Category: Magical Words

Magical Words: Balancing head, gut and heart

Erin Penn

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

A.J. Hartley is a best-selling author. Way back on June 22, 2012, he wrote an article for Magical Words entitled “Balancing head, gut and heart.”

The blog post deconstruct why the Doctor Who two-part episode “Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead”, works so well. And it isn’t just because of the solid sci-fi elements (time travel) bringing a reader’s HEAD into the story, or the chilling monster grabbing the GUTS, but also the emotions – the relationship between the Doctor and Donna, and the new-old archeologist straining the HEART. All three items, when in balance, make amazing fiction – whether book or visual medium.

The full URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/balancing-head-gut-and-heart/ … and be sure to read the comment section for additional advice.

Magical Words: Capacity

Erin Penn

Photo by Natalie Grainger on Unsplash

It’s tax season and every day is get up; figure out which office I’m assigned to and get to work;  work, work, work. Get home; do a survival chore (dishes, laundry, groceries, etc.); slip in some writing; and at least one thing for my other gigs (edit, review, read). Go, go, go. Remember to eat and sleep, because I’m in a marathon and I can’t fall down because I forgot basic chores for keeping the body running.

I’m at capacity. Especially right now when W-2 are landing in mail boxes every day.

My cup overflows.

John G. Hartness wrote a Magical Words post on October 3, 2016 about “Managing Your Capacity.”

Right now, my capacity isn’t dedicated to writing. Basically six months of the combination of package then tax season, then a calmer six months of conventions with some gig work. During the Convention season, writing and editing will increase.

Mr. Hartness points out your capacity changes, and that is okay. Work with your creative energy to get big projects done with big energy and small projects done with small energy. Right now, I got small creative energy, but that works just fine for putting up a blog.

Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/john-hartness-2/making-money-mondays-managing-your-capacity/

Magical Words: The Tension of English

Erin Penn

In a Magical Words, Dr. Emily Leverett discussed Adjectivals (“Adjectival Part 1: pre-noun modifiers”, magicalwords.net, 7/28/2015 – http://www.magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/adjectivals-part-1-pre-noun-modifiers/)- the adjectives, nouns, and participles which make a noun pop. Think of a normal, unmodified noun as a white box and the adjectivals expanding the setting with actual description. The white box becomes a vibrant, rainbow carpeted box.

During the article, she mentions how English creates tension. Many languages put the noun or verb right out there at the start, then add all the modifiers after, filling in the world. Like a white box dialog getting all the setting description later in the editing process. But in English, words may be going for a while before you even know what is being described, and then you might need to wait a little more before the noun gets verb-ed into action.

Is that constant “wait for it” adding to the tension found in English cultures?

(Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash)

Magical Words: Realistic Expectations

Erin Penn


3208252 © Mihapix | Dreamstime.com

One of my sisters told me a story from the time she ran marathons. She had slowed to a walk and a few of the runners in her pack urged her to pick up the pace again, supporting her.  She waved them on, letting them know she had had surgery the month before. All of them were like “good for you” and kept running. Because in marathons, trying matters as much as finishing. Personal goals are personal, and the community supports them.

Go further than the last run, shave off time. Whatever your goal is. That day my sister’s goal was to participate.

December has started, and this year’s writing marathon is coming to an end and I need to think about my next marathon. October’s tax training marathon is done. Ongoing is the postal package marathon for November and December. Tax season will be ramping up in January.

Did I met my writing marathon goal? I got further than I have in the previous two, so YAY! Did I finish everything, no. Not even close. I’m not good at setting realistic expectations. My body keeps on needing more downtime than I expect. My vision of early twenties doesn’t gel with the years I’ve spent spinning on this planet.

What I need to do is set writing up as my habit, and I did that better this year than recent history. I hope to keep it up next year.

Rereading “Quick-Tip Tuesday: Realistic Expectations (and a Little Math” by David B Coe (Magical Words 3/22/2016) should help reset for the next marathon:

Magical Words – Age Perspectives

Erin Penn

Photo by Giacomo Lucarini on Unsplash

I’m going to address just one aspect of Tamsin Silver‘s amazing Magical Words (5/11/2016) post: Hump Day Help: 3 Things We Can Learn From Marvel’s Civil War:

The post itself covers three things: 1) working with a large cast; 2) The Purpose of an Added Character; 3) crafting a new breakout character.

Part of number two hit me hard, which is the different perspective age brings to the table. Introducing Spiderman to the greater Marvel Universe didn’t just introduce a new character to give us a fresh set of eyes, it introduced a YOUNG character. Tony Stark – while an immature narcissist who acts like a kid with the biggest toys available – is a full grown man, a business owner, and been a world figure for decades. Steve Rogers is even older.

Peter Parker, he is a teenager. The world-spanning questions of responsibilities and duties required by citizenship within humanity haven’t become hardened in him. Yet, at the same time, it is one of the most central questions of Spiderman’s origin. Civil War was the perfect time to introduce the character.

For writing, expanding the universe beyond a single age group provides different eyes to view the world. Young Adult (YA) gets wrapped up in coming-of-age questions. Other books focus on other considerations, but usually from only the perspective of the main character – therefore urban fantasy and romances focus on twenty-or-thirty-something people with no children while mysteries pivot on forty-to-fifty something people no longer with children. Each book providing just a small window into larger questions.

While reality has people isolated in friendship groups by age, reality also is the spectrum of age. I remember the hunger I had attending church while at college. The undergrad college consisted of two very stratified age groups – students and teachers. No parents, no children. Then I went to church once a week and I became reacquainted with the scope AND VIEWS of different ages. The division between college’s Ivory Tower population and the wider gamut available outside the brick walls was stark.

I needed those trips.

And creative works could use a wider range of ages to hold up the mirror of our imagination when reflecting reality.

Read Tamsin’s full article – again the link is: – and maybe watch the movie again. Review the use of a large cast and when and how AND WHY to introduce new characters.