Brian Eckert
Art student in my youth, now retired.
Location British Columbia, Canada
Activity
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
If we as individuals can continue to grow, we can use our past history to hopefully move forward from trauma and give to our children and our family a more confident future. I think writing allows us to experience an expanding and generous mind, where we can inspire hope, through our imagination.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
@TomHalsall I don't think he had dementia but as he became more feeble and not wanting to give up on life, he became more intimate with those close to him. I think that allowed him to open up and reveal other parts of himself that he hid for so long. We're you close to your father?
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Brian Eckert replied to Shirley Y
Love your intimate stories of a closed little world.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Q. The margarita had an immediate cooling effect, the alcohol made me feel generous. An American couple at the table next to me looked affluent, cosmopolitan, relaxed and friendly. Feeling buoyant I started a conversation.
John an Oral surgeon and his wife Allison we're from Delaware and their broad bright smiles were perfect for promoting the perfection of... -
Brian Eckert made a comment
For one thing, flat stereotypes are dangerous as well as uninteresting. If we all have the same behavior or opinion, there must have been an overruling hand molding that individual. But that's not the case thank god, as we're all full of contradictions.
My father just before he died, with his hand on mine, disclosed that he believed that the world was... -
Brian Eckert made a comment
We have all become stereotypes, and characterizations of ourselves. Are we business people, entrepreneurs, educators, health practitioners, artists, writers, homemakers? Have we become a little self-conscious about our place in a quickly changing world?
Our political, religious and gender issues are evolving so rapidly that our expectations are overruled... -
Brian Eckert made a comment
I've known many round characters in my life, full of contradictions, secrets, and the unusual. As long as you have some distance, who would want it any other way. And the flat is necessary also, you wouldn't have round without the flat, the level headed, the dull. The somber makes the round shine, you sometimes hug them close to just get a little tan.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I have the beginning's of a story based on two older women, retired librarians, living together but not sure at this moment if they are partners or not. It's about their engagement with the world outside their door. The encounters of inquisitive minds, looking for change, in a world that is increasingly getting smaller.
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Brian Eckert replied to Wim Vanderbauwhede
I guess the novelist's flaw was being human and not being able to acknowledge the hollowing out. It comes whether we like it or not. A hard truth.
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Brian Eckert replied to Wim Vanderbauwhede
@WimVanderbauwhede Wim, Yes, but doesn't the persecution bring out the flaws in the characters? Maybe not flaws but idiosyncrasies, peculiarities that put them in conflict with the Memory Police? Also, what little I know of Jia's work appears to show a great deal of conflict in her work. In Spring Festival, the full range of human emotions and the pain of the...
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Brian Eckert made a comment
My notebook exists in many rooms. My breast pocket is now a room, filled with many enticing words, phrases, views of the world, just sitting there to be explored. I lament that my wife will have to put up with my absence, and I am learning to make a point of telling her that I will be in my space of small wonders.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
In short micro fiction, under 500 words, I don't think a lot of character description is needed. The writer John Updike wrote a sonnet on his own feces, ( A flawless coil, unbroken in the bowl ) Also a wonderful description of a simple pencil. So we can sit in our little space and draw the world that's at our feet, enticing our readers to join in our revelations.
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Brian Eckert replied to Zeinab El Taher
@ZeinabElTaher Start by writing a story on a character who is struggling with learning a new language, Your right in the mix of it and you will have many readers who will relate to the difficulty of it.
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Brian Eckert replied to Anaia D
@AnaiaD Not many stories written on adolescents living in that time period, go for it.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Maybe forget about plot and character for a while, just go with your hunch and lit it rip. I often do that and if it does not come together, I usually have some good bits that are decent. And I find they come in handy later. Everyone's approach is different but just keep putting in the midnight oil, or morning ritual and it will pay off for you.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Your stories are not monotonous but have a very confident pace and rhythm. As to your shrinking world, I think it is a great premise for a story, but in fact, your works and world will expand as you explore your stories, and most definitely will not end up in a urn, but become in a sense, immortal.
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Just making conversation, didn't wish to alarm you.
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@TomHalsall Tom, are there any personal concerns about the Sunshine Coast drifting off into the Salish Sea? I read somewhere that the Sechelt inlet will soon join the sea when the fault opens up under the community. I think there is a story there.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I am a little troubled that my menu of concerns does not include contemporary issues in general. But I find as I move along through a story these issues do integrate alongside as they should. Inevitably as we live in this environment, we are of it as well.
As I move through this world, I hope I'm able to pick up cues that may resonate with others and be... -
Brian Eckert made a comment
Let it out, cultivate a little space that's your own, generate and build a cosmos that reflects like a mirror, your special place in it.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
The right tone and mood, to have a linguistic voice and style that's your own, is achieved through our editing.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
What is the purpose of the imagined fiction of a distopion world. As hard as it is to read, we know that man is imperfect and our memory and fear is part of that disfunction. So the writer is the custodian of both good and evil. And we have to be inlightend to both. A Plato quote says something like "Only the dead have seen the end of war or evil"
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Yes, I think something seen moves to our brain and senses more rapidly, so a figurative language can hopefully create a lyrical emotion.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Iam more moved by visual images, serendipitous, random occurrences then any commanmants that you may concern yourself with. Manifestos and structures may inhibit ones creative possibilities.
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We all want to be heard, unfortunately there are those who don't want to listen. Your voice is an irritant, how dare you speak your mind.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
With "what if" the possibilities are endless. We are the hushed and sometimes exuberant magicians on stage with our wands, pens and words. And before an audience of readers, that with some luck and diligence, may create a spell that entertains those willing to listen.
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Brian Eckert replied to Vinita Radhakrishna
How would you feel if someone else was drawing the path that you would follow in your lifetime. That you were under the influence of someone who was making decisions for you. That your internal self was being squeezed and molded to someone else's design.
Interestingly, that is the state of affairs for millions of characters (people) right now.
So Vinita... -
Brian Eckert replied to Susan Smith
Is there a literary line? I would just take it wherever you want to go, then allow your sensibilities to dice and slice, if you want to at all.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
My mc's state of mind is described and the story proceeded from there. Short stories for me, allow for a rapid serendipitous move forward, with little initial structure. My hope is that it comes together in the editing.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
You must have some connection to the story your researching for it to be authentic. You may want to dress up a story that takes place in the present day, but relying to much on details of your characters, landscape etc, may turn out to be bloody boring if the plot or storyline is unimaginative or anemic.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
It appears that most writers must have some connection to the subject they are researching. As Tim says, we are the guardians of memories, his own experience is remembered. Patricia researched a story on the place where she was from, her connection. And Alex traveled to one place in particular for many years before writing a story based on his experience of...
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I've come across this just now, "Write about a character from your youth in Surrey, his appearance, experiences, neighborhood, school. The tension and conflicts.
Or a description of a print by Harunobu that I purchased, one title is " Girls reading a love letter," The other title for the same print is " A parody of the Chinese Sage, Sun Kang." That... -
Brian Eckert made a comment
I've made a personal commitment to put words on paper, if i put something down everyday, I've found it added to my discipline. If I come across a word I don't know the meaning of, I write it down, I underline it it, and sometimes that alone gets me excited enough to imagine a story on the image's it paints.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
George, thanks for your critique.
As this was a very short story, I wished to move quickly to the character's irritating situation. Hoping his impatience would set the stage and his position in it. For me age was not considered, it could very well be an older couple.
As to the prospect of aliens or drugs, again the pace and description were the only... -
Brian Eckert replied to Patricia Turk
@DebraJo Thanks
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Brian Eckert replied to alyson longley
@alysonlongley That little narrative is the beginning of your story, keep going.
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Brian Eckert replied to Steve Sharp
Steve, my wife in the story is a scientist, working late in a lab.
I see her as kind hearted
with unfailing enthusiasm. I dont think i take advantage of that, but maybe I should, just to change the story up a touch. -
Brian Eckert made a comment
The story often gets lost, characters do not pan out. Sometimes it's as simple as changing ones point of view, the setting, change the gender of your MC.
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Brian Eckert replied to Patricia Turk
@PatriciaTurk Uable to count the stories I've lost.
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Great idea.
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Brian Eckert replied to Molly Courtenay
Nice
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Hilary, looking at the rain clouds,concealed the loaded gun under her coat.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I find removing difficult, sometimes wanting to add rather then subtract. But hundreds of successful authors can't be wrong.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Reading and writing in succession, definitely helps me to internalize the process and techniques of accomplished authors.
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Brian Eckert replied to Kate Richardson
Build your character and plot so they have equal weight. Weave them together in a corrosive manner, both sticky and with the same gravity. Just guessing.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
My story seems to be moving in the direction of loss, rememberence, odd occurrences and hopefully a resolution.
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Brian Eckert replied to Lesley Anker
@TomHalsall I've found that if I keep my nose to the grindstone, just keep pushing, even if I think there is nothing in the well, iam sometimes surprised at what comes out.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I had a excellent critique by a fellow participant, you can't beat an inlightend mind.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I have to say I enjoy editing the previous work, it always opens up the story and gives it a complexity and substance it may not have had before.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
This morning as I sat on the deck, a colony of ants in a frenzy of activity, seemingly mapped out the dimensions of their world. It seemed at first chaotic but it then took on a cohesiveness of purpose and direction, the small geography of an inlightend city. I could have spent hours but fortunately a goddess happened by and saved me from an idle, which I...
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Brian Eckert replied to Philip Martin
I think underpants or no underpants is not a problem. Charles should be free of any control, let him fly, it could be a beautiful glide.
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Brian Eckert replied to Amy Forster
Waiting for the next line.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Yes, diffinitly have to relieve the weight there, maybe thin it out. Thanks
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Brian Eckert made a comment
First sentence found "The longer I travel in a direction I could not have taken with her" the more I realized that her voice filled the vacant dimensions that I inhabited.
Why do we miss the familiar? What is the narcotic of a lover?
The humidity was almost draconian so the junta held it's inhabitants with a softly repressive hand and the weather and... -
Brian Eckert replied to Zander Moss
@ZanderMoss Storyboard, great idea.
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Brian Eckert replied to Kate Richardson
A decisive moment in one's life. Nicely done.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I remember the beginning was calming, like when alcohol after the first drink starts to make its way through your body.
I suppose it helps to eliminate unnessary words, a paring down. Not sure that it improves my voice.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
She liked the pool, the color and stillness that seemed to drop to the deep end and wait.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Emma said that she would like to walk out and into the square this afternoon, It provided an opportunity to have little time outside the confines of her room.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I've often found the idea starts at the end of the story. Then I build out or back from there. A statement has been made, a model that's significantly approachable, that can be enlarged and given greater scope. It's like foundation has been laid, now simply build on that.
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
@TomHalsall Great to have the flexibility, being static would be a form of death
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Brian Eckert replied to Kate Richardson
Wow, I had a daughter from my first wife, with similar circumstances. In the end I got full custody, so the child didn't have to go through your challenging
conditions. But certainly food for the imagination. -
Brian Eckert replied to Eva Reina
Very difficult proposition. The client has an idea that the architect has to fulfill. You will have to be very diplomatic to achieve success.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Have found two characters isolated on a mediterranean island during covid. I can see a interaction between the two (married) that may become hallucinationary. They can't leave, so some tension builds up between them. Sleeping nude because of the heat, one experiences a visual transformation in their partner. Any interest in me continuing this?
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
@MH Not familiar with onenote or Evernote, so will have to investigate.
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
@TomHalsall You appear to have a comprehensive method going forward. It will I'm sure produce excellent results.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Every story for me seems to be instigated by very different signals. A visual image, of police cars and ambulance on the banks of the Gonokawa River, Hiroshima. I was living in a buddhist temple at the time, feeling rather detached from my surroundings, struggling to communicate with others, brought forth a story of a individual traveling through the country...
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Brian Eckert made a comment
The cobbled road to the sea held many stories, one could see them as the morning damp dried to reveal the crusty hardness.
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Brian Eckert replied to M H
@MH I certainly agree, one can write a storyline on the influence of the scent of a flower on a human heart. Enough research has been done on beauty and harmony on our well-being, to write numerous stories.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Give your personal details to your character's, it may open them up, they may come alive to your readers and then your away to the race's.
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Brian Eckert replied to Patricia Turk
@PatriciaTurk Do it, risk it and see what happens
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Brian Eckert replied to Philip Martin
There should be no problem with an alternative writer, if he is still engaging. I understand his reluctance to read others, but if he reads like a writer he will become more discriminating and any plagiarism would become more apparent.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
In my writing I will let the sentence fall out guite naturally, no pre-thoughts just let it go. I seem to know when it's finished, for now. Then go back to edit, find a more descriptive word or phrase. And in that act of reflection, it sometimes opens up like a flower and adds multiple layers of meaning and depth, hopefully.
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Brian Eckert replied to Clinton Siegle
Are we aware that Facebook is AI generated. It wasn't happy that you had the audacity to maybe question its right to exist. I'm assuming that may be the reason.
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Brian Eckert replied to Philip Martin
@PhilipMartin But it also changes the complexion of Sue, a reader may read her differently then Susan. Is Sue the same character?
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Brian Eckert made a comment
The older gentleman is concerned by the lack of light, he is sensitive to the level of electromagnetic radiation, his life revolves around it's degree of density but it's not totally debilitating.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Greene's questionable character muses as he walks in a rather dim Nottingham landscape. Little is portrayed of him other than his dandruff, but his characterization and rendering of what he sees and experiences is painted with detail.
Kate has sketched Victor not as a silhouette like Greene may have but as a man exhibiting a depth of many human frailties. -
@JulietLewis I hope your character has a challenge that instigates a consciousness-changing moment. Whether now or on her deathbed is the question. For her sake, let it be soon.
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
Does the character not learn from his lifetime of abuse, or is it preordained that it will continue?
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I like the poetic " the turning that led down to the river" that phrase is more like prose and has a emotional ring to it. Maybe try to put a different rhythm to your other narrative lines, so I sink into your landscape.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
The older gentleman wore a soiled fedora, an old ill-fitting suit and worn shoes. His sheltered face supported dark desperate eyes and a mouth more suited to a fish out of water desperate for air.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Roughly based on my former inlaws, now deceased.
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
@TomHalsall Jake's inspiration just got one big jolt of reality, a handfull of stories to work on.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I enjoy texture, the layered patina of thought. To me it is a pathway that one can take to reconnorter an idea, a vision that may not be totally seen just yet, so let's take a deep dive into that rabbit hole of the subconscious. A past century buddha covered in worn gilded gold, a Chinese celadon brush pot filled with fine exotic pencils and sable brushes....
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Brian Eckert made a comment
As I am a morning person my scribbling occurs at that time. My wife definitely is not and only after years of training has she been able to succesfully make coffee with her eyes closed. The difficulty has been negotiating the stairs to the attic. Arms stretched forward, one hand on the railing, the other holding the coffee cup, trembling at each step....
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Brian Eckert replied to Tom Halsall
I find it best when you just fall into that state, no pre-thinking, no consideration.
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Brian Eckert replied to Philip G
I agree, best to be relatively flexible, be open and allow insights, flashes of what seems like divine intervention.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
Morning papers for me, the wild unconscious scribbling. So definitely not writing at night, no dream state just sleep.
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I like descriptions that exaggerate human movements
just a touch, like characters on stage. The theater director may ask the player to make himself or herself stand out, making it possible for the nosebleed section to be engaged in the action as well. And just in case the reader was also falling asleep. -
Brian Eckert made a comment
In a Chinese market with a small food court in the corner, an elderly gentleman with a black fedora and old ill fitting suit, waited in line for what appears to be steamed buns and dumplings. His shoe soles were worn thin, as he shuffled as he walked. What was immediately apparent was his fear, his face was continually darting back and forth as if looking for...
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
We live our lives and develop our art and creativity through our consciousness and the quality of our consciousness. If it's shadowed or has a limited range in any way, were in a pile of hurt. It doesn't take a lot of research to see the artists who suffered because of it. In many cases those individuals created very moving and expansive creations, but we're...
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
@TomHalsall You can only express personal pain through your characters, if your a writer, its what you do.. You may not feel that pain, you may have to intellectualize the trauma, but it better be authentic or find another hobby.
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Brian Eckert replied to Amelia Jane Utting Demer
It's a good place to be, understanding both the tedious and the sacred.
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Brian Eckert replied to Catherine J
@HopeMatthew love it
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Brian Eckert replied to Patricia Turk
@SteveSharp Exactly, your imagination and subconscious can produce miraculous explanations of the visual world, that's what all art is about.
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Brian Eckert replied to Brian Eckert
Yes, but write a memoir to oneself. If it's written down, a small
Trauma can be traversed and explored. -
Brian Eckert made a comment
Notes from an afternoon at the Fukuya Hatchobori department store. I find the Japanese are obsessive lovers of art. My wife has a girlfriend who's husband is a woodblock print artist and was giving a demonstration on the technique of completing a block. Full house, all we're sequestered into a small room, top floor of the store. The little women next to me,...
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Brian Eckert made a comment
I also had an early connection with drawing, I felt sometimes more comfortable with a pencil and paper then with the other children in the neighborhood. Occasionally the link with others felt a little to distant or thin, so I started to develop a relationship with my inner life as well. And being able to do both at a socially acceptable level became a skill...
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Brian Eckert replied to Юрий Гаврилов
Be careful what you wish for, it could bite you back.
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Brian Eckert replied to Юрий Гаврилов
Is Europe becoming a little dystopian, like North America? The stride of the politics and a general fear of the other, seems to be driving the cultures into a touch of paranoia.
