Saturday, December 29, 2007

Helen Keller, Character Development and Literature

How do you define and create a character? What are the secret techniques? Do you need to work on the following?

- The environment the character lives in;

- The character's position in society;

- The character's handicaps and strengths;

- Can the character be trusted, is the character inherently bad or loving;

- The character's view of the world;

- Is the character delusional about reality and where will this lead the story;

- Is the character spiritual and full of hope and bravery, or living with nothing to fall back on.

The techniques we follow can create either a weak meaningless character or a strong character that we can compare to Joan of Arc, Citizen Cane. Characters that have morals and have the will to achieve no matter the obstacles we put in their way. Or in another case someone who is bound to fail and have a sordid end.

Dracula has his environment and it works to build the type of person that is Dracula. In "The Lord of the Flies" the environment is an uninhabited island where the boys are forced to live in a certain way, in this case like savages. "Hercules" is tied to the Gods and his character revolves around his spirituality.

Creating a character takes great skill and one needs to develop and work on some of the above points. "Helen Keller" has been written about many times, to develop her character writers have concentrated their pen on her handicaps and strengths to project her character.

It is a fact that there is the rich and the poor and others somewhere in between. You need to define where your character fits in for the readers to know where your character is going and what risks the character can take? Where does the character fit into society? Is it survival for the fittest?

Characters in most cases let the reader reflect on the socio-economic, psychological, and the moral that is set, how to carry on in life in a world that is constantly challenging them. How we develop our characters makes for a good read or you can see your book make it back to the book shelf where it will be lost forever.

I have recommended these techniques and hope it helps you with your next big project.

Sean Tarquini received a liberal education at York University, Ontario, Canada. He writes books and for audio/visual presentations. His books are are available on http://www.amazon.com and http://www.mobipocket.com

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Dracula, Batman and Dark Literature

Dark literature presents us with two characters - Dracula and Batman - supernatural beings that came from humble beginnings.

These characters are able to make their greatest foes bow to their demands, they are fuelled by an abnormal cause which draws our sympathy, both guilty of murder and mayhem. As we look at the two we begin to see their madness at the worst and paranoia at its best.

They love strong and are independently wealthy, they control their worlds, we want to be like them but their intelligence separates us. They are the spirit inside us that we hide from the people around us.

These "dark knights" are Gods to themselves and their decisions are final, they are the most powerful beings, and we thirst to be like them - we feel their weaknesses and wonder how come these knights could have weaknesses. These traits that these dark beings possess attracts us and pulls our spirits to their cause, evil or good.

Dark literature has survived thousands of years from Oedipus to Batman because it reflects what is in our sub-conscious deep down inside and buried within. Dark literature is in fact a true reflection of the dark side of man, our hunger for power, wealth and love. We envy these "dark knights" because they got it easily. The suffering both mental and physical that they endure is the price they pay. The price we will pay to get that much power will no doubt be more severe and our suffering will be more painful; that is the moral of the story.

Sean Tarquini received a liberal education at York University, Canada and other sources in general and has been writing for 14 years, he works on literature and audio/visual presentations. His books are available at http://www.amazon.com and http://www.mobipocket.com

Friday, November 9, 2007

Dark Literature

I learnt of the dark side of man in literature class, it was a course called Contemporary Theatre. I learnt that people suffer through birth defects like Helen Keller, the play, some suffer through life because of their class like the guy (Loman) in "Death of a Salesman", and I saw a woman brutally killed in "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe and see people haunted because of new-found-wealth in "The Pearl" by Steinbeck.
Children reverted to animals in "Lord of the Flies", a child poisoned mentally in the play "Aunt Dan and Lemon" and of course Oedipus digging out his own eyes after learning he killed his father and married his mother!
So I wrote my first book, after being a professional letter writer, when people still used STAMPS to send letters and ENVELOPES - remember those - well I have lived between two continents during the time I attended University, and had always been writing a letter, those were the days but it taught me about punctuation and how to inject emotions in my letters.
Thanks to all the dark or "black" writing I have read and personal experiences I can only write on the dark-side. I am an all encompassed Black Knight and only think on the dark side, I sprinkle my literature with light and colours to create literature that is a kaleidoscope of colour.
The books I have mentioned are some of the ones I want us to peruse. So I am proposing as we travel through the dark depths of space that we see colour as points to cherish that save us from being consumed by darkness.
Sean Tarquini received a liberal education at York University, Canada and other sources in general and has been writing for 14 years, he works on literature and audio/visual presentations. His books are available on http://www.Amazon.com and http://www.Mobipocket.com

The Colour Of Literature

The study of literature is a study of the origin of the ideas. Ideas that make up the resources of modern writers. I took literature courses and I am now an accomplished author but no one else could have taken the exact mix of courses that I took or had the same teachers.
I consider myself to be a letter writer of contemporary literature and so do 10,000 other writers but we all have different backgrounds. Are there any standards set to be a contemporary writer? Can there be? The answer is no.
There are no standards set for the imagination, but like music there are beats that are better than the other. There are melodies more appropriate at times more wanting than another. There lies the perfection. We want our imagination to bloom, mere thoughts, to fit into the language of men. It can be a poem, it can be either a short story, a novel, or poetic prose. The category one falls under when we write are like the different types of glasses we use for drinks served at a reception: wine, brandy, champagne, or beer. The type of glass served makes the drink more palatable; much like the categories of writing which hold a story as it needs to be interpreted.
Each writer of all disciplines or levels has something to offer. It is the out pouring of the spirit that is important, looking for the top ten is not meant to be, writing is an art form and it represents one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind. It holds the thoughts of men who lived thousands of years ago, as well as, it is the wine that we all share to live in this world, to communicate in this world and even to save this world.
Sean Tarquini received a liberal education at York University, Canada and other sources in general and has been writing for 14 years, he works on literature and audio/visual presentations. His books are available at http://www.amazon.com and http://www.mobipocket.com

Monday, July 9, 2007

I think I am mad but I want to make a living selling books. Amazon? Who knows. My books are listed on Amazon's sites in Japan, The UK, Canada, and the States. I have listed my book with all the bestsellers so you must see me out there, I have a good chance. What do you think. My book has a long history of being acknowledged as a major piece of literature, it was used at university on the syllabus so it's good it has a chance I need plenty publicity.

Amazon gives you the tools, I have used these tools all I need to do now is wait and see the results. My book is called "The Grapevine A Contemporary Short Story" by Sean Tarquini and it's on www.amazon.com.

I want people to check it out and tell me if I can make a living here.

Sean

Thursday, June 7, 2007

How I became an author

How I became an author: - I have been to colleges 2,000 miles away from home, before email, and I wrote hundreds of letters back home. When I got back home I left behind friends 2,000 miles away, girlfriends, and I wrote them hundreds of letters. Slowly I developed into a writer, I mean the only way I communicated was by writing. I easily got a job as a script writer for a TV production house and I moved slowly to books.

I wrote "The Grapevine: A Contemporary Short Story" available on www.amazon.com and I wrote "The Olympian" you can find it there as well.

Feel free to check out my books and I'll give you the inside into the story, every detail I promise. :)