Lily smiled at her mother and father, at Daniel’s parents, and at every one of the long drawn out procession of well wishers. She smiled until her jaw locked and she feared her teeth would push through her gums and leave her smiling still, a mess of red blood dripping down onto her white lace dress. Continue reading
Two Point of Views of the Same Scene
I watched Eric run around the track. Every step sent up a puff of dust that the wind picked up and carried until it had drifted far away from its point of origin. The sun made the sweat on his forehead and on the back of his neck shine like rivers of mercury. Continue reading
Lily at the School Gymnasium
Lily sat on the splintery bleachers, elbows on her knees, chin nestled in the palms of her hands while her fingers tapped a staccato rhythm on her cheekbones. Now that school was out for the day she had the vast space of the gym all to herself. Continue reading
Dialogue Snippet
Dialogue is a beast. It sometimes seems easy to write and flows well when read out loud. Other times it sounds clunky and forced. Writing short snippets of dialogue based on a scenario, or a moment in time, or a part of an overhead conversation seems to me to be the only real way to improve writing dialogue. In other words, just practice. Practice like this little exchange here between two college-aged friends. Continue reading
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
Have You Ever Seen
Have you ever seen
Water
Spraying from a broken red hydrant
With children playing and laughing
In the liquid prisms
While their parents and neighbors watch
And shake their heads
And remember a time
When they could splash through streets
Free of sirens.
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.
Wolf Waltz Writing 