Marigold Productions

Marigold Productions Marigold Productions is.... it is running a fictional writing competition....

11/14/2018

Marigold Productions has a new book about a thirteen year old girl who is babysitting her little sister. I wrote this book many years ago for one of my grandchildren (the goal was to write a book for each of them but so far I haven't got there). The story was lost for five years and then found again on an old decrepit computer. The writing amazed me and I thought it should be published even though my granddaughter is now a grown woman. However, she still wants it and now it is at the printers.

I went to listen to a publisher speak and he asked two questions I hadn't considered. Why are you writing this book? What is it's purpose? I hadn't a clue.

Then, the book designer asked me to write a blurb for the back of the book. It was supposed to be written to catch the eye of a parent or a teacher who wanted to get an idea of what the book contained before getting it for their child. Once again I was faced with questions I needed to resolve but wasn't sure I could.

This is what I wrote:

"When finding the most precious rose in her mother's garden became a prerequisite for saving baby Polly from an awful fate her sister, Regan, needs to know what would make one precious? Is it colour, scent, size, rarity or none of these? Regan has no idea. When she finds one that is never touched by human hands but only by the hand of God, she thinks she has a winner.

This book teaches the importance of RESPONSIBILITY, the magic of KNOWLEDGE, the WISDOM of thinking outside the box and the JOY of completing a task.

It relies on the BELIEF of a child."

08/08/2018

Do you want to write a funny novel? What you need to know is that you write the story in the same way as a straight piece except that it is blown out of proportion. There is one tale that was actually made into a movie and it is a laugh a minute.

It starts out with a man being released from prison after an eight year stint. He has a long, fourteen year, rap sheet for robbing banks but now he is determined to live a normal life.
They give him a new suit and a cheque for $1,700 which equates to five cents an hour for work he's done at the prison. They tell him not to come back but they're joking, right?

The first person he meets outside is the cop who put him away. He only came to meet him to tell him he will put him away for longer next time, which he expects will happen sooner than later The ex-con makes him a bet that it won't happen again and he hitches a ride to the bank with the cop and his partner in the police car.

He starts to cash his cheque and the bank gets robbed by the most unlikely and inept robber you've ever seen (talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time). He is taken hostage by the robber, who accidentally shoots him in the leg. The police who have gone for a burger and a coke hear about the robbery on the car radio in an 'is-my-face-red' moment and are convinced that the ex-con is involved in the robbery with a partner and the chase is on.

The bank robber takes the ex-con to a friend for help. This guy is a vet and is as crazy as a bedbug. He thinks the man is a dog but takes the bullet out anyway.

Do you see what you can do with your imagination? If the ex-con had cashed his cheque and gone on with his life, there would be no story. If the doctor who took the bullet out had been a general practitioner in his right mind, there would be no room for laughs.

Here's what you do. Write a story straight (although boring) of the life of your main character for one or two days. Then go back to it and change the perfectly normal people he runs into and make them incredibly weird and see what you get.

If nothing else, this is good practice.

08/07/2018

Writing a novel is like living a life. It has to have a beginning, a middle and an end. So, now I sound like the teacher you had in English 101. Some of you survived that course, some didn't but in any case, the teacher was correct in what she said.

Where you start in the story is important. It should be at a point of decision or uproar or tension in which the main character is thrust into something and will come out with a new direction mapped out for his life. Without conflict, in a life or a story, nothing happens.

Most writers start at the wrong place and go on for chapter after chapter trying to give you a back-story so you will understand this character and what motivates him. The writer wants you to kije this character. This is a mistake on the part of the writer and what it does is bore the reader into putting the book down.

Right at the outset, the reader must be involved in the catalyst that changed the character's life. An example would be the quiet cowboy who's family is killed, his house is burned to the ground and everything he held dear is gone. His life and his story becomes a hunt for the killers. His aim, revenge.

The fact that he was kind to animals or loved his mother can be interspersed in the text as you go along. As you, the reader get to know the man, his trials and the way he overcomes them endear him to you. You want him to catch the bad guys. You want him to be a winner. The story builds from this point forward in an ever spiralling conflict, each one greater than the last. You wonder how your guy can survive all this and you keep reading to find out.

Somewhere in the middle, something horrific happens. Everything you have read to this point has come to a life or death point with the death of the main character looking to be as certain as tomorrow's sunrise.

Just like the cavalry always arrives at the last possible moment or an eclipse happens and the bright day turns as dark as night, or a prairie fire turns the land into flame, something happens to save the day.

This is usually something from what has occurred back in the story and filled with tremendous relief, you find yourself paging backwards for the clues you were given but missed taking in.

The end of the story follows quickly after the crisis point and it is a time when all the loose ends are explained and tied up in a tidy package that leaves you with a good feeling and an approval rating for both the character and the book. The character might have found a new life, a new love, or he might just ride off into the sunset. Either way, the conflict and the story are finished.

08/05/2018

Next time you meet someone, try not to make a snap judgement about them. All too often we make a 'gut decision' on a person that is based on nothing more than our own fears, emotions, mental state, likes and dislikes without knowing anything about the person in question beyond the unfortunate chance meeting with us on that particular day.

Today I watched the movie 'Beauty and the Beast' and in the movie, Belle sings something that resonated with me. She had already formed an instant dislike and a harsh decision on the beast from his looks, his manner, his anger, the rough image he presented and the dismissing way he reacted to her.

As she got to know him though, she discovered he had hidden attributes; he was kind and gentle and was carrying baggage (as we all do) from childhood experiences. He had people around him that loved him and spoke up on his behalf. He had a huge library of books and, to her astonishment, was well read. In the end, he put her own interests before his own and Belle found her opinion of him had changed.

"I saw something more," she sings.

Next time you meet a stranger, remember Belle and her experience with the beast. How much better it would be to take a 'wait and see' attitude before you rush to judgement and decide the person's fate in your life on a moment's acquaintance. Perhaps, instead of a brush off or a dismissal, friendshp will be the outcome or even romance the way it did with Belle.

You might see something more!

08/03/2018

A promise is a serious thing. It is something that is given because it is heartfelt but it can be hard to deliver and sometimes it is impossible to achieve because the promise is beyond the person's current capability, however well meant it was.

It is better to accept a person's best attempt than to force them into misery because they cannot deliver something that you want whether that be a payment on a debt, an action you need to happen or even a change in someone else's attitude.

Nobody is in a position to make themselves judge, jury and executioner over another's life. It is what it is and acceptance or rejection are the only two choices that we can make in regard to another bearing in mind that while we are busy judging them, there is no doubt that we are being judged also by someone else.

A promise made and not kept can only worsen your situation. The only person you can safely make a promise to is yourself and do that in a quiet place in the corner of your mind but first promise that you will not beat yourself up about it, if you fail.

Put yourself on notice that you are about to make an attempt. It is not a sure thing. It is not set in stone. It is something you want very much, something you will move toward achieving, something that is not going to happen overnight or even ever.

Notice the words 'something you will move toward'. That is the most important statement when making a promise to yourself. You can't reach the end goal without doing a bit of running first. You can't cover the entire field in one attempt, you can only gain mere yards. Even if it is only an inch or two, you are moving forward which is an excellent thing.

Begin with one small step; something easy, something you know you can accomplish, something that will give you a happy feeling when you get there. You will feel braver when you figure out the next step and your confidence will build with every other step you take and before you know it, you will stand tall at the goal line.

08/02/2018

Dreams are wonderful things. They are expressions pf hidden desires, secret wishes, beautiful ideas picked up by our conscious minds. The thing about dreams though is they can create dissatisfaction with the real world. 'Living in your dreams' as they say, can let you lose sight of the great things you have going for you.

My suggestion is to start a 'want' book. Write down in black and white what it is you want in your life. Draw illustrations, if you want to, or paste in pictures, just so your brain gets the right impression and doesn't manage to come up with a distorted view or some cockamaney thing for you that is almost there but skewed and undesirable.

Hit all the bases while you are doing this. Even if it runs to twenty pages (or more) that's okay. You need to address every issue; family, home, holidays, belongings, finance, workplace, etc. Write everything down that pertains to your perfect life. Then put the book away and let your brain figure it out for a couple of weeks.

Next, take the book out again and read what you've written and then write down three steps for each item on ideas how to reach that goal. You will be amazed to find that what you possess right now has brought you halfway to your dream life.

Yes, the world you are in is a bit smaller, a tad less glamorous, a smidgen off the mark than what you have envisioned but it has a familiar look about it and just needs to be tweaked a bit to bring it up to par. You might have to take some classes, get a better job, work out a budget but you have moved from a 'never' situation to a 'someday soon' one. And, hey, this is your life we are talking about!

08/01/2018

Some people are switch-hitters. They are just as comfortable in the presence of paupers as they are with kings. They are very much like chameleons because they can change their colours or adjust their stripes to fit into any situation. They have an innate ability to talk the talk and walk the walk. Just like the small lizards, these people are able to make whatever changes they need to blend into the scenery or fit into whatever situation they find themselves.

Other people try to change themselves to fit the dreams and ambitions of someone else to whom they have become attached either from a romantic standpoint or some other dependency..

This does not work as a rule because you are what you are. You are a result of a whole host of factors, as well as DNA and experiences of your life to date. If you are outspoken or loud or too quiet or too opinionated, so what? This is who you are and if someone else can't handle the real you, too bad.

To try to change yourself to please another is like lying in that the whole thing gets out of hand when you try to remember what you might have said or done before as opposed to what they want you to do and say at this particular time. It is agonizing to have to watch your words so not to offend, to eat in a dainty manner when you are ravenously hungry, to smile or laugh when such a thing is forced because happy is at the end of a long list..

Your unique style alters to become another's idea of style, you lose your originality, your sense of fun, your joy and your life becomes a stage play with scripted lines and no room for real life as you understand it If you try to do this, you will wear yourself out, you will become angry or depressed, you will lose sight of who you really are.

Understand right out of the gate that change is not required. If change is something you want to do for yourself like quitting a bad habit, raising your level of education, improving your health, it can help you in the long run but make sure it is your decision and not that of another person..

People are not clones. They are not stamped out of a machine, emerging with similar attributes in every instance. You are as different as a snowflake, as unique as a star. You are as beautiful and worthy as both those things just the way you are.

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07/30/2018

If you enjoy a post, please share it with your friends. Thank you.

07/30/2018

Why is it, when it comes to our major critics, the people at the head of the line are our best friends? Counting out, of course, our own selves who are known far and wide as being our own worst enemies. Can it be jealousy that arouses their ire or some distorted fear that we need to be brought down before we seriously hurt ourselves?

In my novel, 'Devil Child;,there is a character named Mary Plant who meets a lonely young girl, Grace, the daughter of a plantation owner, when they are both twelve years old and they become fast friends.

From day one, Mary undermines Grace's life and seems to do everything in her power to destroy it. Although Mary's destructive nature is clear to those around them, Grace remains oblivious. Throughout the novel, Grace only knows that Mary is her friend and she makes excuses for the girl when some inexcusable thing she has done can not be dismissed by a shrug or a shake of her head.

Grace would go to extreme lengths to protect her friend and their friendship but when they are eighteen, Mary succeeds in destroying Grace's life. Even then, Grace lays the blame at other doors and will not accept that Mary has done the damage. Along the way, Mary has severely alienated other characters as well as the readers of the book.

They don't understand what motivates Mary's mean streak. Even I, as the writer of the book, had no idea why Mary should be so hateful. In the second book of the three novels about Trudell and her family that together span five generations, I intended to 'kill Mary off' as quickly as possible.

As it turned out though, in the second book, there is more to Mary than I had suspected. She becomes a character with more than just a mean streak and, incredible as it sounds, she was motivated in all she did by love. What she has done in the past cannot be excused or even atoned for but it can be accepted and understood. I came to like her and I hope the readers will also. In the end, I found myself wanting for Mary what she longed for herself.

Is this the reason we continue to like the people who seem to set out to hurt us? Is this why we continue to think of them as friends and continue to support them even when they are hateful toward us? Do we see something beneath the surface, something that is beyond the notice of others, something we want to protect them from?

Well, what about our own selves then? Are we going to continue to hate ourselves for the stupid things we've done, the botched relationships. the roads not taken? Or will we bring some understanding into play? Will we begin to like or even love ourselves for the wonderful creatures we are? Can we give ourselves a second chance? If we can do this for a character in a book, it isn't a long stretch to begin to do it for ourselves.

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