Istoryan Writers

[Empress_Of_Drac]

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I guess I've already posted on this thread before but that was ages ago. Hehe! So, as what Mr. Diem said I need to post any article of mine here so that I can join your group guys. I actually have a year experience in creative writing but I don't consider it as an accomplishment. I don't even consider myself as a writer but I just really love to write anything under the sun and express myself through words. My goal is to meet a lot people who have same interest in writing and learn something from them. I also have a plan to study creative writing somewhere. So, that's just it.

The article below is a movie review I wrote about my favorite villain, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Movie: Hannibal
Genre: Horror, Gory
Rating: 7/10

He has no choice but to cut his left arm instead of hers...He wants her...he aches for her but he wanted to eat her...eat her alive...NO!

I've watched this movie maybe thrice or twice, but I'm not yet satisfied that I watched it again and again. Way back my dark college days I read the book...I read it with the intention of deciphering the depth of the mind of the sharpest, wittiest, cunniest, and the most refined and sophisticated criminal in the fiction world...no other than Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Hannibal, the forensic psychologist who is guilty of lots of bizarre murders and hair-raising one-manned massacres. He's the cunning psychologist in Red Dragon who had been jailed to the asylum by FBI agent William. And he is the melancholic yet witty prisoner in The Silence of the Lambs who became fond of FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling. And then, he became the FBI's top ten most wanted criminal who has a bounty of three million dollars in "Hannibal".

After giving FBI Special Agent Starling some clues on who's Buffalo Bill (the transvestite serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs)is, he had managed to wittingly escape from his new jail, leaving three guards dead after attacking them using her sharp teeth and strong arms. He bit one guard on the face to death, and the other one by merciless beating. And then he escaped to USA. He went to several countries and then make a name on his own in Florence, wherein he's known as Dr. Fell.

Lecter's whereabout in Florence has been traced by a local Police who became aware of the large amount of bounty whoever can pinpoint the doctor to the Federal people. But then Francesco (the local police) met his very tragic death at Lecter's hand. Lecter grotesquely hung him to death and slashed his saccular abdominal organ causing all his other organs along with his intestines, testicles, and feces hanging and spilling out on the open air and were witnessed by the terrified public. On the other hand, Lecter had a near encounter with death when Mason Verger (the malformed wealthy businessman, one of Lecter's homosexual clients who he hyptonised by telling him to cut his face off with broken glass mirrors, and whom Lecter fed his face's fleshes to his dog) abducted him and planned to feed him to his wild monster hogs in his farm in Sardinia. But then FBI Starling saved him and it was Mason Verger who ended up being feasted by his hungry multi-molar beasts. And then the movie ended up with Dr. Lecter feeding FBI Agent Krendler (Starling's co-officer who is Mason's subordinate in the abduction of Lecter and the cause of Starling's suspension in the Bureau) his own brain's left frontal lobe's meat, cooked in the skillet and served with wine. Kendler is actually conscious when the doctor slowly cut his upper head's skull off using a very sharp scalpel and slowly sliced a part of his brain and fried it in the skillet. The poor sedated agent ate his brain and even commented how great tasting it is. Clarice saw all of it and was terrified to death. The FBIs are coming and she tried her best to prevent the doctor to escape. But she's fully sedated, and when she had managed to wittingly handcuffed him, he mindlessly cut his left arm off and escaped.

When I first saw this movie I was quite disappointed. I mean the book is more detailed and more interesting. Well, that's just my opinion. But still, the movie doesn't lose the essence of the story and Anthony Hopkins (the actor who gives life to Hannibal Lecter's character) is very convincing, and he actually received few awards because of his role. And on the other hand, Jodie Foster (the one who played Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs), and Julianne Moore (Clarice Starling in Hannibal) look quite similar and Moore is fairly adequate in portraying the role of Clarice. And Anthony Hopkins is quite consistent in playing his role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter from "Red Dragon" up to "Hannibal". I'm quite excited for the coming prequel (Hannibal Rising) this year.

Thomas Harris, the author of the three novels (Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal) had actually based Dr. Hannibal's character in one of the notorious serial killers in the US and combined it with that one in Japan. I actually forgot their names. I've read it when I was in college and I couldn't remember where I dug it. But then, of all fictional villains Dr. Hannibal Lecter's character impressed me a lot. Well, not his prowess in murders and cannibalism...but the patina of his thinking. He's very clever and he is very sharp and very talented, very shrewd yet very cunning and very dangerous. And well, he loves classical music as what most genius mortals do, and he is so into fine dining which made him the most sophisticated cannibal in the fiction history . But then, he only loves two mortals in his whole life...and they are Mischa (his younger sister axed, chopped, and eaten by some deserters) and Clarice Starling, the FBI Agent who is desperate to capture him alive.

N.B. I wrote this review last year.

[diem]

Thanks for sharing your film review, EOD. I saw the film myself though I haven't yet read the book.

Now, I hope you don't mind but here are some friendly comments about your review.

I think you've got a good, straightforward first draft of what could possibly be a great review. It makes an interesting read, as if you're just writing what you would say to a conversation with a friend regarding the film though I personally find there are some details that shouldn't be shared unless you really do intend to disclose the key scenes of the film..

That's okay but since it's been written and not spoken, there's the advantage of taking back what's mentioned and working a little on it to rearrange it into something that best communicates what you want communicated. There are some minor inconsistencies with grammar and thought. With some improvements and changes, you can rewrite this into a first-rate article.

I know I've posted it often and it always bear repeating that the real writing comes in the re-writing. A real writer shouldn't depend on an editor or a co-writer on checking for spelling, grammar errors and improving on what's written. A writer must have the initiative to check on his/her own words and acknowledge the challenge that it can be rewritten better then rewrite it.

And your challenge, EOD, is to apply proper reorganization with your wording. For example, let's take the 5th paragraph of your film review.

Lecter's whereabout in Florence has been traced by a local Police who became aware of the large amount of bounty whoever can pinpoint the doctor to the Federal people. But then Francesco (the local police) met his very tragic death at Lecter's hand. Lecter grotesquely hung him to death and slashed his saccular abdominal organ causing all his other organs along with his intestines, testicles, and feces hanging and spilling out on the open air and were witnessed by the terrified public. On the other hand, Lecter had a near encounter with death when Mason Verger (the malformed wealthy businessman, one of Lecter's homosexual clients who he hyptonised by telling him to cut his face off with broken glass mirrors, and whom Lecter fed his face's fleshes to his dog) abducted him and planned to feed him to his wild monster hogs in his farm in Sardinia. But then FBI Starling saved him and it was Mason Verger who ended up being feasted by his hungry multi-molar beasts. And then the movie ended up with Dr. Lecter feeding FBI Agent Krendler (Starling's co-officer who is Mason's subordinate in the abduction of Lecter and the cause of Starling's suspension in the Bureau) his own brain's left frontal lobe's meat, cooked in the skillet and served with wine. Kendler is actually conscious when the doctor slowly cut his upper head's skull off using a very sharp scalpel and slowly sliced a part of his brain and fried it in the skillet. The poor sedated agent ate his brain and even commented how great tasting it is. Clarice saw all of it and was terrified to death. The FBIs are coming and she tried her best to prevent the doctor to escape. But she's fully sedated, and when she had managed to wittingly handcuffed him, he mindlessly cut his left arm off and escaped.

It's a really large block of text. How about let's break it apart into paragraphs of not more than 4 lines each, do some rearrangement, apply spelling/grammar corrections, beware of pronouns use simple sentence-verb arrangements, connect coherent ideas and do away with conjuctions while maintaining one's pace and voice.

Lecter's whereabouts in Florence had been traced by Francesco, a local police inspector who was aware of the large Federal reward for whoever can pinpoint Lecter's location.

Francesco met a very tragic death by Lecter's hand. Lecter grotesquely hung him and slashed his saccular abdominal organ; causing all his other organs along with his intestines, testicles hanging and feces spilling out in the open air. This was witnessed by the terrified public.

Soon Lecter had a near encounter with death himself when Mason Verger abducted him. Verger is a malformed, homosexual billionaire, one of Lecter's former clients. Lecter hyptonized Verger cut his own face off with broken mirror glass, then Lecter fed Verger's face pieces to Verger's dog. In revenge, Verger planned to feed Lecter to wild monster hogs in a farm in Sardinia.

FBI Agent Starling saved Lecter. It was Mason Verger who ended up being feasted upon by his hungry multi-molar beasts.

The movie ended with Dr. Lecter feeding FBI Agent Krendler (Starling's co-officer who was Mason's subordinate in Lecter's abduction and the cause of Starling's suspension in the Bureau) the agent's own brain.

Krendler was actually conscious when his upper head's skull got cut off by the doctor using a very sharp scalpel. Lecter then sliced a piece of Kendrell's left frontal lobe, fried it in the skillet then served it to the agent with wine. The poor sedated agent ate his brain and even commented how great tasting it is.

Clarice saw all of it and was terrified to death. The FBI was coming and she tried her best to prevent the doctor to escape even though she's fully sedated. She managed to wittingly handcuff Lecter who mindlessly cut his left hand off and escaped.

There-- it's more like cleaner and easier to read. One is sure that a reader wouldn't skim over the lines. So everyone please take your time in reviewing and rewriting your own drafts to develop your editing skills. As like any process for improvement, we have to make our own initiative in changing and challenging ourselves for the better.

[annapeace]

this has been very helpful.. please do keep it coming guys. i am taking notes. maybe some time i'll be posting my questions. especially now that we have new probationary writers in our publication and i can share some stuff and learning with them.

[galenostiel]

Hi guys! Posting this in case anyone's interested. Got this from the Talecraft mailing list.

THREE-HEADED MONSTER PUBLISHING CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

So, you think you can write? Well, we're a new player in the industry,
and we're looking for a few good Romance Stories.

What we're looking for: Really good Romance Fiction, especially
Fantasy, Sci-fi, Paranormal, and Historical Romances. We're looking
for stories with new ideas. We're NOT looking for stories that
resemble those that are already often being published in popular
romance pocketbooks. There's too much of those already.

What we're giving:
1.)A royalty of 30% of what we make from your story. In other words:
(Selling_Price – Bookstore_Commission) * 30% = Writer's_Royalty.
2.)International Exposure. We will be selling internationally.
3.)You get to keep your copyright. We only ask for non-exclusive
rights to publish.

Submission Guidelines:
-Works must be in English, 50,000 – 100,000 words.
-Initially, submit a 1-page summary of your story, and the first 3
chapters. Don't submit the complete manuscript yet. If we like your
story, we will contact you for the full manuscript.
-Make sure you self-edit your submission before sending it to us.
-Works must be submitted in RTF format, 8.5" x 11", 1-inch margin on
all sides. Font must be Arial or Times New Roman, font size 12, double
space.
-Send summary and first 3 chapters to inquiry@3hmpublishing.com. Don't
forget to include your full real name, pen name (if any), address,
landline number, mobile number, and a little information about yourself.

At the moment, we are only accepting Novel-length Romance Fiction. We
encourage mixing Romance with other genres like Fantasy, Sci-fi,
Paranormal and Historical. But if you think you have a contemporary
romance story that has an interesting plot, by all means, submit.

For questions and inquiries, don't hesitate to email us at
inquiry@3hmpublishing.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

[diem]

ATENEO WRITERS WORKSHOP OFFERS FELLOWSHIPS
The Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP) is accepting applications for the 8 th Ateneo National Writers Workshop (ANWW) to be held on 20-25 Oct. 2008.
Each applicant should submit a portfolio in triplicate of any of the following works:

five poems, three short stories, written in Filipino or English, with a title page bearing the author's pseudonym and a table of contents. The 8 th ANWW will not be accepting portfolios for one-act plays as a separate workshop will be conducted for this. Details will be announced later this year.


The portfolio must also be accompanied by a diskette containing a file of the documents saved in Rich Text Format.


All submissions must include a sealed envelope containing the author's name, address, contact numbers, e-mail address, and a one-page resume including a literary curriculum vitae with a 1x1 ID picture.


Twelve fellows will be chosen from all over the country. Food and accomodation will be provided.


Please address entries to: Alvin B. Yapan, acting director, AILAP c/o Department of Filipino, 3F Horacio de la Costa Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.


Deadline of submissions is on 8 September 2008. For inquiries, please call 426-6001 local 5320-21 or e-mail ayapan@ateneo.edu

[Empress_Of_Drac]

So everyone please take your time in reviewing and rewriting your own drafts to develop your editing skills. As like any process for improvement, we have to make our own initiative in changing and challenging ourselves for the better.

Thanks...I'll take note of that.

[wilhelmina]

nice thread, looks like I'll be hanging out in this one for a while

[diem]

What's your writing tool?

Stephen King claims that a Waterman fountain pen is the world's best word processor while other authors couldn't live, much less work, without the click-clack-click-clack-click-chiiing! of a typewriter.

Every writer/author has their preferences.

Though times have changed as evident by me who uses Microsoft Word in my desktop and OpenOffice Writer in my laptop, somebody gave me Final Draft 6(a screen-writing software) as a gift while I got Celtx myself (a FREE screen-writing software) as a try.

For simplicity, Notepad has its uses as well and yes I do write with a pen or pencil and paper just to make sure that I can still write clearly (but not patiently) by hand.

Writers Digest online features this interesting article guiding writers to the latest writing software to check out, with a range of applications from writing your stories, formatting scripts, editing your work, tracking your submissions or planning out your publishing dream as well as voice recognition software to just dictate your story.

Check out the Writer Digest guide here.

[diem]

Writing Prompt. Here's a writer challenge from one of my favorite online writer blogsites which is created and updated by Bisoy, a fellow Cebuano.


Exercise 38 - Connecting Ideas

How well can you connect an idea with another different idea? Below is a list of sentences.

1. It was inevitable.

2. I couldn't believe it.

3. It wasn't what I expected.

4. She came like she said she would.

5. He nodded and quietly walked away.

6. Does he suspect something?

7. She wanted to see me.

8. It's not over yet.

9. I'll never know.

10. Not really.

Instructions:

Pick any two sentences from the list and connect them together by writing prose in between the two sentences (250-300 words). You can use narrative (first, second or third person), dialogue, whatever -- be creative, you can even choose what genre you like. Example:

She came like she said she would. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text TextText Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. I'll never know.

Below is what I wrote for this challenge:

She wanted to see me.

It’s been ten years since I last saw Anna. She’s this girl I thought who would be young in fun forever.

We became close friends from the first day in high school, natural as the sun in the sky. Graduation came and passed, I had to move away. We promised to keep in touch. Anna always asked when I could come ‘home’; something always came up as my excuse. Excuses I regretted when I heard she married. Heart bruised, I felt I had no reason to come home.

The last message I received was ever so Anna, “If you won’t come to then I’ll come to you, promise!”

She would have kept her promise had not her untimely death gave her the ultimate excuse. Haunted by shame and guilt, I thought of visiting but the sight of her inside that casket would mar my memories.

Last night, I dreamed of her. I’m back in the classroom during lunch break. Anna comes in. She’s on the spotlight today, the first girl of our grade to wear lipstick, a glossy rose. “Sister Mary said I’m too young to use lipstick. The other girls said I look old.”

“They’re wrong. You look wonderful, Anna.”

Anna coos when pleased. She wraps her arms around me, presses her face against my cheek. The scent of her warmth burns. She laughs, seeing the lipstick mark.

In real memory, she wiped the mark off. In my dream, I stopped her hand, the mark and the feeling of her kiss remained.

Awake, I touched a warm place on my face. I stood up, turned on the lights, and faced the mirror. There it was, a deep rosy outline of Anna’s kiss on my cheek.

She came, like she said she would.

Check out more writer prompts, writing lessons and information from Bisoy's here.

[Bigfoot Oracle]

She came, like she said she would.

She wasn't faking it, right? I keed! I keed!

Nice piece, Diem.