Storytelling A to Z: Themes, tags, and tales!

Sign-ups have started for the 2015 A to Z challenge (yay!) and this year's list is already shaping up to greatness - and involves storytelling in more than one way!

First off, you probably already noticed that we have some hew tags:

You can now use the shiny Mythology (MY) tag if you plan on blogging about myths, folklore, legends, urban legends, ghost stories, and other traditional stories or myth-related topics. (I personally will be rocking this tag on my main blog with a theme - which will be revealed soon!)

The Writing (WR) tag, for the first time this year, also includes Storytelling! So if you produce, perform and share stories in a non-written format, feel free to take advantage of the broader concept of the tag!

As a co-host, I will once again be keeping an eye out for the year's storytelling participants on the side, and possibly create a blog hop that focuses on storytellers of the performing kind. Last year was the first time we gathered them, and it was an impressive list. Good news: Many of them are returning in 2015!

Of course you don't have to be a storyteller to have a story-related theme. In the next two months many bloggers will be hunting for themes (and revealing them... more about that later!). I am a big advocate of themes. I have participated in A to Z for three years, and have done folktale-related themes for the past two - Weird Princesses in 2013 and Tales with Colors in 2014. They were immense fun, and made me feel like they also gave people a chance to discover new things that they could play with. If you have always wanted to introduce us to your 26 favorite Greek deities, or the 26 magic treasures you always wished you could own, or the 26 most traumatic Grimm experiences of your childhood... Do share :)

Keep signing up, keep blogging!

Oh, and also: If you would like to volunteer as a minion helper to the A to Z team, or my team in particular, do let me know!

@TarkabarkaHolgy
The Multicolored Diary - Adventures in Storytelling
MopDog - The crazy thing about Hungarians

How Do You Find Your Ideas?

How do you find your ideas? Authors are often asked this question in interviews. Or perhaps; Do you have trouble finding ideas to write about? My problem is the opposite. I have too many ideas. What I’ve found is that having an idea and getting the idea down in words that actually say what I imagine they should, is a totally different pot o’ honey. Does that metaphor work? I also don’t have enough time to actually write a different story for every idea that I have.

That said I’ve found that using more than one idea in a story can add not only a new dimension to it, but adding two, three or sometimes four different ideas can make the original idea much more profound, intricate, and beguiling to the reader.  Kind of like a photographer taking a shot with one type of lens and then finding that if a wider (or narrower) angle is used the whole view of the photo, the whole concept and direction of the photograph is changed, broadened and the focus encompasses more than the photographer originally dreamed of. Or a painter who finds a new color that brings a startling new life to his painting, a life not previously glimpsed, an ambiance not previously hoped for but now heartily embraced and enhanced. Or what about a musician who finally plays a note in a sequence he's never used before and falls into a piece of music the world must hear?

Do you use more than one idea in a story, different lenses on the same scene, more than one new color on your canvas? Do you mix and match, push your mind outside of your “normal” range to see what creation you are capable of producing? Because to me, finding the “newness” in ones “old” methods is what makes creating so beautiful and satisfying, even if it doesn’t always work the way we think it should.   

Images from:

www.piersidegallery.com

myphotographydesigns.blogspot.com

www.mindmapinspiration.com

Multiple By Twelve

Can you believe there's only one more day left in January, 2015? This first month flew by and I expect time to continue its fast wheeling. Have you accomplished what you  hoped to during these first thirty days of the year.

I wrote over 40,000 words during this month, wrote 23 blog posts and didn't keep count of the blogs I visited or how many Tweets I wrote and read 11 books. And that is 1/12th of my year. How great would 2015 be if I multiply those numbers by twelve? A pretty good year.

I don't do the New Year's Resolutions thing but I do make some general plans. January far surpassed my planning. Can I do all that 11 more times?

Look back at your past month. Did you do well? Can you multiply that by twelve? Or can you do even better.

I'd like to think I can all except for one month. APRIL! During that one month, my focus will be on blogging, making new contacts and having fun as well as making sure that participants have a good experience. Have you signed up yet?

Did you accomplish everything you planned on during January? Can you take what you did then and do that much twelve more times. Or do you need to step up your game? Are you better with short term goals or long term plans? Is A to Z part of this year's plan? What works best for you? Daily, weekly, monthly or yearly goals?