Facial Quirks

Lately I have been obsessed with hunting down facial quirks - discreetly staring at faces on the street and in the train and tram, and also searching for articles on the net. One might wonder why. I promise you it's not because I enjoy scaring fellow pedestrians and commuters, though I have to admit these quirks make for interesting and memorable features.

I have been searching for different things that would distinguish my characters in the story I am working on. Something that will make them memorable.

I found this article written by John Yeoman at Writers Village on Character Signatures character signatures. Impressive. Writers Village is an absolute writer's dream.

Some of the facial quirks which coul make a face memorable :

• A mole anywhere on the face (my daughter has slightly below the left eye on the cheek) We call it a beauty spot. :D  

• Gap between the upper front or lower teeth : My mom and my sister have the gap. Also reminds me of Anna Paquin from True Blood

• Different eye colour - reminds me of Katsa from Kristin Cashore's Graceling

• Crooked nose

• Dimpled chin.

• Dimpled cheeks - I have one on the right side. It shows up when I smile, so I tend to do that alot..haha my daughter has one on the left side.

•  A wide smile sort of like Julia Roberts'

• Full lips, think lips

• Big eyes cast in thick lick lashes -  Reminds me of my son.  Sometimes when I'm applying makeup, I envy him for having such lush eyelashes.

•  Big, intense eyes -  My daughter has such eyes. Sometimes when she looks at me, I have to avert my gaze. It's as if she can see right through me.

• Scars - Thanks, Diane.   

•  Slightly lopsided smile - Thanks, Kelly

Oh, my left ear is pointed at the tip (not as extreme as an elf's though), and the right one is rounded at the tip.  Guess I  ear gene my dad. :D  That is part of facial quirk, I think.

Do you have facial quirks, know someone who has one or two? Or maybe you could mention a couple to add to the list?

It will be great hearing from you.  Please comment below, and I will add on the list above. Might come in handy for anyone in need. I realised it was not easy finding these on the net. Oh, here is an article in Glamour magazine. If anyone is interested. There are about 104 comments mentioning individual quirks.

Happy Wednesday!

Where do I get story ideas from.

This is a guest post I did sometime back during the Truly, Madly, Deeply You blog tour on Jacob's Beloved Books blog.

My inspiration comes from almost everywhere: Walking down the street, in the shower, watching TV, that space of time between waking up and sleeping whne my mind is drifting in all directions … 

For Truly, Madly, Deeply, You, I was inspired by a couple who I visited in their home during my home visits. The man was 93 years and his wife 88. While I sat there listening to them, telling me how they were best friends even before they got married, my mind wandered. I began weaving a story: a friends to lovers story. Only in mine, the male harbors feelings for his female friend, but she has no idea how he feels. And the woman is so guilt ridden the only way she can protect herself is ‘block’ any feelings the hero gushes over her. As I am not an outline person, I sit and just let the characters take over.

In Truly, Madly, the story is more character oriented and less plot. More about friendship and love, and discovery and with a bit of salvation thrown in there. I focused on the two characters, Frey and Liese, and explored their relationship and their feelings toward each other.

There is nothing as heady as when ideas blossom inside my mind. Intoxicating. 

What about you? What inspires you to write a story? 

Dreaming Elusive Scene Solution

Last evening after the kids went to bed, I perched myself on my seat in front of my laptop to work on my daily word count for my YA fantasy. I sat. And sat, staring at the screen blankly, trying to sort out the scene which I meant to write for that day. My staring changed to frustrated glaring.

A while back when I outlined the story,  everything had been so clear, but for some reason, I couldn't really see the scene as I had imagined it before.  Being on my feet the whole day at my day job, and my brain screaming "I'm tired leave me alone" wasn't helping either.

I sighed, shut my laptop, snatched my kindle from my worktable and headed to bed.


As I lay in bed, I began analysing what the problem was, why that particular scene was giving me a problem. in between lying awake and my eyes fluttering shut, I began running the story's outline in my head (my kindle forgotten) up to the end of the story, but still had a problem with how to tackle that particular scene. So with that part of the story in mind, I finally drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, I had the full scene sequentially figured out. I could see how the chapter begins and how it ends - It's something sad that happens to my MC, and probably why my brain couldn't handle sad and tired simultaneously the evening before. Maybe I dreamt about it as I clutched onto the elusive scene, and the last threads of consciousness before falling asleep. I can't remember. One thing is for sure. I'm as happy as a bee.. :D

I'm really interested to hear your elusive/annoying scene/problems solutions. Please share, share.. :D

Writing vs Climbing Parks

image credit

 

So, the other day, Alyssa (my 7 year old daughter) and I visited the climbing park close to where I live. I was so excited because this was something that I'd always wanted to try out,  but never gathered enough courage. Me and heights don't see eye to eye. That and my fear dislike of extensive amount of water. As long as that said water stays from my knees downwards... I'm game.I can be found hanging out in baby pools in summer..haha  I'd make an interesting character in a story, eh? :D

Anyway, Alyssa and I got all belted up and readied to begin this adventure - to me it was an adventure.

I climbed up the ladder behind Alyssa, my heart thumping in my chest with every step my feet took. Up ahead of me, Aly gave me a wide upper-front-teeth-missing- grin, then turned around, her tiny feet climbing confidently and fast.

Once we stepped on the first landing, my eyes darted everywhere but below. Then this tall, good-looking late-twentyish instructor/climber who was leading the way turned and flashed us a smile, his green eyes twinkling in pure joy. I could tell he adored his job. He held out his hand to Aly. (Secretly, I think they employ those good-looking ones with easy smiles to put people like me at ease) My daughter brushed his hand aside and stretched her hand towards the ropes, grabbing them (show off:D) My daughter is a Scorpio. confidence and determination are part and parcel of their make up gene. So the guy just smiled and led the way. As I stepped on the first wooden step, which was wobbling like the world was coming to an end, I wished the guy would have offered me his hand.

I clenched my jaw, took a deep breath and braved on.

Then I got stuck in the middle. My feet trembled, my hands grabbing the ropes for dear life shook like nonsense. I counted the several dancing wooden steps I had to take to the next landing, glanced down at the distance between where I stood quivering and the lush ground below, then over my shoulder at the impatient faces frowning at me. Aly and the good looking guy were already waiting for me on the next landing.

At that moment, sweating and biting my tongue, that particular image reminded me of what happens sometimes in the process of writing.

After I outline  my story - it's actually more doodling than outlining because I always find myself drifting from the outline - it has a beginning, middle and end. When I begin to write a stroy, the begining is so clear. My fingers fly over my keyboard in excitement. Then comes the middle. For some reason the middle seems different than I had imagined, or thought. But when I look far ahead, the ending of the story is so clear. I know what will happen to the story/character. At times I feel like shoving that story aside to work on later..or never. Then I think about how I love the story, my motivaiton towards writing it....

So what do I do to get my middle groove back? I go back to reread my beginning and my ending as per my forever shifting outline, listen to the song or visit the place that inspired that story. On other occasions, I share this with my friends who are also writers. If there is a person who will ever understand the frustration, is a fellow writer. My cheerleaders.

Eventually I find my middle.

So in this case, I focused my attention on Aly...of course and the guy (I'm not sure why I didn't ask his name. I'll blame it on the initial excitement.) They cheered me on (although the grumblings behind me were getting louder with ever passing second) I rechecked my motivaiton. Why I decided to try climbing the ropes and ladders. Because I wanted to beat that part of me that is scared of heights. Know that I can make it, and for fun of course.

Eventually, I moved my feet, and made it. Didn't let go.

Much much later on when I swung my quivering feet from the ladder and touched the ground, I was happy I'd tried. And made it the whole way. Just like when I complete my first draft, I'm always so happy I ploughed on, didn't let the middle crumble the whole story.

What about you? What do you do to get your middle grove back?