The Writing Mafia

-Hannah- So. Unicorns. Do we need to go over the basics? They're white horses with one twisted horn in the center of their forehead. Other details of their appearance and their powers vary with the time period. History The ancient Greeks were the first to record unicorns, not as mythical creatures, but as actual natural things found in India, at that time a distant and mystical realm in relation to Greece. The first-ever description of them, found in a book called Indika (On India), describes them as fleet-footed wild asses with a horn two and a quarter feet long. However several seals from the Indus Valley have what look like unicorns on them (above) dated about 2000 years before the Ancient Greeks began to flourish. It is debatable whether they are unicorns or cows with two horns but printed with bad perspective.  Moving on to the Middle Ages. A mistranslation in the King James Version of the Bible meant that Unicorns were incorrectly substituted for rhinos, ...

-Hannah- Today we look at character descriptions. What do appearances say about a character's personality? Quite a lot, actually. Authors use descriptions as an easy way of giving the reader a first impression of a character without having to go into any particular effort. Cicero once said that "the face is a picture of the mind," and this can be true, especially in books or movies. Authors generally want to give you as much information as possible about their characters (unless they're deliberately hiding things) and will use the opportunity to describe their character's appearance to their advantage. Look at this extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, where Hagrid is described: A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. This is J.K.Rowling's...

We've all been there. You're really excited about this awesome project that you're going to do, and then you sit down to brainstorm ideas for it and there's just a blank page of endless nothingness. Well, here are a few tips I have picked up that are actually quite helpful. 1. Exercise daily. It actually works. Even walking just two miles a day can really stimulate your brain. Also, it reduces the risk of things like dementia in later life, so it's definitely worth a try. Studies have shown that people who exercise four times or more in a week outperform those who don't. So get walking! Or running, or whatever it is you do. 2. Research using books. The easier information is to find, the less likely it is to stick on your head. Googling things generally leads to multitasking, which is bad for focus and basically means you won't learn as much. Consulting books and people improve your memory and capacity for learning. 3. Don't multitask. ...

Your protagonist is in need of a sidekick. Maybe they are in need of a foil, or someone to get them out of trouble. Sidekicks can be very useful. They provide your protagonist with someone to talk to, and they can assist in moving the plot forward. Be careful they aren't too boring or pointless. Here's a few ways to make your sidekick interesting: 1. Foil characters can be fun sometimes Nanny Ogg from Discworld (right) is possibly one of my favorite sidekicks. She adds an excellent air of comedy as well as being a helpful foil to the grim and fearsome Granny Weatherwax. As well as being a witch, Nanny Ogg has been married three times and has numerous children and grandchildren, an unusual talent for cooking, and an evil cat called Greebo. Despite being a sidekick, she provides much insight to the character of Granny Weatherwax at the same time as having an equally colorful personality. Make sure your foil characters are interesting too, instead of just being writin...

Today we make quills. And other cool stuff. *theme tune starts playing* First of all a crash course in the history of writing implements: 4000 BC - hard tools on moist clay 3000 BC - reed brushes on papyrus (a type of reed woven and flattened) 1300 BC - metal stylus on thin sheets of wax 400 AD  - metal stylus on thin sheets of wax, also wrote on parchment 600 - 1800 AD  - quill pen on parchment (Pencil leads were invented in Australia and France but not used widely) 1800 - 1850  - steel nibs for quills emerges, metal pen patented 1884 - Fountain pen invented 1940s  - Ball point pens (biros) were used widely 1960s  - Felt tips invented So Elizabethans. They included Shakespeare. Want to write like Shakespeare? First things first: you need a pen. And some paper. And ink. Make a Quill For this you need a goose feather. Take a walk down to somewhere you know there are geese, like a lake. Take care to pick a feather big enough...

I can see the shapes But my hands can't form them right They're trapped in my mind Why can’t I see the light? Dancing and soaring I forget what's around me Electric body Won’t you do what I do? Come sit in the shade Let the arid world fly by Luscious, dark gray shade Take my hand, come and fly Can’t you see the shapes Our fingers form them right Trapped in our minds Can’t you see the bright light? ~a poem by Gemaine~ ~based on a series of haikus by Hannah~

I have been slightly obsessed with dragons for a while. Here's the result. Characteristics Flight The first thing we need to figure out is the size of our prototype dragon. If a full-sized dragon like Smaug existed, it wouldn't fly (due to the fact that it would weigh about 18 tonnes). The weight to wing ratio basically means the dragon would have to be hollow to fly, or else the gravitational pull on it would be too great for even the most massive wings. Instead of having a hollow dragon, let's shrink it down. Say around the size of a falcon. Large birds like vultures have large surfaces for their wings and can therefore soar. Assuming we want our dragon to soar like an eagle, we could make it larger, but big birds need massive areas to land and take off, which is completely impractical if we are sticking to the stereotype of dragons living in caves. (More on habitat later). However we can't have the dragon flapping around like a little finch, so we might ...

A pinboard is like a loving thing, so treat it with care. Find it a good place, not too dark but not in direct sunlight, as its foliage may fade. Make sure you keep a good store of pins nearby in case you need to feed it quickly. With the pins, keep scraps of paper, sticky notes or blank notecards. Feed it regularly, so it doesn't get a tatty coat. Regularly prune as well, since old pieces of paper no longer serving any purpose can get in the way and make it look shabby. Ensure you are feeding it a well balanced diet of different colors, sizes and shapes of paper, and occasionally add supplements such as leaves, postcards and bits of string. This way you will see your pinboard bloom all seasons. A pinboard can become a lifelong friend if treated correctly. Make sure you feed it enough, but not too much. An important point to note is the content of the notes you are giving it. Single words are acceptable as long as they are clear, so you know exactly what you were thinking whe...

She holds her elegant neck high above the masses which she saunters through. Like a diva at a show she flaunts her plumes, casts a wary eye about for rivals, and turns up her nose at her drab brown and cream comrades.  Behold, an animal of distinction and refinement. Here is the ostrich, queen of the winged kingdom. Around her, antelope bow their heads in shame, cringing at their inferiority. Where she steps the grass seems to wither in embarrassment. Even the sun seems reluctant to disgrace her chestnut and ivory feathers. Stop. Look around. Sour musk lines the brisk breeze. She lowers the foot which was held aloft a moment ago, her previously serene expression now one of incandescent disapproval. The antelope prick up their ears. A glimpse of golden pelt in the grass and an explosion of hooves signifies the beginning of the chase. She runs like a demon, head pointed forward and wings outstretched. Long legs kick up turf, spraying it into the streak of gold fur b...