Time for a snippet...

I have mentioned my long time work in progress a few times now. I have published the first two (rough) chapters at Writing.com It makes me happy that I have 4 stars for an incomplete story.

Snippet
It was the fifth and final funeral, and within the hour the last body would find its repose, locked and eternal in the rich loam of the cemetery, immortal in the memories of those who had known him. The slaughter had taken everyone by surprise, and no-one wanted to dwell on it, as hushed murmurs about the previous week filtered through the crowd. How sudden things could change, had it really been only eight days since their friend and colleague had celebrated his thirtieth birthday? 

Poor Jack.

The sympathy and remorse in the air was sickening and almost claustrophobic, everyone trying to cast him in such a good light, as if god cared what was said at the mans funeral, it didn’t change the fact that he had taken lives by the handful, but then, they all had; soldiers to the last attendant and pall barer.

Now I also mentioned that I have decided to change perspective, check my written voice please its been a few years. Mind you I really want to share the whole thing and show off my Spanish.

Snippet

Daniel stretched and rolled his shoulders beneath his dark polo, adjusting his panama hat as he turned and maneuvered through the small, open air market. Surrounded by small Latinos the tall broad shouldered All-American stood out like a pimple on a cheerleader. It was the first time in better than a year that he longed for the anonymity of his wheelchair. The heat was suffocating, the air so dense and humid he almost had to chew it first.  Moving at all was a feat of will.

Weaving along the crowded paths of the market’s corridors, Dan could understand very little of the details in the cacophony of voices from the vendors, shouting in their teasing and flirtatious tones. To him it was like a combat zone, it may well have been crumbling buildings, not historic Mexico, and the thundering ring of R.P.G’s in lieu of announcing fruits, meat, or cheese “at the best price”.

Quelling the urge to dive for shelter and enduring the shouts of the meat mongers, cloth merchants and coffee venders; the nauseating marriage of scents as he walked past the tiny thatch of competing florists he grimaced stepping into a narrow ally, only a slight limp remaining from his almost crippling injuries.

Random is Me! Getting noticed.

I want to be a Victorian Poet.

No Really.

I was just reading (Shocking I know), a backdated writers blog from like 2010. He went on a micro tangent, as writers are prone and then waxed eloquently about that one sentence or paragraph from a written work or song that sticks with us for years.

Now I read once that you only have that first sentence, because it flows into a paragraph which becomes a page and then a chapter. But if the first sentence is crap who keeps reading?

I won't give you the examples he listed, because they aren't the same for me, but I will list a few that leaped into my mind.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." ~ Charles Dickens

"Gillian Lennox didn't mean to die that day." ~ L.J. Smith

And my be-still my heart the creme-de-la-creme...

"THE AWFUL shadow of some unseen Power
Floats though unseen among us,—visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower,—
Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,
It visits with inconstant glance
Each human heart and countenance;
Like hues and harmonies of evening,—
Like clouds in starlight widely spread,—
Like memory of music fled,—
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery."

~Percy Bysshe Shelley (Hymn to Intellectual Beauty)

Well Shelley and Voltaire are my true loves with J.M. Barrie being my Lord and Master. "Peter Pan" means so much to me I can't even tell you, I have the story memorized and when I was in my mid-twenties someone gave me the 100th anniversary edition for Yule and I cried. Not even exaggerating.

I wish I had the where-with-all to dedicate myself to a single great project, but there is simply too much going on in my head.

Languages

First I would really like to apologize for the long gap, I have taken almost 2 months off. But I did promise myself that this blog is being kept for me, to help keep me motivated by sharing with you, so while I'm apologizing, its mostly to myself. In my defense however, I was in training for a new position at work, money is kind of important.

Okay, so languages. I am that quintessential American, I do not like that we are forcing the Spanish language on our people instead of English on immigrants. If I moved to their country I would learn god-damned Spanish and not expect English from them. But different languages have there uses.

Last night I was working on one of my stories, I think I told you about the one I started my last year of college. In order to jump start the writing which has been suffering writers block I decided to write a side story involving two of my secondary characters, looking at the possibility of redirection. The two I chose we my Type-A military man a Captain and his Lieutenant, a Mexican-American hand to hand combat expert. To start out, I have always written them as having an inexplicable connection, being able to communicate without words, however because my Lt. is a Chica there is a healthy amount of flirting, lets face it, Latina's have a sexy reputation. So it has been assumed (without evidence) that they have slept together, which they haven't. It is in reality a completely professional relationship.

But I decided to jump ahead two years from what I have been writing, thinking it may help me with some inspiration. I grabbed by duo and dropped them in a situation that no es bueno. Mexico. It was intentional to force that sea-shift. And because I went south of the border I knew it would be hypocritical to have everyone speaking Inglais. This is where resources come into play. You don't have to be fluent to imbed the idea that the language is there, but when I read "He replied in fluent Spanish, 'She's sexy?'" It really doesn't pull me in, I personally would rather insert a few words or sentences like, "Es bonita?" and "My pretty wife" becomes "Mi bonita espousa.."

I realized this while I was writing. Now because I have lived in the South Western U.S. I have a comfortable nodding acquaintance with Spanish, but gritting me teeth I dug up so resources just to keep me from poking at my own pet peeve.

Intro to Spanish on YouTube I built a playlist for these so that I could refer back to them and brush up.

Spanish Slang Much more important than text book Spanish because there are many Spanish speaking countries.