Category Archives: From another Blog

#LoveWritingChallenge – Male Characters

I’m participating in the #LoveWritingChallenge by Katie Kling. For more information see the introduction post.

This weeks theme are Characters and today is all about Male Characters.
To make things easier for myself I will focus on the characters in three of my longer stories:

Though I might add more from other stories.
For stuff about our characters from Warlords feel free to check out our Facebook Page.

So let’s take a look at the guys in my stories…

Just like I don’t care much about gender roles with my ladies, are my guys not typical males. Their compassionate and supportive of their ladies/lady friends, some would even be considered as feminine. Though that doesn’t mean they wont mistreat my girls. With male characters it’s easier to explore certain aspects of personalities and the asshole is kind of one of my favourites to write. It’s just so much fun…
Somehow are males still kind of the default gender I use for stories, especially short stories. On occasion I find myself wondering: Would it change the story if I wrote about a woman instead (especially the first chapter of the NBWolf)? Most of the time the character stays male…

Anyway, let’s talk jobs.

As I did with the ladies let’s take a look at what my guys do for a living. Which if I really think about it, isn’t that much…
Though I do have: cook, teacher, programmer, zoo keeper/veterinarian, biologist, accountant, advisor, soldier and painter/graphic designer. Well, and at least one king. 😀
I’m not entirely sure, why I have most of the jobs for the ladies figured out, but the guys either struggle to find a proper job or just don’t really have a description for what they do…

And what about their relationships?

As they mostly are counterparts to the females this answer isn’t much different to the previous one. Though it feels like they are a bit more open about things than the ladies. A lot of them don’t mind one night stands where the ladies would contemplate them a lot more. They flirt, they talk back and they’re usually stronger and taller than the women. But I still wouldn’t change it, because, well, it’s part of who they are…
On the other hand are they not as progressed when it comes to sexual preferences as I only have (two) side characters that are gay. The only lead character with a different orientation is pansexual, which I only realized after learning about it.

Special cases

Well, let’s take a look at some of them that are not the typical male characters. This time two of them are even lead characters.

Andrew (TUO)

Andrew is a vampire-like creature and Michaels older half-brother. He is a gentle person that doesn’t like conflict and deals badly with change and loss and sometimes reacts the way a little child would. This is mostly due to his birth conditions, as his mother was turned while she was pregnant with him. When he loves, he loves with his whole heart and would do anything to make whoever that might be happy.
What I like about him: He was one of the first characters I created for TUO and therefore has a special place in my heart. He’s just this cute little guy that you just want to hug and keep save, even if he can kick your ass if you threaten his family…

Kurth (TQW)

He’s a young boy that aims to become a strong knight to protect the queen. Kurth can be quite naive, but his heart is in the right place, even if his tongue sometimes gets the better of him. He faces a lot of backlash from his peers and superiors, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t give it his best.
What I like about him: He provides a different look on some of the story aspects and he’s this dorky little guy, that’s just fun to write.

Amir (NBWolf)

Amir is a kind person burdened with a cruel fate. He is the lone survivor of his village, where he used to be a respected biologist (plant research), now he is nothing more than a refugee trying to find his footing again. It’s hard for him to adapt, especially with his condition as a newly turned Werwolf without any control.
What I like about him: Like Rasha am I still exploring what makes him, him and the more I do, the worse I feel about what will happen to him…

Boys, boys, boys

Just like my ladies, do I let the boys tell me what they like and who they are. Somehow it’s easier for me to write them. I’m somehow less worried about writing clichés in their cases, but I also prefer exploring things with them. It’s a bit strange and I’m not sure why that is…
Anyway, see you tomorrow when I’ll talk about Point of Views (POVs)
PoiSonPaiNter
P.S. This is my 400th post. o.O

#LoveWritingChallenge – Quotes

I’m participating in the #LoveWritingChallenge by Katie Kling. For more information see the introduction post.

This weeks theme are Characters and today is all about Character Quotes.
To make things easier for myself I will focus on the characters in three of my longer stories:

Though I might add more from other stories.
For stuff about our characters from Warlords feel free to check out our Facebook Page.

Say something nice!

Well, this is tricky…mostly because I haven’t written most of the stuff in those three stories and partly because I don’t remember quotes…and some of my favourite quotes are already covered on Facebook with Warlords…but let’s see what I can come up with…and you’ll get a sneak peek through it. 🙂

From TQW:

This one is a spoiler, but not really. Read at your own risk. 😉

As a disbelieving realisation: „The wizard shagged the queen“

I’m not entirely sure why I like this one, but I guess it’s mostly the picture in my head of the boy sitting down when this dawns on him. As I said: Not really a spoiler as this doesn’t tell you when it happened and who it is really about. 😉
And a tiny bit longer (though shortened) scene:

„And what are you learning today?“ [He] asked.
„I drew a bird!“ She told him proudly.
„Well, then let’s take a look at your bird“, [he] declared with a wide smile.
She pulled a parchment with a mazy scribble closer so [he] could see it. „There look“, she proudly presented it to him and [he] raised his eyebrow. With a exaggeratedly confused frown he looked first at the drawing then at his daughter. „A bird you say?“
„YEAH!“ She protested and explained the different parts of the line clutter: „That’s the beak, those are the wings and these are the feet!“
„Daughter, if this is a bird, then I will have to take you collecting herbs again, so you can see a real one“, he taunted her jokingly.
[later]
„Papa look! My horse is finished!“ [She] called out to him and held out another parchment.
„Your horse looks like a bird“, [he] commented with a wide grin and earned the expected indignant „PAPA!“

Of course I’m not telling you who is who here either. 😉

From the NBWolf:

An (unedited) excerpt from the upcoming chapter Water Moon:

„I don’t like this, [XY]“, her girlfriend told her over the phone while she was getting ready.
„Don’t worry Sweetie, I’ll be fine“, she assured her for the umpteenth time.
„But…you don’t know if someone will see you-“
„Honey, we’ve been through this: It’s the middle of the week and I’ve got work tomorrow, I can’t come home to change with the pack“
„I’m just worried“
„I know. I don’t like it either, but I’ll be fine“
„Have you eaten?“
„Yes“
„Enough?“
„More than enough, I’d be surprised if I don’t sink into the lake like the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood“
„[XY]!“
„I’m just kidding! Relax!“

I just like their interaction and if you paid attention so far, you can guess whom it’s about. 😉
I always try to make dialogues and interactions realistic and I think this is a nice example of it.
Well, let’s round this up with a quote that made a couple of people laugh when they read my short story for the Bücherstadtkurier Advent Calendar

The Crib:

“And The Doctor, Superman and DARTH VADER are the Three Wise Men?”
“Yup. They always say one of them is black.”
For a moment Harry quarrelled with himself, then he corrected: “Black: yes; Mass Murderer: No.“

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little look at different stories of mine. There are many more stories – especially my short stories – that I could look through for quotes, but as I don’t even know where to look it would take quite some time…
So, if you remember any quote from one of my other works: Feel free to add them in the comments!
See you tomorrow, when I’ll talk about my Male Characters.
PoiSonPaiNter

#LoveWritingChallenge – Naming Characters

I’m participating in the #LoveWritingChallenge by Katie Kling. For more information see the introduction post.

This weeks theme are Characters and today is all about How to find the names.
To make things easier for myself I will focus on the characters in three of my longer stories:

Though I might add more from other stories.
For stuff about our characters from Warlords feel free to check out our Facebook Page.

What’s in a name?

I’m horrible at naming people and cities and countries and have I mentioned characters?
I have either no idea what I should call someone or I keep ending up with the same names…
I already talked a bit about this when I mentioned my usage of Georg(e) and Richard, but that’s only part of the problem…
For most of my stories I go through real life names I have in my mind and then either use them as such (TUO/NBWolf) or change them to fit the story (TQW). I know I could use baby name pages and I sometimes do that, when I have a specific meaning in mind, but that’s rather rare.
Sometimes I try to use names that actually serve a purpose or have some kind of „hidden“ meaning, sometimes I just come across a name that fits the character and keep it that way – or change it if it doesn’t. Though I usually do the meaning part with surnames, at least, if I give people a surname. 😀
In TUO most of my surnames are references to movies and such: There is a family called „van Saken“ originating from „The Fosaken„, another is called „Carfax“ like the abbey where Dracula comes to live in London, another „Verlaine“, which was the name of Bela B.’s character in the German Zombie movie „Garden of Love“ and so on…
For TQW I not only added the rule „royals (or those working for the royal households or those wanting to be as grant as them) add H’s to names“ (e.g. that’s why she’s called Lihsa and not Lisa), but I also pretty much used my Mums family tree as inspiration for the names of a certain family, including her actual name. On the other hand did I make an unsubtle reference to Merlin and Athur by naming the main wizard character Emry and Aturo respectively (For those who don’t know this: Merlin was sometimes called Merlin Emrys and Arturo is the Spanish version of Arthur), not to mention that Sarah isn’t just a princess in name…
By the way: Rasha is an anagram of Sarah, because Nina is an anagram of Anni and I wanted to name those two after two girls by the same name, I know in real life. 😉
So, yeah, my names aren’t really original, but well, so far no one complained about them. 😀
See you tomorrow, when I talk about Quotes from my Characters.
PoiSonPaiNter

#LoveWritingChallenge – Female Characters

As I told you yesterday am I participating in the #LoveWritingChallenge by Katie Kling. For more information see the previous post.

This weeks theme are Characters and today is all about Female Characters.

To make things easier for myself I will focus on the ladies (and characters) in three of my longer stories:

Though I might add more from other stories.

For stuff about our characters from Warlords feel free to check out our Facebook Page.

So let’s take a look at the ladies in my stories…

In general am I not a fan of the Damsel in Distress so most of my ladies are strong and independent, but usually also compassionate about something and sometimes girly.

I’m fairly certain that I only have one girl that is obsessed with her male counterpart, but I still portray this as very unhealthy, at least I would if I had written any of it …

And when I think about it, do I have quite a lot of ladies in my stories, especially in leading roles … Michael’s family alone has about ten important female characters … interesting …

Though I still don’t always manage to pass the Bechdel test, as sometimes those ladies‘ main focus of discussion in a scene is a guy in trouble or at least one of their male family members …

Anyway, let’s talk jobs.

I’m fairy certain that housewife is a non existent job in any of my stories. I have pretty much everything from (kinder garden) teacher, maids, barkeepers/-owners and housekeeper over journalists, psychiatrist, doctors, corporate consultant, lawyers (to-be) up to matriarch and queen.

Usually I try to fit the job to the character and not the other way round, but sometimes it has to be the latter way (if you write about a queen, then you have to make someone queen 😉 ).

And what about their relationships?

I’m not entirely sure any of my ladies have what is generally considered a normal relationship…

Sure some of them got married and stuff, but the circumstances are a bit different.

In TUO I created the concept of the True Mate, which is basically the only partner a (wer)wolf can mate with and expect to conceive a (healthy) child, so some of the couples there are created through that concept, others defy it.

Thinking about it also made me realize that the love-arc in both TQW and TUO follow a similar pattern: Two people fall in love, but stuff and logical reasoning keeps them apart. It’s not innovative, but it fits the characters. They want to be together, but they also know that it’s not a good idea. And I think that’s also a pretty important point: Don’t force a relationship if it might end badly and you already have a bad feeling about it.

Talking about relationships means talking about sexual preferences and I have to admit that those have changed quite a bit over the years. When I first started working on TUO every character was straight, simply because I was forteen and I didn’t really know it any better.

Now I do and my characters come to a headcount of at least two bi, four lesbian (+ three side characters), one ace (and a transgender side character).  It’s not much, but through this they no longer feel like something is missing and they’re not themselves. It just makes so much sense for them…

Special cases

Okay, let’s take a closer look at some of my ladies, all of which are minor lead characters, without giving too much away. I’d talk more about all of them, but then I wont be able to finish the post any time soon…

Rita Desmond (TUO)

Rita is a pure blooded Werwolf and therefore quite peculiar. She would do anything to preserve her species and is therefore not just a well trained doctor and genetics/racial history specialist, but also an executioner. She is also the head of a multi-species (different Therianthropes) asylum for strays.
One of her biggest flaws is that she loves what she is and gets pretty violent towards anyone calling her „human“ and she also looks down on them as the lesser species.

What I like about her: She is one of my few female asshole characters and it’s fun to write her badass side, but also her vulnerability.

Lihsa (TQW)

Lihsa is one of the queens maids and deeply loyal to her. Originating from a small village she came to the castle to become a member of the staff and over the years even became the right hand to the head cook (also female). She can be spunky, but also melancholy, challenging and thought provoking, but most of all: She knows what she wants. It’s not always easy for her to manage her (love) life in the castle, but she gains a certain wisdom from it that even makes the queen admire her for it.

What I like about her: That even though she always receives the bad end of something, she doesn’t lose hope and is strong enough to give something up that is important to her.

Rasha (NBWolf)

Like much of the story in general was Rasha not planned, but writing more about her makes me quite like her. She is one of the few human characters in the story and cares deeply for her wolf friends and lover. Yet at the same time is she a fierce protector of the law and striving to become a lawyer. She has a certain light headedness about her and manages to lighten the mood in almost every situation. Her big heart lets new people in easily and she accepts them as they are and wants to be accepted like that as well. Which isn’t really easy as human fiancée of a wolf, who doesn’t want to turn her(, yet).

What I like about her: Her optimistic personality that I’m still exploring. 😀

Girls, girls, girls

When creating my girls I don’t think about breaking gender roles, I pretty much let them tell me who they are. Sometimes they surprise (e.g. when I discovered that one of them liked girls, when I had already planned for her to get a boyfriend), sometimes it’s a transition of exploring different topics and seeing what fits for the character or how they would react to it.

It’s important to have a variety of characters in a story, just as we have in life.

Life is colourful and fiction should follow its example.

See you tomorrow, when I talk about finding names for my characters…

PoiSonPaiNter

#LoveWritingChallenge

Soo…instead of more Filler posts, I’ve decided to participate in this writing challenge by Katie Kling and her friend Kristin that will last during the month of May. Leave your thanks for this over at DarkFairy’s, who wrote about it first. 😉

What’s the challenge about?

#LoveWritingChallenge is a Social-Media-Parade for Authors.
Katie and Katrin want to share their love for writing and want to know about other peoples projects. That’s why they came up with this cross-media challenge to help people discover new books and get to know new authors.
For this they thought up theme weeks. Each week will be a new theme with seven sub-theme, starting on 1st May.

How can you participate?

Pick one or more themes of the challenge and simply write a post about it, create a picture, make a video or do whatever you like for your Blog or Social Media account. What exactly you’ll be talking about is up to you. You don’t have to write something for each daily theme, you might even make a collection post or something just for the weeks theme. They don’t want to have a strict set of rules.
If you write a blog post, link it to the main post and/or leave a comment there.
If you post something on Instagram, tag @thewritingcat or @katie_kling_autorin.
If you post on Facebook you can tag @autorinkatiekling.
Additionally use the Hashtag #LoveWritingChallenge.
This way they know about the participations and Katie can sum them up in post at the end of the week.

Week One

Die ersten Themen

The first themes

Conclusion

Well, this is what you can expect the following weeks.
Let’s see if I’ll make it through it. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter

Reading Together #18

Another Tuesday, another Reading Together.
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

As a reminder:

“Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.

For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.

Without much further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

I’m still reading Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent or Sleepy Hollow: Schaurige Erzählungen (Ghastly Tales) a book that I started reading back in 2014. It’s a collection of different essays and stories by Irving.

After a few days of reading I’m now on page 111.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Alles dieß lasse ich als eine reiche Fundgrube hinter mir, welche spätere Erläuterer bearbeiten mögen; auch zweifele ich nicht, daß die Tabaksdose und der »halbvergoldete Becher,« welche ich jetzt an das Tageslicht gebracht habe, später Gegenstände zu Kupferstichen hergeben, und beinahe eben so viele bändereiche Abhandlungen und Streitschriften erzeugen werden, als der Schild des Achilles, oder die weitberühmte Portland-Vase.

or in English:

All this I leave, as a rich mine, to be worked by future commentators, nor do I despair of seeing the tobacco-box, and the “parcel-gilt goblet” which I have thus brought to light the subject of future engravings, and almost as fruitful of voluminous dissertations and disputes as the shield of Achilles or the far-famed Portland Vase.

Thanks internet for providing online reading material…I really wouldn’t have wanted to type and translate that…

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

Since last week I’ve come across some very interesting essays, one being English Writers on America, another being The Art of Book-Making and the last one being The Boar’s Head Tavern, Eastcheap. All of them have quite interesting points that even seem valid today.

In the first one he talks about English media relying on unreliable sources telling them about the New World (aka America) and this quote stood out to me in regards to the way modern media portrays certain things:

Knowledge is power, and truth is knowledge; whoever, therefore, knowingly propagates a prejudice, wilfully saps the foundation of his country’s strength.
– W. Irving: English Writers on America

In The Art of Book-Making he describes a dream sequence were authors act like beggars and put together their own garments by using the works of those that came before them, essentially implying that no work of fiction – or even non-fiction – is new and just made up off thoughts and writings of authors of previous generations.
It’s a fascinating picture of something every writer came across at some point.

The last one deals with being a fan – in this case of Shakespeare – and what fans are willing to do to re-live what their heroes have written or to explore their writings differently. In Irving’s case he recalls a journey to Eastcheap where he wants to visit the tavern described in Henry IV.  Things like that are still done today and not just for books, but also movies and TV shows. It’s even encouraged through provided tours or guides to explore those places yourself. While we were in Bath, e.g. we followed an audio guide to take us to the places of Jane Austen’s life and books in the town – during my commute days I then listened to Northanger Abbey that partly took place in there. We did the same in London, where we followed – amongst others – a Sherlock Holmes audio tour, even if it was more in regards to the first Robert Downey Jr. movie than the actual books. I believe it can be quite interesting to see where the inspiration for a story or movie was taken from and then see how it was changed through the authors eyes.
And I’m pretty sure I read a post about this the other day, but I can’t remember where it was…

If anyone has a clue, let me know!
It wasn’t this one by the Schreibmeer (Writing Ocean, though probably also a pun on schreib mehr/write more, as it’s a page giving you writing advice), but it’s still an interesting (German) read: From Cosplay to self-research the hard way – When authors slip into the roles of their characters.

Another essay that might be interesting to some might be The Broken Heart, about the very true effect of women actually dying from heartbreak.

Seeing as there is quite a lot of stuff for these four available online, I’m pretty sure a lot of people seem to consider them similarly interesting. And I’m pretty sure I have to re-read the early pages to not miss out on other potentially interesting essays.

I also came across the Rip Van Winkle story, which seems to be rather famous, but I can’t say I ever actually heard about it… It does remind me of Schandmaul’s „Reich der Träume“ (Realm of Dreams) though, which I kind of put into a story here: Back from a Dream.
Though I do believe the story of someone disappearing into a dream land for years and returning to find their old life in ruins is quite a common and old concept. Which probably is the reason, why I didn’t care that much for the story itself…

On a different note: I’m pretty sure I can enjoy the essays about life in England/London more, now that I’ve actually visited it. Just like I appreciated the nods to the Gothic culture in Kinder des Judas more, after being more involved in it.

4. Do you have a booky project of the heart or a favourite book where you don’t waste any chances to make it known, because you think everyone should hear about it? Tell us about it!

Uhm…not really…There are books that I occasionally recommend to people, but I wouldn’t call them projects of the heart…that’s more likely to happen with shows, series and comics these days…
Though I did go to my local library to support/advertise the Märchenspinnerei yesterday…

Additional thoughts

Last weekend I send off a translated and lengthened version of  the first part of the Neubrandenwolf for a writing contest. I also wrote down a story for the latest Bücherstadtkurier contest, the one where my story got chosen a couple of years ago, but I haven’t send it to them yet. I’ll probably read through it a couple more times, before daring to do that.

opefully I’ll get some other writing done for The Queen’s Wish or even some of the old stuff lying around … we’ll see…

PoiSonPaiNter

© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Friday Filler #1

As I said on Tuesday: I might try another thing on Friday.
Fittingly it already contains the name „Filler“, which has a double meaning in this case, but anyway.

What is the Friday Filler?

The Friday Filler, or Freitags-Füller, is a Blogging activity by Barbara from Scrap-Impulse where she gives you five sentence fragments that you then have to complete, or rather: fill in.
And I’m basically using it as a Filler post, until I can come up with something more interesting again. You know, Filler, as in „episodes that have nothing to do with the actual plot“, those things most people loathe to come across in (mostly) Anime adaptations. 😉
But let’s take a look at today’s fill-in the gap sentences – the bold words are what Barbara gave us. I’ll have the sentences in German first and then add the translation.

1. Ich lese_____ – I read_____/ I’m reading_____

Ich lese noch immer die Essay- und Geschichtensammlung von Washington Irving. Es waren mittlerweile schon ein paar interessante dabei, da erzähle ich aber nächsten Dienstag mehr dazu.
————-
I’m still reading the essay and short story collection by Washington Irving. There have been a couple of interesting ones amongst them, but I’ll talk more about those on Tuesday.

2.  _____Resteverwertung – _____utilization of remains/_____utilizing remains

Ich bin ziemlich gut, was Resteverwertung von Lebensmitteln angeht. Zeug einen Topf oder eine Pfanne zusammenschütten und kochen/braten, das kann ich. 😀
————-
I’m quite good at utilizing remains, at least from groceries. Throwing stuff into a pot or a pan and cooking or roasting it, that I can do. 😀

3. Am Montag_____ – On Monday____

Am Montag kommt hoffenltich mein Arbeitskollege wieder, den ich seit zwei Wochen mal wieder vertreten muss.
————-
On Monday my colleague, that I again had to substitute for during the last two weeks,  will hopefully return.

4. _____ein Traum – _____a Dream

Das Leute, dass was ich schreibe gut finden ist ein Traum.
————-
That people like what I’m writing is a Dream.

5. Im übrigen_____ – By the way_____

Im übrigen schreibe ich immer noch am ‚Wunsch der Königin‚, auch wenn ich momentan eher damit beschäftigt bin den ersten Teil des Neubrandenwolfs etwas auszuweiten und zu überarbeiten.
————-
By the way am I still working on ‚The Queens Wish‚ even if I’m currently more occupied with lengthening and editing the first part of the Neubrandenwolf.

6. _____besonders für mich – ______especially for me./_____special for me.

Zu akzeptieren, dass es Leute gibt, die tatsächlich gut finden, was man schreibt ist ziemlich schwer, besonders für mich.
————-
To accept that people actually like, what you write is pretty hard, especially for me.

7. Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf _____, morgen habe ich geplant, _____ und Sonntag möchte ich ____! – About the weekend, today I’m looking forward to_____, tomorrow I plan to_____and Sunday I want to_____!

Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf das nach Hause kommen, morgen habe ich geplant, wieder ein bisschen an meinen Texten weiterzuarbeiten und Sonntag möchte ich am liebsten nicht wieder nach Neubrandenburg müssen!
————-
About the weekend, today I’m looking forward to coming home, tomorrow I plan to work a bit more on my stories and Sunday I want to not have to return to Neubrandenburg!

Additional thoughts

It wasn’t easy to translate the sentences so I decided to keep both versions side by side. I hope that makes sense. I also probably interpreted some of the fragments differently than what was intended.
However, I’m pretty sure the seventh sentence might be the same for almost every weekend – and as it’s already the evening I’m already home so … anyway, there probably won’t be much variation as I spent most of my weekends with my dad …

Well, you can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

PoiSonPaiNter

© For the the banner belongs to its rightful owners.

Reading Together #17

Remember when I last told you about the stuff I was reading at the time?
Really? Wow, great memory! That was more than two years ago!
Anyway, since I’m not really happy with the post-count recently I decided to start participating in this activity again, so you’d get at least a post on Tuesdays – I might participate in another one on Fridays as well, we’ll see.

As a reminder:

“Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. It was created by Asaviel and later adopted by Schlunzenbuecher.
Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.

For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.
Without much further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

Today I decided to pick up Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent or Sleepy Hollow: Schaurige Erzählungen (Ghastly Tales) a book that I started reading back in 2014.
It’s a collection of different essays and stories by Irving and I basically only bought it originally to read Sleepy Hollow and decided to actually do so after starting with the Sleepy Hollow TV Show. The story itself is located somewhere in the back of the book, so it’s still a long way to go for me, as I’m still on page 46.
 

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Mit dem Gefühle tiefen Bedauerns beobachte ich, wie die literarische Animosität zwischen England und Amerika von Tag zu Tag wächst.

or in English:

It is with feelings of deep regret that I observe the literary
animosity daily growing up between England and America.

Technically I cheated with this one, as the page starts with the title (English Writers on America) and a quote from Milton about Freedom of Speech (the „Methinks“ one), but this one seemed more interesting.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

Seeing as it took me years to pick up the book again and my relatively slow progress with it, I wouldn’t be surprised if I put it away again after reading a few stories.
It’s not that they’re not interesting, but they’re a bit complicated and long and – what probably bugs me most – in a horribly small font. It’s exhausting to read, so I don’t get far when I actually do.
I can’t quite remember the previous stories, but I don’t feel like starting from the get go again, so maybe I’ll just skim through them to refresh my memory…

4. Are you planning the Reading Together beforehand or are you answering the questions spontaneously on the day?

Well…as I haven’t participated in two years this one was quite spontaneously done…
Still, if I had the chance to know the fourth question beforehand, I’d use it.
I remember preparing the first three questions more or less beforehand, when I knew which book I’d be reading, so that I only had to add the page number and quote when I’ve done the reading on my way back from work.
Though, I do not plan what I’m going to read on a Tuesday so it could be featured on a Reading Together. Even if I had a few books where I hoped they’d last until Tuesday so I could talk about them. 😀

Additional thoughts

I really hope this’ll get me back into Blogging, but I’m still busy with those pesky stories and life-stuff, so we’ll see if it’ll work.
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Liebster Award #2

Okay, so I skipped three weeks of posting something (with good reasons, I assure you!) and you just get a measly tag instead. Sorry, I guess, but let me explain before I get further into it.
Skip-Week  #1: On Monday I could finally move back into my flat, well my furniture at least. I still had to get a new fridge (Hugo III. moved in on Wednesday) and carpet and basically clean everything. As I still commuted I was too exhausted to write anything.
Skip-Week #2: Cue the unpacking! I still have a long way to go as I took some liberties in my break-schedule, but that’s basically what I did.
Skip-Week #3: We’re currently in it, and you should get the long overdue WWW, but as I got down with a flue-thingy – that is kind of improving by now – I really didn’t feel like concentrating too much.
Instead I thought I dig up this old thing from a tag back in August 2015 (yes, last year) by Fissel to at least give you something to read on here. So, thank you Fissel and sorry for the delay. 😉
As the title suggests is this my second Liebster Award, so I’m just quoting the first one to tell you what the Award is about – if you don’t already know it:

It is used for getting out the word for unknown Blogs.
Liebster is [also] the German word for beloved partner or darling, in the Blogging sense, to me, it means a Blog you hold dear and greatly enjoy reading. So for me it is an honour to be granted this award and be able to give it to other Blogs I like.

Now for the Rules:

  • Thank the Blogger who nominated you.
  • Link to the Blogger who nominated you.
  • Add one of the „Liebster-Blog-Award“ Buttons to your post.
  • Answer the Questions.
  • Create 11 new Questions for the Bloggers you nominate.
  • Nominate 5-11 new Blogger with less than 300 Followers.
  • Inform the Blogger in a comment about their nomination

Fissel’s Questions*

(* as translated from her Blog)

  1. Why is it so hard for me to come up with a first question? Is it the same for you?
    The first question is probably always the hardest, because you have to get into the whole spirit of „What do I want to ask this other person?“. It’s the ice-breaker to start a conversation that gets the whole thing rolling. You put pressure on yourself to make it interesting, but in the end that doesn’t always work out, so you go back to what you feel comfortable with (in this case, asking others why it’s hard for you 😉 ). Am I close?I prefer setting the entire tone of a series of questions first before starting on individual ones, so it’s not that hard for me, I think…
  2. What do you like doing in public, that you’re not serious about, only because you’re amused by other people’s reaction?
    Hmm…good question… Probably my very dry/sarcastic jokes, even if they are only semi-public as I only tell them to the people I’m interacting with at that moment. At least most people don’t get I’m making a joke when they don’t know me that well and the reactions are always quite fun…
  3. What was the worst pick-up line you’ve ever heard/read?
    I don’t remember…pick-up lines are generally quite stupid, so all of them?
  4. You’re part of an accident/get sick. What would be the worst that could happen to you?
    I hope I understood this question correctly. Aside from the obvious „being responsible for someone else’s death“ and dying, is losing my eye sight or sense of hearing probably the worst that could happen to me.
  5. Your ex starts a relationship with one of your friends shortly after you broke up. How would you react?
    Depends I guess. If it is sudden and without warning that those two were already attracted to each other while we were dating, I’d probably be very shocked and feel betrayed. If all parties talked about the situation beforehand, I think I might even be the one pushing them to try it…
  6. What’s your opinion on friends who’d do something like Question 5? Would that be okay, not okay or okay under certain circumstances?
    Again, depends. If it’s a consensual decision from all parties, I’d probably stay friends. If they just up and did it, I’d end the friendship with both parties. Unless I’m not part of this then I usually stick with the party that’s left behind, if it’s the second kind of split up.
  7. Would you study the same/get the same job again?
    No, I’d probably study proper Computer Science and not Computer Science and Business Management…or something entirely different…
  8. Your pet can suddenly talk to you. Do you think you’re on drugs or do you simply consider it to be awesome?
    Probably both – apart from the fact that I don’t have a pet. I’d be highly confused where that voice came from at first, but if it kept happening I’d accept it quite fast and feel very privileged and awesome about it. 😀
  9. What do you think was the first word you ever said?
    Mama or Papa probably, I think I had this conversation with my Mum, but I forgot which one it was…
  10. Which might be your last words?
    I don’t really want to know. Those words could give me a clue as to what happens, so no spoilers, please. 😉
  11. And last but not least: How would you describe the mood I was in while coming up with the questions?
    You were in a very complicated mood. Potentially someone dumped you in a very harsh way and you were still not over it, in addition to that did you want to finish a post for your Blog, but weren’t really in the mood for it so you churned out a few standard questions in addition to getting an opinion on your situation and called it a day. So, basically your mind was all over the place. 🙂

And the Nominees are…

As I’m seeing the Liebster-Award as something to give to people, who’s writing I enjoy I nominate Blogs that I enjoy reading, even if they probably already met the 300 Followers count.

  • Eve Estelle – Edge of Night: Fascinating poems, prompts and ideas and a great partner for discussions. After winning her writing competition twice and following her journey as a poet, I think, it’s time about to give something back.
  • Joseph – What’s Best In Life?: Want to read interesting and honest reviews on different media? Look right here! Well, if your German is good enough. 😉
  • Wren Collins – Cobweb Queen: In her vivisecting Supernatural-series we had a lot of interesting discussions. She has a great eye for details and connections and doesn’t stray from sharing them in a very fascinating way.

And that’s basically it. I’m not really a fan of the whole „nominating“ thing – especially as I can’t remember if anyone ever accepted one of my tags. These of course are not the only Blogs I follow, but some Bloggers were already nominated with other tags and for another tag, I still have lying around, I have a few other people in mind.

My Questions:

Okay, I admit I’m lazy again, but as none of my nominees from last time ever reacted, I’ll just recycle the questions and add an eleventh one, as I really like them…

  1. What is the best experience you ever had on a concert/at a festival/convention or any other social gathering?
  2. What is the strangest decoration you have at home?
  3. Are you collecting something? If so: What and why?
  4. What was your favourite plushy when you were a kid and what happened to it?
  5. If you had the choice: Would you start Blogging again and about the same topics you cover/ed?
  6. What do you prefer: A handwritten letter, a long e-mail or a short message on the phone/a social network?
  7. Which of your posts/categories you write in is dearest to you?
  8. Which movie/book/series/etc. would you like to read/watch/etc. again for the first time?
  9. What is the place you’ve always wanted to travel to, but so far hadn’t had the chance to do so?
  10. How much time could you spent without using any kind of digital formats/mediums? (Internet, mp3s, e-books, etc.)
  11. What is more frustrating? Discovering an incredible story/show only to find out that it was discontinued/cancelled or following a story/show (for years) that concludes in a very unsatisfying ending/finale?

Have fun, I know I’d like answering those questions. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter
P.S. I know I posted two buttons, but I simply took the picture from Fissel’s Blog, so it’s her fault… 😉

Campfire Tales

I’ve been following Eve Estelle since I participated (and won) her writing contest „Raven’s Omen„, recently she started another writing contest and for quite some time I wasn’t sure if I would find the time to participate – thanks to not having my usual drafting time.
But I did – even if it was a different process this time, as I wrote it directly in a document and not on paper first – and now you can read the resulting story, as I submit my entry.

The Prompt

Trust can take years to build, and only seconds to shatter.

The Guidelines

  • Using the above prompt as your basis, craft your own urban legend.
  • Your story should be between 500 and 1300 words in length.
  • You must enter by August 26th, 2016. No entries will be accepted after this date.

The Story

The group sat around a blazing camp fire and filled the forest with laughter.
“Do you remember when he –“, started one of the guys, barely able to talk, his arms‘ motion telling the rest of the sentence.
“Yeah, and then he –“, continued another in a similar fashion.
Their tales continued like this for a few more moments before they eventually settled down. The cracking of the fire and the leaves rustling in the wind were now the most prominent noises.
Grins and smiles still spread on everyone’s faces, the men each took a wooden stick from small piles lying beside them. The sharp cuts of the metal knifes on the wood soon became another background sound.
“I’m getting my blanket it’s getting chilly”, one of the women exclaimed, standing up from the toppled log she sat on.
“You’re sitting beside a huge fire and you’re cold. That’s so typically female!” One of the guys jested.
“Oh, shut up, Brian!” The offended woman retorted, glaring over her shoulder as she walked away to one of the small wooden houses.
“You know, it’s scientifically proven that the heat distribution in a female body –“, another guy chimed in from across the fire.
“Dude, spare me the lecture. It was a joke”, Brian interrupted him.
The other lifted his hands in defeat, not bothering to continue.

Finally finished with the sticks Brian ripped open a pack of marshmallows and put a few of them on the sharpened tip. Across from him his friends searched for something.
“I think they’re still in the car”, another woman declared and got up, patting her pockets.
“Roy, do you still have the keys?” She asked the man sitting beside Brian.
“Oh, yeah, sorry”, Roy replied, pulled them out of his pocket and threw them over the fire.
The woman easily caught them and went off to the parking lot. She rummaged through one of the cars for a moment, but returned empty handed.
“They’re not in there”, she announced when she got back.
“What’s not where?” The other woman, now sitting with a blanket around her shoulders asked.
“The sausages”, the other merely stated.
“Oh, I took them out when the guys lit the fire and put them by the sticks behind Ian”, the former informed her, waving towards their friend.
“Are you sure, Beverly? We just looked there”, Ian replied looking again.
“Yes. I’m certain”, Beverly assured.
“Maybe you just put them somewhere entirely different, wouldn’t be the first time you misplaced something”, Brian mocked her again.
“Very funny”, she just replied with a huff.
“I’m sorry Susan, I was sure I put them there, maybe I really put them somewhere else because I was distracted”, she apologized.
“It’s okay sweetheart, I’m sure we’ll find them when we break camp tomorrow”, her friend assured her.
“Yeah, but that leaves us with only marshmallows today”, Brian complained.
“Oh, suck it up, you had a good dinner back in town”, Roy silenced him this time.
“Yeah, but nothings better than a camp fire with marshmallows and sausages”, he still continued.
The others just shook their heads at their friend.

“It’s not unusual that things go missing in these woods”, a fourth man suddenly noted.
“How so?” Beverly wondered.
“There are said to be creatures that take whatever they desire from travellers. Food, trinkets, things like that.” He explained in a relatively bored tone.
“What, like Goblins or Kobolds?” Beverly now wanted to know.
“Oh come on, you can’t really believe such nonsense. You probably put them in your sleeping bag or something!” Brian exclaimed unconvinced.
“I could not tell. No one ever saw them and Brian is right, they’re just stories”, the other acknowledged looking away.
“I like stories like that. Please tell us, Julian. You’re from around here, so you have to know some of them. Maybe even some scary ones”, Beverly urged putting her hand on his.
“I don’t know. They’re really silly”, Julian declined.
“Come on, dude, camp fire without scary tales, that’s stupid”, Brian complained.
“And I’m sure the little Miss can handle it, if you hold her hand throughout it”, he added mockingly.
“You’re such a jerk”, Beverly complained, removing her hand from Julian’s and wrapping the blanket closer around herself.

“I’d like to hear a scary tale”, she assured Julian after a moment, a smile on her face.
Julian looked at the others and each in turn nodded their agreement.
“All right”, Julian gave in with a sigh and sat upright.
“This part of the forest used to belong to the Mayans and as they worshipped different jaguar deities it was not uncommon that packs of such animals would live nearby –“, he started.
“Aren’t jaguars solitary creatures?” Roy wondered out loud.
“Shush, Roy!” Beverly scolded him.
“No, he’s right. Jaguars usually live by themselves and the packs I mentioned aren’t really packs as such. They do not live together, but there are times when they get together to hunt.” Julian admitted.
“Really? I never heard something like that”, Ian now chimed in.
“Would you guys let him tell the story, maybe it’ll become clear why they’re so different?” Beverly scolded.
The two men looked down and she motioned for Julian to continue.
“Thank you. The packs that lived with the Mayans were indeed special. Some say they were trained and raised by the Mayans to protect their homes. Others say they were Mayans walking in the skin of a Jaguar, defending their people from threats –“
“You mean like werewolves?” Brian interrupted again.
“BRIAN!” Beverly yelled and he just lifted his arms.
“A bit, maybe” Julian merely accepted and continued “It is said that in the old days, when the Mayans were still at the height of their powers, no one in their right mind would dare to attack them. Especially not when the moon was full, like tonight.”
Julian paused to see if he had everyone’s attention and carried on in a hushed voice, as if he didn’t want anyone else to overhear their conversation: “In those nights, when the enemy was close they would not get an easy rest. The night around them would be silent, no night bird would sing, no animal stir. The wind would only bring them the rustling of the leaves, but they would feel that something was watching their every move. And then when midnight approached they would hear the growls –“
“Fuck!” exclaimed Brian as he hastily pulled the stick out of the fire, the smell of burned marshmallow rising from it.
A small grin could be seen on Julian’s face for a brief moment, the other’s sat in silence, not daring to disturb the quietness that was only broken by Brian’s low grumblings. When he was finished removing the marshmallow and putting on new ones, Julian went on.
“When midnight approached they would hear the growls, deep and menacing. Soon after the cries of their comrades would echo through the night until they found themselves screaming for their lives until the very last one of them was slain.” He paused again, letting this sink before adding: “Nowadays, without Mayans and real threats, it is said that the jaguar have to make do with what they get.”

The friends sat in silence once more, everyone looking across their shoulders into the bushes surrounding them. Brian was just about to comment something when a low growl came from the forest.
“It’s just a story, right, Julian?” Beverly asked, frightened.
She turned to him only to find two glowing, amber eyes looking back at her.
“Of course it is”, he assured her in a mocking tone, a sharp toothed grin on his face.

The screams of the friends could be heard from miles away, echoing through the forest until the early morning broke.

~ 1300 words

Afterword

If my word count doesn’t deceive me I’ve met the maximum on the spot which I’m actually surprised about as I kind of noted down that it would be 1500 words and had to throw out about a hundred words. I rephrased things for that and scratched some things entirely, but I hope it’s still an interesting read.
Something I’m not entirely sure about is the „typically female“ in German we use the phrase „typisch Frau“ (or any other gender/job/etc.) to refer to something that is characteristically for a certain group of people and I tried to translate it and according to Leo.org that would be the proper translation. If anyone can confirm or deny it, please let me know.

The narrator is a bit different from the one I used for the other story – or use in general, but I intentionally tried to only let him make simple observations, as if he was sitting in the bushes watching them. 😉

I also think that I took some liberties with the prompt. The trust between Julian and the group might not be as deep as the trust between the other group members, but I do believe that you at least trust someone to a certain extent if you let them camp with you in the wilderness…

A curious thing: At some point I called the third guy Roy, but afterwards still used „the third guy“ not remembering it. Annoyed with doing that I had someone call him „Max“ later on, only to realize that I had already given him a name in the beginning of the tale when I edited it. >_<

Edit:
Eve chose the winners and look what I got! 😀

You can read more about her decision here:

Tell me a tale

PoiSonPaiNter

© Rights for the story lie with me. Do not use or repost without my permission.