Sade Olutola
Monterey Bay Aquarium
blake kathryn
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Sweet Seals For You, Always
Cosmic Funnies
todays bird
KIROKAZE
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Keni
RMH
trying on a metaphor
Andulka
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
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bliss lane
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
oozey mess
ojovivo
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@nexusconcordia
In films, we are voyeurs, but in novels, we have the experience of being someone else: knowing another person’s soul from the inside. No other art form does that. And this is why sometimes, when we put down a book, we find ourselves slightly altered as human beings. Novels change us from within.
Donna Tartt, in this 2013 interview by Laurie Grassi for Chatelaine (via metrosouthern)
“The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you – whether because you didn’t get to have your say, or because the other person never got to hear you and really wanted to.”
— Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You
wordsnquotes.com
“Is it possible to love so desperately that life is unbearable? I don’t mean unrequited, I mean being in the love. In the midst of it and desperate. Because knowing it will end, because everything does. End.”
— Peter Heller, The Dog Stars
“I never expected her. Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know you ever lived without them.”
— Elle Kennedy, The Deal
“In my head I know I’ve been in love before, but it doesn’t feel like it. Being in love with you is better than the first time. It feels like the first time and the last time and the only time all at once.”
— Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything
Julia de Burgos, from Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems; “Transmutation,” (x)
“My muses take pictures of me, wondering if I am this pretty when I don’t have an audience to entertain. I put on lipstick while I wonder in the art gallery, and they’ve written me a dozen of poems, wanting to be published But I disguised myself in every piece of art, while my identity betrays me for every ounce of love. I visit museums and I lost parts of myself there, wishing they will publish me. Because I am still terrified to publish my love poems.”
— Picasso by Royla Asghar
Rest of thread here.
“I don’t know why I’m beginning here, when it’s all over—or am I still in the middle? It’s difficult to tell, but I will write down what happened because it’s barely a story yet. And I am not a storyteller. But if I put it into words, it might begin to become one.”
—Joanna Walsh, Break.up (Semiotext(e), 2018)
“Human beings are funny. They long to be with the person they love but refuse to admit openly. Some are afraid to show even the slightest sign of affection because of fear. Fear that their feelings may not be recognized, or even worst, returned. But one thing about human beings puzzles me the most is their conscious effort to be connected with the object of their affection even if it kills them slowly within.”
— Sigmund Freud (via quotemadness)
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (via quotemadness)
Fierce Writer: Unlock Your MICE Quotient
by FrostFyre Jul 24, 2017 originally published on http://www.medium.com
The inimitable Orson Scott Card’s MICE Quotient is a method of looking at stories and creating story structure. As writers our role is to provide a rewarding experience for the reader. Whatever format or master plan you currently use to shape a compelling story, taking a look at your story through the lens of MICE Quotient can help:
Know your character
Better understand your story
Avoid the pitfalls of an unsatisfying ending
Tighten the work
I came across MICE Quotient via the marvelous Karen Woodward, whose work I was drawn to by our mutual admiration of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. She does a great job of explaining many things for writers.
This is a brief glance at MICE Quotient to whet your appetite. It is a beginning take on the subject. MICE equates to Milieu, Idea, Character and Event — 4 factors of stories whose emphasis and relationship create types of stories. Keep in mind that an author can create a story geared toward one main factor or toward blended factors. Also, a story can be viewed through different lenses of MICE, by the author or reader, in order to generate ideas or deepen understanding.
MILIEU
The world is the thing.
World building is your main task.
You can provide more setting details than in other types of stories.
Begin the story when the protagonist enters a new world.
End the story when the protagonist leaves that world.
Use characterization strategically to support the world but not to overshadow it.
Usually the Milieu story type is blended with another type. Example — epic fantasies such as Lord of the Rings (can also be viewed an Idea story), westerns, and utopians.
IDEA
The problem is the thing.
Your main task is to create an exciting, compelling, tricky trek toward solving the problem.
Begin the story when the protagonist encounters an obstacle or problem to be solved.
End the story when the problem is solved.
You can go wild with eccentric characters in this story type. Example — bank heist novels, locked room murder mysteries such as some of the detective stories featuring Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes.
CHARACTER
A fully fleshed out character is the thing.
Characterization is your main task.
Begin the story when the protagonist is unhappy with her role in life and seeks change.
End the story when the protagonist achieves a new life, goes back to her old way of life, or becomes hopeless and just plain gives up. Example — romances, women’s fiction. Remember, in romances the hero and heroine should change and grow in order to come together and receive each other’s love.
EVENT
The out of kilter aspect of the world is the thing.
Your task is to show the character responding to and “taking on” an upside down world.
Begin the story when the protagonist responds to what’s out of kilter and seeks to restore order to the world.
End the story when the protagonist wins or loses. Example — “changing places” stories such as The Prince and the Pauper, dystopian and catastrophe stories such as Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
How can MICE Quotient help writers provide a more rewarding experience for the reader? Here are a few ways:
Know your characters — Viewing characters through the parameters of MICE can shed light on goal, motivation, and conflict. You can gain deeper insight about your characters.
Understand your story — I write paranormal fantasy romances, which are big on world building, and mine are chock-full of action and adventure. Because I love to write that way, to me plot is king. When I viewed the stories through the MICE lens, I realized how fleshed out the characters were, a realization that made me happy.
Avoid the pitfalls of an unsatisfying ending — An important rule to remember is that a story ending must be geared toward the same factor as the story beginning. The beginning is a promise to the reader. The ending is the satisfactory delivery of the promise, for example:
If you as author end a murder mystery without telling the reader who committed the murder, big NO NO.
Ditto if you dilute the murder mystery ending with overblown character details.
If you end a romance with the heroine suddenly discarding the hero and becoming a nun, big NO NO.
At ending time, we also have to be adroit in introducing new characters to clear a path for a sequel. Anything tacked on that is not part of the promise can lead to reader woe. Those characters need to be gracefully woven in earlier in a non-scene stealing way.
Tighten the work — Deciding which type of MICE you’re going with, or if it’s a blend, can help you focus on the most compelling details to include in a story and what NOT to include. Erle Stanley Gardner purposefully omitted specifics of Perry Mason’s private life. The focus had to be on Mason’s professional life. Private life focus would dilute the sheer genius of Mason’s courtroom gymnastics.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance
