Finally back into the flow of writing! After a busy period of birthdays, the traditional Dutch Sinterklaasavond, decorating the Christmas tree and shopping for Christmas presents, I'm completely caught up in the story of my novel again. I am full of inspiration to develop certain characters and storylines. Still struggling with the dialogues of my young protagonist Elena though... It is easy to reflect her character by actually letting her do things, but to give a 7-year old an 'interesting' dialogue with one of her peers is much more challenging.
I am picking my brain to remember which novels I have read with children's dialogues. The first titles that come to mind are 'Of Love and Other Demons' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'The Kite Runner' by Khaleid Hosseini and 'I'll Steal You Away' by Niccolo Ammaniti. I definitely have to go through these books again to see how these writers have managed to give these young people dialogues that have really added something to the story. With a pile of snow outside, the candles lit and some nice bottles of wine in stock, that seems to be a good objective for one of these coming days! Love, M.
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Great Italian Movie...
Last week I have really felt like I was in the middle of a typical Italian movie; one where life is slow, all senses are being stimulated and relationships truly matter.
If you would have told me upfront that I would meet such a palette of inspiring, interesting people in this small southern Italian village, I would not have believed you! Good friends of my friend came over from Rome, all very nice, intelligent and wonderful people. There were two female teachers (university of Milan), one taking some sort of exam to become a professor. We all felt compassion when the one girl was so stressed out she couldn't eat or sleep and then, of course, we all celebrated with her when the exam was over! The other teacher has won a bronze medal in the Karate World Championships in 1991. Having an enormous passion for the USA, she was the first Italian I have ever heard speaking English with an American accent! The Americans from Utah (one of the most conservative states of the US!), other guests in the B&B, were so liberal and free spirit that we had great conversations and really good laughs. They are still traveling through Italy now with their Italian-American friend.
Two young people (actually from my home town in Holland; how crazy is that??) came over to the agriturismo to have lunch. Next day we were discovering Naples together, as if we had known each other for years already! Last but definitely not least, there was this wonderful German couple, both film producers. Very creative minds, a good sense of humor and great conversations again. She was like the blond version of me, to a point where it got really funny and sometimes even scary! :-). Naples is absolutely amazing and I was happy to finally see more of this beautiful city. It is hectic, dynamic, chaotic, historical, crazy and breathtaking, all at the same time. As I said before, all laws that apply in the rest of Italy do not apply in Naples! You will see whole families on one scooter (all without helmet of course...), policemen driving the police car while being on the phone (correct, forbidden in Italy as well) and people trying to sell you lottery tickets in the street with the help of a life parakeet picking out the lottery ticket for you for good luck...
Coming back by train from Naples, I picked up my Cinquecento (Fiat 500) from a parking lot in Salerno and drove my new friends to the place they were staying. Believe me, I felt like a true Italian. Traffic is crazy as I have said before, especially in the cities, but just do as the Italians do and you are fine! This meant just 'pushing' my small car in between a big line of cars. As a good Italian friend of mine always says: 'Everything fits in Italy!'. Now take that literally, because this means that if there are two lanes but you can fit 4 cars next to each other, the people in southern Italy will.
The best part of this last week however was of course staying with my friend. She and her boyfriend have made me feel very welcome and loved. We have had long, intense conversations in which she told me her life story, which is beyond any fantasy. Of course it wasn't all serious business! We also had great laughs, cocktails and meals together. It all felt so right, that I even decided to stay one extra day, enjoying live Neapolitan music, another delicious meal and good company on Saturday night. After the research I did on the area and the history, I now have all the ingredients to really start writing the novel. The end result will hopefully have a good balance between her life story, my personal experiences in life and my fantasy. Now I can start putting the pieces of the puzzle together and get into the right flow... Love, M.
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mirjambs
If you would have told me upfront that I would meet such a palette of inspiring, interesting people in this small southern Italian village, I would not have believed you! Good friends of my friend came over from Rome, all very nice, intelligent and wonderful people. There were two female teachers (university of Milan), one taking some sort of exam to become a professor. We all felt compassion when the one girl was so stressed out she couldn't eat or sleep and then, of course, we all celebrated with her when the exam was over! The other teacher has won a bronze medal in the Karate World Championships in 1991. Having an enormous passion for the USA, she was the first Italian I have ever heard speaking English with an American accent! The Americans from Utah (one of the most conservative states of the US!), other guests in the B&B, were so liberal and free spirit that we had great conversations and really good laughs. They are still traveling through Italy now with their Italian-American friend.
Two young people (actually from my home town in Holland; how crazy is that??) came over to the agriturismo to have lunch. Next day we were discovering Naples together, as if we had known each other for years already! Last but definitely not least, there was this wonderful German couple, both film producers. Very creative minds, a good sense of humor and great conversations again. She was like the blond version of me, to a point where it got really funny and sometimes even scary! :-). Naples is absolutely amazing and I was happy to finally see more of this beautiful city. It is hectic, dynamic, chaotic, historical, crazy and breathtaking, all at the same time. As I said before, all laws that apply in the rest of Italy do not apply in Naples! You will see whole families on one scooter (all without helmet of course...), policemen driving the police car while being on the phone (correct, forbidden in Italy as well) and people trying to sell you lottery tickets in the street with the help of a life parakeet picking out the lottery ticket for you for good luck...
Coming back by train from Naples, I picked up my Cinquecento (Fiat 500) from a parking lot in Salerno and drove my new friends to the place they were staying. Believe me, I felt like a true Italian. Traffic is crazy as I have said before, especially in the cities, but just do as the Italians do and you are fine! This meant just 'pushing' my small car in between a big line of cars. As a good Italian friend of mine always says: 'Everything fits in Italy!'. Now take that literally, because this means that if there are two lanes but you can fit 4 cars next to each other, the people in southern Italy will.
The best part of this last week however was of course staying with my friend. She and her boyfriend have made me feel very welcome and loved. We have had long, intense conversations in which she told me her life story, which is beyond any fantasy. Of course it wasn't all serious business! We also had great laughs, cocktails and meals together. It all felt so right, that I even decided to stay one extra day, enjoying live Neapolitan music, another delicious meal and good company on Saturday night. After the research I did on the area and the history, I now have all the ingredients to really start writing the novel. The end result will hopefully have a good balance between her life story, my personal experiences in life and my fantasy. Now I can start putting the pieces of the puzzle together and get into the right flow... Love, M.
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mirjambs
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Betwittered...
I am not someone of the typical 'IT-generation' for whom all the social media are as common as brushing your teeth and drinking a glass of water. Plus I honestly HATE networking in general. In real life I find it most of the times too opportunistic; on social networks it doesn't have any added value and a total waste of time (still according to my humble opinion...). That is why I never wanted to be on social networks like Facebook, Hyves and Twitter. I simply do not want to be that 'visible' and do not have the urge to expose myself to the world like that. To me it is much more fun having something to hide! Much more mysterious... However, due to something totally irrelevant, I had to create a Twitter account the other day, got caught up in the magic of it and found out that it is actually a lot of fun to follow some people during their daily stuff. Call me a voyeur...I'm still in shock! Not talking about average people, but people that I find interesting because of what they do, say or think. People that inspire me, make me think, make me laugh, make me cry because of beauty they have created in one way or another. Oh my God! I am ‘betwittered’ and I love it :-)
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