Research Methods

All four of us met up and decided on a question. see wiki. all going away to get 5 papers re this area.

Phil's Facebook

Spent a while working on Phil's character. Set up a Facebook account for him today. Felt a bit secretive doing this - starting an online presence for a fictional charceter seems to make me feel a bit subversive. Feels like a spy game. In fact this would be a great idea for a ARG.

Well the account is set up! 12:10 AM Going to add interests - music, book, film etc are pertinant to Phil. 1:20 AM This is awesome. I am creating a person. Method acting my way through social media.

Join groups

3:25 AM Feel i am entering a Philliop K. Dick novel. Don't know whether I am Phil or Phil is me. The boundary is getting too blurred as is my vision. Too tired and loosing my grip. Time for bed.

Short And Shorter

Todays first 5 minute exercise was to write about a chosen postcard. Dont have the picture here but ...

The shadowed veil weighed heavy, pushing through the layers of my mind. A fleeting ghost, shimmering with density of rock but gossamer to the touch. Deeper and deeper it sank and its ripples arced out leaving traces in every nook and cranny. Everwhere I searched, everywhere I looked it was there and gone. The smell leaked into my consciousness.

Something I releant was that i need not to hear people talking when I write! The theme today was adaptation so the next excercise was after counting the number of words above ( 60 ) to write the same piece but with half the number of words :

The shadowed veil weighed heavy. A fleeting shimmer,dense as rock but gossamer to the touch. Deeper it sank, rippling out. I searched, it was gone. The smell remained.

After this Sue asked us to find the adjectives in our piece ( describing word ) and remove all but one. With Sues help, !, I found my two and removed fleeting. My resoning behind this was that it was superflous. A shimmer is generally fleeting. I kept shadowed as this emphasised the hiden nature of veil. The piece was about a child that has died whether by accident of suicide. The narrator is trying to keep an image of them but this is slipping away. All that remains is the haunting meloncoly of the childs scent.

Sue asked whether i would expand this piece. I said i would - into a multi-media work with overlaid images and sounds : a childs laugh, 'asleep' refrain by The Smiths.

Work of of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel

Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel.

I thought the constraints of the form made the prose strangely compelling. Necessity is the mother of invention is it not? ( although the problem is self created in this case ) Whether i could read a whole book of it is another matter.

Research Methods

More suggested questions. With me and Tom batting some ideas around - ( need to get these from Tom )

Feel we are making this harder than it is.

Creative Criticism

Our exercise this week is to upload to the DMU Blackboard a piece of creative writing which we would like some feedback on. I admit I did this with some trepidation - it's hard receiving a critique. At the back of my mind there's a demon that may well take things personally. I need to banish this and separate my self esteem from the writing. I think the trick is to get the balance right, needing to understand valid criticism and learning from it while discarding criticism which you feel is

Be interesting to see any posts i get back. Also be interesting to see how the criticism is worded compared to the vitriol that the 'real' online world can spew up ;-). One of the hardest aspects of posting on the intrenet is that unlike the transliterate many people do not interact with appropriateness.

Phil Delany

Biog for Phil for the fictional online presence:

Looked at Elliot Grove and Robert Mckee's works on character development.

Name : Phil Delaney
Traits: Stubborn, loyal, explosive temper, quiet,
Description: Height 5.8", Weight - 10 stone, thin face with lank black hair. Wears jeans/combat with trainers and jackets. Average looking

Left Canada aged 2, as father posted to Germany. Arrived in England June 1988. Schooled in Hitchin where he struggled both academically and socially. Suspended in 1990 but returned and completed studies at Longthorn 6th Form 1995 obtaining above average grades with very high grades in History and Geography. English mother, Brenda Thorn, born in Corby and Irish/Canadian father Brendon Delaney. Mother died 2000. Currently living with friends in Leicester, England. Has had 2 long term relationships but is currently single. Recently reunited with father after tracking him down through the internet. Soon after his father passed away. Works as a GIS researcher with Leicester Council

How old is he - 31
Where was he born - Ottawa, Canada, 20/02/1977
Where did he go to school - Reading High, Longthorn Sixth Form.
What did they excel at? - History and Geography
What does there father do - security guard
What is his fondest childhood memory - seaside trips with his mother to Skegness
What is one thing he dislikes about himself - his similarities to his father : short temper and fear of commitment
What one act is he most ashamed of - not making peace with his father before his death
What is he most afraid of - having children
Musical likes - Coldplay, Muse, Razorlight
Musical dislikes - RnB
What annoys him - Facebook, Morrissey, Christmas
Siblings - No
Hobbies - local history. LARRP

Make Love Not Warcraft

Awesome use of Machinima : South Park Make Love Not Warcraft. Great narrative, great script.