Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Sommer Leigh wrote:

Cookie wrote:I take pleasure in having the what I called the connect the dots moments. Those are where I have scenes or ideas and don't know how to connect them, then all of the sudden ah-ha! Those are awesome.

I love those moments where I think up a scene or a bit of dialogue or a little detail in a scene and then later when I'm reading a completely separate part of the book it turns out I tied that little detail to something else without even doing it on purpose. I like to think of these moments as my brain working when I'm out to lunch.

I have those moments too sometimes. It's like oh yeah!

I get a rush from just being done. Finishing up a draft, sending it off, and being like:

Yeah. I did that.

I second (third? fourth?) actually finishing something.

I also get a rush when I write a "perfect" sentence, paragraph, or "perfect" dialogue.

I've got a few.

First are the "connect-the-dot" moments previously mentioned. And the subconscious connection of details. I just love those.

This morning I walked into my office (just knowing it would be a waste of time to try to write/storyboard today because I've been hitting a brick wall for the past two months), took one look at my storyboard, and knew how to fix an issue I've been killing myself over for weeks. :)

The very, very best one came from my Dad, who is a very picky but avid reader of fantasy (my genre). He read my latest WIP and really enjoyed it, but being the strong, silent type he didn't say much more than that. In that story I'd created a tree called bloodwood that literally bleeds when it's cut. This summer my family and I were on vacation when he came up to me with a stick that was stained red in the middle from the creek he'd pulled it from. He handed it to me and said "Look! It's bloodwood!"

OMG, I geeked out at that. It was the best feeling in the world.

dios4vida wrote: The very, very best one came from my Dad, who is a very picky but avid reader of fantasy (my genre). He read my latest WIP and really enjoyed it, but being the strong, silent type he didn't say much more than that. In that story I'd created a tree called bloodwood that literally bleeds when it's cut. This summer my family and I were on vacation when he came up to me with a stick that was stained red in the middle from the creek he'd pulled it from. He handed it to me and said "Look! It's bloodwood!"

OMG, I geeked out at that. It was the best feeling in the world.

THAT is awesome.

There are actually woods named bloodwood. Several species of African and Asian padauks, one South American hardwood, and several Australian ecalyptus species. The closest North American bloodwood analog I can think of is Juniperus Virginiana, or juniper, commonly labeled as eastern red cedar, though it is not in the cedrus genus for which cedars are named.

I've worked with the padauks, juniper, cedars, and the South American bloodwood. The red hues contrast and resonate with purpleheart, greenheart, bleued holly, osage orange, and pine's yellows and yellowheart and the browns and blacks of walnut and ebony. The exotic woods are pricey. One of my ambitions is to incorporate a rainbow of colors into a wood vase styled like a stained glass lamp shade. Money is wanting.

polymath wrote:There are actually woods named bloodwood. Several species of African and Asian padauks, one South American hardwood, and several Australian ecalyptus species. The closest North American bloodwood analog I can think of is Juniperus Virginiana, or juniper, commonly labeled as eastern red cedar, though it is not in the cedrus genus for which cedars are named.

I've worked with the padauks, juniper, cedars, and the South American bloodwood. The red hues contrast and resonate with purpleheart, greenheart, bleued holly, osage orange, and pine's yellows and yellowheart and the browns and blacks of walnut and ebony. The exotic woods are pricey. One of my ambitions is to incorporate a rainbow of colors into a wood vase styled like a stained glass lamp shade. Money is wanting.

*happy bubble pops*

dios4vida wrote:

polymath wrote:There are actually woods named bloodwood. Several species of African and Asian padauks, one South American hardwood, and several Australian ecalyptus species. The closest North American bloodwood analog I can think of is Juniperus Virginiana, or juniper, commonly labeled as eastern red cedar, though it is not in the cedrus genus for which cedars are named.

I've worked with the padauks, juniper, cedars, and the South American bloodwood. The red hues contrast and resonate with purpleheart, greenheart, bleued holly, osage orange, and pine's yellows and yellowheart and the browns and blacks of walnut and ebony. The exotic woods are pricey. One of my ambitions is to incorporate a rainbow of colors into a wood vase styled like a stained glass lamp shade. Money is wanting.

*happy bubble pops*

Oh no, no, happy bubble expands. Using a known real-world name for a created thing with exactly identical properties builds reader resonance, an anchor for readers' imaginations to build upon, and provides verisimilitude, plus confirmation that it's apt, a readily understood meaning, easily pronounceable, and part of living cultures.

Thanks, polymath. For a moment I was despairing that my idea had fallen beyond the not-creative zone and was certainly far from the inventive/imaginative. I know that there's no new idea under the sun, but finding something so darn close deflates the ego a bit.

dios4vida wrote:Thanks, polymath. For a moment I was despairing that my idea had fallen beyond the not-creative zone and was certainly far from the inventive/imaginative. I know that there's no new idea under the sun, but finding something so darn close deflates the ego a bit.

Bloodwood to me is the best of both worlds. You may claim your invented unique imaginative properties as your own and benefit from its real-world parallels. Far better than the tongue twisters Yggdrasil or Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Southern prickly ash, Hercules' Club, pepperwood, toothache tree, pilontary tree), the latter being one of my favorite tree species for its spiny trunk, limbs, and branches, lemony flavored, mouth numbing leaves, and peppery wood scent.