New laptop!

My old laptop kind of said more or less goodnight a while ago(so my co-op in my previous post probably went down the drain as I haven’t been able to exchane emails), and when I saw this Samsung with alright specs on sale, I couldn’t help myself. Though I can’t say Win 8 is what I had hoped for. It’s surprisingly similar to Apple(and it has a touch screen, which is kind of cool), and good lord in heaven how I searched for that damned controlpanel! Startbutton? No such thing! What do you need that for! I got lots of messy tiles you can play with!

So I just reset the damn thing to a more classic view:P 80s kid with a controlfreak-issue. Sue me!

So now I’m doing a cleanup of all my files which where pretty much one big mess on my old laptop, particularly my documents-, and images-folders(surprising I know). Got so much crap there I didn’t know where to start.

But now I feel a bit nostalgic about my old laptop. It will probably become a stationary backup-computer with Linux OS as it is so broken I can’t even close it anymore to take it with me(it’s a huge beast anyway). You have served me well, old laptop. Enjoy your retirement in bermuda shorts and fruity drinks!

Keep it simple?

I’ve recently been working a lot with my story The Unheard, and it kept bothering me that the monsters I created didn’t have a place or point of origin. They were just there. It bothered me that I didn’t know where they came from? I had a legend in the story itself of their creation, but I didn’t want it to be the truth. It’s kind of the same as with Zombie-movies; what caused the zombie outbreak in the first place? I sat there with the same issue.

Now, normally I come up with incredible complex ideas of how it all happened, terrified of face-planting into a cliché(although I probably do so more often than I am aware of from time to time), because surely, monsters don’t just rain from the sky(although that might actually have been an interesting twist too…!).

But I couldn’t bring anything up to a boil in that black pot of ideas I have in my head. I kept obsessing about where the monsters came from since they are central to the story. All I knew was that they could not always have existed as it would damage the storyline.

Then, my penpal, who has no interest in writing, suggest something so incredible simple, yet it solved all my problems. A curse. Simple and straightforward, and everyone knows how a curse works.

This idea didn’t just solve the issue of creation, it rose more questions which had to be answered. Who cast the curse? Who did they cast it on? Why were they able to do so? Why did they do it?

And thus, the story thickened. It was like adding salt to a watery porridge:)

Let’s Collaborate

Thought this was a great idea for a lonely writer!

The story that wrote itself

I’ve always thought this expression was just a figure of speech, that people were just being humble about their work and commitment to it. Although that probably is true in many cases, it’s equally true the other way around; because a while ago I did just that. A story just wrote itself.

I opened my Libre Office, started typing, with no plan, no idea, no plot, no nothing. I was just bored and needed something to do. But it was as if I was possessed as my fingers flew across the keyboard. Because after 2 pages I stop, look at it and say loudly to myself: Holy shit! This is the best thing I have ever written!

I was in awe!  That moment of total enlightenment as I stared at what I, a measly little small-town girl from Norway, had written; it took my breath away. I had written something I genuinely, without a sheer of doubt in my mind, could say was great writing. Writers are usually their own worst critics, which is true for myself as well, but this time I just couldn’t bring myself to doubt it.

But now what. I have a great opening for a story, but since I had no plan, no idea, no plot to begin with, AND it kind of just wrote itself, I don’t have the faintest idea how to continue the damn thing! So now I’m obsessed about this story, and cant bring myself to discard it.

Like it! Urno has a facebook-page!

My book project “The battle of Urno” has been granted it’s very own facebook page. Go like it! If you’re still unfamiliar with my works, take a look at my wattpad account.

Writing in a foreign language

I blog in English, I write my stories in English. Now why would I do that? Why not write in my native language? The answer lies in feedback. Getting feedback on your writing is a huge hurdle for many writers, so they seek out fellow writers on online communities. There, they give and get feedback, inspiration and ideas.

Sadly, there are no Norwegian online communities for writers. There is simply not enough audience to keep such a site. The closest thing I have ever found is one that is aimed at poets.

So what is a girl to do? Well,  my dad always used to tell me, that English is the door to the world. And he was indeed right. I started writing in English around the age of 17. My vocabulary was joke, my grammar would have made my English-teacher cry and change profession, but it opened up a whole world of writing-blogs and communities aimed at all kinds of writers! Combine the fact that I always felt like an outsider, and my unusual interest in writing while living in a town of only 13 000 inhabitants, I finally felt I fit in somewhere. The Internet and the English language gave me a doorway to a place I belonged. Like I had found my long lost kin.

Naturally, I continued writing in English after this and it improved vastly. Today, I actually have problems writing in my native language. There is just no flow, it’s clumsy and weird, like the words are stuck. As soon as I switch over to English, it all just pours out of me. I still have my issues writing in English of course, and I probably always will, a foreign language is a foreign language no matter how much you practice.

So as weird as it might sound, I actually prefer writing in English! Which is a problem right now as I am trying to enter a writing contest held by a Norwegian publishing firm. Writing in Norwegian again has a few perks, but I mostly feel like I giving up on the contest and just write in English.

But I’m not good at giving up, never have been, never will be:)

Finally back

After long absence I’m trying to get back into bloging, and, believe it or not; writing. I have not written anything over the last few months. At first it was just due to being job-less, but a short while ago a close family member passed away. Now, I have lost many family members to illness, but this time it was different. When someone takes their own life away, you end up sitting with a lot of why’s. Why was he in so much pain? Why didn’t he confine in someone? His brothers? His dad? Me? Anyone?

He wrote in the letters he left that nobody had to blame themselves, but I still think about if it could have been prevented if I was just there more. It wasn’t until after his death and when his letters were read by his younger brother that it hit me how similar we were. That kind of scares me too.

I haven’t started to write again yet, despite writing always have been my emotional outlet for me. It was where I turned when I was in emotional turmoil. This time I didn’t. It feels strange.

But I think my path into… writing-hood(?), will come through one of my other creative outlets. Drawing. I just started a drawing of a character in a short story I was working on before this dark cloud of depression covered me. And I’m gonna take that as a good sign. It means I have started to think about writing again at least, and hey, I’m writing this post aren’t I?:)

 

Rest in peace my dear cousin, I hope you finally found peace.

Book trailers

Everybody is familiar with trailers promoting movies or TV series, but how about a video promoting a book? I have never really thought about it until I stumbled upon it on a blog!

There are loads of book trailers on the web! Some better than others of course, but nevertheless, it is an easy way of promoting your own book. Take a look at these two;

 

 

Although I think these were professionally made, you can still do it yourself.  Just look how simple these videos are! So it doesn’t require much computer skills to make a video and put it on youtube. I have looked a little into this, and it seems like the biggest problems is the graphics and the music. I mean, videos are visual, and for that reason you have to provide some eye candy. Same with music(guess that would be ear-candy?). And this is where the booby-traps are. Copyright.

Its easy to find great pictures and music on the web you can use, but you can obviously get into legal issues, so you will have to get permission to use it. But finding the original creator is close to impossible. Although there are services where you can buy images and music and use them as you like. I looked into this, and the image part is fine, but the music…

Yes, there is royalty free music too but…. Good God it is awful! When I can make better music with a flash driven, loop-based, online music program it’s pretty bad.

But like I said, you can find royalty free pictures online to use if you are not the type that draws your-self. Or you could hire an illustrator(find a student or someone who hasn’t gotten a big reputation yet), or use your camera! You can also do voiceovers, ask your friends or volunteers on the web to do the acting. Or maybe fans on your blog?:)

 

Oh, how I love the computer age!<3

 

Anyone of you guys ever tried to make a book trailer? How did it go? How did you solve the copyright issue?

Enter Bloglovin’!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

Yes, I figured I had to give this a try. Now lets verify this thing and see what happens:)

Pre-peek on my short story

Well, despite my rather unstable financial situation, I have managed to stay a little productive although I am unable to work on any of my bigger projects. I have tree short stories, and one is closing in on the finish line, so I thought I’d actually use my blog to share some of it, before it enters my wattpad account.

I tried to add a psychological sub-theme to it(I studied psychology after all), but I have never done it before so in the end it will probably just end up as a love story, lol! Oh well, there people who like that too:)

 

Unseen.

 

“Anna has everything a teenage-girl in High School could possibly want. Her best friends are Matthew and Melissa. Matt had been her best friend and neighbor for as long as she could remember. He was a athletic boy with brown hair and eyes. He was friendly, handsome and popular. But just because he was popular, he wasn’t a bully and picked on the nerds or the Emos or anything, he just left them alone. Though, he rarely was able to see things from other people’s perspective. And he never took a hint. Ever.

Melissa joined their duo in high school, and was a super tall girl, taller than Matt. She had legs as long as a year and always wore high heels to show it off. She had long, red hair, long lashes and seductive dark eyes. She had the curves of a Greek goddess and she’d cause a heart attack on a nerd if she passed him in the hall. But she was a Greek goddess with a keen eye. She was the opposite of Matt(opposites attract one-another, huh?), she picked up on every single gesture and eye movement and read anyone like an open book. And boy did she use it to her advantage. That’s how she became friends with Matt in the first place.

Being friends with these two gave Anna access to all the parties, concerts and happenings. Nobody picked on her, no one even spoke to her unless she spoke to them first. People separated when she came walking down the hallway, despite not having the looks like Matt and Melissa. Anna was a plain girl with sleek brown hair and hazel eyes. She was athletic and did good in sports like Matt. Melissa however dreaded them, and rather eat carrots for a whole week to keep her weight than actually exercise. Whenever Anna and Matt ate a burger she’d sit as far away as possible, like the calories could get into her body through diffusion. Not that Anna thought she even knew what that was.

But despite it all, Anna was miserable. It was like having pillowed stitched under your arms and always walking on a gold bar covered road. Everything was just handed to her all the time. Where was the adventure?

And then there was that thing. Anna’s dark secret. Anna has had a crush on Matt since she was 12, and still had not been able to convey the message. But at least she had successfully been able to hide it from gossip queen Melissa. That had to count for something.

But on the other hand, complaining over her situation while others tiptoed through the hallways trying to avoid their bullies, seemed so shallow. Anna felt like a spoiled brat as all she had to do was glare at them and they’d back off. She had the power to stop any bullying, but she didn’t.”

Stay posted for the update!

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