“In Mechanical Arts, The Craftsman Uses His Skill To Produce Something Useful, But His Sole Merit Lies

Where is that noise coming from?

Capitulo 4: It is just the fucking rain! No, it is not!

Por que usted me besa?… Tiene acaso problemas de aceptación o pertenencia?

Qué?… filosofía y sicología con el beso, en teoría aplicada a la realidad?

No me ande besando!

Usted empezó! Yo le besé la frente, usted levantó su cabeza! dijo el amigo en tono ríspido.

Chismoso! dijo ella.

El sonrió y carcajeó, e interpretó el fenómeno como inherente al género, y recordó a su abuelita cuando en la mañana solía traer el chocolate a la mesa con la pieza de pan diciendo “los hombres voltean nuestra cabeza mi hijo, y tienes como dos pensamientos simultáneos rodando y merodeando por las mentes”. Mientras en eso estaba absorto, Helena oye un sonido lejano que le parecía familiar. Un sonido lejano, que parecía acercarse más y más hasta que distinguió perfectamente el lenguaje del búho en la noche, entre los truenos y la lluvia, con un oído afinado que alcanza a descifrar el enigma. Es el buho! Es el buho! se contestó asimisma, e inmediatamente exclamó

Corra, corra! dijo Helena agitada mientras tomaba fuertemente la mano de su amigo al pasar el momento de soledad de pareja, y que instantáneamente los trae, como rayo, a una escena, y presentados en una escenario natural. La obra de teatro natural ya empezaba. Esa es la maravilla de los seres humanos rodeados de todos los elementos naturales: cielo, estrellas, luces, rayos, lluvia, entorno, y en medio de todo, estaban ellos, ellos dos, dos parejas que coincidían en el tiempo especifico para complementar una obra que ya se anunciaba por la naturaleza, y el sonido de los búhos, era sólo el presagio de una encomienda que estaba a punto de ser desenrollada, como una nueva carpeta en una casa vieja, que al girar de su rollo, empieza a cubrir viejos espacios para interponer los nuevos con una mirada más actualizada de la casa.

Corre! Corre! decía Helena, y asía fuertemente la mano de su amigo, y se iban corriendo por los corredores del Paseo del Rio con la lluvia pegando fuerte en sus cabezas, pero sin descansar, mientras del otro lado del rio, otro hombre y otra mujer, también, corrían en lineas paralelas, acelerando en igual sentido, y solo separados por la canal del rio, en el lado opuesto.

Mirala! Ahi esta!, Va corriendo con aquel hombre, dijo Xuxa mientras buscaba un puente de cruce para alcanzarlos. Where is the fucking bridge around here? exclamó Xuxa y al no verlo, se arroja sobre las estancadas agua del rio sin reflejar en su higiene, y Dolman hace lo mismo para llegar al otro extremo del rio. 

Que no se pierdan! dijo Dolman, que no se pierdan de vista! mientras sorteaban los botes turísticos, y los transeúntes Del Río empezaban a ver con molestia y enigma cómo dos individuos rompían las reglas de las buenas conductas en una ciudad vibrante.                                    Mientras tanto, Helena y su compañero parecían volar en los corredores y corrían como si trajeran un scooter en un acera de la ciudad,  confundiéndose con la muchedumbre del Río, y los otros caminantes sólo sentían momentáneamente los empujones y embestidas de una pareja en prisa.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Ven! Y Helena sigue presionando frenéticamente la mano de su amigo. Sabia que si los atrapaban, sabía que si lograban ponerle la mano encima, lo perdería para siempre, para siempre. Lo sabía! Sabía que lo eliminarían de la ecuación…. 

Los viste dónde se metieron?, preguntó Dolban

Están detrás del árbol, escondidos atrás de el, exclamó Xuxa, mientras encaminaban sus pasos hacia ellos con prisa y tocando, y cerciorándose que tenían los instrumento necesarios para su captura, debajo de sus ropas.

Me quiere explicar que está pasando? dijo su amigo.  Y lo besó con un beso ardiente! Quédese aquí, dijo ella, y no salga por ningún motivo, e inmediatamente salió del escondite para dirigirse y enfrentar a sus enemigos.                                                                                                        Qué es lo que contiene un beso? Qué extraños poderes trae? Cuáles son los elementos del beso que, como recetas de cocina, se arman buenas comidas en unos comensales dispuestos a disfrutar las alimentos preparadas por los ingredientes de un beso. Por qué el beso, inyecta una potencia en el ser humano, no sólo para identificar una selección, sino también para revestir el cuerpo de una potencia, que todo lo avasalla, por el contacto de dos labios, por las definiciones de una piel, por el sabor de labios entrelazados entre frutas ásperas o dulces, jugosas o  secos.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Y Helena se dirigió afuera, y ya estaba esperandolos, dispuesta a confrontar el momento.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Al otro lado, y contigüo, un restaurante sonaba una canción….                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       “I come home, in the mornin' light

My mother says, "When you gonna live your life right?"

Oh momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones

And girls, they wanna have fun

Oh girls just wanna have fun

The phone rings, in the middle of the night

My father yells, "What you gonna do with your life?"

Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one

But girls, they wanna have fun

Oh girls just wanna have 

Escritos guardados  “En el Taller de Marco”

Burn the bridges! otherwise you come back to the same roads

How to create “complex” characters

– Introduction

I wanted to make a post about creating complex and multifaceted characters, since character creation is something I'm very passionate about from both a craft and storytelling perspective. Specifically, I remember I had this tendency to apply flaws as an afterthought to my characters in hopes of making them balanced and seem more complex, and this could often make the characters feel a bit artificial to me. I'm obviously not any sort of authority figure on the subject, but I do have one tip that really simplified the process of making characters more intricate, and I wanted to share it! This is probably more helpful for people who might still be at the very beginning of their writing journey, but hopefully others can get something out of this as well! It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it's somewhat enjoyable to read ^^; Enjoy!

For a bit of background, back in the early internet days, there was this trend of judging various OCs on youtube, deviant art, etc. where people would essentially evaluate your character and determine whether or not a character was well written. During this time, the term "Mary Sue" would get thrown around a lot (which is a whole can of worms I won't be touching on here). For simplicity though, Mary Sue generally means a character who's "perfect" (again, heavy oversimplification here). To counter this, people began creating these lists of character traits where they'd list off a character's good and bad traits, and people who didn't have equal amounts in each category would often be scrutinised for it.

And I see this advice all the time. If you want complex characters, people will usually tell you to just throw on a bunch of flaws, but I think this can be a bit misleading, because most traits exist on a spectrum, and aren't a perfect dichotomy of good and bad.

Thinking of character traits as neutral

My biggest advice is honestly to just think of all character traits as neutral. Because what really is a character flaw? A flaw is a very ambiguous and subjective term after all. What might be considered a flaw in one character could be considered another character's greatest attribute, and vice versa. Functionally, a character flaw should be a trait that creates conflict within the context of the story. Any trait a person has could be good or bad, it just depends on how it shows up in practice and how it's applied in daily life. It might be tempting to think that certain traits are inherently good or bad, but again, flaws aren't really about good or bad. They're about conflict and tension, and just about any trait can work to a character's detriment or in their favour.

I'm going to list off two examples of hypothetical characters below; one who most would consider to have a lot of "good" character traits, and one that would be considered to have "bad" character traits. Then I'll show you how you can easily flip those traits to create nuance. (And again, I really don't think good or bad are relevant terms here, but it's just to exemplify what I mean more easily!)

The "Good" Character

This character is empathetic, creative and incredibly supportive of others. They always do the right thing, and are a very responsible individual. They're approachable and friendly, funny, and generally enjoyable to be around.

The "Bad" Character

This character is cunning, manipulative, and don't care if their words hurt other people's feelings. They're largely apathetic and unreceptive, don't care about rules, and don't go out of their way to get to know people.

Their flaws & how it can affect the story

For the "good" character, you can look at what the downsides of empathy can be; very reactive emotionally, perhaps even a bit emotionally impulsive. Maybe they have a difficult time recognising their own needs, especially since supportive is also a trait listed above. Maybe they even use this empathy to figure out other people's needs and use it to their own benefit. Someone who's creative can often have a difficult time committing to their passions and ideas because there's always something new. Maybe they feel out of place or easily stifled by rules, but because they always want to do the right thing, they're hesitant in outright breaking rules and social norms. If they use their empathy and approachability to manipulate, perhaps this is their way of subtly regaining a sense of control because they're too afraid to explicitly go after what they want in life. Maybe they care a lot about how they're perceived, etc. Or maybe they really are a compassionate and kind person, but they're often a doormat to others because they don't know how to set boundaries or even how to recognise what they want. Maybe they don't trust their own judgment because they're so used to doing the right thing "just because it's the right thing to do", and don't actually reflect on their actions beyond that. There's a lot you can do with these traits!

For the "bad" character, which might seem a bit more tricky at first, the easiest way to figure out what the nuance of "bad" traits can be is to break down the why. Maybe this character became cunning because they've had to think long term a lot. They're good at waging the odds, they're good at reading the room, they're good at putting things together and seeing how the dominos will fall. Maybe they're even the person responsible for setting up the dominos, because they don't trust anyone else to make sure that there's a desirable outcome. If they're manipulative then it likely means that they're good at reading people, and they must know how to appeal to other people to some degree, otherwise they wouldn't really be able to manipulate anyone. They're likely used to having to look out for themselves, and they might even be good at spotting their own kind and knowing just when to avoid them. They don't care much for rules so they might not be as harsh in judging others, maybe they even have an easier time getting along with people who dare to defy social norms. Maybe they're even supportive of other people breaking the rules, because why the hell not?

Creating nuance

If you look at the two characters above, you'll quickly realise that they could hypothetical be the same character, because... They are. The "good" character is the "bad" character when they were younger. The "bad" character is the "good" character's future. An empathetic character can easily turn that empathy and their social skills into cunning manipulation. A character who previously felt stifled by the rules might choose to defy them. A character who got sick of caring how others perceive and judge them might choose to stop caring about what others think, and might even go out of their way to seem off-putting and un-approachable, because they refuse to ever allow themselves to care about others and be treated like a doormat again.

Or you can treat them as two separate characters that function as foils to one another. They both overlap in a lot of traits despite it not seeming so at first glance. My point is, I find that if you treat all traits as neutral, you don't really have to manually "add" flaws. Most traits have both upsides and downsides, and which side of those traits create conflict in the story is often what determines whether something is a flaw or not.

– Outro

Sorry for the lengthy and possibly rambly post, I just thought it might be advice worth sharing as it's something that really helped me flesh out my own characters more when I was still very new! Plus, as mentioned before, character creation and analysis is one of my favourite aspects of storytelling, and I'm also very passionate about psychology and philosophy and such. And again, this is all in good fun and 100% not a rule on how to write characters! There's exceptions to everything and everyone's process is different, and while this advice might be helpful to some, it might not be helpful whatsoever to others, and that's completely fine!

I'd love to make more posts on topics like this in the future if people enjoy it, or if anyone has any specific requests on anything! :,)

Haz lo que te apasiona.

Pinta cuadros de belleza en lugares solitarios

Rehúsate a seguir pintando lo mismo

Estableciendo lo mismo,

Porque lo mismo, aburre.

No da sentido!.

Rehúsate a seguir recorriendo las misma calles todos los días

Bajo los mismos impulsos, bajo las mismas emociones y 

Abrete a la vida! 

Cambia los parámetros,

 cambia los colores, 

cambia las lluvias del corazón por carcajadas de colores, 

pero no dejes que tu canto sea el canto de otros en su pesar, y en su penar.

Que la vida es Maddona, Britney Spears o Nicki Minaj, 

que la vida es Ariana Grande, o SuperArchireColobombo

What the fuck! 

La vida es lo que yo la quiera hacer

en mi libertad

con mis propias palabras

Con mis propios gustos

Con mis propias manos

Con mis propias tonalidades

De pintor a creador.

Y da besos a la vida

Por la oportunidad de pintar 

Como te place!

Como te nace!

Porque puedo

Porque soy!

Porque es mi santísima voluntad de hacerlo!

Y para muestra...

Mil botones!

Instagram: iliketoseeeverythinginneon

The Coca Cola logo or vending machine was shown only 10 seconds out of 1:31 minutes, in all these scenes from real life commercial. 

That is all it takes, a brief moment, when a brand is positioned. The logic and magic, strategy and creativity are together to build a brand. Why we do not let the Coca Cola Logo stays in right hand corner along the 1:31? The reason is  the magic side, the creativity side, the story behind is what matters to associate it with the brand. That is all it takes to position the name brand into the public.

 When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. In other words, a brand .Is not what YOU say it is. It’s what THEY say it is.

 Neumeier, Marty. The Brand Gap. MBS Direct.

Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairytale.

Well, that's why we're here! To make it better.

But...life isn't like a fairytale...

That's right! It's up to you to make things better...

Isn't it?

Las Mil y Una Noches con Ms Beautiful

Las casas, tienen los aromas y los aires, de los dos que la construyen

En un pasaje del rio, un hombre corre fuertemente, y zigzagueando mira constantemente hacia atrás para checar si era perseguido. Chocaba a veces con barandales de rendijas que protegían de caídas al rio, o bien, con arbustos que delineaban las acercas del Río. “Disculpe! discúlpe” decía a quienes propulsaba con su movimiento y no queriendo que cayeran,  les tomaba los hombros para sostenerlos de caer al suelo por la inercia de su rápido caminar.

Se nota agitado, todavía perlas de sudor exudan por su cuerpo, y mira constantemente hacia atrás para cerciorarse de no ser visto , mienntras sostiene frenéticamente un libro entre sus manos.

Mas adelante, un poco más allá, una nińa observa un bote turístico que pasa por el río, y repentinamente siente que algo la impulsa con violencia por la rapidez del momento, el hombre cae al suelo, haciendo pasar el acto como natural, y un cuaderno vuela por los aires y cae al piso. El hombre y la nińa están en el piso, y tras expresar una disculpa, alcanza a proferir una palabras a la menor.  El hombre se levanta repentinamente y sigue corriendo tras la laderas peraltadas del Río, mientras la mamá observó lo sucedido desde lejos, y corre en auxilio de su hija.

Estás bien?, pregunta la mamá cuando llega a su auxilio, tratando de limpiarle el pasto pegado a sus ropas, y profiriendo improperios contra el hombre que había arrojado a su hija al suelo. 

Si mami, gracias, contesta la menor consternada, tratando de entender qué había pasado, mientras contempla el libro tirado en el suelo, y tras extender su mano lo agarra y dice “mira mami, se le olvidó recoger este cuaderno con la prisa”.

La mamá lo toma, y era una cuaderno de crucigramas. Hojea cada una de las páginas, y observa que todos los crucigramas estaban hechos en cada una de las hojas, pero había uno que resalta porque existen unas líneas que faltaban por cubrir.

La mamá mira las líneas en curiosidad,  y una de ellas dice “Cuarta letra del alfabeto”

La segunda dice “segunda letra del alfabeto”

La tercera dice “mineral más preciado en la Tierra, que brilla, y es apreciado por las mujeres en los anillos. Primera letra solamente”.

La cuarta dice “repita la línea primera”

La quinta dice “primera letra del alfabeto”

La sexta dice “letras dada a los plurales”

La séptima dice “cómo se expresa el numero 15 en número romano”

La octava dice “Octavio cumplió 15 _________. Llenar el espacio en blanco, sin la diéresis.

La novena dice “signo lingüístico que sirve para terminar una oración?

La décima dice “tres palabras que se ponen al final de todo negocio en línea, y que empieza con una c”

La úndecima dice “todas estas palabras están en minúsculas y seguido sin espacios”

La duodécima “Cuál es el apellido de la persona a quien adora el emisario y envía una carta?

La decimotercera: “Bienvenida esta es tu casa, creada para tí”.

La decimo cuarta dice: Esto es sólo válido por este día hasta la medianoche”

Décimoquinta: Las casas, tienen los aromas y los aires, de los dos que la construyen

The beginning of every adventure in business depends on trust. How we build it, what we do with it, how we take advantage of it and where we can  go with that trust. Interest topic delivered on TED. Com by Simon Sinek titled "First Why and then Trust".

4 Easy Steps for Outlining a Novel as a Pantser

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Plottr, a 2021 NaNo sponsor, is a visual outlining software that helps you plan your book for success. Today, author Troy Lambert shares some tips for outlining a novel when you’re used to flying by the seat of your pants:

Pantsing a novel can be great—after all, writing into the dark and discovering the story as you go is kinda fun, right? 

But you probably also know it can lead to nonsensical plots, writer’s block, and endless rewrites.

Well, don’t worry. As a book coach, editor, and mystery author of over 25 novels, I’ve been there myself… and I understand exactly what you’re experiencing.

The good news is you can use this simple four step formula to give yourself the best of both worlds: a general roadmap for your novel that still lets you take fun detours along the way.

Keep reading