Every civilisation needs laws of some sort, whether they are defined by the state, social convention or a god. Law is one of those lovely things you can use to keep your characters in check. It’s also a great tool for forcing your characters to do things they don’t really want to do.

Law Worksheet

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Vesper

No one went outside at night. No one but Vesper. Spectres roamed the streets after sunset, deadly to all who came into contact with them. Vesper liked the night and the ghosts had ruined it for him. Since they had risen from the river, there was nothing to do; no bars opened and people dared not open their doors past dusk.

Vesper stalked the apparitions from the rooftops, following their purposeless tracks around the city. Their outlines were humanoid, but they seemed incapable of communication. Twice, they had followed him up staircases, but ladders were beyond them and when he had leapt from the roof of one building to the next, they had fallen, leaving a shimmering, fibrous mass on the pavement.

By sunrise, most returned to the river, melting into its depths. Some oozed into the storm drains. Vesper set traps, blocking their exits from alleyways and watching them burst into tendrils of smoke when the sunlight sliced through them. It had given him the idea for the Sunblade, a device more impressive by name than by appearance, simply a metal bar with two strips of ultra-violet light running down its length. However, its efficiency as a deterrent to the spectres couldn’t be disputed; one touch from the Sunblade and they were smoke.

He jumped onto the moss-covered roof of a warehouse which dominated the docks, abandoned since the spectres arose, but a good place to hunt them. A group of the creatures caught his attention, drifting in and out of the building through a crack in the door, their forms merging and dividing. The roof below Vesper’s feet gave an unearthly creak, sending them into a frenzy, their smoky outlines obscuring the walls as they searched for a way to reach him. He stepped away from the edge, the creak turning into a crack. A vibration beneath his feet made him jump but too late as the panel he was standing on shattered, sending him crashing into the trusses below.

This week’s worksheet is designed to be used over and over whenever you visit somewhere new (or old) to build up your own reference library for sensory details in places. It’s one of the things that my beta-readers often tell me needs improving. I know what the places looks and feels like, but I’ve not put enough of it into the writing. By building up a reference library, you can look back at places you’ve visited and recall more clearly how it felt to actually be there.

Blogger Recognition Award!

I’d like to thank my mum, the lovely Eve Messenger for nominating me and everyone who made this possible. Wait… I didn’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature? The Blogger Recognition Award, you say? Even better!

(By the way, if you want to check out a really uplifting, even inspirational blog, check out Eve Messenger’s OtherWORDly Endeavors. And what a lovely lady!)

Blogger Recognition Award Rules

• Tell the world why you started blogging
• Give advice/tips to new bloggers
• Share the picture above
• Nominate other blogs and let them know how awesome you think they are.
• Share the link to Edge of Night for the original post.

So, here goes!

Why Did I Start blogging?

My first blog was started as a uni assignment. I can’t remember where it is now. I started a couple more before I came to focus on this one and my gaming blog. This one began because I’m a writer and what better thing to do when I’m not writing than spend time writing blog posts? The gaming one… well, that’s just an excuse to play more games. Now it also looks like work!

Advice to new bloggers

People will judge you. If that bothers you, it’s really easy to deal with the problem – you can delete unpleasant comments or ignore them completely. But unless you want a fight, NEVER respond. Out there be trolls! Arguing with them is futile and won’t make you look any better.

In the same vein, be nice when you’re commenting on other people’s blogs. Don’t be scared to comment – it’s great to join in with the community. Just be polite.

And the winners are…

I chose three blogs (the rules say  15, but I’m a rebel, so hey). They’re all quite different, so let’s say I chose one from the three categories of gaming, writing and art.

Tritops Gaming

It’s not just the games, it’s the music too.

Miss Benison

For much the same reasons as I like OtherWORDly Endeavors – this blog is full of great little bubbles of inspiration for aspiring writers.

Ott Bettina’s Art Blog

This blog has been dormant for a while, but the artwork is pretty cool and I think more people should see it.

Alphabet Exercise

Here’s an exercise that’s quite fun. Write down a word beginning with each letter of the alphabet. If you’ve got 26 friends, get them to write a word each. Then, write a short story using every single one. It’s difficult, but that’s half the challenge. If you want a theme, love and war usually work for any set of words. Here’s mine:

I remember when I met that MOROSE VIXEN, one NIGHT in YEMEN. The sky was filled with WONDER as I looked out from the SLIMY UNDERGROWTH, drunk on JUICY KETAMINE. She was like some kind of QUEST to which I had to REDIRECT my attentions, away from my obsession with PAPRIKA TEA. The way she looked at me, stared into my soul like a BIONIC woman, ready to throw a GRENADE into the ORIFICE of my heart, DESTROY my self-control, cause a HOLOCAUST of the senses. Why would someone like her ever go for a LOSER like me? She CONTINUES to watch me with X-RAY eyes, turning me into some kind of ZEALOT for her. She fills an ENVELOPE with every letter of the ALPHABET, hides it in my pocket. She’s like an ILLNESS, killing me slowly with a love like bad FICTION, finding new ways to torture me.