Friday, August 27, 2021

Plays help Dialogue!

 Good morning and Happy Friday! Been a week and glad it is done.  Our kids had a sniffle that required our attention and progressing on our packing to move.  The tentative days left are sixty.  We are fastening our moving belt with every box to put items in to keep or donate.


One of the ways I like to work on my dialogue are plays.  Are there any plays are favorites? I think my first play was in high school  was Ceryano De Bergiac.  If you recall the movie Roxanne, it is almost like that.




                                        queen elizabeth shakespeare GIF




So many plays to look through, but I like the olde worlde plays of Shakespeare and William Butler Yeats or John Synge. I have a number of plays, many of Scottish origin as well Irish.  Some of us are visual learners as I am.    


                                           London Comedy GIF by Curious Pavel



As a reader, your audience we want to be delighted, thrilled and hooked into your world, the writing world you created and express.   Although it is our calling, make it the best work you can muster, a gift to take the reader away from the ordinary world.  Don't forget the coffee to speed up those beautiful thoughts this morning.  Maybe you are having coffe with us. I am onto my second cup already.  Have a great Friday!














Tuesday, August 24, 2021

KILHWCH AND OLWEN OR THE TWRCH TRWYTH

 Kilhwch, Arthur's cousin, is born in the mountains to a mother, who becomes wild during her pregnancy.  Shortly afterward she dies, and seven years later, her husband conquers King Doged's land, kills him, and takes his wife and daughter. The new queen speaks of a prophesy that says Kilhwich is destined to have Olwen, the daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr.


Kilhwch journeys to Arthur, and tells him he want Olwen as wife. Not knowing who she is, Arthur sends  messengers to seek her, but at the end of a year she is not found.  Kai, one of Arthur's knights,  requests him to go with a group to find the maiden. Arthur calls Bedwyr, Kynddelig the Guide, Gwalchmai, a nephew of Arthur, Menw, who casts spells, and others, to go, too.


Coming to a castle, Kai ask a herdsman whose castle it is, and is told that of Yspaddaden Penkawr. However, Kai and the other knights learn that no one who sought Olwen ever returned alive.  They go to the herdsman's dwell. There they learn Olwen will be coming on her usual visit. The herdsman's wife tells then that Olwen made a pledge to her father not to go without his counsel, for he will die when she marries. The woman tells them to ask of her from her father, and perform what he requires to have her, else they might not escape with their life.


Going back to the castle, they kill the porters and enter. They meet Yspaddaden Penkawr, and   tell them their mission.  After some bickering and violence over three days, Penkawr imposes about 39 difficult tasks to prepare for the wedding feast. The most important task is to seize the comb and scissors from between the ears of the boar Twrch Trwyth. This is done during a chase that leads to the death of some of the men and the boar plunging into a river and then out to sea. (The comb and scissors should be regarded as treasure.)


At one point, Kai is angered by a ditty Arthur composed and no longer helps. The tasks accomplished, Kilhwch takes Olwen for wife, her father is slain, and his possessions taken.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Reflections in the Water


 

"Welcome to the Dutch Colmy Show," said the host into his mike. "With me this morning is author Sydell Ridley, whose fantasy novels have been granted approval by the board of censors for portraying women in empowering positions." 

Empowered? Ridley figured it more in line with the overlords' obsession with the occult.

"Mr Ridley's new collection, Undersea Empires, is available for download, subject to your social credit score. Re-education camps: see your counselor. Mr Ridley, your interest in fantasy began at the age of six while attending a mermaid show. An incident occurred that had a profound effect on you."

"That's right. I pieced it together years later, so I'll start at the beginning."


Ellie was shaking Binia, who dozed in bars of warm autumn light. "Time to get your hair up, missy. Out there in the water, you'll look like a drowned collie."

"Not that one," said dark-haired Sirtis. "What are those blonde-haired dogs. . . ."

"Very amusing." Binia took her swimsuit off the rack. Gleaming white became green and purple at the flukes. The trio carried their suits down the performers' corridor to the changing room. 

Their opening act involved a slide down the giant chute, then a backflip into deep water. Spectators had to yield the waterways until the various routines were complete. Later, in chest-deep water, the mermaids would mingle with visitors at graduated depths, while kids remained in the shallows. That came all too soon for red-haired Ellie.

She surfaced next to Sirtis, who had been cruising below, touching the legs of startled waders. "Guys are the worst. They know we aren't supposed to speak, but they flirt anyway."

"Let's get with Binia over at the autograph thing," Sirtis said.

The blonde supported herslf on one elbow at poolside, signing pictures with the other hand. At that moment, a mishap occurred nearby at the deep end.


Sydell had climbed outside the railing for a better view. Some of the onlookers were even getting splashed when the mermaids came close enough. His aunt was momentarily distracted. It was mostly young folks crowding forward, like the devious punk who pushed him over the edge. 

He'd been under before, at the beach, when a wave swamped him. But his dad was right there, thumping his back while he spluttered for breath. It was nothing like this.

Shock of cold water plugging his ears, pushing up into his nose; wavering light overhead as he sank; bubbles carried his life upward, and he couldn't hold them in. Couldn't any of those folks swim?

The dark-haired mermaid swept in like a torpedo. One hand grabbed his shirt, and he flailed in the vortex of her fin as powerful strokes carried them to the surface.

Air never tasted so good as he gulped it in. The mermaid, satisfied he was okay, lifted him up to grasping hands. She did backstrokes to rejoin the other two, while applause filled the arena.


"Amazing," said the interviewer. "I understand you never got any of the photos, because your aunt whisked you straight home."

"True, but I found some on the website. Here's Ellie.


"And here's Sirtis."


"Quite the lookers, aren't they? Tell me this, Mr Ridley--do you have any more info on their strange disappearance just before the Fall? Their emails had weird reference to a parallel world."

"Yes, they were in touch with the Wicca Horror Show on the east coast. Their staff disappeared at the same time. The leading theory is they were the ringleaders."

Colmy laughed heartily. "And for those of us who missed the bus, life goes on!"

So it does, Ridley thought, so it does.