I would like to share some quotes from a book I just finished reading about writing fiction, called From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler:

"You must, to be in here, have the highest aspirations for yourselves as writers--the desire to create works of fiction that will endure, that reflect and articulate the deepest truth about the human condition" (10).

"Please get out of the habit of saying you have an idea for a short story. Art does not come from ideas. Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream. Art comes from your unconscious; it comes from the white-hot center of you" (13).

"The objects we create are sensual objects, and the way you'll know that you're writing from your head is that you'll look at your story and find it full of abstraction and generalization and summary and analysis and interpretation" (14).

"You have to go down into that deepest, darkest, most roiling, white-hot place...you have to go in there; down into the deepest part of it, and you can't flinch, you can't walk away. That's the only way to create a work of art--even though you have plenty of defense mechanisms to keep you out of there, and those defense mechanisms are going to work against you mightily" (18). emphasis added

"You have to write every day. You cannot do it any other way" (25).

"I think most writers who get blocked do so because some important part of them knows that they've got to get to the unconscious. But they're not getting there; they're thinking too much, so there's nothing there" (30).

"Rewriting is re-dreaming. Rewriting is re-dreaming till it all thrums" (38). emphasis added

"First..fiction is about human beings; second...it's about human emotion...It's the dynamics of desire that is at the heart of narrative and plot" (39,40).

"There is no intellect in this world powerful enough to create a great work of novelistic art. Only the unconscious mind can fit together the stuff of fiction; the conscious mind cannot" (85).

"Just keep the flow of it through the senses--flowing, flowing, flowing. Don't think, don't think. Senses, senses, senses" (165,166).

The five ways we experience emotion (15):

1) Sensual reaction inside our bodies--temperature, heartbeat, muscle reaction, neural change

2) Sensual response that sends signals outside our bodies--posture, gesture, facial expression, tone of voice, and so forth

3) Flashes of the past -- "moments of reference in our past...vivid bursts of waking dream"

4) Flashes of the future--also bursts of waking dream

5) Sensual selectivity-- "But in that moment only a very small number of those cues /out of several thousand stimuli/ will impinge on our consciousness. Now what makes that selection for us? Well, our emotions do."

I hope these thoughts have been helpful to those of you who decided to read them. I strongly urge that you read the book all the way through, for it is very revolutionary, and yet so natural. A good read with a lot to think about and apply to your own writing, both original fiction and fan fiction.

Blessings,

Hv

Aha! More story ideas bouncing around in the crawl space of my mind!

--A Babylon 5 fic revolving around human/alien relationships within the Anla'shok, and possibly the creation of a Narn telepath...and some dancing, too

Speaking of which, what're the rules about alien cultures here? I know there's a book by Mongoose Publishing about the Minbari Federation that I thought would be helpful, but I can't seem to get my hands on it. Would die-hard B5 fans get mad at me if I didn't use that book as a reference source? I've always admired people who could flesh out culture so well with their own original spin, and I've wanted to try my hand at it for a long time. Why not start with the Minbari culture? Any suggestions, though, would be well-received.

--Must finish LOTR fic! Must finish LOTR fic!

From http://www.cod.dk/text/2muchb5.htm

You know you've been watching too much Babylon 5 when...

...you believe that in a past life you were a member of the Grey Council.

...you wonder who would win in a fight between a Minbari and a Vulcan.

...you think Darth Vader is a Vorlon.

...your first son has just been born, and you can't think of any names other than Londo, Lennier, and Kosh.

...you ask the Air Force recruiter about the Starfury Training Program.

...you have a bumper sticker that says, "My other car's a Starfury."

...you go around asking everyone, "What do you want?"

...your dreams don't simply include B5 characters and scenes, instead they are full new episodes.

...you have always been here.

..."Scrag 'em" and "Space 'em" have become part of your normal vocabulary.

...buying candy from a vending machine, you buy whatever is at selection B-5 (or at least look there).

...you start dating someone because when you ask "What do you want?" they reply "Never ask that question!"

...and later break up over a green/purple argument

...you ask people "Who are you?" and when they answer incorrectly, you stick their fingers in an electrical socket.

...you have actually said, "Absofraginlutely."

...you put a Vorlon on top of your Christmas tree.

...you begin to become attracted to Vir.

...while driving, you suddenly have the irresistible urge to "punch it."

...you start referring to your children as "pouchlings."

...you wonder how the Millennium Falcon can go into hyperspace without a jumpgate.

...your bedroom starts looking like the Downbelow.

...you change your hairstyle to match Delenn's.

...you fear the midterm is going to explode if you don't answer all the questions.

...you step into an elevator and say, "Blue 2"

...and then wonder why this travel tube doesn't respond to voice commands.

...somebody calls you a bonehead, and you reply, "But I'm not Minbari!"

...you ask you AP physics teacher how to build a jumpgate.

...you start ending your prayers with "In Valen's name, Amen."

...you prop one end of you bed so that it's inclined about 45 degrees.

...you want Narns on the police force.

...you call your friends in for a Code 7R.

...you use a shortsword to kill cockroaches.

...you have a dream in which your guardian angel appears to you, and it's in an encounter suit.

...your worst nightmare is walking into C&C naked.

...you announce that your floor is seceding from the rest of the company.

...the man in between is searching for you.

...your friend returns from Jerusalem, and you keep on touching him, his clothing, his luggage, and of course, his plants!

Okay, so I got a hold of a trial version of photo manipulation software, and I've been playing around with it for the past few days. Click here to see some of my manips, as well as a pic for my LOTR fic "The Lady, the Horseman, and the Shower." Please keep in mind that I've only just started doing photo-manips, so if it doesn't look totally flawless, I apologize. :P

Go see the photos! I just posted two more images concerning "The Lady, the Horseman, and the Shower." One of them is a picture that better represents what Rebecca looks like, and the other is a promotional poster of some sort (the text is kinda hard to read, and I apologize for that. I could seem to find a good text color that would word against such a strange background). Please take a look see and keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of the story!

Check out this cool pic! http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ericaasasithfromstephandu7.png

It's a photo manipulation of me as a Dark Lady of the Sith, done by one of my friends.

I'm trying to get my hands on the program she used, because I think I could have a lot of fun with it in giving faces to my fanfiction characters. :D

Want some insight about how not to write a Lord of the Rings fanfiction, or just fiction in general? Check out my newest addition: The Mary-Sue Roast Fic

It's just for pure enjoyment--not to be taken seriously. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy some of the comments I made to the story.

UPDATE! I mentioned my new not-so-secret project in one of my stories, but here's a more detailed low-down. Technically, it's not my project--since I joined only recently--but we're kind of floating on the surface of the water here.

The current plan is to split the Silmarillion into four animated films:
1) The Fall of the Noldor (script in final drafts)
2) The Lay of Luthien (script in the process of editing)
3) The Tale of Turin (script in-progress)
4) The War of Wrath (pre-production)

What we need right now:
scriptwriters/editors
concept artists
story-board artists

What we will need in the future:
music composers
singers and voice actors
effects engineers
publicists
continuity consultants
...people willing to do odds and ends, like sound-mixing and latte-fetching...

Check out the website for more info.

UPDATE: I have changed my penname from AnneBonny07 to HiddenValor. I assure you, I am still the same person. :D

I'm an English Ed. major in college, so I'm willing to beta-read. There are a few stipulations, however.

1) I have never been an official beta-reader, so I'm kind of testing the water here.

2) Because of #1, rumors about a beta's atrocious workload, and my own course work, I'm only willing to beta 2-3 multi-chapter stories at a time. One-shots and ficlets, however, I can do pretty much anytime. I primarily read in the Stargate Atlantis and Lord of the Rings fandoms.

3) NO SLASH or sexually explicit material. I'm of the opinion that sex scenes generally aren't needed, so if you have one in your story, I'll probably suggest that you cut it.

4) I like to read uncommon pairings, like Ronon/Keller, Teyla/Radek, and the like--we need more Gimli/OC...but that's not to say I won't beta Aragorn/Arwen or John/Teyla. I can do those as well.

5) I don't do parodies or crack!fics...

6) If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post it here.

I hope I can be of some help. :D

Okay, here's what's jumping around in my brain right now:

Lotr

--A Gimli/OC romance; there's great shortage of those

--A self-insert experiment involving a shower and unrequited love for Aragorn

Stargate Atlantis

--The sequel to "Kicking and Screaming"; I'm going to have to do a lot of research involving watching a lot of Season 4 over again

--Several one-shot companion pieces to "Kicking and Screaming"

--A crossover with Lord of the Rings...that should be interesting

--A check-in mission to M7G-677 (the planet with the kids) doesn't go as expected. Team-centric, but with a team of OCs

--I dunno about you, but somebody needs to write a ZelenkaCarter fic!

Chronicles of Narnia

--I really have no definitive ideas yet, but I just saw Prince Caspian and totally fell in love with Ben Barnes.