Muse Guide

Writers tutorial entry; 5 things to stop doing (if you really want to finish your novel)

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Your novel isn’t going to write itself (I mean, if 
it were, it probably would have finished itself a 
long time ago!). Here are the five things you 
need to stop doing immediately if you want 
turn yourself into someone who stops asking 
questions about how to write a manuscript 
and starts bragging to friends about how you 
completed your manuscript. 
1. Nix the excuses. 
We get it, life is busy and writing is hard work 
sometimes. Still, excuses never changed 
anything, never inspired anybody, and never 
made any dreams a reality. Goals like writing a 
novel don’t die on their own. We suffocate them 
with our excuses. 
2. Stop trying . 
Your novel needs less “trying” and more 
“doing” from you. Like Yoda said, Do or do not. 
There is no try. 
3. Stop the Inner Critic’s crazy rants. 
Shut it down. Duct tape its mouth. Stand on its 
neck. Whatever you do, don’t let the Inner Critic 
make you doubt yourself. There’s no reason to. 
This is open range and there are no rules, no 
right and wrong. You can do Whatever. You. 
Want. 
4. Don’t overdose on caffeine. 
Seriously. I’m sorry, but it has to be said. Call it 
tough love if you want, but more writers go 
stark raving mad in espresso-fueled rages than 
any other artists (with the exception of polka 
musicians, for obvious reasons). 
Trust me on this. You don’t want your 
neighbors finding you crawling through their pet 
door at 3am in search of more coffee because 
you ran out at your house two hours earlier. 
Not that that’s happened to me. I’ve just heard 
stories. 
5. Stop thinking it should be easier. 
That’s like hoping gravity will get less gravity … 
er … ish. Less gravity like. OK, poor choice of 
words. You know what I mean. Bottom line: 
writing is what it is. Sometimes it’s easier than 
at other times. Expect it to be work and you’ll 
be thrilled when it doesn’t feel that way. 
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Writers tutorial entry; 5 things to stop doing (if you really want to finish your novel)

Your novel isn’t going to write itself (I mean, if it were, it probably would have finished itself a long time ago!). Here are the five things you need to stop doing immediately if you want turn your…

07 Nov 2013

Writers tutorial entry; how to write a simple haiku 2

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HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART TWO) 
Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi 
Help us promote #creativity by liking our page 
USE SENSORY LANGUAGE 
(6)Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of details observed by the five senses. The poet witnesses an event and uses words to compress that experience so others may understand it in some way. Once you have chosen a subject for your haiku, 
(7)think about what details you want to describe. Call the subject to mind and explore these questions 
•What did you notice about the subject? What colors, textures, and contrasts did you observe? 
•How did the subject sound? What was the tenor and volume of the event that took place? 
•Did it have a smell, or a taste? How can you accurately describe the way it felt? 
(8)Show, don't tell. Haiku are about moments of objective experience, not subjective interpretation or analysis of those events. It's important to show the reader something true about the moment's existence, rather than telling the reader what emotions it conjured in you.[5] Let the reader feel his or her own emotions in reaction to the image. 
oUse understated subtle imagery. For instance, instead of saying it's summer, focus on the slant of the sun or the heavy air. 
oDon't use cliches. Lines that readers recognize, such as "dark, stormy night," tend to lose their power over time. Think through the image you want to describe and use inventive, original language to convey meaning. This doesn't mean you should use a thesaurus to find words that aren't commonly used; rather, simply write about what you saw and want to express in the truest language you know. 
ABOVE ALL 
Be inspired 
Practice a lot 
Communicate with other poets. 
ADDITIONAL TIPS: 
•Haiku has been called "unfinished" poetry because each one requires the reader to finish it in his or her heart. 
•Contemporary haiku poets may write poems that are just a short fragment with three or fewer words. 
•A Haiku doesn't always need to rhyme. 
•Haiku originated from haikai no renga, a collaborative group poem that is usually one hundred verses in length. The hokku, or starting verse, of renga collaborations indicated the season and also contained a cutting word. The haiku as its own form of poetry continues in this tradition. 
Sample Love Haiku 
•Refreshing and cool, 
love is a sweet summer rain 
that washes the world. 
•Love is like winter 
Warm breaths thaw cold hearts until 
one day the spring comes 
•A bird flies sweetly 
on paper wings. Telling all 
of my love for you. 
•Every day I will 
love you more than you could know. 
We are here as one. 
•The softest whisper 
beckons me closer to you. 
I love you, dearest. 
•Vast as a mountain, 
my love for you shines through for 
all the world to see. 
Sample Funny Haiku 
•One shark said to the 
other when eating a clown 
fish: this tastes funny. 
•The bartender said 
to the neutron, “For you, sir, 
there will be no charge.” 
•A question for you: 
Where does Washington keep his 
armies? His sleevies. 
•An octopus went 
off to war. It’s a good thing 
that he was well-armed. 
•A wise man once asked, 
“Why, pray tell, is the sand wet?” 
Because the sea weed. 
•The best way to carve 
wood is extremely slowly, 
whittle by whittle. 
Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi 
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Writers tutorial entry; how to write a simple haiku 2

HAIKU AND HOW WE WRITE IT. (PART TWO) Compiled By: Moses S. Olarotimi Help us promote #creativity by liking our page USE SENSORY LANGUAGE (6)Describe the details. Haiku are comprised of details obser…

02 Nov 2013

Writers tutorial entry; Limerick and how we write it

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LIMERICK AND HOW WE WRITE IT. 
COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI 
A limerick is a poetic form that can be particularly fun to read and to write. Limericks are often humorous, mean-spirited, or pornographic. I'll explain the form, and you can d...ecide how down and dirty you want to get. 
Limericks consist of five lines. The rhyme scheme is AABBA. In other words, Lines One, Two, and Five all rhyme with each other, and Lines Three and Four rhyme with each other (in some limericks, Lines One and Five end with the same word and rhyme with Line Two). 
The limerick is a very structured 5 line poem. Originally, according to Wikipedia, limericks were a bit obscene, but that has changed with the times. The first, second and fifth lines, the longer lines, rhyme. The third and fourth shorter lines rhyme. (A-A-B-B-A) 
Creating a limerick is not that hard. The first line usually introduces a person from a place, the third and forth lines have the comic twist and the last line a conclusion. An easy way to start is to make a list of words that rhyme after you set up the first line. 
Here's an example of a classic limerick by Edward Lear, where the first and last lines rhyme: 
There was a Young Lady whose eyes, 
Were unique as to colour and size; 
When she opened them wide, 
People all turned aside, 
And started away in surprise. 
Here's another example by Lear, where the first and last lines end with the same word: 
There was an Old Person of Dover, 
Who rushed through a field of blue Clover; 
But some very large bees, 
Stung his nose and his knees, 
So he very soon went back to Dover. 
The typical rhythm of a limerick is like this: 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH bah-bah-BAH 
Let’s see a poem that help explain this better: 
There was an old man from Peru, (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
who dreamed he was eating his shoe. (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
He awoke in the night (B) 
da DUM da da DUM 
with a terrible fright, (B) 
da da DUM da da DUM 
and found out that it was quite true. (A) 
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM 
Here is a simpler way to go about writing a Limerick 
For example, I had wanted to make a poem for my brother, Ted. I made a list of words rhyming with Ted: 
Bed Instead 
Bread Led 
Red Fled 
Read Lead 
Fed Ned 
Dread Wed 
And so on….I put down the first line: 
There was a sweet guy named Ted… (after that it practically wrote itself.) 
Who would rather lead than be led 
Along came Patty 
Ted got a bit batty 
And now he follows instead. 
This is a poem and limericks especially lend themselves to poetic license. 
One of the best poets to use this device was Dr. Seuss. In “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, he talks about how the Grinch was in Cindy Lou Who’s house and he was taking her things. 
“And the Grinch very nimbly 
Stuffed all the presents one by one 
Up the chim-bly” 
Of course the word is chimney. Many times I have my 2nd graders correct me…I simply tell them chimney doesn’t rhyme with nimbly! 
Words-places especially-can be made up to rhyme, as with this limerick (author unknown): 
There once was a girl from Devrizes 
Whose breasts were of 2 different sizes. 
One was small 
And of no use at all 
The other was quite large and won prizes. 
Is Devrizes a place? Who knows but the syllable count and rhyme work! 
The bottom line is - limericks are fun and easy to write. Try it and see! 
COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI 
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Writers tutorial entry; Limerick and how we write it

LIMERICK AND HOW WE WRITE IT. COMPILED BY: MOSES S. OLAROTIMI A limerick is a poetic form that can be particularly fun to read and to write. Limericks are often humorous, mean-spirited, or pornograph…

02 Nov 2013

Scenerymania entry; Butterfly robbers 2

Muchos Calidad: 
He sat down carrying his wide gapped gob on his 
neck, wearing on a bright look, 
well' he said, ''manners from above is 
descending, 
remove head-dress to embrace it''. 
He stormed into the car, ignited the engine then 
suddenly he stopped, He himself couldn't 
guessed what exactly he's trying to do at that 
time, courageous him, he slammed the trunk 
shut, lock'd the car and directed his gaze 
towards the building as he was equally 
reminiscing 
on some poetic verse which quotes- 
''Slunk i did the earth with my gadding fork, 
tilled the crust for greatness with vim and 
boastful vigour, 
galivanting steadily as our visage seemed hot, 
when you aim a soup of gold in pot, 
and a brunch feast of crystal munch, 
a bloke will strive to loom creamly groom'd, 
adjoin'd being prettily cautious, 
a bulky purse, sweats of post lone moon, 
a winking vault of silver coins against all odds''. 
Blackjesus: 
He held firmly a russian type 9mm luger pistol on 
his left hand, an attending vetenary doctor was 
removing the bullets that managed to pierce 
through his deliquent self, he was trembling with 
dancing lips out of fear,'I I I I.....amm through 
sire', 'are you sure their are no loopholes in the 
treatment served?', scolded Blackjesus, 'yes sir, 
yes sir' he tremulously replied. 
Its now eight o'clock in the morning, he's 
thinking of going back for the money, 'where are 
my guys now? I know they shouldn't have been 
caught, huh!, yeah! The car!...BT-9855', yeah!' 
Thats the number on the plate, i will surely get 
the money back', he was totally sunk in his 
thinking chair, 'is the food ready?' he shouted, 
the cooking via vetenary doctor actually wasn't a 
good cook to start with but in the presence of 
that angel call'd death, many will garnish their 
mums to be spared of their precious but chaos 
filled life. 'Five minutes sir', he replied. Hastily 
with hatred, Blackjesus was looking at him as the 
man excused himself to titrate water waste off 
his body, on entering the comfort station, he 
brought out his phone and dial'd a number, on 
the other end was a coarsed voice that replied, 
'hello, this is area 14 of the state police force, 
how may i help you'....I......'tuuuumb' that's the 
sound of a bullet piercing through his brain, 
standing before his laid figure was Blackjesus 
who pleasurely caressed the trigger of the pistol 
with his left forefinger, he picked up the phone 
and muffled these words into the mouthpiece: 'he 
has done more than heavenly permits, if you dont 
want to perish like him, dont tail me, at my end 
here is a peril point, ha ha ha(he laughed 
sarcastically)'. At the receiver's end was an 
astonished cop afraid of the courageous 
Blackjesus's threat. He quickly pass'd on the 
communication excerpt between them to his 
immediate boss. 
''Dear God, Knockdown the predator that 
devours, 
we the timid prey prays, 
enemy preciously greets, hail the fox-y behaving, 
peace arraigns fear, effort in zilch, 
striving to tackle it, oppression scores in brace, 
anguish 'n' dolor in fresh mint, 
colors of hope we then paint. 
Team A: 
'Code blue' announced the director of area 14, 
we've gotten an intel right away. So easy a job 
was done in tracing the call since it wasn't 
Encrypted. He continued: St. Louisa close, 
mainland, butterfly city, so pepare fifteen 
members of 'A' 
team for the operation. In a blink of an eye, three 
anti crime van were out on the road, the 
vanguard was led by the 'A' team leader in 
person of Officer Michael. 
Muchos calidad: 
Happy him called office off for that morning, his 
bright and embracing visage spouse saw him 
heading back inside and was curious to know 
why he suddenly boycotted the ambition of going 
to work that morning, he said with full 
amazement: Hermione, a thought just chimmed a 
bell in my mind, i think its high time for me to be 
my own boss, i dont think i can do early crows 
job anylonger, tis like i'm fed up, why cant i just 
establish myself. Astonished and dumbfounded 
her stood still fixing her gaze on his, she had 
pledged to support him without questioning, 
come rain, come shine, all the marital vows still 
fresh in her brain as the cojugal ties hasn't 
exceed'd two full moons. She said: Intrinsic, are 
you sure you're doing the right?, 'yes my 
love, would you please come outside and let me 
show you blessings disguising in my trunk?', he 
added. 
Hermione's eyes couldn't believed what she saw 
as amazement cloaked her emotions, sharply she 
retorted: Intrinsic(muchos calidad's nick), are 
you sure you're in your right senses?, we need to 
move out of here immediately, this isn't mannas, 
tis rather the handiwork of men, i can see 
shadows in our trail, everyone else seemed like 
an antagonist coming after these lifes of our two, 
in a matter of time, the owner is coming back for 
it, so a must we should double up'. It's as if two 
opposite charged wires had touched in Calidad's 
inner pate, bewilderment in his eyes as he rushed 
inside then into his workshop, the dame watched 
him in sheer amazement as he brought out a 
spare tyre, a 17-18 wheel spanner and a 
superhydraulic car-jack, he quickly replaced the 
deflated tyre and faced his companion, ' tis like 
we're good to go'. As far as i know, obliging 
Hermione too was a sharp bitch', sitting 
beside Intrinsic as they enjoy'd a smooth drive, 
for almost forty minutes, they whispered nothing 
to one another, both were deep in thought, 
Hermione broke the silence as she asked, 
'Intrinsic, where are we heading to?, 
'an hotel where we shall plan on an absconding 
mission', he replied. 
Itsdenty: 
In a boggy vegetation where liveth majorly 
fishermen, there was an old shack whither in it 
hover'd equal mixture of fishlike aroma and 
sawing dust as the breathing gas for the 
occupants relying on the air space, Itsdenty 
could be seen with the aid of the beams of 
ultraviolet that manouvred their ways in through 
different angles of slit in the horizontally laid 
planks used in constructing the shack. He woke 
up with bandage around his left shoulder, he 
yawn'd as tears ringed his sight, the first thing 
that came to his mind was the money, last grace 
he did for the group was hidding a tracker on the 
money bags, so anywhere the money might be 
carried too, the location would easily be traced. 
'Is anyone out their, he yelled, a rough, rugged 
looking man appear'd to him, he continued; who 
are you? The man displaying a wry face of partial 
ire answered while squeezing it, i'm Israel', 'Why 
is your face wrinkled, do you want me to iron it 
out for you? Jokingly Itsdenty said, i just need to 
know who you are for helping me and putting me 
here, i meant no harm so i couldn't figure out a 
reason why you should be angry, where am i?', 
'king's port', Israel replied, 'i saw you on the bank 
yesternight while you've passed out, so i brought 
you in, removed the bullet in you and dress'd 
your wound when i realized you're still a living 
thing.' 
'Oh! Obrigado my dear, gracias, i really 
appreciate your kind gesture, ehmmmm please i 
need you to continue the good work by getting 
me a computer system, be it a laptop or desktop, 
Itsdenty stressed.' 'Hmmmmmmmm, you'll have 
to wait till evening time before i can assure you of 
one, Israel replied.' 
A snag didst occured few seconds later has 
booming sound shrilled the environment and it 
polluted the surrounding air, the noise was 
drawing nearer as you can easily hear the 
sentiments of the approaching mob, they were 
few men, all nine in number, they were coming to 
destroy Israel who seems to be the fish friend on 
the sea, fishes and sharks always love to clamp 
inside his net, and his shack is always full of 
kinds of fishes, Many has approach'd him to 
share his super technique with them for a 
ransom but Israel had nothing to tell them, now 
they harbored the believe that he is a kind of 
wizard who is having a coquetting affair with a 
water goddess and thats why the evil wench had 
been generous to him alone. Israel cried out, 
'please tis like end has come for me, you need to 
find your way now', Itsdenty smiled, 'let them 
come 
he said, i will show you who your visitor is', 
'really? his face lightened up a bit, An elephant- 
like 
pate guy kicked the wooden door opened, 
through which they marched in, they 
were all holding weapons of different kinds, Israel 
was shivering trying to figure out in his brain the 
first word of our lords prayer in the bible, my 
father...no!...my mother who sat in 
heaven..uuuurgh! No!..he consistently stuttered. 
Itsdenty spoke out, 'hey you quarterwitted big 
headed guy, are you crazy? You wanna break 
that door or what? Huh?' 
They looked at 
eachother and laughed aloud, hahahahahaha, 
Itdenty cut in again as he scolded, 'shut up!' 
these two words ran a deep chasm has it shook 
their spine, seeing him has a one handed fellow 
made them laugh and now the audacity he had 
to yelled at them really woke their angst, they 
charged at once against him, he ducked blows 
and graced punches in series on their faces, 
giving many bruises while he was unscathed, 
they were filled with surprises as they ran away. 
Hormobah: 
This fat-neck'd guy with a wounded right hand 
woke up on an executive bed in a furnished room 
designed with premium arts of best in the 
country. 
Last night, as he stagger'd through the rough 
untarred road to the doorstep of this admirable 
detached duplex, he knocked thrice on the door, 
the last he saw was a boy that appeared before 
him before he pass'd out. 
About half of an hour afterwards, he woke up and 
overheard a doctor who seemed to have just 
concluded a treatment session on him is 
admonishing the family to inform the law 
enforcers about their unwanted guest. The head 
of Thompsin's family reached for the receiver to 
dial the police office as Hormobah sprang up 
from his bed and thrusted the surgery knife with 
which the doctor used in removing the bullet in 
him towards Mr. Thompsin and his throat was 
slitted by it, his wife scream'd as their two kids 
fainted, the doctor couldn't move, he dashed 
towards the doctor and twisted his neck in the 
anticlockwise after which he sent Mrs. 
Thompson forth to heaven as well. 
The fainted kids were tied to the dinning chair 
while he taped their mouth, even if suddenly they 
stirr'd back to life, they wont be able to shout for 
help, he went back to bed and enjoy'd a 
wonderful dream ride. 
The kids has already woken up, tears soaked 
their sleeves as if they've been drenched in rain, 
Hormobah felt pity but the dead ones were too 
dangerous to be spared of their lives, he couldn't 
risk being caught at the expense of being nice. 
He told them, 'sorry kids, i cant keep your 
parents alive, i know i did a very wrong thing but 
i've gat no choice, you're allow'd to come back 
for your revenge in the future, when you're man 
enough'. They hid their gaze in his has he 
removed the tape covering their mouth and 
walked out of the house. 
Wahid: 
After crawling out of his car in the depth of the 
sea, he was too exhausted to swim through to 
the bank, he passed out along the line, a group 
of merchants on a voyage rescued him has they 
headed towards north of the globe. One of them 
has heard about night fish hunting and thought 
of it amazing, he threw the line with a crayfish 
bait hoping to lure big fishes but Wahid grabbed 
the rope as his last hope and the hunter thought 
he already had a big catch, he couldn't pull it all 
by himself, so many were ready to help out of 
gluttonous intents, to their surprise it was a man 
pull'd up and not a fish, angry many felt so 
disappointed to the extent that they were never 
ready to check out if he's alive or truly dead, 
many agreed he was dead so push him back 
please, they chorused, it was the hunter that 
gave him the first aid and revived him. On waking 
up the following morning, he saw so many people 
on the yatch, they were moving towards the 
north, he couldn't buy that idea, he was weak as 
well, he thought for some minute then he decided 
to take control of the yatch. The yatch 
comprised of eight cabin, each with five bunks 
each, all should be up to thirty five men on the 
ship. Many were bickering while drinking rum, 
many were having amorous display with an 
opposite sex, he rush'd to the store and picked 
one thin but thick iron rod and an 
'english' (cowboys' pistol) he went to the sailor's 
cabin and smashed the rod on his head 
unnoticed. He moved on silently and killed so 
many people standing isolated by smacking, 
smashing or turning of their necks, he entered the 
main hall where all voyagers were bickering, 
'stouting and suyaing', and spray'd bullets 
amidst them killing all, now he has taken over 
the ghost ship and he's in full control, he headed 
the ship back towards butterfly city, he shouted, 
'this is where i belong'. 
To be continued......
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Scenerymania entry; Butterfly robbers 2

Muchos Calidad: He sat down carrying his wide gapped gob on his neck, wearing on a bright look, well' he said, ''manners from above is descending, remove head-dress to embrace it''. He stormed into t…

02 Nov 2013

Writer's tutorial entry; make your story plausible and your character real

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If you want your character to do 
something unusual, do it yourself . 
Otherwise, you will never be able to convey - 
convincingly - how the experience looks, feels, 
hears, smells or tastes to the character. True, 
you might not wish, personally, to flee a drug- 
crazed axman or abseil one-handed down the 
Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. But if it’s do-able, 
do it. 
When I wanted my character to rescue a heron snarled high in an ancient elm, I scaled my plum tree. 
After ten feet, my hair was thick with dust, 
leaves, and insects. (I had never realised how 
dusty tree bark can become in dry weather.) 
My trousers grew green with mould and I 
became massively perforated like St 
Bartholomew with little twigs. 
Of course, I then got stuck. (Branches are never 
as close to hand in real life as they are in 
fiction.) My wife had to rescue me with the 
window cleaner's ladder. 
On another occasion, I needed a thief to climb 
an old staircase with a lantern in his hand. So I 
did exactly that. I found it was necessary to 
step on the inside of the stairwell to avoid 
telltale creaking noises and to breathe very 
slowly (ditto). I also had to tread on the balls of 
my feet (ditto) and to balance myself on the 
banister by my left elbow. (I didn’t want to 
leave tell-tale finger marks.) 
Have you ever dragged yourself across an 
attic floor, gibbering? 
In a different tale, I was minded to have my 
protagonist explore the eaves of an old castle 
in search of dark family secrets. Luckily, I live in an old house. So I dragged myself across a blanket of 18th century dust. My knee went through one of the 
ceiling planks. Below it, I found an orange - 
perhaps the lunch of some bygone builder. The 
orange was entirely hollow. Its inside had 
withered away to leave only a perfect 
mummified shell. 
It nicely symbolised my fictional family - 
immaculate before the gaze of the world but 
rotten within. 
You can't make these details up. You have to discover them. 
So if a detective finds the full mark of a flat foot 
on a dusty stair, I realized, it had probably been 
put there for a deceptive purpose. Because 
people typically climb stairs on the balls of their 
feet. 
All these little points of observation found their 
way into my story. 
When historical novelist Elizabeth Chadwick 
sets her stories in medieval castles, she visits 
them - with camera, notebook and tape 
measure in hand. If she tells you that her hero 
in 1395 wriggled out of a kitchen window of 
Ludlow Castle that was exactly 15 inches wide, 
16 feet above the courtyard and ten paces from 
the main gate, you can trust her. She’s 
measured it. 
That’s one reason she has a loyal readership. 
Apparently, some readers make a point of 
visiting the locations of her novels, just to 
check her measurements! 
Don’t imagine it. Do it. Walk your story, so far 
as sanity permits. And readers will then believe 
you - and your story. 
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Writer's tutorial entry; make your story plausible and your character real

If you want your character to do something unusual, do it yourself . Otherwise, you will never be able to convey - convincingly - how the experience looks, feels, hears, smells or tastes to the chara…

02 Nov 2013

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Writer's tutorial entry; make your story plausible and your character real

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