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Deep Pencil - the musings of Morgan Bell

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it did it really make a sound? If i post a blog and nobody reads it was there really any point? You have entered the random thinking space of Morgan Bell . . . These are my musings . . . things about my life written off the top of my head . . . written in an informal disjointed style almost completely devoid of punctuation, this is where i flesh out writing ideas, discuss my life, and generally be self indulgent . . . it is also the bargain bin for articles which do not fit in with the film or arts themes of my other blogs . . . so have a wander around my mind, have a laugh, have a think, be nice, and humour me!

Work - Deep Pencil

Counting Words

November 17th 2008 17:37

Defining works of fiction by Word Count . . .

Novel - 40,000 words or more

Novella - between 17,500 and 40,000 words

Novelette - between 7,500 and 17,500 words

Short story - 7,500 words or less

Short-short story - between 1,250 and 3,000 words.

Sudden fiction - between 750 and 1,250 words

Flash fiction - between 250 and 750 words.

Microfiction - 100 words or less

Drabble - exactly 100 words long (A double drabble [200 words] is a droubble. Half a drabble [50 words] is a dribble.)

69er - exactly 69 words long, often written as a group of three 69ers of similar theme

Nanofiction - exactly 55 words long, with titles no more than 7 words long

55er - exactly 55 words long, the first line is 10 words long, and each following line should have one fewer word, ending in a one-word line.

Postcard/thumbnail fiction - 50 words or less

Baby shoes - 6 words long, eg: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” by Ernest Hemmingway

Vignette - short, impressionistic scene that requires little or no character development or plot, it provides a glimpse into a scene or emotion without care for story arc.

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The Writing Market - finding the right publication

September 29th 2008 15:01

Some writer's essentials for your professional library . . .

When it comes to marketing your freelance writing it is a good idea to invest in a couple of current reference books.

Here are two that have been recommended to me:

The Australian Writer's Marketplace

The only comprehensive guide to publishing markets in Australia and New Zealand, with over 2,200 opportunities for publication and writing industry contacts.

Total number of listings: 2179: Magazines (918); Newspapers (145); Publishers (199); Agents (25); Publishing Services (101); Writers’ Services (83); Industry Organisations (303); Script Markets (46); Awards, Competitions, Fellowships and Grants (232); Literary Courses (88); Literary Events (39).

Comprehensive indexing, including specific markets for Children’s/Young Adult, Crime, History, Poetry, Romance, New Zealand, Indigenous and more.

Find submission and contact details for agents, magazines and newspapers, competitions and events, organisations, writers’ services, scripts and courses. In this edition you’ll find publishing services and markets for genres including:
* Poetry markets
* Short Story markets
* Children’s/Young Adult markets
* Non-fiction and Auto/Biography markets
* Grants, Fellowships and Residencies
* Opportunities for Young Writers
* Speculative Fiction markets
* Travel markets

Paperback: 790 pages
ISBN: 1920892354
ISBN-13: 9781920892357
Author : Queensland Writer's Centre
Publication Date: 31/8/2008
Publisher Imprint: QWC Publishing Solutions

The Writer's Handbook

An indispensible companion for everyone in the writing profession. Packed with provocative articles, useful advice, key contacts, hints and discussion, this practical and straightforward guide provides full details on the key markets. Here you will find all you need to know about book publishing in the UK and US, agents, newspapers and magazines, screenwriting, TV and radio, film and video, theatre, PR consultancies, poetry, writing courses and circles, festivals, grants and prizes, alongside up-to-date information on taxation, copyright, contracts and much, much more. With two easy-to-use indexes that allow you to search by company or subject, this is a book no established or aspiring writer can afford to be without.

Paperback: 810 pages
ISBN-10: 0230016375
ISBN-13: 978-0230016378
Author : Barry Turner
Publisher: Bramley Books; Rev Ed edition (3 Aug 2007)
Publisher Imprint: MacMillan

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Position Vacant: God

September 25th 2008 08:09

have you ever looked at a list of Greek & Roman Gods and marvelled at how specific their job descriptions were?

each God or Goddess in Greek & Roman Mythology is like a specialist who has been appointed director of their department . . . theres a few overlapping positions but basically you got to be in charge of an Element or a Season or one of the major components of human existance like Fertility, or Love, or Death, or Home, or Food . . . then theses just the random ones which occupy the minds of humans like Wine, or Jealousy or Vengence

imagine going to a job interview in the Jealousy department of a large corporation! haha
(i think we call that Marketing nowadays)

here is a list of a few of the most prominent and exciting Gods in the Greek & Roman culture, it is particularly fascinating if you have an interest in etymology, these immortal families make up the basis for much of the modern English language

Roman - Title - Greek

Jupiter - King of the Gods - Zues
Juno - Queen of the Gods - Hera
Neptune - God of the Sea - Poseidon
Pluto - God of Death & The Underworld - Hades
Apollo - God of the Sun - Apollo/Phoebus
Diana - Goddess of the Moon & The Hunt - Artimus/Phoebe
Mars - God of War - Ares
Venus - Goddess of Love - Aphrodite
Cupid - God of Love - Eros
Mercury - Messenger of the Gods - Hermes
Minerva - Goddess of Wisdom - Athena
Ceres - The Earth Goddess - Demeter
Vulcan - The Smith & Fire God - Hephasstus
Bacchus - God of Wine - Dionysus
Saturn - God of Time & Agriculture - Chronos
Vesta - Goddess of the Home & Fire - Hestia
Maia/Tellus/Flora - Goddess of Growth & Fertility - Gaia
Faunus/Pan - God of the Woods & Pastures - Pan
Aurora - Goddess of the Dawn - Eos
Caelus - God of the Sky - Uranus
Fortuna - Goddess of Luck & Fate - Tyche
Furies - Goddesses of Vengeance - Erinyes
Invidia - Goddess of Jealousy & Retribution - Nemisis

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exploring MORE of my garden - it Is an acre you know!

September 9th 2008 03:50

i feel like i should have a frilly white dress and a parasol as i take a turn about the yard in search of frogs and butterflies and toadstools and fresh summer blosssoms . . . perhaps if i am lucky i will stumble upon a friendly garden gnome, fairy, or nymph in the mossy corners of shade? haha

once again i have been out and about with my camera (the mini Casio Exilim EX-Z77- CLICKHERE for more) trying to practice with one of the macro settings, aptly named "Best Shot - Flower"

so let me welcome you, if i may, to my journey of mixed vegetation - from native flowering gumnuts and wattles to the imports of and english country blooms - a floral treat for up-close nature lovers!

iota deville snuck into the background of this first one:

due to my enthusiam for the little camera i am entering into an art battle with alt_ed to challenge my creativity before the novelty wears off . . . if you are curious CLICKHERE to see the results

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should politicians have skills and experience?

September 7th 2008 09:54

ive been thinking about politics and our politicians . . .

whenever i think about our democratic system (or our cousins in the USA) the idealist in me immediately comes out and all thoughts become prefaced with "if i ruled the world . . ."

of course i dont rule the world, which is a good thing, because i dont really know enough about the complexity of the world to do a good job . . . but then again, do our politicians?

theoretically anybody from any background or skill set (apart from maybe criminals - no white collar criminals dont count, corruption and laundering is encouraged haha) could run for office in their local area, you could be a stay-at-home-mum, and garbage collector, a fish and chip shop owner, or beauty queen . . . but by disproportionate majority most of our politicians tend to be lawyers and/or career politicians (clerks, advisors, aides etc within their political party)

so rather than getting, say, a senior accountant or and economics expert as the Treasurer of the state or the country, we seem to get people who are great public speakers who have studied mostly law, communications, and politics itself . . . but theyre not so great at balancing the books or sticking to the budget

its a shame we dont tend to get engineers or town-planners or environmental scientists in charge of Transport, Roads, Energy, Water, Resources, Infrastructure etc

wouldnt it be great to have a teacher in charge of Education, a farmer in charge of Agriculture, a nurse in charge of Health, a social worker in charge of Welfare, and a person with a military background in charge of Defence . . . sure it may happen time to time, but on the whole the elected official generally has no background in their portfolio

sure they have whole teams of public servants working under then providing them with advice and reports and statistics . . . and we hope they listen to them . . . but do they have the capacity to understand?

if you are going to be Prime Minister or President (or Deputy or Vice) and working on foreign policy and international trade agreements should you not have to prove your worldliness? should you have travelled and learnt other languages and studied other cultures and protocols and basic geography and political history of all the nations of the world?

perhaps this is a tall order?

i just think these people have alot of responsibility and if it was a job interview many of them would not meet the minimum requirements or essential criteria of the role description . . .

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Phyllis Stein and the laser-guided do-dads

July 8th 2008 17:08

ever since the first time i saw the film of Hedwig & The Angry Inch i have fantasized about writing the sequel . . . at one point i was very taken in by a Youtube video called Charlie The Unicorn and wondered how i could mesh the two together, another time i wondered if i could incorporate Johnny Cash into Hedwig's life somehow (mostly so they could sing a duet) . . . maybe it could be a prequel, maybe a parrallel universe?

so today i read the term "laser-guided do-dads" and was re-inspired

[ Click here to read more ]

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Hares have no time to read . . .

July 1st 2008 17:40

how true is this famous quote . . .

In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game.

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is it harder to name fictional characters or babies?

June 17th 2008 11:44

with the assistance of the writing software yWriter i have been plotting out the structure of my novel, however i just noticed my character names were really terrible . . . luckily one of my friends posted me a book a couple of months ago as a gift called "How To Write & Sell Your First Novel" and faced with wooden one-dimensional names i picked up the writers guide with the promising title and looking for some advice . . .

the name of a character is vital to beginning their characterisation

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2008 Women In Engineering Scholarships

June 5th 2008 12:31

Scholarship Announcements for 2008 from Women in Engineering (WiE) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)

The following Scholarships are now open for applications by students of engineering

[ Click here to read more ]

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pinning all your hopes on a great white elephant . . .

May 20th 2008 11:58

A white elephant is a valuable possession whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) exceeds its supposed usefulness, and it is therefore a liability.

A great white hope is a person expected to bring much success to a team or organization who have a seemingly impossible goal (white boxers being recruited to fight the unbeatable black champion)
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