Muse Food – Poseidon / Neptune In Mazatlán And Other Gods
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted this GIANT statue of Poseidon / Neptune in Mazatlán, Mexico.
It was aptly situated next to the aquarium. (grins)
Almost every culture on Earth has at least one deity featured in its stories. It is human to want to credit the wonders of this planet and the often seemingly random events in our lives to a greater power.
I suspect this will also be true of many off planet cultures.
Who is your character’s deity (or deities)? What do these deities control? What do they look like? How do they act? What do THEY value?
This will tell you and readers a lot about your character’s concerns/beliefs/values.
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Muse Food – Mazatlán And Juxtaposition
We were trekking along a very urban part of Mazatlán, Mexico when we came across this body of water and the greenery surrounding it.
It delighted us.
I LOVE contrasts. They always grab my attention and delight me.
And I’m not alone. Many readers are intrigued by contrasts and juxtapositions also.
The hero with the scarred face and the sadness reflecting in his eyes. The heroine who kicks a$$ yet stops to pet a kitten. The desert planet with a green oasis in the middle of it. The sea licking at the sandy shore.
Use juxtaposition and contrasts to captivate your readers.
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Muse Food – Jellyfish Sculptures And Multipurpose Scenes
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted these jellyfish sculptures by a bus stop in Dubai.
They serve at least two purposes. They’re beautiful works of art. AND they provide much needed shade for waiting transit users.
Our scenes should, ideally, be like these jellyfish sculptures. They should, at the minimum, serve two purposes.
Maybe the scene hints at a future event. Or it reveals a character’s motive. Or it shows how the character is changing. Or it transitions the reader from one place to another. Or…it could have a gazillion different purposes.
Challenge yourself to make your scenes work harder and do more!
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Muse Food – Look Upward
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted this vibrantly colored bird in Mazatlan, Mexico.
It is human nature to gaze around us at our eye level. That’s quick. That’s easy.
That’s…dangerous. Because threats can come from the sky. And they can come from below us.
As writers, we tend to describe the scene from our character’s eye level also.
And that can be…uninspired. Because there are likely interesting things happening above their heads and below their feet.
Look upward.
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Muse Food – Revisiting Puerto Vallarta And Circular Storytelling
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have been fortunate to visit Puerto Vallarta, Mexico many, MANY times.
We always walk along the Malecon and we usually stop for a moment at the child riding a seahorse scupture.
It is different every time we visit. In the early years, it didn’t have the Puerto Vallarta sign around it. Now, that sign is painted a bit differently every visit.
I like that. I like seeing the changes.
As I like seeing the changes in characters in circular storytelling. When we place characters in a similar situation as they experienced at the beginning of their story, it emphasizes the growth and changes they have endured. That’s fascinating!
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Muse Food – Mounted Police And Setting The Mood
I was completely enchanted by these mounted police in Qatar.
And…I shouldn’t have been. Because they ARE the police. They have the ability to arrest me and others and perhaps do worse to us.
Those beautiful horses? I suspect they have been trained to kill.
But someone from North America, like myself, associates them with parades and other peaceful events. We don’t view them as possible weapons.
If you want to change the mood of a story, that can be as easy as changing a small detail…like the mode of transportation the rule enforcers use.
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Muse Food – The Dubai Frame And Transitions
While we were in Dubai, the Dear Wonderful Hubby captured this awesome photo of the Dubai Frame. It is a structure joining an older part of Dubai with a newer part of Dubai and is an absolutely stunning work of art.
It also highlights the importance of transitions – in terrain, in stories, in our lives.
Writing transition scenes isn’t my favorite part of the storytelling process. Often I struggle with them.
But those scenes are key to reading buddies enjoying our stories. It allows them to leave the previous scene behind them and fully embrace the new scene, entering it with our characters.
Put care and love into transition scenes. (smiles)
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Muse Food – The Beings We Celebrate
When the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I were in London, UK, we briefly stopped at the National Portrait Gallery (Admission is FREE!).
There were thousands of portraits on display.
I suspect there were more portraits stored in back rooms.
And I found it fascinating to see which portraits the National Portrait Gallery obtained and decided to display.
That is SO revealing of what and WHO they and society value.
What portraits would be displayed in your world?
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Muse Food – Rambo, Falcons And What We Value
When the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I were exploring Doha, Qatar, we ventured into the section of the city (Falcon Souq) where the falcons were bought, sold and tended to.
(There is an awesome high tech hospital dedicated to serving falcons!)
Falconry in Qatar is a BIG DEAL. The falcons sell for thousands of US dollars. They are prized and well taken care of and valued for a number of different aspects.
As you can likely predict, yes, some falcons are valued for their hunting prowess and for their flying skills. They are graceful in the air, like deadly little dancers.
But some falcons, like Rambo shown here, are valued for their beauty. Rambo has entered and won many beauty contests and his male handlers were adorably proud of that fact. (smiles)
That says a lot about Qatar culture.
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Muse Food – Dodos And Past Mistakes
When the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I were in Mauritius, we visited the Natural History Museum. This free museum had a display about the Dodo, the famously now-extinct flightless bird that was once found in Mauritius.
Some of the information talked about the decisions (or, in hindsight, mistakes) experts believe led to the dodo’s extinction.
How beings or societies handle the mistakes of their past says a lot about them. And ALL beings or societies HAVE made mistakes. That’s a universal truth.
Are they honest about why the mistake happened? Do they accept blame or try to shift it to another being/entity? What have they learned from that mistake?
All this tells us (and our readers) so much about beings/societies.
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