with Rhyonna, who is willful and a risk taker, all part of her charm, she plotted most of her story. Characters like this are wonderful.

The thinker at work on the 'where'!

The where! Here I am again in my head going over and over the place of the story - this voice and that voice of the characters here and there. Oh! there's the character.

WHERE IS this character?

I see her dancing in the sky. I'm carefully observing what the character looks like, and how does she move, what age. Opps! That's me! I'm looking around thinking. Where? There she is, young about 10 years old, dancing on a dry dirt path, yes, with her friend. Or, is that her brother? Yes, her brother who is younger. They run to catch huge green grasshoppers. The dirt path is dusty and long. Now I see the overview: the long dirt road through the field of tall dry grasses in front of them, the old brick train buildings behind and to the left, and the trees and creek to the right. They are running on the old train road in the old forgotten train yard.

Okay that is the physical place?

How is the character feeling about the path, her brother, and the grasshopper? How she feels is the emotional place for the reader or listener --- the audience.

Where is her mental place?

Okay, I'll float awhile gathering the moment. Happy, tired, excited, or maybe mad? No, she is happy running and dancing. The air is hot, she is sweating. No breeze, still and hot! Only for wind created while running. Opps! the grasshopper she holds spits on her hand, now she jumps, screaming, ICK! No, water to wash he hand. Her brother, much younger, comes over to help. He wipes the 'tocacco' off. She feels love and trust for him. They are on a journey alone with no mom and dad to their grandma's house. They run fast afraid of many bums, which live there. They have seen them and hear the stories of their gangs. The girl is very thirsty and getting tired from the running, now dancing. Although happy to be with her strong brother, they are in a race to reach Grandma's and to enjoy her fresh baked cinnamon rolls with butter which always wait for them.

Now the story unfolds.

Next, dear writer, what do the characters look like?