I’ve been thinking about Doctor Who. Big surprise, eh. This contains spoilers, by the way. I’ll place the rest of this post under a cut – if you don’t want to read potential spoilers then fo’ srs, don’t read this.
Tag Archive | Blog Post
Now with 100% Added Influence…
A friend of mine recently put a comment on a Facebook post I sent, saying that the story she’d read (Faces, if you’re curious) reminded her of the works of Sir Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. I said that they’re both influences on my work, which I suppose came as no surprise to anyone. It got me to thinking, however, about those real-life muses that have indeed impacted not only on my style of writing but on my decision to write.
I should note that this list is not all-inclusive, nor is it in any particular order. I have a lot of different influences. Here are some of the major ones, though – mostly literary.
Ink-Stained Worlds: the Facebook Page
Yes, folks, I went and did it. I made a Facebook page. You can find it here.
It’s only small at the moment, 25 or so followers, but we’ll see how that changes in the months to come.
Head on over and check it out when you get the chance; ‘Like’ it if you like it, don’t if you don’t. I’m now posting notifications and updates to both Facebook and Tumblr (which you can find here if you’re not following it already). People find different forms of social media easier than others to keep track on so spreading out some feelers can’t hurt.
In the future I’m planning to add in notifications via Twitter as well. That’ll happen down the track, though, probably when I have ten or more pieces of content for people to look at. If you want to follow the empty, dormant Ink-Stained Worlds Twitter account, though, feel free to do so here. It’s @InkStainedWorld – I’d have put an ‘s’ at the end but apparently I ran out of characters. Oh well, I’ll live.
If at any point Google add an API to Google+, which will allow the nice folks over on the Publicize team (the tool I use to automatically update Facebook and Tumblr when I post articles here) to add G+ to their list of connectible social media, I’ll probably start a page there as well. Maybe. We’ll see.
— Scott
Rest Well, Mordred
Will you carry the words of Love with you?
Will you ride the great white bird into Heaven?
And though you want to last forever you know you never will
You know you never will
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still…– Cat Stevens, Oh Very Young, 1974
It’s harder to write words of remembrance for a cat than it is for a person.
It has nothing to do with the volume of feeling. It has to do with the unspoken bond that humans have with companion animals. If you’re not a person with an affinity for pets you won’t understand how the death of an animal can break someone. It’s heart-wrenching on a level that’s difficult to express and it’s a trial to attempt to find the words to do such a companion justice. Continue reading
Colin: a Eulogy
Colin John Thornby
When my brother got sick and started very seriously contemplating the end of his life he started considering options for burial and memorials. At the time we, his family, didn’t know about it but he was talking to a good friend of his – Jane – about the matter. She suggested he write out what he wanted for the memorial himself.
To fully appreciate what happened next you need to understand what kind of a man my brother was in one very important respect: he was used to running things. He was a natural leader and very accustomed to being in charge. Writing out lesson plans for his classes (and his partner’s), sermons for his fellow Christians, advice for the people he gave spiritual guidance for – and that’s only in his later life. Since we were kids he was the one standing up and speaking, making sure everyone was on time, working out who was to bring what and when they had to do their thing (depending on the situation).
Colin agreed that writing his own memorial would be a good idea and so he did.
In Memorandum: Colin John Thornby
My oldest brother, Colin John Thornby, has joined those who came before. He died peacefully in the Royal Melbourne Hospital on the 1st of July, 2013, at 6:43pm after a long and hard struggle against a chest infection following a bone marrow transplant. His lungs gave out and he passed away after the medical staff determined that there was nothing more they could do for him.
It’s difficult to find words worthy of him to put down on digital page. Finding words isn’t difficult in general but most of them are trite, obscene or both. But to put down how much my brother meant to me and how much he will be missed, by myself and others… As someone who uses language not only as a tool of communication (as we all do) but a medium of creative expression I find that there are times when words simply… aren’t enough. They don’t do the job. Continue reading
Relating to the Muse – Thoughts
I was talking to a friend the other day about creativity.
I’m still not sure precisely how the conversation turned the way it did. When I converse with people they can often be left a little confused as to how my mind jumps from place to place. Often I have to stop and explain why I’ve started on an apparently random topic.
Really, though, my thought processes are pretty straightforward. It’s just that people can’t see how others make connections from topic to topic.
Anyway, we were talking about creativity.
The Ink-Stained Blog
Welcome to the Ink-Stained Blog.
Here you’ll find the musings, addled and otherwise, of the author’s semi-deranged mind.
At any time you might find content here worth reading. Anything I think might be worth writing down could end up here – discussions on the inspiration for various stories, movies I’ve watched recently, books I’ve read, things I’ve listened to and so on.
This blog isn’t the focal point of Ink-Stained Worlds, though. It’s mostly a place to put unordered thoughts and talk about… things. Primarily to myself. I do that.
With that said, a few things to note.
As usual, be aware that the content in this blog (like the rest of the site) may be particularly unsuited to children. If you suspect your children of accessing this site and you’re not pleased to do so then it’s your responsibility as a parent to do something about that. I don’t really care what; that’s your business.
So, to refresh your memory:
This is a bigotry-free zone. Don’t spread your hate around. Nobody wants to see it.
Help keep this blog and site free of spam. Don’t do it. It just annoys everyone and makes you seem like a selfish, boorish jerk (which, if you’re spamming sites, you probably are). I don’t care why you’re doing it or what you’re spamming. Don’t do it here.
All content here is © Scott Thornby, 2013 (and any other appropriate year). Please don’t steal any of it, but feel free to share it as long as you credit me as the author.
This is an LGBT-friendly site. You’ll find, amongst other things, LGBT issues and topics here – in the blog and in the rest of the site. Please don’t give me or anyone else a hard time about it. I’ll just block you.
None of my stories are real. Fiction is fictional.
Open your mind. Some of what you read might be confronting. The multitude of societies across the globe are in the depths of a very hard puberty and many issues that should be obvious are hot-button topics right now. It’s very easy to slip into hidebound modes of thought. Remember there’s a big wide world out there and just because someone is different doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad.
In the rest of the site you’ll find many different characters with a wide variety of viewpoints and beliefs. Right here, though, this is all me. If I express an opinion in the Ink-Stained Blog then you can safely assume it’s actually mine (unless otherwise stated). That is, after all, what this blog is for.
Since there are a lot of different issues that can come up please use these notes as a guideline. I might at some point put formal terms of service up but I’d really prefer not to have to (mostly because they’re boring but partly because people see ‘ToS’ and their brains switch off).
Enjoy! I hope you have a nice (or at least tolerable) time, free from non-consensual zombie attacks.