Category: writing

Emergence Collective · writing

Character snapshot Revisited: The hole

Joe HallettLeave a comment

From the feedback I have gotten about ‘Emergence Collective,”  It turns out that “The hole.” Which was (to me) just part of the setting that turned out to be its own Character. I didn’t expect there to be so much intrigue around it. It is fun and satisfying to see reactions and thoughts about my story from other people’s perspectives, which didn’t occur to me since I was focused on different parts of the story.  This character snapshot is not a character, but a place in the story.

Old Willy opened the truck door, which whined and screeched in protest as
the rusty hinges rattled. “Whatcha doin’?” Mr. Winston croaked out the question
while clearing his throat, showing genuine interest in Frank’s contraption over
the dump.   

He turned a little red, embarrassed by his curiosity. “Umm, well, ya see. I
got to thinking is all.” He began to explain. “I have been using this as a dump
for 30 years now, right?”  

“Well… why hasn’t it filled up yet?” He posed the question with increasing
excitement.  

Mr. Winston’s eyes lit up as the thought sunk in. “You know…. I never much
gave it a thought….’ Till now. You know your right!” the excitement transferred
to Mr. Winston. They both sat staring at it silently for a minute or two,
pondering the notion as another old beat-up truck shook its way up the path. A
younger man in his mid-30’s poked his head out of the truck window to have a
clearer view of the scene around the hole.  

       “Is there something I can do?” he asked with concern in his voice.
Not knowing the details of the situation, he offered his services out of simple
neighborly kindness.  

Frank and Mr. Winston did not look up or respond, lost in their own
thoughts. Johnny got out of his truck in a hurry and trotted over to the
hole.   
  
      “Someone fall in?” he asked in an almost scared tone of voice. He
detected that Jonny was getting amped up a bit, broke his trance from the hole,
cracked a smile, and chuckled. “No, no, everything is fine,” he said in a calm
voice, trying to put out the fire in Jonny’s mind “we were just think’n is all;
how deep is this hole?”  

 

art · Author · Emergence Ascended · Horror · painting · poetry · writing

Happy Monday!

Joe Hallett2 Comments

A new week begins, and I reflect on the last couple of weeks. It has been a busy one with work and home life. Just getting back into the routine of things. I took yesterday off from any creative endeavors  and did some chores that have been neglected (getting the garden ready for planting…a little late)

I had a great day of writing on Saturday, and that has renewed my vigor to keep pushing on!

Monday always has a way of bringing me to a weird place of optimism and pessimism. The optimistic side dwells in the possibility of escapism through stories and creativity. Back to the grind of work, I feel like Sisyphus, who was cursed to do meaningless duties ad infinitum, with the only escape being to dream of a life free from the burden of responsibility. Those dreams Are where I live. As the boulder rolls back to the bottom of the hill to restart the process, meaningless tasks, The only break from monotony (the weekend) is where I exist. Where I thrive.

Emergence Ascended · writing

Saturday for the win!

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I am feeling very good about today! I finished Chapter 8 of “Emergence, Ascended.” and I am really happy with it. Things are moving in the right direction and I even managed to surpass my word goal for the day!

Author · Emergence Collective · writing

World Book day!

Joe HallettLeave a comment

In honor of World Book day, I am giving away 1 signed copy of Emergence Collective!

The first one to email me (link below) will get the book.

Emergence Collective · writing

Character snapshot Revisited: Willy Winston

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Characters are like your children. You love them all, and it’s hard to choose your favorite. Willy is one of those (Don’t tell the other characters, but he’s one of my favorites). I like characters that can be equally tough and tender…

Willy turned around to face his friends and make sure everyone was out and
ok. Sandy started to sob and fell to her knees as Jonny put his arm around
her. Frank, still huffing from his sprint, bent over to catch his
breath. Gregory and Daniel looked around, frantic.  

“Where’s David?” Gregory asked in an awkward girlish-sounding
voice. Frank stood up straight and looked toward the tent.  

Sandy gasped. “Oh, oh my God!” she cried, seeing the tent collapsed.  

Gregory and Daniel rushed over to the tent, calling his name. Willy and
Frank followed, quick to help, struggling to find the tent opening in the
darkening light of the sky. Frank froze cold. He looked down, and his voice
turned a chilling tone of horror. “Blood,” he whispered, forcing the
word out of his mouth.  

Willy looked down at where Frank was staring. Fresh splats of blood dripped
at Willy’s feet.  

Frank looked up at Willy. “You’re bleeding, old man,” he said with
a worried tone.  

A trickle of blood ran down from Willy’s forehead and nose into his beard.
He reached up and touched his forehead, searching for injury. “Oh,”
he said with a nonchalant tone as he pulled a toothpick-sized piece of cable
from his head. “Would ya look at that.”  

Emergence Collective · writing

Character snapshot revisited: Barney Derrick

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I really enjoyed writing Barney’s Character. I wanted to make a character that you love to hate. I am sure everyone has met a person like Barney.

The sound of Barney’s boots echoed down the quiet hall with a hypnotic cadence. The overhead fluorescent lights seemed to flicker in time with his footfalls. He arrived at the lab and pushed through the door, causing it to bounce off the wall.   Drab faces looked up from computer screens at the abrupt entrance. A soldier rushed over with a handful of disheveled paperwork, trying to organize it into a manila folder before handing it off to his superior. Barney grabbed the folder out of his and studied the file briefly.  The soldier watched as he scrutinized the file, flipping pages, eyes scanning. Barney’s nose crinkled against his mustache, causing the soldier to wince.  He held the folder out for the soldier to take it, allowing the pages to slip out with a whoosh onto the floor.   

“What is this? Is this how I am going to get all of your reports? Is this how you show your respect to your country, to me?”   

“Sir! No Sir!”  

“This report is not even in order! Do you expect me to finish your work for you?”  

“I understand, Sir, no Sir, I apologize, Sir.”   

“Well–What are you waiting for?”  

“Umm …yes, sir,” the soldier said as he scrambled to collect all of the paperwork and organize it all at once.  

“Umm, yes, Sir? That’s how you address a superior officer? An umm? You Sure this is the right career for you, boy? How did you manage to crawl your sorry ass out of basic training?”  he scolded, then turned away so that he could smile without being seen. Ah that felt good, better than coffee, and I’ll never get a bad report from that kid again. He took a few steps before turning around to see the soldier standing at attention, holding the folder in his shaky hands.   

“Sir, your report is ready for your review Sir.” The Airman forced his words out.  

 Barney snatched it out of the soldier’s hands. Again, the soldier watched his eyes and fingers do their work.  “That’s better, Airman. You’re dismissed.” The young Airman made his way to his desk and sat down, all the while avoiding eye contact.   

about me · Author · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · writing

The beginners mind

Joe Hallett2 Comments

Shoshin is a word from Zen Buddhism meaning “beginners mind”. I have always loved the concept. Looking at the world from the innocence of a child’s point of view, I think, is one of the best ways to approach it. I don’t mean the naivety, but the wonder and openness that comes with that. Anything is possible. I like to think that I have a beginners mind when it comes to writing. I have mentioned before about “My process” (more of “do I have a process?”), But I strive to write to be genuine and original. When I buckle down and write, I tend to avoid reading/listening to other people’s fiction to not be influenced unless it is researching genre, not content or style. Keeping my mind free from influence is a conscious decision, challenging to be sure, but it’s on purpose.

Lucky for me, I didn’t have many preconceptions of what it is to tell a good story or, literally, how to write. Why lucky? Because I don’t have bad habits yet (or that I am aware of), and I am constantly learning and honing my craft.

Emergence Collective · writing

Character snapshot revisited: Mark and Trina

Joe HallettLeave a comment

It’s a character snapshot, but these two characters are equally important
together as they are apart, so I decided to lump the snapshot together. I
really enjoyed writing the relationship between these two. I really wanted to
express the kind of purity of love two people could share if they had the
freedom of innocence….

Mark’s beat-up Honda fishtailed around the corner of the driveway and then
skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust in front of the longhouse. Trina had
a white-knuckle grip on the dashboard as if she was holding on for dear
life. “Why do you have to drive like a crazy person?” she shouted, but the look
on her face was one of excitement rather than terror.  “Umm, because
it’s fun?” he said with a chuckle. “Well, here we are. Let’s find the best
cabin before anyone else calls dibs.” 

“Yeah, good call,” she said as she got out of the car and stretched her
back. “This is a cool place,” she said as she looked around, taking in the
layout of the place. “But geez, namaste much?” Mark chuckled at that last
remark. “Yeah, he was the poster child for hippies, I guess. That’s
probably why my dad and Grandad pretended he didn’t exist.” “I think
you might be cut from the same cloth, honey, ya know? A long-hair dropout in a
family of lawyers and doctors. You’re not gonna get rich, but I love ya,”
she said softly. 

He walked over and put his hands on her tiny waist, and pulled her close to
him. “That’s how I know you love me. You’re not a gold digger. He
whispered in her ear, “That makes me richer than any of ’em.” 

“I think this place is making you mushy,” she whispered back. He moved
closer to her ear. “It’s also making me horny.” Then he playfully swatted her
butt. She pretended to be mad and started to push him away but grabbed his
hand and started pulling him to the cabins. “Let’s go find us a cabin, my
‘mushy’ man,” she said and winked at him. He dared not resist as she led
him down a random path. “These cabins are all in good condition. I was
imagining something like sleeping in a dirty barn,” Trina said as she
peered into the window of a pleasant-looking cabin. “I like this one, but I
want something, ya know, a little more private.” “Anything for you,
love,” he said, smiling. “Yeah, I think Uncle Frank had a lot of time on his
hands and kept the place up nicely.” 

They reached the end of the path at a cabin that seemed to be the farthest
from all the others. Mark walked up the few steps to the porch and opened
the door. “Should I carry you over the threshold?” Trina pushed past him
with a smirk. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, bucko,” she said
sarcastically. 

“Well then,” he said with an exaggerated bow, “after you, m’lady,” then
followed her in. 

 

about me · writing

Pieces of me

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I have a story to tell. Actually, I have many stories in my head just aching to get out. I have the idea, think of how and who, and where. The story is just the beginning of the journey. Characters are the meat of it, but one has to have a split personality as an author. I have to be a ten-year-old girl who is into anime or an old battle-hardened war veteran. Sometimes in the same paragraph. Where does this shit come from? The setting can also be a character; how does one pretend to be scenery?

Every character has a piece of me in them. Part of my split personality. I draw from past experiences and interactions I have had or just witnessed. When writing an evil character, where in me is that? Am I that kind of person just under the surface? (I hope not, but it has to come from somewhere.) One of the hard parts of writing in my experience is to make all the characters uniquely different and consistent in their personalities. I think I do a pretty good job of it, but it is a challenge. After all they are all me. And I may be uniquely different (a politically correct term for weird?) but maintaining that is my biggest challenge.

I think of actors and how they have to be different people all the time. I think that there is a kind of freedom in that we can not be ourselves for a time. Halloween for example. Think back to the last time you were in full costume. The protection of identity that you get are you acting the same “normal,” or are you letting go and getting into the character, saying and doing things that you would not normally do? That’s the freedom I feel when writing. I get to express all those slices of my personality in the characters I write.