The Villa Diodati, near Lake Geneva. Image permitted courtesy of Wikipedia.

“We will each write a ghost story,” he suggested imperatively.
Thus began a competition to see who could come up with the scariest tale. The rest of their holiday seemed dedicated to this endeavour.

Percy started a story based on his childhood experiences but with his forte being poetry, he struggled with straightforward prose and failed to complete his tale. Gordon also failed to complete his story about a vampire and John’s efforts, constituting a “skull-like” ghost bride who takes revenge on her faithless groom, failed to impress and he was forced to abandon his creation as well (The good doctor was, however, very impressed with Gordon’s blood-sucking character and intended to write a novel based on this vampire, which he subsequently did).

18-year-old Mary struggled to produce anything at first.
But having recently suffered the loss of her first child and having to listen to discussions about galvanism between the 3 men, the Muses soon took over and Mary wrote a reanimation tale about a monster so chilling and macabre, that when she eventually submitted it to a publisher in 1817, they could not believe a woman wrote it.

Mary named her novella ‘The Modern Prometheus’ but later changed it.
Frankenstein, as it’s now known, is considered a classic masterpiece and according to some, gave birth to a new genre – science fiction.

As some of you have probably guessed, the characters in my little story above were none other than Mary Wolstoncraft Godwin, her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Dr. John Polidori and Gordon was none other than Mr. Controversial himself- Lord Byron.

When I first read about this I was completely fascinated. I love reading about how authors got inspiration for their famous novels. But what made this event at Lord Byron’s Villa Diodati even more remarkable was that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was not the only horror classic that owes its existence to that historic night.

As I mentioned, John Polidori was very impressed with the vampire character that Byron had created. And even though the doctor’s story proved a flop, he later wrote a novel called ‘The Vampyre’ (1819) based on Byron’s creation.
The novel’s main character Lord Ruthven is considered by some websites and literary scholars to be the first aristocratic vampire in English fiction.
More than 70 years later, an Irish author named Abraham Stoker would write a ground-breaking novel whose main character is now deeply embedded in the psyche of popular culture. Stoker listed Lord Ruthven as inspiration for this very character. Few people I think would dare disagree with me if I said Dracula, even after a century, is still the most famous vampire novel ever written.

How is it that one night, one prompt from a competitive literary genius like Byron, one night spent by the fireplace could give birth to a horror classic and also indirectly inspire another?
This question intrigued me, so much so, that I went on a studious quest to recreate that memorable evening (in my head of course). Unfortunately, there are so many different versions of what happened that night in Lake Geneva and in the subsequent days and months that followed, that I almost became frustrated with the lack of consistency.
Luckily my copy of Frankenstein (OneWorldClassics) contained an Introduction written by Mary herself, chronicling (albeit vaguely) her experiences of that night (my little retelling at the beginning of this post is based on her account).

So what does it take to inspire a great horror novel? Or any great novel for that matter?

Is nature important? Atmospheric mood and the natural elements seem to have played a key part in Frankenstein. And the influence of Switzerland’s natural beauty is clearly evident in Mary Shelley’s writing.

Image of the original Frankenstein manuscript, with scribbles/outtakes by Percy Shelley

Whatever the case may be however, if you are a writer or in a creative profession, I hope inspiration comes to you, situations favour you and luck finds you in all your endeavours.

Happy writing!

NM

References:

- Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Author’s Introduction to the Standard Novels Edition. OneWorld Classics. 1818 (last ed. 2008).

- John Polidori and the Vampyre Byron

- Folkroots: Vampires in Folklore and Literature by Theodora Goss
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At the risk of coming across like a complete country bumpkin, I am proud to announce that I’m finally on Twitter!

I already started following some of you guys but if I haven’t, here’s me:

@nm_angelfairy

Happy tweeting!

NM

Now there are two things I’ve been blessed with: extremely long eyelashes and incredibly smart readers/bloggers such as you guys. In view of the latter, I needn’t explain what we mean by ‘beauty’ or ‘beautiful’ (And in case you are a bit slow today, we are not talking physical appearances here).

So last week, in an effort to make myself feel better, I decided to give myself a make-up makeover (I hope you see the paradox in this). This idea came to me after I had discovered JennaMarbles on Youtube. You might have heard of Jenna. She’s a famous Vlogger who went viral a few years ago with her video ‘How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good-looking’. It was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen and it gave me food for thought.

Anyways, I was actually watching another video of hers, a more ‘serious’ make-up tutorial. I must admit I learnt quite a bit and it made me realize how much I took my eyelashes for granted. Because I possess long ones I didn’t think I needed mascara. So for once I decided to take the plunge (he he) and use some.
And what a world of difference it made! My eyes were POPPING, baby. With a couple of blinks, I could have wiped out entire armies with these newly improved puppies.

So, with my new sexy, smoky eyes, I’d be feeling pretty confident, happy and ready to take on the world, right? Well, no. I still felt miserable. I wanted to crawl into bed, close my heavily-caked eyes and just sleep.

Obviously using make-up to fix the inner pain is like slapping a band-aid on your forehead when you have a headache. I clearly needed to come up with a better plan. Of course we all know that what really needs to be addressed are the real issues behind our feelings but sometimes we don’t want to be serious. For the now, all we want to do is relax, get our minds of things, feed the soul a little and be uplifted – evening out the playing fields so we have the energy to tackle all of life’s problems. So in the spirit of BOAW and in true August Mclaughlin-fashion, I’ve come up with a list of pick-me-ups that I have been trying to employ.

I might not be the most qualified to give advice but I realized that even the happiest amongst us go through rough patches, so take this with a pinch of salt. These are MY tips. And I would love to hear what you guys do, to cheer yourselves up. The comments section below awaits you. The more tips, the merrier…

Nisha’s tips for battling the Blues

1. Spend some quality time with your pets. Animals who know and love you have this uncanny ability to know when you’re feeling depressed. Nothing feels better than a good ‘headbutt’ from your cat.

2. Watch a good comedy series. Monty Python, Friends, Mr. Bean, Scrubs or any stand-up comedy usually works for me.

3. Healthy snacking. (Ahhh, August will be so proud of me) Melancholy tends to bring on the munchies. Instead of pigging out on junk food, try healthier alternatives. That way, you won’t only be eating healthy, you won’t feel guilty about it afterwards either . My favourites at the moment are choco-coffee coated dates, sugared fruit dainties, chocolate-coated nuts, chocolate-covered pretzels…. Hey, wait, hold on a minute….hmmm….

4. Eat some chocolate.

5. Reduce the amount of time spent on Facebook. I read this article recently (from a link that was shared on FB funny enough) about some crazy study that was done in Utah(?) in the United States. Apparently the more time you spend on FB (I’m not sure about other social network media, this study mentioned Facebook only) the more likely you are to become depressed. You be the judge of this one…

6. Get in the kitchen. No, I’m not being sexist. Personally I find cooking and baking to be very therapeutic. So get in there and make some choc-chip bran muffins.

7.  Dance. Just turn the music up in your bedroom and go crazy. And for those non-exercise loving types, this makes for a great work-out. Just don’t do it in front of your cats. They tend to look at you funny and they will most probably judge you.

8. Do some blogging. Ah yes, I do feel better, thank you very much.

9. Listen to some Dubstep (especially remixes of popular songs). This is actually a strategic mind trick. You see, you go into a temporary state of confusion and you ponder, “What the f*ck is happening to this song?” So for a good 4-8 minutes you forget all about your own problems.  Cool right?

10. Go shopping. Ladies, need I say more?

11. Read some inspirational pieces. And you can start tomorrow by checking out August’s blog where a whole range of inspirational posts by various bloggers in honour of BOAW will be put up.

12. Get a makeover. Yes, I know I’m contradicting myself, all I’m saying is that this alone did not make me feel better, but hey, it might work for you! And there’s nothing wrong with trying to look good and pampering yourself. So get those mascaras out baby! Although I do advise not crying after ‘putting on your face’. Mascara and tears don’t work well together. You’ll just end up looking like Alice Cooper.

13. Buy yourself a present. Treat yourself to a box of chocolates that dress you saw in the shop window or that new novel by your favourite author. Because, darn it, you deserve it!

14. And if all else fails, at least we have Jenna Marbles…

Because there is no quality in a human being more beautiful that a sense of humour…

NM

GOOD NEWS: I’ve finally finished my collection of short stories! Huzzah! Bring out the champagne!
The BAD NEWS? The official editing process begins! *Groans* Bring out some more champagne, a few bottles of red wine and some painkillers won’t you? It’s going to be a long ride…

Yes I’m not really a fan of editing even though it’s an inevitable part of the writing process. Even the most exciting jobs have their downsides, I suppose.

I tried to fathom out why I hate it so much. I do remember commenting on someone’s blog about this not too long ago. I recall saying that with editing, I don’t experience that same buzz like the feeling when an idea pops into my head and I feel the need to write it down quick and thereafter develop a story to work that idea in. That initial act of putting pen to paper is akin to being on a high. Once that first draft is completed,you feel mighty proud of it.

And then another reason struck me as to why I dread editing. After that initial buzz, returning to that first draft is like a cold, hard reality-slap in the face. Mistakes are EVERYWHERE: in the grammar, in the spelling, holes in the plot and in some instances, a certain passage will make no sense whatsoever and you waste half-an-hour trying to figure out why you wrote it in the first place.(And don’t even talk about when that one particular scene just won’t be good enough and you end up in this vicious, twisted cycle of editing and re-editing and then adding some more changes with no end in sight. This will happen at some point, I can guarantee it.)

You then come to the realization that you are not the perfect, super-awesome writer you thought you were, with that special, God-came-down-and-blessed-you-with-his-right-hand-saying-you-are-going-to-be-great sort of talent. You’re a normal human being just like everybody else who has some serious work to do.

Each of these folders contains at least two manuscripts. Who wants to help me edit? Nobody? Yeah, I thought so...

Yeah, reality certainly can bite.

But no pain, no gain right?
So off I go, to experience the joys of hell editing.
The Good news is I’ve already edited two stories. The bad news? I’ve got 12 more to go. *groan*

I’ve given myself one whole month to complete this task. Wish me luck.

NM

Anyway, I’ve been checking out some great new blogs over the past couple of months and have decided to pass this award onto the following people. Though I must admit, I did wonder whether there was any point highlighting some of them, especially MJ and Lauren, whom EVERY WordPress blogger seems to be following! They are probably sick to death of receiving awards but hey, never mind, a little bit more acknowledgement wouldn’t hurt anyone. There is a reason these guys are popular, you know. So go check them out if you haven’t already…

- MJ Monaghan
- LScott
- PoeticJourney
- Day I started Reading
- Barb at Before Morning Breaks
- As the Raven flies

Thanks guys for adding some much needed excitement to an aspiring writer’s dreary life. Keep those awesome posts coming…

So, over the past few months, I have stumbled across quite a few weird and wonderful words. Maybe you’ve come across them before or maybe you haven’t, either way I thought I’d share them with you…

Augury. I’ve seen this word so many times but I never knew what it meant. It means the same as an omen or prophecy, a sign of things to come. Its verb, ‘augur’, is not to be confused with ‘auger’, the digging tool for making holes in the ground.

Clubbable (yes this is a word). Adjective. Stranger still, was how I found this term. I was actually looking for a noun that meant someone who was sociable and a party animal (and liked to go clubbing). I looked up ‘sociable’ and found gregarious. On searching ‘gregarious’, I found clubbable, which means “sociable and popular”. Go figure!

Dipsomaniac. Noun. I don’t particularly like the word ‘drunkard’. I wasn’t aware of any other synonyms for it so I searched for another term that meant ‘inebriated’ and low and behold, I came across this gem of a noun! So ladies, if a drunken fool heckles you in a bar, call him a dipsomaniac and tell him to bugger off!!

Jingoistic.  Adjective. This means someone who is excessively supportive of something (I would think similar to fanaticism). In the OED, esp.derog (especially derogatory) is written next to the word so be cautious if you are using this to describe anybody!

Jiggery-pokery. Noun. I thought this was so cute, meaning dishonest behavior. A typically British word but I have no idea how to use this in a sentence. I actually found this in the dictionary by accident while searching for another j-word. Ten brownie-points to the person who can come up with the most original way of employing it in a sentence!

Misanthrope. Noun. I absolutely love this word. I’ve been using it a lot lately for some reason. It means a person who dislikes and avoids other people, not unlike an antisocial recluse.

Cornucopia.  Noun.  I saved this for last as it is my favourite word at the moment. It means an abundant supply of good things.
Comes from a Latin phrase meaning ‘horn of plenty’ and therefore it’s the name given to the famous symbol:  the goat’s horn overflowing with the bounties of nature (see picture).

So, have YOU discovered any funky new words lately?
Oh, do share them in the comments section below, and who knows, maybe I’ll make the Vocab Vault a regular feature on this blog…

Now as you know, I love classic English literature. As a result, I tend to write in a very similar style. However, I HAVE written a few stories set in modern times- my head is not always in the past, surprisingly. The thing is that when I am working on a piece of modern (or is it contemporary?) fiction, I am sometimes faced with a dilemma: normal people, the general population that is, very rarely apply the rules of the English language anymore. What I’m trying to say is, very few people actually speak properly.

Hence the phrase I don’t know has become “dunno”, I’m going to has become “I’m gonna” and the word BECAUSE in its entirety has ceased to be. Instead it has been shortened to “cause’, “coz” or “cuz” (Cuz that’s how it is, dawg!).

So the issue here is this: maybe it’s just me but I sometimes feel guilty to employ the above slang in modern dialogue.

courtesy of cartoonstock.com

With so much emphasis placed on writing good English, I sometimes feel the need to have my characters speaking correctly, even if it’s against my greater judgment.

Let’s take for example, a conversation between two teenagers. I don’t know about you but I know very few teenagers who actually speak proper English day to day, and even then, they might only save it for the classroom or when conversing with adults, giving speeches etc. So when writing their dialogue, would it make sense to have them sound like they’ve just stepped out of a time machine that has just arrived from the 19th century?

Can we balance good English with modern realism?

And because I don’t read much modern fiction, I am struggling to find examples of where authors have their characters speaking in this informal manner. I can’t remember ever reading a character saying “I dunno” or “Coz I said so” or my personal favourite, the double negative: “I ain’t done nothing.” Yet people in movies and in real life often talk like this.

For those of you who are sticklers for the proper use of our beloved language, would you be annoyed if you had to read dialogue like this? You might tolerate it if it was only one character, who spoke like this, but what if a whole novel was about a group of kids and the dialogue throughout the book was written in this fashion?

Like I said, I don’t read many modern contemporary novels and the few that I’ve read, pretty much stick to the rules of good English. I’m sure, however, that there are plenty of books out there that employ this form of colloquialism. If you know any such books, let me know won’t you? If they are written by famous authors, maybe I won’t feel so guilty…

Otherwise any other thoughts, as you know, are most welcome.  

Thank you so much to blogger Sharon over at figmentsandimagination for awarding me the Candle Lighter Award. Guys, you must and go check out Sharon, a real humanitarian, who’s doing great work on the African continent and who really has an awesome blog.

I never heard of the Candle Lighter Award so I did some research and traced its origins back to a blog called Believe Anyway. Its blogger created the award for people who light a candle in the dark with their blog.

I really love the concept behind this award:

This award belongs to those who believe, who always survive the day and those who never stop dreaming; for those who cannot quit, for those who keep trying and if you’re in this category, you are Entitiled to this Award.

I found this so inspirational that I really couldn’t bring myself to single out anybody and leave others out. The above applies to all my blogger friends(you know who you are), so I am not going to pass this on to anyone in particular. Instead I dedicate this to you (YES YOU!), thank you for supporting me and remember to always keep that candle of hope burning brightly.
And thanks once again Sharon for your acknowledgement!

NM

Happy New Years y’all!!!!!

I trust that you’ve had fun over the festive season. I certainly have and am looking forward to a great year in 2012. I could not have thought of a better way to start the new blogging year than with another blogging award. My good friend Becky awarded me the Liebster Blog Award last month. She’s always singing my praises, is benevolent Becky, so there’s no words to fully describe my gratitude to her except to say, a big, hearty THANK YOU!!
And if you love books, which I assume you do (and if you don’t, what on earth’s wrong with you?!), Becky is THE best book reviewer in the blogosphere. That is my opinion of course but I happen to rate my opinion very highly so go check her out at Blogs-of –a-bookaholic.

Obviously, as with all blogging awards, it is required that I pass this award on to others.
The rules are thus:

Upon receiving your Liebster award, you should:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed. (some say just 3 or more blogs of less than 200 followers each)
5. Let them know they have been chosen, by leaving a comment at their blog.

It’s been awhile since my Versatile Blogger Award and I’ve met so many great bloggers since then. Of these, I’ve chosen my top 5, in no particular order:

Martin Shone
Even if his short stories weren’t so darn entertaining, I would still give Martin this award just for being a Sherlockian like me. In my opinion, to be considered truly awesome, you HAVE to be an Arthur Conan Doyle fan, so he definitely meets the requirements. He’s also a great poet so check him out here.

Nelle
I don’t mean to play favourites but Nelle is definitely one of my favourite commenters here on the Writers Bloq. An intelligent writer, who’s life experiences and musings I really enjoy reading over at her own blog Ramblings of a Daft Writer.

Happiness Stan Lives here
This is actually a cooking blog but still one of my favourites. If you love good food, love to cook and have a sense of humour, go here right now!

Chris
Chris is a young writer to watch out for. He’s a prolific blogger with excellent insights on the writing process. Check him out at Write to Perfect.

Jennifer Neri
Jennifer’s musings about her writing experiences hits very close to home. Her down-to-earth style and honesty is refreshing and will appeal to writers. Go and pay her a visit here.

Once again thank you to the Great Beckster (sorry Becky, that’s your nickname from now on ) for my Liebster. And to the bloggers mentioned above, go on now, and spread the love. You know you want to.

NM

Best wishes

NM