Wattpad Community and Etiquette

It’s been a busy last several weeks. I still have a lot more to do, but I wanted to give another shout out to Wattpad because of some of the amazing people I’ve met there and the opportunity Wattpad offers to writers. There are also a few things I noticed for those hoping to get more reads and followers. It might fall into the line of etiquette, or an unspoken case of courtesy and support for your fellow writers. It’s not much different than what I posted about recently in regards to Ben Affleck playing Batman and the support he found with Damon and Smith early on.

When it comes to writing, or most artistic and creative endeavors for that matter, it’s a struggle for many of us who aren’t making enough to live solely off of our creative work. We have jobs we have to work, maybe we have kids, and then we have to make time to actually produce something creatively to even have a chance of someday being able devote more hours to what we love. Trying to find the time to also support other artists can be difficult, especially with something such as writing where you have to read the work they’re putting out to comment on it.

But if you can find even a bit of time each week for a bit of professional courtesy it can go a long way. There are many ways to do this, and some only take a few seconds of time. Let’s go through some of the ways you can support your favorite artists, and why you should. We’ll use Wattpad as an example since they’ve been so great and I’d like to support them for the support they’ve given me. Although, keep in mind that these ideas can be used in other areas if you’re a bit creative and understand the sites you’re on.

Getting more Fans and Reads on Wattpad

1) A few months back I noticed one of the volunteers on Wattpad posting about the voting system and how many people were unaware of it, or rarely used it. Voting on Wattpad is one of the simplest ways to show support for your favorite writers. Voting on the work of others can also help you get noticed. To vote on the Wattpad app you merely click the star on top of the screen of the chapter you’re reading. On the website you’ll notice the star on the top right of every page. Something I don’t think many people are aware of is the fact that the votes count per chapter. If the story has multiple chapters as many do, the votes count for each chapter, not the story as a whole.

Us writers notice votes, and we appreciate them! Imagine spending all your time and effort writing a great story. While you might get a lot of reads, if no one’s voting it’s discouraging. You might think no one likes your story. On the other hand, if everyone’s voting for your chapters it encourages the writer to keep going. How terrible would it be to read a great story and the writer quits writing half way through because he’s not seeing votes. He might think everyone hates it, and thus there’s no point in continuing. Not only that it, your votes help the writer’s ranking, which means more readers, more encouragement, and they’re more likely to continue the story.

And here’s a bit of a secret, your votes also help in getting you noticed! As a writer on Wattpad, I do go through the people voting, and when I have time I check out their profiles. While I don’t have a lot of time to read, if something catches my eye I try to at least read a chapter or two and give a vote or two in return. At the very least I’ll add their to my reading list so those that view my profile may catch it and read it themselves. It’s a way for me to help support those who are supporting me, and hopefully we both benefit.

2) Commenting on Wattpad works very similarly to voting! If you get a chance, and are enjoying a story, leave a comment. Again, you’re encouraging a writer. Also, myself and many others on Wattpad notice comments more than votes. We’re more likely to check out your profiles and leave a comment of our own to help you out, much like I mentioned doing with voting.

You may also notice that most writers on Wattpad, especially the popular ones, comment back and try to return the favor on your stories. That’s part of the great community Wattpad has, and part of being successful at finding readers. It has to do with building relationships. People are more likely to support you, or notice you, when you comment or speak with them. It’s a two-way street of support. For someone like me who tends to read in spurts and gets really busy, comments stand out more than anything. I also feel as if I have a higher obligation to respond to comments than votes because someone took the time to comment. They deserve that same time in return. I’m sure there are many that feel the same. If you Google Vin Diesel and Facebook, there’s an interesting article on how he had one of the largest groups of followers on Facebook because he took the time to interact with the fans who made him such a big name. Wattpad is no different, regardless of how popular you are at the moment.

3) Follow your favorite writers on Wattpad! I’m not really sure where this would fall. Sometimes it’s as effective as commenting, and other times it ranks slightly lower than commenting but still better than voting. I usually try to check out followers as much as I check out comments. Although there have been times I’ve picked up so many followers at once I fell behind and it slides off my plate, unlike comments that I always try to respond to even when it takes me awhile to actually do it.

One thing I’ve noticed is that unless you’re following some of your favorite writers, you won’t always notice new stories they post, or maybe a follow-up book to one they’re writing. Following them keeps you up to date, so you can see all the new stuff they’re adding, or maybe a second book of your favorite story. There have been times I’ve gotten votes and comments and checked out profiles to find they had great stories of their own. In such cases I give them a follow, and usually they do the same in return. Even if they don’t, it’s a nice way to show your support for them. It can also help them acquire readers from those going through your list of followers. Again, supporting each other is the name of the game!

4) So far we’ve talked about supporting each other on Wattpad, but Wattpad needs some love too! They’ve created this great site that allows us to post our stories and hopefully get noticed. The very least we can do is to help them get noticed in return. Social media’s a great way to do this, and it can help us too! Sharing your stories on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumblr, Blogger, and other social media is a great way to help people find your story and Wattpad’s website. You can also share the stories of your favorite authors on these sites to help them out too.

Don’t be afraid to also shoot Wattpad follows and likes to show your support. Remember, liking and sharing stories on Facebook and Google Plus, or retweeting from Twitter takes very little time and helps everyone out since it shows up in your feed for other people to find. If you can’t find time to read and vote to show your support, this is likely the easiest and fastest way to show support for those with little time. As I just found out today, Wattpad has a few social media sites for sharing that I wasn’t aware of. For those looking to help support Wattpad, here are the sites I’m aware of as of today: Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. If anyone’s aware of them having a Google Plus page, feel free to let me know in the comments as I know it’s a great ranking builder for the search engines. I’d like to show my support to them there if I can beside just posting links there back to their website.

That’s everything I can think of off the top of my head. If anyone has any other tips for supporting each other feel, free to mention so in the comments below. Remember, every one of us and Wattpad are bound to do better when we support each other. I know some people tend to be fearful of others getting ahead of them in the rankings, but by doing so you’re only hurting yourself. You’re walling yourself off from a wonderful community of people who help one another. When you’re part of the community, even if someone beats you in the rankings, or even in getting published, you never know if they might return that favor of support by recommending someone take a look at your works. And that is the benefit behind supporting each other in our goals to be artists. Making a living off of writing or creative pursuits is tough enough, why not help one another out and lighten the load.

Also note, I’m not recommending voting for the sake of voting, or following just for the sake of getting a follow back. I have noticed there are people who tend to do that and it doesn’t help anyone if no one is reading. Take the time to actually read a bit, even if it’s a little. If you really enjoy a story, vote, share, and consider a comment. If you don’t like it, be a part of the community by commenting and helping the author out. Don’t be harsh but be constructive (and it might be a good idea to ask if they want a critique first too! Some people don’t). Remember, the intention behind everything should come from genuinely wanting to be a part of the community, and not just following the above tips to get your own readers. I think for the most part, a lot of us there can tell when it’s genuine and when it’s not.

Speaking of support, what type of hypocrite would I be if I didn’t support some of my favorite Wattpadders myself. So here’s my list, in no particular order, of those you might want to check out on Wattpad for their great stories and because they have been so generous in showing their support to others.

• LittleCinnamon – One of my favorite writers on Wattpad. Her Playing Dead story recently hit number one, and her Dark Sanctuary stories are great too! Super supportive and a must check out! I can guarantee you won’t be wasting your time!
• KeepAustinWeird – Another one of my favorite writers from Wattpad who’s amazingly supportive. I love her Sinners and Saints story. Definitely recommend checking out her Maggie Moon story also, which is her main focus.
• SeriousMoonlight – Just recently came across her work after she commented on my story. Great story with Something Lost, and her second Something Found novels. Highly recommend for those who like romance stories!
• HisGorgeousChaos – She’s been extremely supportive with voting. Her story Breath Me Fire had a really interesting start and I hope she continues it. Shoot her some encouragement!
• kchandok – Another one who’s been so kind in voting. Hasn’t written anything of her own yet but has an interesting profile where she mentioned considering it. Someone shoot her some inspiration and see if she’ll start.
• SamanthaCTallon – Just came across her work after she commented. Bunch of stories on her page, and from what I can see they’re really good! All lengths of stories too depending on how your time is!
• iriniheart – A young writer on Wattpad and one of my first readers. I think she may have taken down a few stories but her Bad Dreams book is still up. At such a young age, there’s no telling where some encouragement can take her.
• sydhud5 – Another young writer on Wattpad. Extremely imaginative stories and currently ranked #80 in Historical Fiction. Definitely worth a look-see and some well deserved encouragement.
• GeMiniMeG92 – Some very interesting romance stories to find here. If you like hot and steamy these are the stories to read.
• MartyCat – Two stories here. For those who like Harry Potter fanfiction there’s Cracking Severus Snape. I glanced through her Princess Choice story and liked it. Interesting plot and a really nice writing style.
• xxSMxx – Another really creative writer on Wattpad with quite a few stories to choose from. A great variety too so you’re sure to find something you like.
• NowonMai – A very interesting writing style in both stories. The Calm and The Wild is the longer story, although I’m also really liking what I’m seeing in Midnight. Can’t wait to see where it goes from what I’ve skimmed.
• TrailsInTheSky – One of my favorite supporters. It’s a little tough for me to read since his stories are in Spanish, but he’s ranking in Mystery/Thriller and Horror for his story Death Symphony. Definitely worth a read!
• bri1019 – Recently read through what she had for her story Summerlyn. Really great writing style and story. She’s also got Essence which I haven’t had time to look through but has a very interesting premise.
• niamhisnowhere – Just one story here that’s a poem. I thought it was really well written. Hopefully she’ll add more in the future as I think there’s a lot of potential there.
• MrsJessicaHoran – Several short stories here, perfect for those who don’t have a lot of time and like stories aimed at teens. Looks like they’re fanfiction so if those are stories you enjoy, you definitely may want to take a read.
• OwensMartin – Haven’t had a lot of time to check out his stuff, but what I have looked through looks really good. Great writing style, and I always see him in threads having interesting discussion when I browse them. Really can’t understand why he hasn’t gotten more reads, as they would seem well deserved.
• Mrs_Manhunter_Jonzz – Another writer with a bunch of really interesting stories in the range of super heros and DC comics fanfiction. I definitely think at the very least a lot of younger readers would really enjoy these, and she as some more mature content too. Very creative indeed!

Wattpad Community and Etiquette

Flawed Artists - The Power of Insecurity

Artists can be said to have many flaws. One of the greatest is sometimes said to be insecurity. It reminds me of a quote I’ve seen that pops up every now and again. It goes along the lines of stating that those who know the least speak the loudest, and those who are the most qualified keep quiet because they question themselves and the world. I think it may be safe to say that the more we learn about life, or our various pursuits, the more the wisest among us realize how little we actually know. This in turn leads to insecurity in life.

If we look at some of the greatest artists that have ever lived, many in their interviews mention their insecurities over their own work. Old interviews or memoirs of past film stars such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe show a deep insecurity of their abilities. Some of the most talented writers, actors, and artists I’ve met always seem to think their work is terrible. Those artists I’ve met who talk about their brilliance or incredible talent leave me to wonder if they’re seeing something I’m not when I’ve watched what they’ve done. In most cases, not all but most, I’m left shaking my head wondering what type of inflated ego must possess them to think they are as talented as they seem to believe.

The sad fact I’ve read about most industries, both in the arts and other areas of life, is that confidence will help one achieve more than actual skill and talent. There was an actor turned casting director who wrote a book I had read several years back who had mentioned the same. Those who came in and gave terrible reads but held their heads high and pumped their fists at the end fared far better than those who gave moving auditions but chastised themselves at the end.

The most he could make of the situation was that the casting directors knew little of acting and based their casting decisions on the reaction of the actors when the audition was over. If the actor was excited it must have meant they did an amazing job. If the actor was tough on themselves it must mean they did something wrong. That was the thought process of the many casting directors he worked with.

While it’s sad that our reactions to our own work may weigh more heavily than the actual skill level of the work we do, I do believe that those who are insecure about their work possess the most potential and have a powerful tool in their hands. In life, it is those of us who are most insecure that will continue to strive to learn and improve. No matter what level we achieve we will always feel as if something is missing. As long as that feeling burns inside of us, as long as we continue to search for that missing piece to make us feel complete, improvement will come. That’s when great artists and great art are born.

It is those artists that feel as if they’ve mastered their craft with supreme talent, those that feel they may be a “gift from god” that will stagnate. These artists have achieved their best work, and there’s nothing more to come from them. What reason is there to strive for something more if one already feels like they’ve arrived?

It is that feeling of insecurity that is the most powerful tool one can possess, regardless of the struggles that may come with it. So take heed my insecure friends because it is you who will create art and achieve great things. It is each one of you who will do ten times what the over-confident cannot, that will bring substance to a world filled only with meaningless flare. That substance is what gets remembered for all time, where the rest merely get their 15 minutes.

Flawed Artists - The Power of Insecurity

Ben Affleck and the Batman Saga

Ben Affleck has taken a lot of abuse since it was announced that he’d be playing Batman in the sequel to Man of Steel, with Henry Cavill starring as Superman. I’ve never consider Ben Affleck to be as talented an actor as his old partner Matt Damon. His choice of films usually isn’t the greatest either. In a tux I don’t think it’d be hard not to see him as a rich playboy, although contrasting that with the gritty Batman is a bit tough for me to picture. Some people have mentioned the Jersey accent might ruin it, but of course that’s what speech and acting coaches are for. If he plays the character well the accent might not even be noticed. It may even add a nice dimension to the character.

I’m not really sold on the idea of Affleck playing Batman but I also believe in giving people a chance. I think he does have a tough act to follow with how well Christian Bale played the role. I’d give him a chance though just because of who Ben Affleck is as a person.

Regardless of how great or terrible you may think Ben Affleck is as an actor, he’s a loyal person. It’s one thing I’ve always admired about Him, Matt Damon, and Kevin Smith. What they did starting off is something very rare among most artists. I’ve experienced it, and I’ve seen several posts in the last few weeks with others making the same observations. Whether it’s acting, writing, photography, or anything else in those creative fields, a lot of people are terrible about understanding the idea of working together to pull each other up.

What Ben Affleck, Damon, and Smith did was use their own success to help one another. When Smith got in with Miramax for his films, he used his pull with them to help Ben Affleck and Matt Damon get Good Will Hunting done. While Matt and Ben had done films before then, Good Will Hunting really helped in putting them on the map and launching their careers. They didn’t forget about Smith when their careers took off. Instead, they still took time out of their own schedules to appear in Smith’s films. In Hollywood having those big names attached to your film helps in getting investors and getting an audience in theatres. This went on for several years. They used each others success to help each other out. I’m sure if one of them needed the help today, they’d be there again with a helping hand and opening doors for one another.

For most of us working to break into the creative industry we see the opposite at lower levels. I’ve shared the work of photographers, musicians, filmmakers, etc. even when their work isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I know how hard it is to break in, and how much having people do that helps in getting exposure. Even if their work isn’t something I normally enjoy, I know there’s an audience that will enjoy it. If I can help in bringing them that audience and giving them that opportunity then I’m happy to do it, or at least I was.

Helping each other is a two-way street. I’ve noticed most of those I know, even the ones I consider nice people, aren’t too big on returning the favor. In most cases they never do. I remember going through that several years ago with theatre classes. Myself and one or two others would share every audition we heard about, even if those we were sharing with would be competing against us for the roles. It was several months later when we found out that while we were trying to help all of us as a group, most of the group was taking all the information they could but sharing nothing in return.

What Ben Affleck, Damon, and Smith did in helping each other is rare. When you find people who believe in helping their fellow artists out, even at the cost of losing out on opportunities themselves, those are the ones you want to surround yourself with. Those are the ones we should shower with opportunity. The reason is loyalty. It’ll give everyone a chance to learn and grow as opportunities are shared back and forth. You know that whatever you work on together, they’ll do their best to help promote it as much as you will. You also know that they’ll likely be sharing the work you do even when they aren’t a part of it. If you’re any kind of decent person you’ll do the same in return. As I’ve experienced, there are very few in the creative industry who think in that way. I’ve seen several other creative types, who often share the work of others, mention experiencing the same in having the favor returned.

That’s the reason I think Ben Affleck should be given a chance as Batman. People that exhibit those qualities of helping fellow artists will do everything in their power to help make it a success. It doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily succeed. What it does mean though is that you’ll get 110% of their energy and effort. I think Ben Affleck has shown himself to be that type of person. I also think a lot of up and coming artists could learn from Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Kevin Smith, even if that’s the only quality they take away from them. If only we had more Afflecks, Damons, and Smiths in the world.

Ben Affleck and the Batman Saga

Web Design for Beginners

Web design can be difficult for people when they’re first starting off. When I started my first question was, “What do I need to learn?” I saw things mentioned like C+, JavaScript, Java, PHP, HTML, CSS, Python and a whole other mess of acronyms and letters that I had no clue about. The problem was not knowing which one to learn for web design. Most of these can be used in web design in some way, but they’re not primarily used for web design itself.

In later posts I’ll go more into what programming or other languages can be used, or how they’re used in web design. I’ll also write up a few tutorials, or do some video tutorials for those looking to learn about web design. For this article though I’d like to just stick with the main languages that are used by most websites on the internet.

If you’re starting off in web design then the very first language you should look into learning is HTML. HTML is a simple language to learn. The majority of HTML entails putting tags around different parts of your text or document. For instance, when writing a paragraph in HTML you’d place a tag at the beginning and end of each paragraph. The tag before the paragraph would look be <p>. At the end of the paragraph you’d place an almost similar tag like this </p>. Notice the only difference in the end tag is the slash after the less than bracket which tells HTML that it’s the end tag. There are a few more rules for how HTML works, and a few exceptions, but the majority relies on opening and closing tags around elements of the page.

The second language you’ll want to learn is CSS which stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS basically deals with the layout of a website along with colors and fonts. With CSS you can change the width of a page, add extra space around paragraphs or pictures, change the font size or color, and even change the font itself. Its like someone writing up what they want on a plain sheet of paper (HTML) and then you moving stuff around, coloring, etc. to turn it into a creative design (CSS). Most books these days include lessons on both HTML and CSS.

You’d be able to design extremely great looking websites with only these two languages if you stopped learning here. The only thing you would possibly miss out on is the ability to design your own slide shows, maybe some nifty animations, or add working forms to your page among other things. Basically little things that might make the website pop a bit more, or might be fun, but nothing that would hurt you in the long run.

If you do want to start doing things with your web design to make your site more dynamic, such as using animations, putting up slide shows, making forms that will actually work, along with a host of other options then there are at least 3 other languages you’ll want to look at.

If you’re looking to be able to do some animations, have colors change when certain things are hovered over, do a photo slide show, pop ups, etc. then you’ll want to consider adding JavaScript to your web design plans. Even games can be designed using JavaScript. These are just a few of the things JavaScript can do. There’s a whole list more, but the above is what it is usually used for. If you’re going to look into learning JavaScript you’ll likely want a book that includes Ajax and jQuery. Most JavaScript books I’ve come across lately include a section on Ajax so that shouldn’t be hard to find. JQuery is actually a JavaScript library with prewritten JavaScript code to help make writing JavaScript easier and quicker. A solid understanding of JavaScript should be known first before looking into jQuery. If you can find a book that includes a section or two on jQuery then you’re ahead of the game. Finally, JavaScript should not be confused with Java. They’re both different languages. JavaScript runs in your browser, where Java is a compiled, server-side language.

The last two things you may want to look into are PHP and MySQL. Usually they’re used together. If you’ve ever used a WordPress or Joomla site, both are designed with PHP and MySQL (along with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/jQuery). You can have a whole web site built with HTML and CSS, and only have one PHP file to handle a form for sending information once the form is submitted. An example would be a PHP file to handle a “Contact Me” form. Most websites today use PHP because of how easily it can be used to add pages to a website. It also makes it easy for those who know nothing about web design to run a blog or web page. This is usually done along with using MySQL.

MySQL itself is a database. You can picture MySQL as looking like an Excel spreadsheet or a grid with rows and columns. It’s usually used to track and store data, or content on a website. If you’ve ever seen a WordPress website, the layout and what visitors see is HTML and CSS. The files though contain PHP code. As you enter or write in the forms on the website, it sends the information to the file containing PHP and the PHP then sends the data to the MySQL database. It may store a name in one column, maybe a comment or article you’ve written in another column, and so on and so on in an organized fashion. PHP in this case merely works with MySQL to get the information from each column in the MySQL database and sends it back to the user. The PHP is wrapped around the HTML and CSS when displayed to the user.

So that’s it. There are other languages that can been used in place of a couple of the above mentioned languages (in particular PHP and MySQL) with web design, but the 5 listed above are the most popular and widely used for web sites. In many cases they are also the easiest to learn. If you’re looking to design your own website start with HTML and CSS. Then turn to JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL to add an extra bit of oomph and go above the basics.

Web Design for Beginners

Life of a Quiet Mind

Life has a mysterious way of making one reflect upon the path they’re on. We all have our share of struggles, some more than others. Sometimes we become so focused on certain aspects of our life that we lose sight of what’s going on around us. We lose sight of the intentions of those we’ve allowed into our lives. Some surprise us for the better, others the worse.

For six years I’ve buried myself so far into work that my awareness became clouded. I always listen, but I don’t always hear. I see but yet I’m blind. Life has a funny way of making one aware, perhaps when they need it the most. Sometimes we come across roadblocks in life. They can be devastating and painful. While I don’t know if they happen for a reason, I do believe we can find reason in them. In my case things came to a halt. I became lost without my work but it forced me to take some time to reflect upon those I’ve allowed into my life. Have I learned from the lessons of my past, or was I still repeating them because of the single-mindedness of what my work meant to me?

My grandfather had an old saying that your best friend was your back pocket. In essence people are there when you have something they want, in his example it was referencing a wallet, and when it’s gone you’re left with silence. I’ve allowed people like that into my life in the past, particularly with relationships. I thought I had learned my lesson. Apparently I had not.

It’s odd how when one has the time to examine one’s life, the different dynamics they begin to notice. You begin to see who adds to your life, or journeys along side you as you both grew. I’ve always believed in that, that people could do more when working together and they shared the journey of growth. You also begin to notice those who only seem to be there when the pursuit benefits only them and how quickly they move on. I’ve had far to many of these in my life, and I guess it was my time to examine this once again. It is neither good nor bad, merely lessons upon our path.

It is time to cut bonds and for others to strengthen, to bring a renewed appreciation for those whose generosity surprised me even if only in words alone. That’s the interesting part of life. Kind words or deeds sometimes come from those we least expect it from, and sometimes those we expect very little from cannot achieve even that. Those perhaps are the relationships we should examine the most heavily. In the end it’s our choice. But the best way for each of us to find enlightenment and our life’s purpose is to journey alongside those whose beliefs most closely match our own, and who treat us as we would treat them.

Life of a Quiet Mind

Acting"s Like Great Sex

Yes, I said it. I also meant it. Acting is a lot like great sex and vice versa. I guess I could have said it’s also like being in the zone or having a runners high. I don’t think that headline would have gotten as much attention though. Regardless, all three are very similar when you’re “On”. It’s a complete feeling of freedom and yet an awareness. Time seems to fly by so quickly you may not even remember it. Most importantly, you’re completely immersed in the moment.

Since people seem to struggle more with acting than sex, let me explain it from the later point of view. It’s my belief that great sex happens when there’s very little thought. It could last for hours but you may barely remember it when it’s over. It’s not because it was forgettable, but because you weren’t thinking about it. You were in the moment. It’s like those moments when we’re enjoying something so much that time seems to fly by.

While great sex does involve a lack of thought or analyzing, there’s also an awareness that comes with it. We’re so in the moment that we may notice how a certain touch makes the other’s body quiver, or a kiss placed in a peculiar area draws a gasp of breath. We may play to that, tease and move away, only to come back to that spot later on. The catch is, it’s not preplanned. There’s no thought other than pleasuring the other person. Thinking about it too much only makes it unnatural and boring.

There’s no fear when you’re in that frame of mind. It’s merely playing and finding out what makes each other tick. It could be said that there’s a childlike curiosity to it. Fear, like thinking, causes an odd feeling that something’s off. You take yourself out of that moment and place yourself in your head. It’s a terrible state to be in for sex, just as it’s a terrible state to be in when performing on stage or in front of a camera. It could be said that great sex is about making yourself completely vulnerable to the other person, and them making themselves completely vulnerable to you. It’s a state of complete trust and playing off of one another.

Great acting is exactly the same. It deals with being aware of the person you’re on stage with. You breath in their words as they breath in yours. You both must be completely vulnerable to each other and trust each other as the scene plays out. Pre-planning how to say a line, or how to react, creates this odd feeling. It feels fake and off. It’s like watching someone fake an orgasm. You just know something’s not right, even if you’re not sure what it is. If this happens it means you didn’t prepare properly. It also means you’ve taken yourself out of the moment. You’re not allowing the other actor to affect you, and you’ve likely made it that much more difficult for yourself to affect them. It causes in instant wall to grow between the two actors.

Acting should be almost completely about the other person. How are you trying to affect the other person? During sex we may touch a certain spot to get a gasp. We don’t pre-plan it during great sex, we just get a feeling at some point that it feels right. We go with an urge. In acting we are trying to do the same thing. We are saying a line to get a reaction. We’re aware and studying how the other person reacts to that, and as they react back we allow that to affect us before returning it again. There is no point in time though that we pre-plan this. We are merely in the moment reacting and acting based off of what we are seeing and receiving. Acting is like a dance. In this case, it’s like a horizontal dance.

If you want to take your acting to another level then think of it like great sex. There’s no thought but there is an awareness. You should be lost in the moment. Play with the other person and try to get a reaction based off of how they’re responding to you. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, and trust that they too will do the same. Go with your urges without fear. Never, ever pre-plan how to say or do something unless you want to come across as a badly faked orgasm. When one learns to do this with their acting, I can almost guarantee they’ll reach a new level of truthfulness and realism to their performance. And if it don’t there’s always porn…

Acting"s Like Great Sex

Fan Fiction Writing Contest

Fan fiction writing contests are a fun way to get your work seen by others and to get a nice boost in the search engines by using popular stories. It’s also a great way to come up with ideas of your own when your faced with the torturous struggle of writers block. Focusing on a short story for someone else helps me when I start to struggle on my own writings. I believe part of it is because it helps to quiet the mind. Some of the decisions are already made for us because of the writing contest rules. Fan fiction has the same allure. We already know about the characters. We are allowed to place our favorite characters into our own fantasy situations.

When I started writing The Bewitching I had several things in mind. First, I wanted it to be a trilogy where each chapter would make a good movie and appeal to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight fans. My second goal was to write it in a way that there would be multiple ways to turn it into a television show. The way The Bewitching is written it can be made into a Buffy the Vampire like series in the modern time. I also had a second idea in mind. What if it was written in a way that made it easy for fan fiction writers to create their own stories of the characters.

When I was younger I was a fan of the television show Sliders and Quantum Leap. These shows were written in a way that the possibilities were endless in where each show could go. In Sliders the characters would jump to different dimensions, worlds that were only limited by the writer’s imagination. Quantum Leap revolved around the lead character taking over bodies of different people in different time periods. For instance, in one episode he found himself as the body-guard of Marilyn Monroe. In another he found himself in the body of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the famous sex therapist.

I left those possibilities open with The Bewitching in a similar way. There are little bits and pieces of the character’s past lives. While writing about their past lives I researched some of the attire from those periods, what was going on in certain time periods with wars, or the routes people traveled and places they populated. While the first book didn’t go into a lot of detail, the second and third I hope to include more of that research.

I believe there are a lot of possibilities in a fan fiction writing contest for the past lives part of The Bewitching. I’m sure there are ideas I haven’t even thought of with ways to incorporate real history with The Bewitching characters. With some of the stories I’ve seen on Wattpad I’m sure there are those who can come up with some amazing possibilities. So here are the rules for the first ever The Bewitching fan fiction writing contest.

Fan fiction Writing Contest Rules

1. The characters used must either be Dantes, Elyssa, Annette, Alicia, or Tobias in any combination together or by themselves
2. Remember the last time Elyssa and Dantes were together was during the Salem Witch Trials. If your story has both of them after that time period, but before the present, they must not be aware of one another
3. The story must be no shorter than 2,000 words and no longer than 4,000 words.
4. Bonus points if you can incorporate any type of ancient or spiritual symbols that fit your story
5. More bonus points if you can mix the story with an event in history and place the characters in that setting
6. Multiple entries are allowed
7. You can email me your entry on FB at The Bewitching Fan Page or to Martin@TheBewitching.com and put The Bewitching Writing Contest as the subject
8. The contest ends September 30th and fan fiction winners will be posted by October 14th.

You can find an example of one of the past lives in chapter 13 of The Bewitching – Memories of a Lost Love. While that chapter deals with a flashback of a past life, for the writing contest feel free to write the story as if it’s actually happening.

I’ll post the top 5 fan fiction stories on both of my websites at MartinDouglas.info, TheBewitching.com, along with several social networks I have set up on the web. If you’re on Wattpad I’ll give you a shout out there so all my followers can find you. For those who haven’t noticed, in the last week alone my followers have gone from around 13 up to over 250+. I have some things I’m working on that should increase that number even more, along with a feature spot that’s been mentioned by the Wattpad managers. That’s a lot of possible followers that will be able to find your work through me.

If you’re up for a fan fiction writing contest then I’m up for checking out all the great stories you can write. I’ll be posting updates for the fan fiction writing contest on The Facebook Bewitching Fan Page and The Google+ Bewitching Fan Page for those who’d like to follow me there. You can also follow on my personal fan page on Facebook at Martin Douglas or on Google+ at Martin Douglas.

For those who may have missed it, besides the writing contest we still have The Bewitching character contest that is still open for entries posted here!

Fan Fiction Writing Contest

Auditioning, Acting Tip

Auditioning can be a tough process. Standing out during your audition is an even bigger challenge. Yet most actors I know attack scenes in almost the same manner, basing their audition on the words on the piece of paper. If the scenes they’re auditioning for consist of two people arguing, they go right into yelling at the other actor. The best advice I’d ever gotten during training was that we should look at life when auditioning, and even after we get the part.

It’s been awhile since I’ve auditioned for anyone else since I’ve focused on writing my own films, or building up knowledge to implement the marketing that will be required to get it out there into the public eye. I did recently though find myself auditioning for a film, and I can use the sides we were given as an example of what I’m referring to about basing auditioning on the words on the paper. The audition was for a movie entitled Sin City Players being made by Michael Mahal. With the audition we were given several choices of sides.

Some of the sides had props within them. I haven’t seen too many auditions go well when someone mimes a prop. You can always ask if there’s an item in the room to use, in this case a cup, but I hate doing that just out of respect for the directors and not wanting to burden them. After narrowing the sides down based on if they had props and the characters in the scene, I chose the scene with a man sitting in a restaurant. In the scene a woman comes over and hits on him quite strongly, to which he rebuts her advances. As the scene ends, the women walks away, and then after a few moments returns as the man apologizes for being lousy at roleplaying the sexual advances of what was actually his wife and not a stranger.

From what I’ve seen in other auditions I’ve gone on in the past, or even playing these types of scenes in class, I think I can confidently say that most people attacked the scene by rebuking the advances completely. They probably read the scene as a guy saying, “No, don’t touch me. I love my wife.” while the women touched and flirted with him. The catch is, if one plays the scene that way the ending makes no sense. Argument scenes are no different. Everyone yells and wants to be the next Al Pacino, but even Al Pacino knows better. As my instructor use to say, when auditioning or reading a part, we should look to life.

If we think about this scene, we have to look at the ending, and how life plays into it. The words don’t matter as much as where the character is coming from. He’s attempting to roleplay with his wife. Obviously his protests of “No” aren’t really what he’s meaning because it’s roleplaying going on between the two of them. With the apology at the end, again we can maybe take that he’s somewhat awkward in the way the scene plays out. There’s conflict in the character. He’s saying one thing, but attempting another. The words don’t matter as much as the emotional state of the character. In this case he’s saying one thing, but the emotional state is likely meant to be a way to turn each other on in this game of theirs. The conflict itself will make the character more interesting to watch, much more so than completely trying to blow his wife off and then out of nowhere saying the opposite at the end.

So when attacking a scene like this it doesn’t make sense here, or even in life, for someone to be so strong in saying no. It makes much more sense for the character to want to touch back, maybe even doing so and awkwardly removing his hand. It makes sense for him to gaze at her fondly or with want, and then try to hide it in his lousy attempt at roleplaying. I can almost guarantee few people actually did that though if my past experiences are any indication of how people normally attack a scene.

The very same can be said for scenes that contain arguments for the auditioning. The casting directors are forced to hear 90% of those coming in yelling like Pacino and congratulating themselves on a great job. Likely what happens though is the casting director is tuning you out because you just did what almost every other actor auditioning attempted. It may be a great feeling as an actor when you can accomplish it, but is it true to the scene and the character? More importantly, is it interesting? Like Shrek, characters in our scenes are like onions. They have layers. The casting director has probably seen the same layer over and over throughout the day. Why not show him another layer to the character?

In life, not everyone yells in an argument. Some laugh and take jabs calmly with that underlying hate in their voice. Others may have long pauses, because they want to think of the words they’re about to say to do the most damage to the other character. While auditioning there may not be time to hit all those different levels, but it is possible to hit one or two. Once you have the part, an actor can start layering all those things into one based off of the character in the script. Think of how much more interesting you become when you argue differently than what every other actor has done before you, and you’re still staying true to your character but in a different way. When you walk into the door for an audition this is what you want to be thinking about. In essence, when auditioning try to look at the different ways people may do things in life. As a result your character is more likely to get someones attention.

Auditioning, Acting Tip

Directing Actors, a Film Tip

Directing actors is something that I consider to be a fine line that must be walked by a good director. There’s nothing that drives me more mad than the way I’ve seen some indie films work with actors and the manner they go about directing actors. I don’t know if filmmakers aren’t being taught about the proper way of directing actors in school or if the problem lies more with massive ego and control issues. What I do know is that I wish more directors would take the time to attend some acting classes by knowledgeable instructors, with an emphasize on knowledgeable. There are too many “acting” coaches today who teach how to look good on film, or how to get your best side shown on camera. This is not acting. I’d be surprised if very few of those who attend these types of acting classes ever get past community theatre or college plays.

Directing actors is an art form. It’s having control but also allowing the actor to express his own creativity. They should complement one another, or else you might as well have robots reading the lines back and forth. I was fortunate to train under someone who learned the craft of directing actors at Herbert Berghof Studios in New York back before “the look” became such a big thing in the industry, back when actors were truly actors. My instructor eventually moved on to be somewhat of a big agent in L.A., before retiring and training actors across the country based on Herbert Berghof’s vision of affordable classes. For those who are unaware, Berghof ran a non-profit and attending his classes were cheap. He believed that training people in the arts was more important than making money. Berghof worked with big names in the movie and theatre industry such as Uta Hagen, Al Pacino, William H. Macy, and Robert DeNiro just to name a few.

During my time in this instructors classes I would see students attending who had recently left “big name” instructors in town. These instructors trained actors in the same way many indie filmmakers go about directing actors. Their performances were stiff and lacked any connection to those in the scene with them. In other words, they were robots. It was sometimes said that we may just as well put a podium in front of them because anyone else in the scene didn’t matter. Depending on that actors talent it would take weeks or months to untrain all the bad habits they had been taught and to get them to connect to the person standing on stage with them. Once that was done though, their performances became mesmerizing to watch. They were no longer doing a scene, but were living in a time and place they had created around them.

The culprit in all of this was in their previous instructors telling them how to say a line, or instructing them to break down their lines in a way that they knew how they wanted each line delivered. Many indie film people do the same when directing actors. When watching it though it literally appears as if the actor was giving a speech on a podium. On their own they may have been interesting to listen to, but with another actor in the scene everything came out feeling and looking very rehearsed. Most indie film directors do just this. They instruct their actors on how they want the line said, or which words to emphasize. This is the death of an actor, and is sure to make everyone involved appear amateurish.

What indie film directors don’t seem to understand is that directing actors is similar to selecting shots. You may have a great idea for the framing of a shot in your head, but in actually shooting it there’s something not right about it. Sometimes it means scrapping the shot completely. It’s the same with actors. You may picture a line said in a specific way, but that normally doesn’t play out in the way the scene works.

In life, when people speak it comes from a certain place in the body and the way our mind interprets how we were addressed. The way we speak, and the tone we use, is also dependent upon the way we’re spoken too. If we’re trying to make a scene believable in its dialogue each actor is completely dependent upon the way the other speaks to him. We’re basically reacting to what we’re being given. When someone instructs an actor on how to say a line, no matter how great that line is delivered, there’s usually a tone that’s missing that normally happens when we respond to another person. It makes the line sound scripted or the actors sound off kilter, as if they’re not speaking to the other person at all. An example of this can be seen in the movie Napoleon Dynamite when the tater tots are crushed in his pocket during lunch. If you close your eyes and just listen to the dialogue it sounds completely off and unrealistic. It had me wondering if they were even in the same room together during the scene being shot.

The goal when directing actors is not to tell them how to say a line, or emphasize a word, but to help them get into the emotional state that the character finds himself in. Once you help an actor find that state then ego’s must be set aside to allow the actors to deliver the lines in a realistic manner because they are depending on each other, and completely dependent on how the actor across from him is addressing him in tone and emotion. This brings a scene to life, and makes the characters much more interesting to watch. It brings the audience into the story which is exactly what you want to achieve. The actors actually have a conversation instead of a line read.

If the actor is not able to achieve the emotional state on his own there are little tricks that can be done although I consider them a last resort. Elia Kazan was said to have pulled some of these when directing actors on his own sets. He did so with James Dean during the shooting of East of Eden. The anger Dean was expressing was not to Kazan’s liking so between takes he purposely became somewhat nasty with Dean in an attempt to anger him. The result was exactly what he was hoping Dean would achieve on-screen, with all the underlying anger as he threw ice down the chute. Personally I wouldn’t mind a director doing this to help me if I found myself struggling similarly, although some actors do not handle it well.

Regardless of the approach you take, when directing actors realize that getting the best performance out of them depends on how well you help them communicate to one another, and not on how you specifically want them to deliver a line. Your actors will appreciate it, and you’ll find a your films benefit from them due to better performances too. Directing actors is an art. Each gives up a small bit of control to get the best out of each other.

Directing Actors, a Film Tip

Writers and Wattpad, A Place to Share Your Work

There are things in life I’ve learned that tend to be the complete opposite of what I was taught growing up. What I’ve noticed is it’s not the most talented or skilled people who necessarily find success. Much more often I tend to see that those who find success have a certain level of talent, but their ability to win the popularity contest in life is what puts them in high and respected positions. In many ways life is like high school, but in a larger pond. For writers it is no different.

Whether in film, acting, writing, or any other creative community the same rules of high school popularity apply. You can be the greatest writer that ever lived, and yet you won’t find success off of that alone. A mildly talented writer though, who is known by many, has a greater chance of success. It could even be argued that a lousy writer could find wild success merely because of who they know, or who knows them. That argument has been posed in cases with books like 50 Shades of Grey, and its author who had worked in the television industry and likely had a bit of help from those connections.

If I could do things over again, I’d likely put more effort into the social media or networking parties even though I despise them to a large extent. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘It’s who you know, not what you know.’ The older I get the more I realize and witness the truth in this old quote.

Unlike 10 or 20 years ago, there are more options available to people today than having to dress to impress and attending a stuffy party of suits. With social media we can network from our homes, dressed in our pajama’s, and slurping on a drink we really shouldn’t be having on the job. Although do note that you don’t want to post photos of yourself doing this! There’s now no need to worry about having an expensive suit or dress, or that haircut that you really meant to get a few months back but just couldn’t find the time to do with your busy schedule. With social media we only need to do that once, take the pictures, and present yourself that way on the internet for the work you share with others. There’s nothing more fun than being comfortable at home working versus the feeling of being stressed over appearances in public.

When it comes to sharing your work filmmakers have YouTube, Vimeo, and a host of other options to present what they do. Political activists have their usual array of websites like the Huffington Post, and many are finding success on Facebook. Google Plus also has their niche with what appears to be a bunch of network marketers. But what about writers? Where can they go? You can attempt it on Facebook although it’s not set up properly for writers. The same goes for Google Plus. YouTube and Vimeo, while offering a specific way to maybe market a book (Book trailer anyone!) aren’t fit for writers either. Don’t get me wrong, these are great tools for writers to use to help in promoting their work and building an audience, but they’re not built specifically for writers.

One of the great sites I read about was Wattpad.com. I came across it in an article about someone finding a publisher through sharing their work on that website. Wattpad is nice in that it has a whole variety of writers and readers to share your work with. Several writers there have even found publishers due to the popularity of their work within the community. The nice thing is it’s built specifically with writers in mind. Amanda Hocking, a paranormal romance young-adult fiction writer, who has been in the news for finding success as an indie writer on Amazon also happens to have an account their she posts stories to. It’s a perfect place for writers to gather, share their work, and network in an attempt to find their audience.

I’ve met some really great people there, along with reading some nice stories when I’ve found the time. Lindsey Clarke, who goes by LittleCinnamon as a username for instance, has a nice following there with her Dark Sanctuary vampire series which I’ve found to be a really fun read. She was kind enough recently to give me a mention that helped kick up my own readers list, and she writes like a demon! How she can knock out so much so fast is amazing. Many of her followers are talented in their own rights as well.

There are a good number of other sites I’ve also been looking into recently that lean towards different genres or types of writers. I’ll try to share more as I go through them myself. In the meantime you can find my work on Wattpad.com under Martin Douglas of course, or check out Lindsey’s assortment of books on her profile here.

Writers and Wattpad, A Place to Share Your Work

Behind the Scenes Day 3, Hero

Behind the scenes shooting on our third day of working on the indie film Hero took place in Cugino`s Italian Deli & Pizza Restaurant in Las Vegas. Apparently this place has been quite popular over the years with celebrities as a sort of hidden gem in Las Vegas just next to UNLV. The inside walls are packed with picks of celebrities who have stopped in over the years. The owner was kind enough to allow us to use his deli for the shoot, and the food looked mighty tasty. From what I was told he often lets film students use his place for their projects. Here’s the behind the scenes trailer for what we did:

Michael William Johnson and Louie Coruzzolo were on set for their parts. Michael has experience in the music industry has worked around character similar to the one her portrayed. We had a nice sit down afterward as he told us some of the stories from what he’s seen. All I can say is it was brutal.

I was actually really impressed with Louie behind the scenes. Even without having any acting experience that I know of he was a super great kid. Polite, respectful, professional, much more so than others I’ve met who actually are in the industry. I would love to shoot a short with him sometime. I think he’d make a perfect murder, just because his personality is so far removed from being that type of person with any type of mean streak. What a perfect contrast that would be for a film that would be completely against stereotypes.

While he’s still in school, Louie also runs a cinema website with a friend where they do movie removes. Our director Tim Santoro will be doing a podcast for them soon. Anyone that’s interested in checking out his film review website can find it at ChasingCinema.com.

That’s it for the week. I’ve got another behind the scenes short clip to throw together from a desert scene we shot the other day. The footage looks pretty good with the exception of the noise from the wind I may have to play with since I was using the built-in camera mic instead of my shotgun mic. It also has some nice makeup effects done by Maureen E. Durocher for a head wound. Completely gruesome and amazing if I may say so myself.

Behind the Scenes Day 3, Hero

The Bewitching Novels, A Story of Love and Magic

The Bewitching is the first book in what is currently planned as a trilogy by Martin Douglas. The story follows Elyssa and Dantes, two people who had been deeply in love in past lives. The book starts in our current time as Dantes struggles with memories of Elyssa, who we find out mysteriously abandoned him several lifetimes earlier.

Elyssa, unlike Dantes, has no recollection of the past, or even Dantes himself. Her nightly dreams are haunted with images of a mysterious cove and a faceless man that she feels deeply connected to. On a nightly walk she soon stumbles upon the cove from her dreams and begins to visit it consistently in hopes of also finding the faceless man. He never appears, yet she has the strange feeling she is being watched from the shadows.

Upon a visit to downtown San Diego she comes across an odd shop that she feels strangely drawn to. Once inside her life takes an unexpected turn. Elyssa’s swept up into the hidden world of witches and magic, where demons and angels walk among us, and human myths wander the shadows unseen. Dantes too appears, and Elyssa has the uncanny feeling he may be the man from her dreams but something about him doesn’t seem quite right. It’s as if he carries a dark secret of his own, along with a past that he hesitates to share.

As Elyssa and Dantes struggle with their feelings for one another, and she delves deeper into the world of magic, they soon find themselves hunted by a gang of demons. Will Elyssa find the connection between Dantes and herself, and the secrets of their past that he seems determined to keep hidden for some unknown reason? Can Elyssa learn her new-found abilities well enough to fend off the demons that are set on taking her life and Dantes? Visit The Bewitching on Wattpad to read the first several chapters of this first novel by Martin Douglas, or browse TheBewitching.com website to learn more.

The Bewitching was inspired by the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the movie The Notebook. With the Beautiful Creatures film that recently came out, there are certainly elements there that are also similar in nature to The Bewitching Novel. If you’re a fan of any of these films or books, then there’s certain to be something in The Bewitching for you to enjoy.

The Bewitching Novels, A Story of Love and Magic

Behind The Scenes Day 1, Hero

Recently we did our first day of shooting for Terminal C L E’s indie film entitled Hero. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed is shooting behind the scenes footage. I don’t think anyone should shoot a film without some behind the scenes footage. Not only can it be used for promotional purposes by editing it into a nice little video of its own, but there’s also the opportunity to grab some nice still shots from the footage. I took the opportunity to shoot roughly 30 minutes of footage and threw together a quick edit for our first day of shooting on set.

The biggest challenge, and also the fun part of shooting footage and scenes like this, is all the things you can do with it afterwards. Since it’s shot on the fly it’s usually difficult to get steady footage. Although because it’s behind the scenes footage no one expects it to be that steady to begin with. The shaky camera can also had to the feeling of movement, energy, or action going on. This falls right in line with the type of gritty action film we’ll be shooting over the next several weeks.

Finally, picking out the best lines and finding creative ways to work them into the footage is fun! Once that’s mixed up with some nice music and/or sound effects it’s possible to give the footage almost any feel you want. It’s definitely challenging because you’ll never know what you have to work with, but it also is a nice thing to practice for the times when you’re on the set and the pre-planned stuff isn’t looking as expected. I hope everyone enjoyed what I threw together for day one of our shoot on the indie film Hero. I’ll hopefully have more to share soon so everyone can see how it’s shaping up.

Behind The Scenes Day 1, Hero

Hero Film By Terminal CLE

Hero is a new film by Terminal C L E currently in production. Hero is written and stars Tim Santoro and co-stars Maureen E. Durocher, Martin Douglas, and several other up and coming talents. Along with being in front of the camera, several of actors will be helping out behind the scenes.

Maureen E. Durocher will be lending her considerable acting talents, along with her skills in makeup and makeup FX to the film. Martin Douglas will also be helping out with graphic design, and video editing/FX when not working in front of the camera. Tim Santoro, having written the original script, will be pulling double duty directing the actors between his own scenes within the movie. This Indie film is expected to wrap towards the end of the summer, with submissions into several film festivals starting by the fall. More info will be shared as it becomes available. You can also check out Terminal C L E on their website at TerminalCLE.com

Hero Film By Terminal CLE

The Bewitching Character Contest

The Bewitching character contest is now on! Anyone who’s read The Bewitching and checked out the website will have noticed the character page has pictures of how I envisioned my characters. Let’s add some more! The pictures used were from those who I knew that resembled The Bewitching characters both physically and personality wise, in some cases because I based them loosely off of friends.

While the demon character isn’t a main character per say in the first book, he does play a larger role in the following books based on what I have in mind for the story. What I’d like to do is add some pictures of the sub characters. Currently we have the 3 demons mentioned in Chapter 8 that have yet to have pictures I can place on the site.

For the women, have no fear! While for the time being this leaves them out of the contest, there will be two more characters introduced in the later chapters. Both have small parts in this book, but will have larger stories in the second, and possibly third book. This means that both male and females will have a chance to have their pictures featured as a character on the website. If pictures aren’t your thing I have a few more ideas for future contests that revolve around writing too!

With that said, here are the rules for the contest! Check out the character descriptions in Chapter 8 of The Bewitching. If you’re a guy, and you fit the description of one of the demon characters, take a picture. Make sure it’s a clear shot and not fuzzy. Send it to Martin@TheBewitching.com or send a message to our The Bewitching Fan Page on Facebook. Feel free to use makeup or whatever else you can think of to make yourself resemble the character, including the style of dress you see the character in. Include the name of the character you believe you most closely resemble in the subject line. Also include your own name so we can give you credit if the picture is chosen.

If you’re a female you can still participate. Do you know a friend who you think would be perfect for one of the demon characters? Get a picture and send it in. Include one of yourself so we can share who helped us find the perfect character to match the ones in the book! Also ask the guy you took the picture of to give us a like on our Fan page just so we know we have his permission to use his picture if it’s chosen.

We’ll list the winners and runners-up on our blog. The winners will be put into the slide show of characters for The Bewitching novels on our website. Since we’re still in the process of marketing the book, and we’d like to give everyone a chance to be included, we’ll likely pick the winners around the end of August or beginning of September. That gives everyone a nice amount of time to be included and to find out about the contest. So spread the word and become a character in The Bewitching Novels!

The Bewitching Character Contest

Hidden Bits in the Character Designs

Design was something that was important for me in my novel. One of the interesting things with putting together The Bewitching was when I had to come up with a website and the graphics for the characters. Pulling off a dark website is difficult enough. The character graphics and design were even more of a challenge. One of the things I wanted to do when designing the character graphics was to incorporate some of the spiritual things I had read about colors and symbols. Like the book itself, I attempted to mix the fantasy with some real world things.

In designing the graphics for each character I decided to use bright colors to contrast the dark colors of the website. I also wanted those colors to have meaning. For those who know a bit about colors, and how they relate to the spiritual world, you may notice that the colors used are representative of the characters emotional. In the case of one of the characters, the color used represents their material or wealth in the first book.

The colors weren’t too difficult to figure out. I did try to take into account the negative and positive meanings of them, usually leaning with the positive meanings for most of the characters. The symbols on the other hand were not as simple. They’ve changed meaning so much over time or as different groups have picked them up. For instance, people might be surprised to find out that christians and catholics garner a lot of their symbols from the Wiccans. The Wiccan’s are not much different in their approach to religion than the indians with their stories of nature and nature like gods. Even symbols like the Swastika have changed meaning over time. Where we usually associate the Swastika with evil or the Nazis, it actually originated as a symbol of peace in Australia. One particular symbol I used, while resembling others from history, is quite new. It has been adopted by different groups as though it does have a history older than it is.

There is so much contradicting information on symbols that I wouldn’t be surprised if this particular symbol appeared before then or with a different meaning. With the colors, I attempted to research the origins and meanings. I then matched them to the characters. I found some additional meanings to them later on that oddly enough more strongly coincide with the characters. I also attempted to keep them based off of Wiccan/Pagan, or Celtic lore which also seem to crossover quite a bit and borrow from one another.

I may change those symbols and their design over time as I write more of the next few books to coincide with the growth of the characters. In the meantime, I’m going to leave it up to the reader to see if they can figure out the meanings of the design on their own. I’d love to hear what you all think each symbol or color mean based on your own beliefs. Who knows, maybe someone will come up with something I can incorporate into the design for later stories.

A Special thanks to Madison Rockwell, Anne and Alice Pickard, and Les Belbot for allowing me to use their pictures in my design which so closely resembled my idea of the character’s looks. Also a special mention to Toby, pictured as Tobias, who sadly passed away recently. Our best wishes and prayers our with him upon the Rainbow Bridge.

Hidden Bits in the Character Designs

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 3

By this time Twilight had come out. There were also a few great films I had watched that focused on relationships. One of my favorite TV shows at the time was the first season of Nip/tuck because of the dynamics of the relationships between the characters. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had also just ended not long before. While I had hated Spike in the earlier seasons, his love and hate relationship with Buffy was interesting.

There’s something about good or evil characters that have that duality of struggling with their other side that I enjoy. The bad guy trying to do good, or the good guy struggling with the dark side of himself, always catches my attention. I found that dynamic in Buffy with those two characters amazing. My favorite scene was in the last episode where Buffy tells Spike she loves him, and the straightforwardness in his response was gut wrenching yet honest. You could see in his eyes he wanted it to be true even though his words said the opposite. Buffy’s words were in the same vain. That duality was something I wanted to explore, not only with acting, but with writing. There were so many thoughts and “what if’s” that could be going on in a characters head. Another film that hit somewhat close to home was the Notebook. There were parts very similar to that first relationship I had been in with the differences in social status and a relationship ending so abruptly.

With the nice response to my first erotic story I decided I wanted to write another one. Part of my want to write another was a result of what I was seeing in those shows and films. What drew me to those films and shows was the push and pull dynamic of the relationships. The wanting of one another, yet the pushing away for another reason. It was a whole range of push and pull with love as we all experience. I wanted to see if I could write not only the event but all the anticipation, intensity, and worries that lead up to such an event. I wanted the story to be something people could relate to in their own lives. Within a few days I had written a beach scene. There was nothing erotic about it. It was merely a short chapter about a girl and her desire to find the one…to find love.

At that point my life had gotten a bit hectic. I had started going back to school for a drafting and design degree. The degree focused, not only architecture and engineering, but also included classes on Photoshop and 3D modeling programs. I thought I could later use these programs not only for a decent job, but in my spare time to incorporate into any filmmaking I wanted to do. Most of my time was spent working a job. When I wasn’t working I was at a coffee-house studying for school. I didn’t have a lot time to do any writing until a few years later when I finally graduated.

Afterwards with the economy crashing, jobs for drafting and designers had almost disappeared. Architects were jumping for the lower end jobs just to make income which made them difficult for someone new and not as knowledgeable to compete. Knowing some web coding, and having my design degree, I started up an online business. I began to teach myself programming along with taking a few classes in MySQL and PHP. With the internet business being less time-consuming than actually learning to program I found myself with time to return to writing. I missed seeing shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Twilight had become a huge success. I thought it might be fun to write a show that I could imagine being filmed in that manner. I wasn’t sure where to start though. That’s when I thought of my beach scene from what was supposed to be an erotic novel.

What I had written resembled an opening romance scene. With just a few tweaks to the end of the chapter I had my first chapter written. I wanted something that would intrigue, not only some older Buffy fans, but that of a younger crowded. The vampire thing seemed to have been over done at that point. I thought changing the vampires to something such as angels might be a little more appropriate. I included a bit of the paranormal into the story. I also added quantum physics, eastern and new age philosophy, and the premise of how we’re all connected through energy. That would be my explanation of witchcraft used to create the world. Finally, for the characters I could draw a little from personal experiences and my writings on relationships. I even used the personalities of some friends to make them a bit more extravagant. The writing just kind of flowed for the most part, with each part I wrote creating ideas for the next.

That’s how I started. A little under two years later I had my first fully written novel. What started off as blogging about life and relationships evolved to the start of an erotic story. This then changed to a young adult story of love and betrayal, set in a world where we’re all connected through energy and surrounded by paranormal possibilities. Life has a strange way of weaving to and fro as we journey through it…

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 3

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 2

At some point it seemed I had written all I could think of in terms of relationships. Maybe I just became bored writing about the problems I saw in those relationships. I wanted to apply it to film, or to the scenes I use to write in classes, with my new understanding of human nature. I wanted a challenge and to see how deeply I could affect someone with what I wrote. I believe it was the famous actress Uta Hagen who once said that it was easy to get applause as an artist. To actually touch or connect with someone when performing in a way that you can bring tears to their eyes was a whole different challenge. When you do, that’s when you know you’re doing something right.

Writing of course has the same challenges. In my eyes it’s what separates a good writer from a great one. It’s what I hope I am, and what I hope to be. I wanted to do it differently though. Most of the scenes I had written for acting classes were sad. I asked myself what would be another indicator of affecting people emotionally. At the same time, what would be a challenge to write? I wanted to do something I’ve never done before.

I thought it’d be interesting to write a short erotic story. I can’t remember exactly why that came to mind. Maybe it was through some of the relationship discussions I had with women that wandered lightly into that territory, and a few of them mentioning having read such stories that they enjoyed. To have an effect on someone in that way, through words alone I thought would be quite a feat. It was also something I hadn’t attempted before. It would be a challenge to write something for women that was erotic and yet not vulgar or offensive. The idea intrigued me as it’s such a difficult balance to find with women.

Several days later I had completed the story. I hesitantly posted it on a blog. I can still remember cringing as I posted it. I was afraid of looking like a deviant in some of my readers eyes even though it wasn’t as graphically descriptive, or pushing the limits, as some similar writers do in their books. I can’t begin to explain how hard it is to think of non-vulgar sounding words that describe human anatomy in a way that’s attractive. Although, my wording was likely tame by todays standards with books such as 50 Shades of Grey.

Even though it was only a few pages long, I actually received a few great comments on it. I also received a few emails that told me the effect I was wondering if I could create through words had actually done just that. Surprisingly, there was no hate mail or mention of being a deviant to my relief. I sometimes wonder if I had started writing it at this point in time with 50 Shades of Grey being so popular, if I would have had the same cringing worries or carefulness in wording with the story. It’s odd how the openness and acceptance of society to such writings changes so quickly over time. Like acting, I would encourage any writer to write about what makes them uncomfortable. It opens so many doors in becoming comfortable in ones own skin and realizing that society isn’t always as harsh as we think it is. With that comfortableness comes confidence and awareness which is one of the most valuable assets to any artist. Between that and the positive responses, I began thinking more about the possibilities of actually writing a longer story.

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 2

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 1

When writing or doing anything creative, one of my odd curiosities with people who are successful has always been to wonder, “How did they get started?,” or “Where did the idea come from?” I think to some extent it might be normal for most of us, but particularly for those of us wanting to be actors and writers, or for any of us interested in the more artistic forms of expression. Maybe we’re wondering how to get started, or we’ve struggled for years and can’t seem to get anywhere so we look to how others began their careers. With the arts, and those who are well-known, their lives are out there for us to read through, and to see how they made a name for themselves. There’s that hope in us that maybe through them, or there experiences, we can discover a path there for ourselves to copy or modify in our own way.

When I started The Bewitching I had already been writing for several years. Originally it was scenes for theatre classes where we were encouraged to write characters different from ourselves. As an actor it helped in seeing the quirks of characters and understanding how our written characters possessed traits we did not. Somehow this lead to some interesting philosophical discussions between myself and others from the class. Later it evolved into spiritual discussions not much different from ideas brought forth in the film The Secret, or even talks about time and space. These were things I had found interesting long before then. Talking to those who had a bit more knowledge only lead to making it all the more intriguing to me.

It wasn’t long after that I fell into what I’d consider my first real relationship. When that relationship ended, as most do, I found myself moving from writing scenes for an acting class to writing blogs. With relationships, particularly ones we hold closely, when they end we begin to question the “why’s”. We ask ourselves the “what ifs,” we begin reading, or find some outlet or way to understand. Life experience opens so many doors into these questions when we care to learn the answers. It’s one thing to read about something, but to live it and begin seeing how these things relate to life is amazing.

You start seeing those relationships in films. If you’re a little crazy like me you start thinking of all the ways it could have played out, or the motivations behind it. Good becomes evil. Evil becomes good. All these layers start materializing in terms of the different reasons people do things. It’s not much different from a painter who will paint the same color over and over to build up a piece of work, or musicians who’ll layer music over and over. You start realizing that as much as each creative work in a particular area is done in a certain way, that almost every area of life is composed of the same elements played out in a different fashion.

More importantly, we may start to see the ripples and effects these thoughts and actions have on others. This is what I wrote about. For each difference I’d see in people, for each discussion I may have overheard that gave me ideas, I also began to see the many similarities. I saw how people were drawn to each other through these experiences. The fun thing about writing blogs was that I began getting readers and people commenting which opened up even more discussions. It wasn’t much different from the high one can get on stage when people began to express what they “felt” while reading your work. That is the most amazing feeling…

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 1