Inspiration part 24 - Ice Rinks

Welcome back,

While looking through my old files, I found more unused photos from my urban explorations. Given that winter is just around the corner, I thought it was the opportune moment to showcase these photos I had taken of an ice rink back in 2015.

An ice skating rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. There are two types of rinks in prevalent use today: natural (where freezing occurs from cold ambient temperatures) and artificial (where freezing the water surface is achieved mechanically or with chemical/coolants). There are also synthetic ice rinks where skating surfaces are made out of plastics.

In this case, my pictures are about an indoor ice rink. The following pictures give an idea of how the location looks like from a spectators point of view.

Besides recreational ice skating, ice rinks can be used for other sports, such as ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, and curling. It can also be used for activities like exhibitions, contests, concerts and ice shows. Below we can see a few images of a junior ice hockey league game in progress.

    Besides the rink itself, this location has other aspects to it. Below you can see a small section of the spectator seats, which are set up in different layers and sections. I also took a picture of the scoreboard, which keeps track of important information during a hockey game. Not seen in these photos are the many service corridors leading to locker rooms for the players, or loading docks for the vendors. These locations are not usually open t the general public, so I couldn’t take pictures of them.

    Something else we are accustomed to see in a hockey arena, is a ice-resurfacer, more commonly referred to as a Zamboni machine. The ice resurfacer was the brainchild of Frank J. Zamboni, who was originally in the refrigeration business. Zamboni created a plant for making ice blocks that could be used in refrigeration techniques. As the demand for ice blocks waned, he looked for another way to capitalize on his expertise with ice. In 1939, Zamboni created the Iceland Skating Rink in Paramount, California. From 1942 to 1947, he tried, fruitlessly, to develop a vehicle that could cut down on ice resurfacing time, until 1947, when he created a machine that would shave, wash and squeegee the ice. This machine was mounted on an army surplus vehicle chassis. (for more info, visit wikipedia).

As you can see, a trip to the local rink can be beneficial for any writer. Maybe you are searching for references on the setting of a ice rink for a story about an up and coming hockey player. Maybe it will be the location for a particular fight scene in an action story. Or perhaps the rink is simply for one scene in a romantic Christmas story, where the protagonist and the love interest character share a tender moment. Good examples of movies/stories that have ice rinks, are Mighty Ducks, Slap Shot, Elf and Sudden Death.

I hope you enjoyed this month's inspiration post and that I encouraged you to go out there and experience it for yourself.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

BOOTCAMP LESSON 15: Impersonation

Seasons Greetings!,

           Welcome to this special holiday edition of the BOOTCAMP writing prompt! It’s been awhile since I made one of these writing exercises, so I hope you are ready to try this one out, cause it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Lesson 15: Impersonation

Impersonation is the act of pretending to be another person, either for the purpose of entertainment or fraud. Most of us are familiar with the concept from childhood games, where we pretended to be adults going to work, or some kind of hero saving the day.

However, impersonation plays an important part when creating characters. Being able to get inside the character's head is a vital component of the process, as it helps the author to better understand and expand their characters.

In today’s exercise, we are going to place ourselves in the minds of some popular, public domain characters. We are going to imagine ourselves as one of these characters and get inside their heads, see how they would go about doing a simple task. This works for any situation, from doing groceries, going to the movies or even cooking supper.

So for today's game, we are going for a more festive activity; writing a letter to Santa! The goal is to imagine what one of the following characters would ask for Christmas in a letter to Santa Claus. This will really allow you to dig deep into the characters motivation and desires.

So, here are today's guidelines!

Rules

1. Below is a list of five ‘’candidates’’, which are public domain characters. Select ONE of the five characters to work with.
2. In the form of standard correspondence, write a letter to Santa Claus from the point of view of the character you have chosen to work with.
3. In the letter, the character must clearly state what they want for Christmas, in a way that suits their personally and needs. The goal is to stay in character!
4. There is no word or length limit to this exercise.

List of candidates

The Scarecrow

Tarzan

Big Bad Wolf

Dr. Jekyll

Ebenezer Scrooge

For those who aren’t afraid to share their entries, feel free to submit your letters as a reply to this post. Remember, this is a game, so no posting bad comments about other people's entries.

Hope you have fun giving this exercise a try. Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Progress Part 23

Welcome back!

It’s that time of year again! The holidays are quickly approaching, and we find ourselves running around like crazy in order to get ready for all the festivities. Though this year will require some adjusting, I’m still looking forward to buying presents, putting up decorations, and planning my time off.

That being said, I am working on some seasonal themed articles for this month to help bring in the holiday cheer! Hope you like them.

   

As I write this post, I can’t help but feel a little impressed with myself. That is because this month’s Current Update marks the end of my second year working on this blog. Though keeping up with regular updates may have been challenging at times, I’m glad to see my hard work paying off.

However, I have mixed feelings when taking a look back at last December’s post. My current progress is entirely different than what I had imagined back then. Twelve months ago, I was hoping to have a rough draft of my story done, but the farthest I have gotten is my prologue. In reality, I have yet to complete my location and character sheets. The road ahead is still a long one, but I plan on still forging on, until my story is told.

Speaking of my story, I did manage to get some progress done this past month. I have completed the character sheet of Vivian Winters, the resident arcane specialist that will be helping my protagonist. With her completed, I have moved on to another key character, Lindsay Reed. Lindsay will be playing the role of the protagonist's love interest and driving motivational force, so she will require a lot of attention.

Due to my current living situation, most of my writing time has been focused on my work or taken up by other responsibilities. I have really tried to settle down and dedicate some time to writing, but right now I have trouble focusing and need time to get my head straight. This means I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to Missing Worlds Media as I would like. I believe at this point they may want to wait until my life gets a little more stable before assigning any new projects to me.

They did release a new lore update featuring a villain group this month, you can check it out on their Kickstarter page here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/1739807


And another:


http://cityoftitans.com/forum/world-titans

            That is all for this update, cause like I said, I am short on time, and have to get working on the other articles for this month. Before I go, I would like to wish you all a safe and happy holidays. Be with the ones you love, and cherish the moments you have together.

            Thank you all for dropping by, your continued support is truly appreciated, especially now when I need it most. My journey is not done.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Inspiration Part 9 - Snow

Welcome back!

Winter had a slow start this year, but has finally arrived and is making up for lost time. Since our (green) Holidays, we have had a few heavy storms which have brought us back to the seasons regular, snow covered standards. The accumulation started off slowly, giving our surroundings a nice, peaceful air… and then this happened.

BAM! Snow.

           This month’s inspiration post will focus on “the white stuff”. The idea for this blog entry came to me after watching countless Christmas themed movies over the holidays. Being able to describe snow in its various incarnations can be a very useful storytelling tool, depending on the application you are working with. It can add ambiance to a romantic scene, such as a couple walking through a park during a gentle snowfall. It can be a plot tool, like a blizzard trapping characters in a cabin. Or it can be an obstacle, like an avalanche chasing the protagonist down a mountain.

For those of you who are not Canadian or do not live in areas which get snow, here is a quick list of items you might want to research further. Keep in mind I am glossing over these terms, and there is much more information to find for those interested in learning more.

Types of snow

• Snowflake: Single ice crystal with multiple facets.
• Polycrystals: Snowflakes composed of multiple ice crystals.
• Graupel: Single ice crystal which has become rounded and. Normally 2 to 5 millimeters.
• Hail: Solid ice precipitation, usually in rounded clumps of 5 mm or higher.
• Sleet: The result of freezing rain, manifested in transparent ice spheres.

Types of snowfall

• Blizzard: Violent storm, accompanied by strong winds, subfreezing temperatures and a decent amount of snowfall.  
• Drifting snow: Storm caused by strong winds blowing the snow that is already on the ground.
• Flurry: Precipitation that lasts for a short period, with little snowfall.
• Snow squall: Brief storm, accompanied by strong winds, poor visibility and snowfall.
• Snowstorm: Normal levels of wind and temperatures, but accompanied by a large amount of snowfall.

Types of accumulation

• Cornice: Overhanging accumulation of ice and wind-blown snow
• Crust: Hard layer of ice covering a softer layer of snow.
• Ripples: Formation of waves on a snowy surface caused by winds.
• Sastrugi: Irregular snow formation caused by winds. Often fragile in nature.
• Barchan: Horseshoe-shaped snowdrift.

           Now that we have established that snow is much more complicated than it sounds, we can move on to the photography portion of today’s post.

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

That is all for this month's Inspiration post. I hope you enjoyed it and managed to  learn something in the process. In closing, I would like to thank Wendy Papenburg for generously supplying the pictures, it is truly appreciated.

Until next time.

Cheers

            Patrick Osborne.

Inspiration Part 8 - Christmas decorations

Welcome back!

    With Christmas vacation just around the corner, this month’s inspiration post on will focus on the holiday season!

Fun in the snow!

    There are many different aspects to the holidays and not everyone celebrates this time of the year the same way. As I mentioned before, I am working with limited number of photographs after having lost most of them due to my laptop crashing. So instead of trying to cover every aspect of Christmas I could think of, I decided to focus on a few areas.

    To begin, I want to cover one of the tastier holiday traditions: gingerbread houses. This is a somewhat new custom for me, as I had never made any gingerbread anything before meeting my wife and her children (Linda would say this was due to my severely lacking cooking skills). Granted, we buy some of those ready-made gingerbread house sets where you only need to assemble the pieces, but this has become a yearly bonding exercise at our house that we greatly enjoy (not to mention the houses never survive till Christmas, LOL).

    As you can see, my family tends to not hold back with the frosting. Another thing we like to do is use whatever is leftover from Halloween candy to use as decoration supplies. The end result is usually a diabetics worst nightmare.

Each family member has their own decorating styles; Linda is more traditional, making her house actually look like something out of a magazine. Kayla is heavy on the decorations, trying to cover every square inch with candy. Shawn will go all “Walking Dead” on his house, breaking down doors, adding red bits of candy everywhere and placing zombified gummy bears. As for me, I usually end up with a sloppy looking house, adding a ton of frosting in a vain attempt to prevent the house from falling apart.  

Next is what can be considered a key element in many households that celebrate Christmas: a Tannenbaum. I remember spending entire evenings as a child just staring at the family Christmas tree, both in amazement and excitement.

    There is something I have learned in the recent years, and that is to simply stand back and let Linda decorate the tree (HAHAHA!). My wife has a very specific manner of putting on the decorations, which border on military style precision. Some ornaments go in the front, others go in the back, and there is only enough lights once the tree is visible from space.

    One thing that might not be obvious by simply looking at these pictures, is how much of a symbol the tree has become in our household. It represents family, both from my side of the family and Linda’s, as the tree holds baubles and doodads from holidays past, uniting them all into one giant center piece.

    The final holiday tradition I want to cover is one that was made famous by “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation”. Of course I’m talking about Christmas lights. My family hasn’t set up lights (mostly to save on hydro bills), but every year we like to drive around the neighborhood and look at other people’s set-ups. One block in particular likes to have competitions, seeing who can out do the rest.

We can see how all of this could be useful for authors working on stories taking place during the Christmas holidays. These images can be used to help describe everything from the setting (food, decorations, etc.), to characters (family, friends, etc.), to motivations (traditions, celebration, etc.).

    Writing this makes me realise just how far I’ve come over the recent years. I hope it has served as inspiration to some of you as well.

    Until next time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

    Cheers,

    Patrick Osborne.