Review: The Gifted

Last year I had the genuine pleasure to represent the wonderful Blood-Jet Writing Hour as a journalist at Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo 2014. However, an article I wrote for them never made it into print and likely never will since the next Comikaze Expo is on its way. Therefore, I decided that I might as well post this review myself in order to give the good people at CME comics the praise they deserve. Continue reading

World Building through Voice

A while ago I was working on a project set in a different world than ours, and one of the struggles I’ve encountered with that is how to build the world without explicit world-building exposition. One method I have settled on over the years is to do a lot of the heavy lifting through the characters that populate that world, through their dialogue and also through the thoughts of the point of view character. This is an excerpt that is heavy on character in order to build a universe. Continue reading

Plum Pie

Plum Pie

By Cameron Turner

For Eunice Marie Thornburg 1919-2014

The crust you made was always flaky, always buttery,

but as you always said, “the crust is only important

by association. Without the filling it is nothing.”

And so we roll the dough and shape the edges

like waves along the rim of the pan and fill it with

the black and blue innards of plums. We try

not to watch it bake because of your folklore

and nearly kill ourselves sprinting for the oven

when the timer goes off. And we eat in silence,

heads low over steaming slices of your lost magic

and say, “It’s good, but…”

It isn’t until later we find out you always used

a different kind of plum.

Verbs

Back when I was still an undergrad, in the far distant past of 2013, I had a professor who wanted everybody in the class to make a list of 100 verbs. Since then I have continued to add to the list. The total count is now somewhere around 300, and counting. I have found that, not only is it good to go back and add to the list, but to drop different words from the list into my writing if I find I have been using the same verbs over and over again.

Here is a copy of the list as it stands. I always appreciate the addition of new verbs, so feel free to type some out for me if you so desire. Continue reading

Wolf Waltz Writing

I would like to begin by welcoming myself to my new blog. As of right now, everything seems to be going well with it. My computer hasn’t melted into a puddle of plastic and silicone so I’d say that this project is off to a great start. I am planning on Wolf Waltz Writing being a place for me, Cameron LaVaughn Turner, to share my writing, thoughts, and projects with you, everybody else who isn’t me. As of now, I am the Wolf Waltz Writer. Let me just finish by welcoming all of you to this space. May we experience word-magic together.