Writing

The Little Mermaid

/ Stefan Nicholson

My review of a piece of sculpture I admire, with reflections on the language used:

One classical sculpture that I admire, for its beauty and romantic history, is the ‘Den Lille Havrue’. 

Originating from an 1837 fairy tale about a 15 year old girl, commissioned by a beer baron to bear the adult face of his obsession (and beautifully sculptured in bronze in 1912), the statue was finally unveiled in 1913. 

Sitting atop a rock, naked and alone, the young woman looks across to the ruinous land, thinking about the waters below, where she spent her childhood years, in a world underneath the sea.

The background harbour forms an oppressive barrier, adding more gloom to the tale, where she traded her singing voice (by removal of her tongue), for a pair of human legs – so that she could marry the prince, whom she had earlier saved from a shipwreck.

It is a sad story, because she would never marry the prince. 

She was destined to never be able to live under the sea again, and when she walked on the land, each step produced unbearable pain.

Most folklore portrays mermaids as haters of all men, luring sailors to jump into the sea, to drown.  Hans Christian Anderson changed the tables, portraying the mermaid as a heroine, and the generally accepted handsome prince as a ‘rattus rattus marinus’. 

Every year, millions of people visit ‘The Little Mermaid” (English translation) in Copenhagen, Denmark, for she is now a symbol of national strength in the face of adversity, and an inspiration for children with pure imagination.

The sculptor, Edvard Erichsen reproduced the face of Ellen Price, a solo dancer in the ballet ‘The Little Mermaid’, faithfully into the sculpture, as brewer Carl Jacobsen (Carlsberg Brewery) had commissioned the work.  The nude modelling had to be passed on to Erichsen’s wife, as Price was reluctant to show more than her face to the sculptor.

The statue weighs 175kg, and although surviving wars and the Great Depression, modern vandals have not been so kind to her.  One severed arm, two decapitations and several attempts to paint her red and fitting her with a bras, have taken their toll.  Visitors have climbed on top of her, wearing away some of the bronze, leaving her a dark and faded brown – unless highlighted by camera flashlight.  She will soon be imprisoned behind a security fence, adding another atrocity to the memorial of a famous heroine.

Erichsen froze the statue into a metamorphosis, providing both legs and fish tail – contrary to the Andersen story of having either one or the other.  The purpose was to define the meaning of the statue.  The best time to approach the statue, is when the weather is grey and overcast – bringing out more feelings of isolation.

She sits side-saddle on the rock, her small 1.6 metre frame disappointing many.  The statue is easily accessible from the front and sides, allowing an appreciation of the sculptor’s portrayal of the living form, especially seen through the arched back.  The flowing tail hugs the downward slope of the ovoid rock. 

Her stooped pose conveys the feeling of despair. And yet, with her weight resting on one arm, and her other hand reaching across her thigh, there seems to be hope, that her waiting may bring sight of her lover. Walking around the statue on the shore, the history and meaning of her plight seems real. 

There is a feeling of loss that only increases when imagining the statue being unveiled in 1913 – in full splendour, shining with fine feature, and revealing her wonderful face.

(c) Stefan Nicholson 2009

Reflection on language used:  By necessity the language is emotional, historical and descriptive.  The art and its history are eternally bound together through folklore and expectations of the audience (readers of the book, and lovers of sculpture). 

The subject needs a longer review because of its complexity – yet for such a simple study, of a girl sitting on a rock.

A Skit about School Essays

/ Stefan Nicholson

My blog for this week is on the notion of abstract comedy. This involves an interplay within the story-line, hidden meanings and imagined mannerisms of the characters. The example given is from my book, “Short Comedy Routines for Novices” (available from Amazon and Kindle). The book contains 46 skits for young comedians, to practice delivery, timing and facial expressions – in a setting with minimal props.

The example is generally part of the continuous banter which occurs throughout a typical half-hour comedy series.

Symbolic Art Notation (international language)

/ Stefan Nicholson

The language that can be understood by any nationality at the same time.

Can be learnt in only 2 hours with a trained tutor.

International Language Invention

(Invented and developed by Stefan Nicholson in Tasmania, Australia)

March 2024 version Download a FREE COPY

My aim is to enable young children to learn how to communicate, using language and coding, before they start school—and during their primary years, without the mastery of talking, hearing, alphabets, words, spelling, pronunciation and formalized grammar.

Also, it is my aim to provide an easy communication tool for those people who have difficulty in learning  – to develop their language brain pathway to accommodate change and benefit to their well-being.

Early communication can be fun as well as rewarding. It gives people an early start to be able to relate to others and progress onto formalized national and cultural languages.

Early education is a known processor for developing happier, confident and better rewarded adults.

Symbolic Art Notation can be learnt quickly, stimulating the brain, taken seriously and also as a game  – for early mastery of our built-in language processor in the brain. The attached PDF book can be controlled by the embedded hyperlinks for ease of use.

PRINT BOOK DEC 2024 – SAN BOOKDownload

TIMELESS

/ Stefan Nicholson

Time!

What is time? 

If not a countdown within the continuum, not withstanding its varied pace,

It is also the vacuum in which we think we are awake,

As sleep is a state unknown, in as much as whether it even exists.

For we wake each new day afresh . . . perhaps . . . or, maybe start anew,

With altered form and memories, by some random thoughts, within an empty mind.

And time is merely a distraction,

Enhanced by our timepieces and natural cycles, to make us feel we exist at all.

When all we do is think . . . in the moment . . . forever.

Time is just some simple, unexpected consequence.

Merely moments of being . . . With unintended, instantaneous thoughts . . . . . . .

(from my book: “Introverted Moments” – available on Amazon)

Writing History

/ Stefan Nicholson

The Writing of History and Biographies

I am a great fan of Lewis Carroll – the mathematician who became a writer of children’s books and nonsense poetry.  He observed the world around him, and applied logic to show that what we see, and our understanding of it, depends on your perspective.  So too, with the writing of history: people, places and times.

Wearing his hat for a few minutes, I would have to conclude, that everything that is not most useful, is necessarily less useful) – an interesting question for this week.  And yet, if anything is useful, it is just that – otherwise it would be useless. Say that fast, three times.

From historical evidence and sequence of events, a biographer presents the logic of the true event, and the story teller within, moulds this into the storyline – or it can work the other way around. Biography is the true story – as can be reasonably told based on fact and reasoning, notwithstanding that some biographers lie through their teeth.

So, how do you write about history?

  • I have learnt that writing history demands the mastery of being able to tell a story, while simultaneously telling the truth in critical areas.  False account and erroneous fact will be picked up by the critic.  Reputation is closely linked to accuracy and meeting audience expectations. The facts of history may be consciously or unconsciously distorted by bias and/or malice – depending on the context of the events by the writer.
  • Historical fiction is the incorporation of real historical events and figures, into a story line, whereby the setting must be true to the reality of the past.  Sometimes the characters are themselves, and at other times, generally when sensitivities and legalities are required, the characters may have new names – or nick-names.
  • A hard-nosed journalist will write the historical work according to the facts.  The writer of a biography or autobiography will write a memoir or complete life-story, adding their own bias of thoughts and feelings.  An historical fiction writer will use imagination and lateral thinking to work in with history, and build up an entertaining, action-packed story, using story board technique and character role play.
  • I have learnt how to gather information from linked sources, as well as family and friends of family.  We have each recounted the affect that events may have on the history of the family – notable migration, marriages, deaths and wars.
  • Hidden stories, secret facts, and sensitivities within the family history, must be explored, debated and effectively dealt with to ensure a “reasonable” and ethical outcome for all parties.  The possibility of sitting on a story, to synchronise the release of truth, while avoiding litigation and copyright issues, has been well rewarded many times.  A good lawyer should always provide the ultimate advice on such matters.
  • Visuals, choosing fiction writing and acknowledging the requirement to tell a story at its best, taught me that the story-line and audience participation is of prime importance.  The audience becomes the writerly-reader – adding another dimension to the existing work. Visuals may be used to reduce some of the descriptive embellishment – allowing photos and graphics to “show” by example.  This enhances the concise narrative and dialogue, to create a mood or historical atmosphere, so that the reader’s imagination is encouraged – rather than being lectured to.
  • Finally, I have learnt through the experiences of fellow students, lecturers, authors and supporting readings, that there is both pleasure and pressure experienced by the historical writer.  Whether you choose to write imaginative historical fiction, or engage in rigorous and academically precise researching for biography, or classical historical works, there are expectations of sensibility and much research of material.

Where to go from here with the writing of your next book?

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat

“I don’t much care where ——“, said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat

“—- so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough” 

(excerpt from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”)

I am going to have a long thoughtful walk, and plan out another interesting historical work. I lived the life of Adam Lindsay Gordon for long enough to share his experiences, when I wrote a poem for the Adam Lindsay Gordon Association – and came out of it a wiser man – and second prize winner.

Best regards to everyone.  I hope to be reading your published works in the near future.

Why hire a Technical Writer?

/ Stefan Nicholson

Technical Writing Means Business Continuity and Documenting your Processes via QA and Standards:

It is an important part of documenting your company procedures, work instructions and training manuals.

When senior personnel leave a company, the information that leaves with them is a serious loss to the business. Shift work is often physically differently on each shift (same jobs) due to poor training or instructions passed down from changing staff members – often with errors and dangerous short cuts.

Best Practice work instructions and procedures combined with effective training will ensure that your workforce is following safe work practices and maintaining quality of product and services by doing the job safely and correctly. The standards set by the company and regulatory authorities will be part of that documentation system.

When people go to work each day, they expect to go home without injury. Companies expect their efficient and safe work environments to produce quality outcomes with a documented audit trail for monitoring the process mechanisms.

Technical Writers should be professionally trained and have wide ‘hands-on’ work experience to help management to maintain their client’s QA and EOH&S systems, providing solutions to meet their documentation requirements. Safety qualifications are a bonus.

Technical Writers communicate in a concise and effective manner, using diagrams, photos, spreadsheets, data-bases and illustrations to support the text. Multi-Media can be effective in providing on-line and easily accessible training courses that are available 24/7.

A Technical Writer uses research methods, interview techniques and reference document analyses (PFDs and P&IDs) to support site visits and existing documentation to develop new “best practice” documentation to suit the target audience. In fact, some manuals are developed and finalised only from engineering and design documents – even before the equipment, plant or business system has been physically built.

Technical Writing fees can be casual, part-time, full-time, contract (hourly, daily, weekly) and fixed-fee arrangements to suit your budget and deadlines.

Please let me know if you have any questions about your own documentation projects – no job is too big or too small. Using professional technical writers could even save a life.

email: stefannicholson@bigpond.com    phone: 0417181077

Does The Shoe Fit?

/ Stefan Nicholson

Identity is the individuality of a person – their self, and their uniqueness.  Their uniqueness is displayed to the external world through personality, character, and specifications as if choosing from a list of attributes. 

A photograph identifies a person based on physical attributes.  We can also identify people by the sound of their voices, by tell-tale gestures and mannerisms, and sometimes by how others describe them. 

A writer may be identified by their style of writing, and what they write about.

Identification seems to work the other way around.  We ask what sort of person would have certain attributes.  We erroneously assume that all people with those attributes, act and think the same. Identification is the cataloguing of attributes, to act as a filter for our human necessity for labeling.  We seem to label everything, in a desire to understand the whole, while ignoring the individual. We determine what sort of writer would write about certain topics – by apparent attributes but not by knowing their real persona.

As an example of identification: When I was driving a maxi-taxi, people often slotted me into that one role. When I was in recruitment, job applicants with multiple skills would be labelled and filed away with one job specification, instead of the multiple skills and previous varied jobs and study.

So, what is more important – and for whom? 

For a non-fiction writer: Identification is equally as important as the identity of the author.  Do they qualify for expertise in research and analysing scenarios of events that happened?  Do they have inside information as to what it is like to belong and have identification for belief? Have they presented the “facts” without bias or imagination?

In writing fiction: Well, anything is possible, and even wrong facts may actually be a twist on the real thing. Imagining what the writer is like in person is sometimes impossible. This is the nature of creative writing. Imagination is the key ingredient for creating a tantalising plot.

Personally, as a writer, I would just like to be identified as having the right skills for the work I do. My identity is my persona – my identification merely a catalogue of my belongings and the labels that people assume to fit, based on my attributes.

Also, we do not often wonder about the writer’s life when reading their book. When we read, we become the writer, within our imagination and feelings, with all our positive and negative interpretations of the original writer’s work and its many possible meanings.

Two opposite sayings indicate how identification can be misleading and coerced by myth:

  • “Don’t judge a book by its cover”; and
  • “Birds of a feather flock together”.

To finish, with another saying:

  • “To really understand someone, just walk a mile in their shoes”.

Example of a Comedy Script

/ Stefan Nicholson

“Cool Cat” – (c) Stefan Nicholson 2015 Tasmania

OPENING SCENE:

(James is playing “Clair de Lune” on piano which has a bust of Debussy on top – His cat is sitting next to the bust)

Eric who is not very sharp, enters the room and looks unaware of his environment and has a blank look.

Eric

Wow man . . . who wrote that cool music? . . . It’s all floaty and surreal man.

James

(Points to the composer’s bust on piano, next to the cat)

Debussy. Yeah it sounds like some random falling of leaves on a winter’s night.

Eric

(looking at the cat which stretches out its paws)

Are you messing with me man. Is that the dude?

James

No kidding man . . . Claude Debussy. A French composer, who wrote it one night while looking at the moon.

Eric

(looking at the cat and talking slowly)

Well done Claude, that is a very nice piece of music . . . if you understand English man.

James

Good grief Eric . . . I was pointing at the composer’s bust.

Eric

Wow, sorry man for missing the clue.  So sorry Claudette, for making a huge mistake with the boobs and all.

(James crashes his head into the keyboard and bangs his hands up and down on the keys)

Eric

Wow man . . . is that another one of the pussy’s compositions?

James

Are you planning to have children in the future Eric . . . because they would probably smother you while you were sleeping, around the age of three when they would surely realise that cats DO NOT compose music!

Eric

But what about . . . ?

James

Don’t you ever mention “Cats” the musical in front of my cat . . . you may give it grandiose ideas.

THE END

Getting: The RIGHT Job!

/ Stefan Nicholson

I’m not even going to mention COVID (Blast!!!)

Anyway, let’s get on with what this post is all about. It is about getting the RIGHT Job.

You may be lucky (or unlucky) to be:

  • in a job
  • out of a job
  • fed up with your job, boss, low pay
  • thinking your job is too bloody awful for words
  • working too hard, too much, not enough
  • getting paid too much (yeah right!)

Then do I have the information that may help you?

YES (How obvious was that little dangler)

And here it is:

getting-right-job-printed-1Download

I wrote most of this when I was working in a boutique Recruitment Agency in Perth (Premium Personnel with Mary McArdle). I regard working with Mary and her company one of life’s highlights, for their caring and nurturing approach to Personnel Management and people.

People need work to acquire some purpose in life. For some people, work that they enjoy is no longer just work. That is why it is important to try and find work that is enjoyable and stimulating.

Once your mind is set on what you want to do in life:

  • Relax
  • Listen to music
  • Share a joke or just get together to have a coffee . . . or a beer/wine
  • Eat something fresh(keep the dog and cat safe from harms way)
  • Make a list – even a shopping list (then you can cross it all out, even if you don’t do things)
  • Buy an over-sized pullover and pretend you have lost 20kg
  • Ignore my frivolities during this post (I am a writer . . . that’s always my excuse)

Best wishes that you find your perfect job.