165 years old today! Although he died in 1912, his name lives on as the creator of Dracula, a figure that, like Frankenstein's monster, has become entrenched in our cultural memory.
I read the book as a young teenager and scared myself witless for a few weeks afterwards. Every tap at my window was a vampire intent on drinking my blood (of course it was actually a moth drawn by the glow of my nightlight). That shadowy figure staggering down an alleyway in the city where I lived was surely another blood-sucking villain (no, just a drunk on a mid-day binge).
What many people do not realise is how prolific a writer Bram Stoker was, the author of many other novels (The Jewel of Seven Stars, The Lair of the White Worm, to name but a couple), short stories and non fiction.
We see the mark of his classic vampire character in so many of our novels and films. The current trend for young adult vampire romance owes a great deal to this Irish writer.
Are you a self-motivator or do you need a nudge or a carrot to keep going? I'm a bit of both depending on the task at hand but over the years, I've come up with a number of ways to motivate myself. 1. Treat Yourself This is the 'carrot' I mentioned above. Promise yourself that when (not if) you complete the task, you'll treat yourself to something. What that 'thing' is depends of course on you. You might choose simply to have a cup of tea and sit down to read a book. You might decide to go out somewhere. You might even take yourself shopping for a new bag, book or other item. You know what kind of treat will keep you going (plus what you can afford in the case of a shopping trip) but make it something that really delights you and raises a smile. 2. Visualise the end result This is not to be confused with day dreaming. That way, only procrastination lies. You can visualise the end result in your mind, have an image on your computer screen ...
Today, I have something for you to read. It's a passage that I've decided to remove from my work-in-progress but I will use it in a future novel. This is still in first draft condition but I'd love to hear what you think and whether it creates the same emotions in the reader as it does in the writer (me). *** Aggie Endersleigh was dying. She wasn’t quite sure how old she was. She knew that the terrible magical explosion had taken place two days after her seventy fifth birthday but nobody would tell her how long ago that was. Some days it seemed that only a week or so had passed since then and on other days, when she caught sight of herself in a puddle or a window, she thought that decades must have gone by. Her grand-daughter had braided Aggie’s hair, finishing it with a tartan ribbon, and fastened her shoes for her. Such a good girl. There’d been cake and presents and lots of people laughing. Sometimes in her dreams she saw their faces but when she woke she could never...
When I studied business studies at college (seemed like a good idea at the time), my least favourite subject was economics. I got it. I understood the theory. That wasn't the problem. It bored me. I appreciated the relevance of the subject on my course and the importance of economics in the running of the world. It just wasn't my kind of thing. Our lecturer was a serious, young woman who was obviously very knowledgeable on her subject. She and I never really hit it off. During one class, she asked us to write down what our three favourite television programmes were. I think she hoped that we would exhibit our maturity by making choices such as the news or Question Time (political discussion), or other such, sensible and serious viewing options.My list included Robin of Sherwood (hence the image above), the cartoon He-Man and some other fantastical programme that I can't recall at this time. She read through our choices and upon reaching mine uttered the words that I...
Great book. I didn't read it until i was an adult, but I still have a hardcover copy on my bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteDidn't realize it was his birthday. I loved "Dracula" and so many of the incarnations, especially the Gary Oldman version. Fantastic!
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