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Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

L. Darby Gibbs

Tuesday Prompt: 2012 #18

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Write about a person in an awkward situation.  Maybe she caught someone reading her diary or she found someone’s diary and had just flipped the cover when the owner stepped into the room.  Maybe he just realized the speech in his hand was the one he had decided was too raw for this audience and had written another, at this moment still on the kitchen counter where he had left it the night before to replace the one he had nixed.  But here he is standing at the podium one speech in hand, the other largely but not completely memorized, its hard copy version a long way off.  What does your character do?  Set the stage and let your character react to his or her situation.

Breaking news: Scrapper draft done

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Today I completed my draft of “Scrapper.”  This is one of the key stories in my anthology Gardens in the Cracks.  Now I have to decide which of the others I should redraft.  I am leaning towards the title story, but may go after one of the shorter pieces as I am getting close to the end of the school year, and that is always a busy time for me and my students.  But the point here is:  Scrapper is drafted and in pretty good shape. 

I approached it in a different manner than I usually do. I wrote the beginning 18,000 words, then wrote the end because I just had it all laid out before me ready to churn out.  I normally write from start to the finish, so this was awkward. But I feel it actually came out better because I was writing when I was passionate about the events happening.  It was just that bridging between the two that was the tough part.  However, I had set a level of writing and that forced me to continue at that level.

A Nondescript Little Program: NoScript

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Occasionally, I blog about software programs I have recently found that I think are useful for writers.  Well, this next program is by no means limited to writers. Anyone who spends time on the net researching, shopping, or just wandering about the internet, will find NoScript a useful program.  Like the other programs I have talked about, this is another freeware program, which, of course, won’t turn away any donations.  I actually have been using it for many years, and it’s one of those things that you only know you need it when you don’t have it, kind of like parents or breathing or an opposing thumb.  That’s what NoScript is.  It’s an add-on for Firefox.  (I have only used it with Firefox and cannot say if it will work with Opera, Linux or Explorer.) 

This nondescript (no pun intended, well maybe it was intended) program hides behind your activities and only becomes apparent when you go to a new website.  Then it stops all the script activity from loading until you give permission.  When this happens, I just click on which permissions I want to give the site I am visiting. So I don’t get those annoying advertising boxes popping up over the page I am visiting. And no other little activities are going on that I am unaware of.  I can even give a site temporary permission and exit out immediately if I need to, knowing if I go back again, NoScript is keeping everything under control.

Sure, I occasionally find myself wondering why something isn’t working on a site I have gone to numerous times, but I come to my senses, click on the NoScript icon right next to the web address at the top of my screen and add whatever permissions are needed to get it all back to normal. It is not NoScript fouling up.  The site must have changed a process and added another script.  For example, there is an online vitamin site I go to every three or so months to get new supplies. One day I found I could no longer arrange payment. They had changed their payment process.  It was the first time I had been going to a site on a routine basis and couldn’t do what I was used to doing. It took me a few days to figure it out. I went back, checked NoScript and sure enough had to add a permission.

Sometimes, I have had to experiment a little giving permission for this and not for that until the right things are active and only what I want is active at the site.  Having the option to temporarily allow something comes especially in use then though you can disallow any script at any time. Sometimes I am uncertain what the item is used for, but over the years of using this program, I have learned a lot and usually recognize what needs permission and what I would rather not have active.  The program updates regularly without issue.  Overall, it is pretty simple and just like breathing, something I only think about when I need it.

Tuesday Prompt: 2012 #17

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Stormy times coming.

It is time your character went through some tough times.  What is the worst that can go wrong?  What is second worst?  Now write about your character and have that second worst thing happen. Get your character almost through it, then the worst thing happens. How will the character cope?  Who comes to his aide?  Will he accept the help or work it out alone? 

What would be a small ray of sunshine in all this, nothing big or miraculous, just something to give a stress break?  Give him that little bit of brightness, then head him back into the storm with that brief break to supply a little faith and determination.

When the writer inside them says, “I am here.”

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As a teacher of creative writing, I at this time of the year always enjoy the moment when my students suddenly look to each other and say, “Your writing has changed.”  They mention detailed images, strong word choice, developed characters, etc.

This is what they have been working towards all year and most of them didn’t realize it.  They thought they were just getting to write all the time about any idea that came into their heads.  They have grumbled about the redrafts, scrambled for reasons to miss deadlines, gotten excited about a prompt or a day they could just dedicate to writing whatever fell into their heads.  They reminisce about the walks around campus we have taken looking for interesting images skulking about the place in unexpected corners, inside the book room or under the mats by the doors.

wild about writing

At the start of the year, they did not expect they needed to improve or that anyone would notice if they did.  But here it is. That moment when someone finishes reading what he or she wrote in response to the prompt, and then epiphany:  “Your writing has changed — and mine too.”  When this happens, I do not say, “Ah, here is a teaching moment.”  I remain silent and listen to the writers inside them say, “I am here.”

Tuesday Prompt: 2012 #16

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Start off your character dancing: fast or slow, rap or rock. Just have them dancing and slowly add environment. Is anybody watching?  How would the character feel if someone was?  Who? What if the character thought it was one person, but it was another?
Okay, take it for there.