Garden Square on Tenth by Viola Day Mr. Cromwell always drew the curtains of his window, where his unit sat right above the Romero’s whose daughter I used to date back in ’93. Some say he was allergic to the sun while others assumed the daylight aggravated his depression. Every time I pedaled my way across his once-dilapidated apartment building in my fixed-speed bicycle, I’d see his shades drawn. I was sure his curtains were stained by the sunlight from being drawn so often. At night, when I’d make my way home, after picking up Mom’s medication from the Pine…
Category: Blog
Finn’s Girl, Ruby – The Theme of Self-Love
Finn’s Girl, Ruby explores the theme of self-love. Kaplan, whose favorite movie is True Romance and who has ditched a career as a lawyer to pursue photography, keeps Madison at bay. A tortured artist to describe him in the least, he effortlessly remains an enigma—displaying only that tip of the iceberg—because, like many of us, he feels as though he has barely made it this far in life merely by tailoring himself to others. By shaping ourselves around others, we feel desirable and interesting because, hell, if others were to discover the kind of person we believe or think we are,…
When Sleeping Dogs Lie
When Sleeping Dogs Lie by Viola Day Trailing a few footsteps behind him, I couldn’t help but gaze wistfully at the way he picked up his feet when he walked, the way the sun struck his back and the way he stared down every time he found himself rambling. There was this fog between us, so thick and dense that it almost felt palpable. He was distant and I hated knowing him this way. “What?” he asked after turning around and dexterously walking backward as though he were some Senior sweet talking a Freshman by walking her to class just…
Man on the Red Line
Man on the Red Line by Viola Day I stood there, waiting for the Blue Line, waiting closely enough to the yellow warning strip on the pavement that warns you to stand back unless you preferred a severed foot. (Who’d want that?) Before the Blue Line, came the Red Line. On the Red Line, I saw this man. At the time when both my hands were buried into my pockets, my fingers rolling pocket lint into tiny balls as I bounced my right leg out of impatience, I grew most fascinated by him. He sat, slouched and engrossed in his…
Overcoming Creative Slowdowns and Writer’s Block
Creating is tough in a society where everyone will misunderstand you for a potato. It’s full of ups and downs and pauses. Like when I get stuck. When I’m lost in the fog, wandering in the doldrums. When my brain reaches a pause, a necessary step before it can catch up with itself. But it’s essential–the stagnation. It’s a stall, a completely normal episode that must happen in the writing process where I can wander back on track and continue Freewheeling off the beaten path where, although bumpy and sickening, is worth every mile in my progress. When I’m standing…
5 Tropes I Enjoy Using in Romantic Fiction
The enemies to lovers, the comic relief and the unsuspecting hero—we are no stranger to these plot elements, character classifications and exhausted themes peppered throughout works of fiction. They’re taken and rehashed only to be told from an author’s imagination, thinking it can play off last season’s argyle sweater with a cashmere scarf. Books are filled with tropes and we devour it anyway. But was it refreshing? Did your stomach churn like butter? Did you weep like an underpaid Applebee’s waitress saddled with student loan debt? How about your nails? Did you chew them off after that hair-raising scare? I…
Top 7 Movies Writers Should Watch
Top 7 Movies Writers Should Watch by Rina Pritchard Films have a way of inspiring us. While books, people and nature can open the minds of creators, movies hold an untouched charm to them, from their cinematography and screenplay to their overall theme. Here’s my list of movies I think every writer should watch. 1. The End of the Tour In March 1996, Rolling Stone magazine writer, David Lipsky, sets out to interview Infinite Jest novelist, David Foster Wallace. Wallace, played by Jason Segel, who hunkers down in Bloomington, Ill., participates in the five-day-long interview conducted by the overdetermined Lipsky,…
Viola Day’s Debut Novel–Cover Design and Title Reveal!
Apart from the gorgeous work I saw, from collaborating with so many artists, this one stole my heart immediately. There were four others I couldn’t overlook. However, this one really dug in and homed in on my novel so accurately. The tone’s there. It’s unsettling, yet lovely and spellbinding all at the same time.
No, that’s okay — we’ve got a lovely view from back here
“I want to remember you this way,” I said to him, our eyes locking in ways they hadn’t. “I want to remember us this way. Maybe…maybe it can’t get any better than this. Maybe, some things are best adored, even appreciated, from a distance.” Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. The other side fuels our imagination. California’s great. Although a double-edged sword, she’s got it going on, really, but you hated how it felt when you had her. Now that the leaves are falling off from its branches on this side of the country, you miss the mouthwatering Mexcian food, the Pacific…
We help one another
A letter to all aspiring authors Dear a WIP, Scary isn’t it? Having to grip your heart from your chest and turn it inside and out for the world to see and pick apart. If you’re safe, perhaps no one will ever find it. Unfortunately, the world will be remiss of another talented name gone unnoticed whose writer was shrouded behind a shelf of books and a computer monitor. With a world flooded with inspiration, people of whom we want to be and of places where we want to travel, be sorely charmed and encouraged but remember your voice in…
