Tag: New Zealand

Stories: Passports without borders

Ink Slaying, Inspiration, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Research, Travel&Adventure, WIP, Writing

Stories are passports without borders. Stories are passports without visas. Stories are passports to adventure. Stories are passports into the exotic and the extraordinary. Stories are portal doors into worlds unknown. Stories are magic carpets.

One of the first reasons that made me fall in love with stories is the ability to travel to exotic places, experience exotic cultures all without leaving my chair. I love traveling and often call myself a Gypsy at heart. New places usually mean new people to meet and new adventures to experience. In an unknown place the average and ordinary can suddenly become extraordinary. Having a coffee in my local cafe is very been there, done that. But having a coffee in some little plaza in an Italian village on the Amalfi coast would immediately be extraordinary for me. In the same way, that Italian local may find having coffee in my local cafe an extraordinary event.

For this reason I have always read books that are based in foreign countries and even foreign cultures. I come from South Africa, now live in New Zealand – to me neither of these two places is exotic. They are what I know. They are familiar. But when I have told American friends that I come from South Africa and now live in New Zealand – they are always fascinated. They want to know if I have seen lions in the wild. When I tell them that we had a family of leopard living on one of the farms my father managed, they go: “WOW!”. They want to know all about New Zealand especially since the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that really put NZ on the map. But for me exotic places are in Europe or in Central Africa/Northern Africa or the Amazon in South America. But I doubt those same locals who live in these areas think that they live in an exotic locale.

That is the joy of reading stories and in my case going one step further and creating your own stories. I love writing about places I have not been because I find often what may be fairly ordinary to the locals there becomes extraordinary and special in my fresh eyes. One of my favourite pastimes is searching for fresh inspiration for not just story ideas but setting ideas. Pinterest (new addiction) comes in as a very useful tool in these moments. I also love reading/studying/researching the history of each setting and often finds it seeds an idea in my imagination that I let lie and germinate to see what it could potentially blossom into. Nowadays with the ease of the internet and software like Google Earth/Google Maps your research into a place can become acutely accurate down to the street names and the name of that cafe on the corner in that Italian village on the Italian Amalfi Coast.

But at the end of the day the best research you can do when checking out a setting in an exotic locale (if traveling there is absolutely ruled out) is to talk to the locals on the internet. In this day and age there is an internet group for just about everything and there are blogs for just about every type of subject. So I trawl the blogosphere and see if there are any local-specialised blogs devoted to the locale I want to set my story in. Setting is so much more than just a geographic location or street names. Setting is also about the quirks that make that place unique. Is there a particular smell? Smell is a big one. For instance when I smell oranges and lemons I immediately think of Athens, Greece. One of the strongest memories of my time spent there 12 years ago was the tree-lined streets with trees heavy with oranges and lemons. So the smell of oranges and lemons now sums up Athens for me. Location bloggers will give away a lot of these type of tidbits in their blog posts. And most people are always flattered when you tell them you want to learn more about their home because you find it fascinating.

So while I have begun writing on my next project I have been trawling the internet for setting ideas. So I will leave you with some images from my Pinterest board. Some of them are definite settings in my story and some of just teasing seeds of inspiration right now…Mum’s the word (for now) on which settings I am actually going to be using in both the current WIP and upcoming ones. Perhaps you can guess which settings I have chosen.

Perhaps you have been to these places or live there. I would love to know at least 2 quirks that I could not find out from the internet that is unique to each place. Leave me a comment in the comments.

Tell me>> What exotic places would you like a story to be set in? What places grab your imagination?

Source: weburbanist.com via Kim on Pinterest (Abandoned mountain town in Sardinia, Italy)

Source: worldtopjourneys.com via Kim on Pinterest (Manarolo, Cinque Terre, Italy)

Source: toptenz.net via Kim on Pinterest (The City of the Caesars, Patagonia, South America)

Source: underthesunexperience.blogspot.co.nz via Kim on Pinterest (Carcassonne, Languedoc Roussillon, France)

Source: earmchairtraveler.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest (Meteora, Greece)

Source: accommodation-bol.com via Kim on Pinterest (Dubrovnik, Croatia)

Source: une-deuxsenses.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest (Swallow’s Nest, Crimea)

Source: toptenz.net via Kim on Pinterest (Angkor-Wat, Cambodia)

Source: weburbanist.com via Kim on Pinterest (Gunkanjima, Japan – “Ghost Island”)

Source: roman-empire.net via Kim on Pinterest (Herculaneum, Italy)

All imaged embedded via My Pinterest boards – Feel free to follow me there…

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Hello June…I am going all Jackson Pollock on You

Awards, Goals, Ink Slaying, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Published Works, Tales for Canterbury Anthology, Writing

It’s June!

It’s time to get a little crazy, go a little wild, ride the winds…

I am going all Jackson Pollock on this month!

As stated last week… “I am going to do more than play Hookie with Tattoo. I am going to have a full-blown affair with Tattoo. The urge to write must take control over the urge to edit. I cannot wait for that delicious feeling of playing hookie and that first blush of the first draft.”

For the first time in months I am going to be flinging my creative ink at the canvas of my new WIP without thought of editing and embracing the freedom and unadulterated joy in WRITING that First Draft!

“A dripping wet canvas covered the entire floor … There was complete silence … Pollock looked at the painting. Then, unexpectedly, he picked up can and paint brush and started to move around the canvas. It was as if he suddenly realized the painting was not finished. His movements, slow at first, gradually became faster and more dance like as he flung black, white, and rust colored paint onto the canvas. He completely forgot that Lee and I were there; he did not seem to hear the click of the camera shutter … My photography session lasted as long as he kept painting, perhaps half an hour. In all that time, Pollock did not stop. How could one keep up this level of activity? Finally, he said ‘This is it.’

Pollock’s finest paintings… reveal that his all-over line does not give rise to positive or negative areas: we are not made to feel that one part of the canvas demands to be read as figure, whether abstract or representational, against another part of the canvas read as ground. There is not inside or outside to Pollock’s line or the space through which it moves…. Pollock has managed to free line not only from its function of representing objects in the world, but also from its task of describing or bounding shapes or figures, whether abstract or representational, on the surface of the canvas.”

– Hans Namuth 1950

I love the first blush, the illicit intimacy and the head-rush of a First Draft. First Drafts are all about the Writer, the Creative, the Artist. I love simply getting lost in a first draft and a new story. I love meeting the new characters and watching their scenes in my mind’s eye like a movie. I love that the story can and will go anywhere and everywhere.

What do you love about first drafts?

________________________

In other exciting News just in from this weekend…The anthology that could…

WooHoo! I am now a contributor to an AWARD-Winning anthology! “Tales for Canterbury” just scooped the 2012 Sir Julius Vogel Award in NZ for the Best Collected Works in Speculative Fiction-SciFi/Fantasy/Horror. This is a national award awarded annually at the NZ National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror.  Congrats to our editors: Cassie Hart and Anna Caro on scooping the win! The editing team did a brilliant job in pulling together a great crew of authors, who all contributed incredible stories all for an amazing cause. Once again, I am so proud and pleased to be part of a fantastic crew of authors and editors who helped get this anthology  out there.
There are still print copies available on the current print run of Tales for Canterbury. You can buy them here. *All profits* will be donated to the NZ Red Cross Earthquake Appeal. See talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com for more details. (* ie after we’ve paid any applicable transaction fees, printing, and shipping costs – neither Random Static nor the authors are keeping a cent)
A little background on the Sir Julius Vogel Award: The awards are named for Sir Julius Vogel, a prominent New Zealand journalist and politician, who becamePrime Minister of New Zealand in the 1870s. He also, in 1889, wrote what is widely (though erroneously) regarded as New Zealand’s first science fiction novel, Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman’s Destiny.[1] The book — written and published in Great Britain after Vogel had moved from New Zealand — pictured a New Zealand in the year 2000 where most positions of authority were held by women – at the time of writing, a radical proposition. In 2000, New Zealand’s Head of State, Governor General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and Attorney General were all women, as was the CEO of one of the country’s largest companies, Telecom.
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Tales for Canterbury « Parchment Place

Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Postaday / Postaweek 2011
I Say A Little Prayer For You...
Image by Christine ™ (Formerly with the red wall.) via Flickr

Tales for Canterbury « Parchment Place.

What an Amazing contribution and idea to help support Christchurch in her time of need. Thank you Cassie and all the other people who are helping to put this together.

I spent 6 months living in this beautiful city. Christchurch and the generous, courageous spirit of  the people of Christchurch will always have a special place in my heart.

This is a city built on faith, strength and fortitude. Two days ago the foundations at the core of this city shook and Christchurch underwent another massive natural disaster  just 6 months after the earthquake in September 2010.

Where many other people of cities would have fled for the hills caring only for the safety of their own, Christchurch has banded together with the courage and generosity particular to the Cantabrians and helped one another. Strangers are taking the time to search for missing people and other strangers are taking in homeless people.

This is a city that may have been shaken to fall on her knees but she is not down and she is not defeated. Christchurch will persist in getting to her feet and rebuilding the city that is so dear and near to so many hearts.

The news coverage throughout the last few days has portrayed stories of ordinary people turned heroes and of selfless strangers doing everything in their power to help their neighbour, their friend, a stranger.

The people of New Zealand and the world who watch stand in awe of the stoic courage and hope that the Christchurch people have shown in the face of great calamity.

This is my prayer and hope for Christchurch, a city very dear to my heart that is home to some of my favourite people…

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.” (Psalm 57:1) Lifting up Christchurch in prayer tonight…May your strength and hope shine through and may it be a beacon to the rest of us. May God be with you all. May the Lord still the earth beneath your feet. May He strengthen your foundations. May those that are trapped be sheltered under the Lord’s wings and kept safe til they can be rescued…May those who are waiting to hear be comforted and strengthened…May those who are scared be encouraged to know that many, many prayers are being lifted up for your city in this hour of her need. And a special prayer for strength and endurance for those brave rescuers amongst fire-fighters, paramedics, police, military, medical staff and good Samaritans.

Christchurch – May God be your foundation as the ground’s foundations tremble beneath your feet.

-Kim

© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning


National Novel Writing Month 2010 WINNER (NaNoWriMo))

Kim Koning, NaNoWriMo 2010, Notes on Wrestling The Muse

Well today, being the 25th of November here in New Zealand, I officially verified my word count for NaNoWriMo and am a Winner. This is one of the badges I have downloaded from my Winner’s Goodies.

I have taken a short hiatus from writing, hence no blogs from me this last week. Having just returned to work, I have been in the thick of getting back into the swing of life post-nano.

This experience has been one of the most valuable writing experiences for me. Through doing and completing NaNoWriMo I have found a new confidence in my ability to treat writing as my occupation and sit down for sustained periods devoted to writing. I have gained knowledge from the vast experience bank of my fellow wrimos and my Wonderful group I belong to called NaNoWriMo Warriors. I have formed writing friendships with people who have cheered me on and supported me. I have learned how to put aside my inner editor and just let the writing flow. I have learned to trust my writing. I have learned that anything is possible if I can write 50 000 words in 12 days: I finished NaNoWriMo on the 12th of November after starting at midnight on the 1st.

As a writer, it has been wonderful to be part of a global group of people who understand my motivation and drive to be a full-time writer. What is usually an individual pursuit has become a group pursuit. One of the best parts of every day of the 12 days was downloading my word count. Not only did I watch as the green bar became longer but I felt proud as my fellow NaNoWriMo Warriors, friends and family cheered me on from both the writing battlefield and the sidelines.

I have also realised that I am a writer that enjoys writing to timelines. I enjoy the structure of seeing a goal post of time or word count ahead of me. In many ways Wrimos are a bit like racing greyhounds constantly chasing that rabbit that sits just a little way ahead of us.

Today I feel like a winner and more importantly I know without a doubt that I am a Writer. Nobody can take that away from me. Many people have asked me why I have entered a competition where there seems to be no “prize”. This is why I entered. I entered to prove to myself I could do this in a set time period. I entered to increase my self-confidence in my writing. I entered it to meet fellow writers who have similar dreams to me. So to those people who believe that there always has to be a monetary prize, I say that you are limiting yourself and your own potential. The “winning” in this challenge is that you take the risk to follow a dream that many think illogical or unfeasible. Some wrimos might not get to 50 000 words by 30/11. Does this mean they have lost? No. I believe anyone who has taken up this challenge has won. It takes courage to chase a dream others believe to be a mere pipe-dream. So to all those wrimos who do not think they will make it to 50k, I say this to you. Firstly it is not over. You still have some days to go before the 30th of November. Secondly, even though you may not reach 50k, you have still tried and for that you are a NaNoWriMo winner.

To my fellow NaNoWriMo Warriors I say Thank You and Well Done for being the most supportive group of people I know. I am proud to be a NaNoWriMo Warrior and I am even more proud to call many of you friends now. Though oceans may separate me from my Writing Warriors, this challenge has bridged those oceans and the many time zones. Thank you for the cheering and the support. Thank you for the word wars. Thank you that someone was always there on the Facebook site to talk to in the lonely hours of the night when I am tapping away on the keyboard.

This has been a phenomenal experience for me. Will I be taking part in NaNoWriMo 2011. Definitely!

Lastly a huge and hearty Congratulations to all my fellow wrimos who are winners and have reached 50k words. To the wrimos who are still writing and still racing, Good Luck and may the Muses never stray from you in these last days.

Signing off from NaNoWriMo 2010,

Good Luck with the upcoming editing Wrimos – this will be the next challenge for us all.

© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

Dancing in the rain and laughing with joy….

Blogging, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse
Dancing in the rain
Image by 6U5 via Flickr

The 15th of October is Blog Action Day. This year’s Blog Action is all about WATER.

Water is the one universal element that all forms of life on earth need. Whether you are a Human Being, an animal, a bird, a fish, a reptile, plant or soil; Water is the one element that nothing can survive without. Water is the one element that unites all creatures.

I have lived in two countries. My birth country is South Africa and my current country is New Zealand. Although these countries have elements that bond them in similarity, the greatest difference between these two countries is Water. South Africa is a land that can go from flooding to drought at a rapid rate. Although as a country of Africa, South Africa is elemently well off when it comes to water. Many countries in Africa have very little water and if they do have water the water is unsanitary. This has been one of the reasons that Africa has always struggled in its survival. But this is also the reason that water is so precious to the people of Africa.

In New Zealand, on the other hand, water is plentiful. Water is also exceptionally clean, pure and sanitary in this green land. Often times it is easier to take the presence of clean water for granted when you live in a country like New Zealand. There are even times when one gets tired of “another rainy day”. I am always deeply aware when people complain about too much rain that some places, indeed many places, in this world never have “enough” rain let alone “too much” rain.

Water is a life-giving force that powers this planet. But Water can also be destructive. One only need look back at the past decade to see the destructive forces of Water.

Water also has a spiritual element in many cultures across the globe. Water is depicted as a cleansing element both physically and spiritually.

For myself, water has always been precious. I find inspiration through water: being by the sea, watching a waterfall, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof, watching the magnificence of a rain thunder-storm. Water fuels creativity and philosophy. It brings out a soulful element.

I traveled to Dubai last year and was struck by how precious water really is. I was relieved to be travelling to a country where there would not be a constant downpour of rain. I thought I needed some sunshine and dry weather. On my third day there, there was a thunderstorm. Coming from New Zealand, this did not seem unusual for me. But that day I was struck by the attitude of gratitude and wonder from the people all around me. Children were dancing in the streets with their heads lifted up to the sky in adoration and adulation. People were laughing and happy. It seemed that all of the city of Dubai ran out to sing and dance in the rain. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. The joy all around me was infectious. The rain lasted for three days. There were even some parts of the UAE which experienced flooding. But the people were happy. In a place of desert sands of 7 different colours, there was a joyous gratitude for this rare sustenance falling from the heavens. In that place, I realised more than ever, what a blessing water and rain truly is. It was a sobering moment for me. I will never forget the dancing people of all ages just being happy to be able to dance in the rain.

So next time it rains…take a moment to truly cherish it. Toss aside your umbrella and your rain coat. Go outside and dance in the rain. There is nothing more liberating than dancing in the rain. The next time you pour yourself a glass of water, take a moment before you drink it. Give thanks that you live in a place that takes it for granted that if you are thirsty, or you want to cook, or you want to clean; it is as easy to make this happen as turning on a tap. Take a moment to remember that there are many more places in the world where people have to walk for many miles to get to water. Even then that water may be unsanitary. The next time it rains, stop before you complain about “another” rainy day and remember that in some places a rainy day only happens once a year.

Cherish water. Give thanks for rain. Be grateful if you are within walking distance of a beach, a river, a lake or a dam.

Let us all take a moment to dance in the rain and laugh with joy. Rain is a blessing. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t complain. Just think, you could be living in a place where rain is so rare that it is cause for celebration and wonder.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…

it’s learning to dance in the rain.”

© All rights reserved Kim Koning

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