Blair Brown
Chem grad interested in cultural history/mythology, spirituality, feminism, astronomy, sf & fantasy, the quantum world & the universe. Current projects on cultural evolution, fantasy & bogeys
Location I live in a village in South Norfolk called Hempnall with my soul partner Manda
Activity
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Blair Brown made a comment
Amanda here...I chose Soul for a film I haven’t seen and The Personal History of David Copperfield which I have seen. The format of Soul was extremely clear, giving information on the characters and how they were feeling, guides to the action for the character in an easy to follow format......it flowed into the different scenes. The PHODC however seemed very...
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Blair Brown made a comment
Hi I am Amanda and I am just beginning my creative writing adventure
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Blair Brown made a comment
Manda here
Most powerful comment for me was ‘Can I do something with this?’
To use an experience, feeling or thought and let it show the way. -
Blair Brown made a comment
Manda here
I love crafting so I think I will make my own journal and add images and colour and quotes alongside my notes. -
Blair Brown made a comment
Manda here
Well doing this course in a lockdown situation,for me, seems to mean writing from what is outside my window so I am looking forward to what my imagination will bring me. -
Blair Brown made a comment
This is Manda, not Blair
It is raining really heavily here at the moment, the rings in the puddles radiate swiftly to the edge in a series of concentric circles. I watch them and then the sun comes out and I feel sad as they disappear.I make a coffee. -
Blair Brown made a comment
Basically, when I'm being unmindful and in default mode nothing really works very well or flows causing increased levels of stress & frustration. When I've been fully mindful life has flowed 'with grace and ease' as my wife Amanda says. My experiences of being 'in the zone' are of performing at a really high level without any motivational stress and having a...
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Blair Brown made a comment
In the various jobs I've had I used to very much conform to the stress - performance bell curve, having a peak performance stress level which rapidly tipped over into deteriorating performance when the stress levels increased. I have also experienced 'being in the zone' where I have performed at a really high level without any motivational stress. I remember...
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Blair Brown made a comment
I have a dilemma in that I find that being fully mindful on whatever I'm doing can take me out of the world to such an extent that I'm isolated from it. Getting a phone call when I'm in this state is a bit like a car crashing into me from the side - it's a real jolt. And I find when I'm not being fully mindful I am in a default mode where I am intensely aware...
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Blair Brown made a comment
As Richard said, when I'm writing or doing some research for one of my projects I am very much immersed and in the moment. What I need to work on is applying mindfulness to unexpected and (for me) awkwardly timed real life events so I'm more able to cope with them. I also think applying mindfulness to views that challenge my worldview, so that I can listen...
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Blair Brown replied to Blair Brown
While I don't find my 'work' at all stressful (quite the opposite) I do find the intrusions of the outside world into our life difficult to handle sometimes, e.g. the past two evenings we have had phone calls from friends in real need of support just as I was about to serve our evening meal. It isn't getting the phone calls I find difficult it is the timing.
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Blair Brown made a comment
i'm also retired but related the job section to the research & creative writing I do now. The results are therefore rather more positive than they would have been had they been related to most of the jobs I have had.
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Blair Brown made a comment
Word count - 999. Phew!! Had to lose some good sentences but happy with the result.
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Blair Brown made a comment
Book I liked
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The first line 'Marley was dead to begin with' just grabs you and the rest of the story holds you just as tightly as Jacob Marley holds Scrooge. It's theme resonates just as much today as it did then (the number of times it has been adapted for TV or films shows this).
Book I disliked
The History of Mr... -
Blair Brown made a comment
First draft done - word count 1344. Some editing required methinks.
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Blair Brown replied to Blair Brown
I might just write that story - it is kind of intriguing wondering where it is going to go.
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Blair Brown made a comment
My character fits the rich playboy stereotype. Self obsessed, drifting through life without purpose apart from enoying himself. Self sacrifice is an unknown concept for him. Yet, there is a profound purpose to his life which will involve an ultimate self sacrifice on his part. He just doesn't know it yet.
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Blair Brown made a comment
The astronaut who is afraid of heights.
The dispassionate schemer who falls in love.
The warrior who is afraid of the dark. -
Blair Brown made a comment
My character is drifting through life without purpose or direction. A major intervention is on its way to jolt him back onto his path.
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Blair Brown made a comment
A Sherlock Holmes/Maltese Falcon mash up produced these two lines of dialogue -
'Details, details, the devil, or sometimes the angel, is always in the details Ms Antonelli'. She crossed her legs and smiled 'And which one am I, Mr Hunter?' -
Blair Brown made a comment
What if - agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have Lydia under observation on the train?
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Blair Brown made a comment
Lydia gently adjusted the scarlet ribbon on Piddles' head. This was her big day and Lydia wanted Piddles to look her best. After all it wasn't everyday that a Pekinese of Mass Destruction was unleashed.
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Blair Brown made a comment
Or, if you're being a bit macabre, how will she die.
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Blair Brown made a comment
Listening to All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix (listening to music is research, right?) has started off another story idea, particularly the line - There must be some way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief. And it isn't Batman related at all.
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Blair Brown made a comment
For me it is about knowing the world you have set your characters in. If the story is set in the real world (historical or present day) then this means research. For a world of the imagination this means spending some time constructing the fantastical world, finding out how it works, how it impacts the beliefs, attitudes and actions of my characters. Most of...
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I'd suggest spending some time constructing the world that your story is set in. How does it work, how do the places where your action takes place relate to this greater world, how does this world impact your characters' attitudes, beliefs and actions, how do the weapons work, what technologies do they use. If it is human-human conflict what...
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Blair Brown made a comment
It was a dark and stormy night.... Ahem, sorry, couldn't resist. I'll start again.
Hilary looked up at the stormy winter sky. It was rush hour and she was surrounded by people but she seemed to be the only one aware of the impending storm or of the loaded gun she carried in her coat. -
Blair Brown made a comment
If a phrase or an image or just one word makes an impression on me I try to write it down and then write (or imagine in my mind if writing isn't possible) what flows from that phrase or word. Phrases that make an impression on me often come from songs I like. For example:
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes ....... sat next to me and smiled. "Your name isn't Lucy... -
Blair Brown made a comment
Once I have a character in mind a number of questions come to mind:
- who are the other people in their life
- how do they live their day-to-day life
- what events/situations/people could act to bring them into a story
Answering them helps me move from character to character in a story. -
Blair Brown made a comment
Henley's air of a bear of great distinction was rather undermined by his rebellious snout, which had a mind of its own. Today, it rather resembled a squished tomato. Henley regarded himself in the mirror and sighed.
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Blair Brown made a comment
Her name is Iridis. Her nails are painted in iridescent swirls of colour. She has leather sandals on her feet, showing signs of wear. She has a brightly coloured woven shoulder bag on her left shoulder - bands of orange, yellow, blue, white and black. Her silver grey hair comes below her shoulders. Her eyes are green with an inner ring of hazel. Her voice is...
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Blair Brown made a comment
The devil, or sometimes the angel, is always in the details. Sherlock Holmes' attention to details was essential to help him understand and solve cases. Attention to the details of a character, of a scene, of how their characters use language helps authors bring the world of their imagination to life for their readers. Also, you can drop seemingly...
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Blair Brown made a comment
I sit at my desk with my laptop. Sunlight streams in through the window and my moon crystal scatters rainbows all through the room. I am surrounded by serenity. If I need inspiration there is the play of sunlight through the trees and if I need character inspiration there is always the fun of the school run I see twice a day through my window.
Sirens wail...
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Blair Brown replied to Debz Roberts
Well 'inhale for upward facing dog' gets your attention. Thought you really captured the serenity of yoga in that piece. And (who says you can't start a sentence with And anyway) there is definitely a story there about Evelyn's magical house.
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Blair Brown replied to Blair Brown
Thank you Debz. I had the same feeling when I wrote it so I'm working on it to be the short story I submit at the end of the course. So watch this space. It's a great feeling when you start writing something and it goes somewhere unexpected (as this piece did) and you are left wanting to know what happened next - so you have to write a bit more too find out....
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Blair Brown made a comment
The words come when they come. I hold them in my head until I can set them down in my iPad or my notebook. Just have to go with the flow.
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Blair Brown replied to Blair Brown
Thank you Vita!
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Blair Brown made a comment
I don't have any established rituals as I don't have an established writing routine. I suspect that I will not develop any rituals and will just write whenever the opportunity arises in the flow of life.
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Blair Brown made a comment
She was old, untamed grey hair above a face that held the weight of ages in its wrinkles. Her eyes were deep grey pools that somehow seemed to dance with merriment. Crystals sparkled in the sun from her ears and around her neck. She is shorter than me, about 5' tall. Her blouse is a work of art, an iridescent teal blue embroidered with fantastical creatures -...
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Blair Brown made a comment
I've always loved fantastic tales, stories which whizz you out of the world around you and take you to a place that definitely isn't Kansas. I was fascinated by the stories in Greek & Norse mythology - heroic deeds, adventure, great peril. They were also very human stories, with the protagonists confronting moral dilemmas as well as battling monsters. From...
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Blair Brown replied to Blair Brown
Thank you Naghma - that one really did just flow once I started it.
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Blair Brown made a comment
To paraphrase Holmes - just seeing is not enough, we must observe. The devil, or sometimes the angel, is always in the details.
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Blair Brown replied to Conor McHenry
Yep, I've been there - on the left wing that is (school rugby). I was relatively small & bookish but I could run quickly & once surprised everyone by running in a try from about 30 metres. Highlight of my school rugby career.
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Blair Brown made a comment
3 facts/1 fiction
One of the more bizarre events of my university life happened on a Sunday morning. Friends of mine, that they remained friends afterwards is a testament to my powers of forgiveness, invited me to watch their football match in the uni Sunday League. Despite having a stinking cold I agreed, probably because I was actually asked by one of their... -
Blair Brown made a comment
1 fact/3 fiction
Having had a delicious lunch at the 100 Monkeys cafe in Glastonbury I decided to walk down the High Street to the Abbey. My sunny mood was rather abruptly interrupted by a sparkling flash of rainbows coming towards me. Reflexively I caught the object in my left hand and gazed at it. A small, roughly elliptical clear quartz crystal glittered...
