Schilthorn

July 7, 2019 / walter3rd / Leave a comment

Or, Bonding in the Swiss alps

Piz-Gloria093

If you are a James Bond fan, then Shilthorn is a destination you must visit. The 360 degree revolving restaurant served as Blofeld’s Alpine fortress in the 1969 film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. It is a film that Shilthorn has embraced and through the years has added to via a new “007 Walk of Fame” last year on 31 July 2015. You can see a short video of the event here – Opening of the 007 Walk of Fame at Schilthorn

Located at nearly ten thousand feet above sea level in the Berner Oberland area of Switzerland’s Alp you can only get to Schilthorn via Cable Car from Mürren, or Stechelberg below.

I have visited Schilthorn a few times, usually in fall or winter – although the berg offers a fantastic ski run (called the ‘Inferno Run’) and can become quite crowded in the area between Christmas and New Year. I arrived by train from Interlaken Ost, the eastern station that connected the valley via private railway (meaning anyone with a Eurorail pass needs to get a ticket at the station!).

As the first couple of times I visited I was staying overnight, I arrived at a quaint Swiss railway station, now sadly replaced by a more modern steel construct that shelters the passengers. From the station I walked pretty much across the street and rode a funicular (a rather steep one too!) up to the small village of Mürren, which has no cars whatsoever. Any deliveries that need to be made are down via an electric cart – think golf cart with a small flatbed to hold packages and such. Everything in this small town is within walking distance, and the cable car leading further up the alp is centrally located.

It was strange visiting Schilthorn, as I had recently viewed the Bond movie and was noticing where different scenes were filmed. From the Helicopter landing pad (which the Bond producers built as part of the agreement to use the site for filming, to the entrance hallway which still has Blofeld’s coat of arms on the wall, and, of course, the revolving restaurant itself. Although parts of Shilthorn were recreated in Pinewood Studios for interior shots, as much as possible was filmed on site.

For a sightseer, the views from Schilthorn are magnificent. You have the Eiger, the Jungfrau, and the Mönch alps surrounding you, and the view over the valley is magnificent.

Fahrplan_1 von Interlaken

For more information about Schilthorn, you can visit Schilthorn home page
For information about Mürren itself, try the Murren and Vicinity information page

What’s your favorite James Bond location? Drop me a line and let me know!

Creating a Character: 6 things I look for.

December 12, 2016 / walter3rd / Leave a comment

character-creation

They say Character is everything. A good character drives the story forward, almost telling the writer where to go next. So the creation of a character is something every writing deals with. Here’s a look into the process I go through when creating my cast of characters for a story.

1. What is the character’s function in the story?

Is this the main character? A major – but not main- Character? Good guy or bad guy? I tend to spend a bit more time getting to know the main characters then a minor or one scene character. Some can just be a generic title. “The salesclerk”, “the Traffic cop”, “the waitress” can all be generic – however –

1A. If a minor character, how minor, for how long?

Let’s take, for example, a servant girl I had written in to serve as a minor obstacle for the main characters in my story “Sidestepping Home”. I gave her a name because she would appear in at least two scenes, or chapters, of the book. So I thought.

I gave what I thought would be a minor twist and suddenly found my main characters with a new servant girl. The minor obstacle had been elevated to almost sidekick status. So instead of writing about a party of three in the household, I now had a foursome. And the servant girl became important for the end of the novel.

2. What do they do in the story? What’s their “job”?

The Hero has a job. What is it? Knowing their job helps you to figure out their breadth of knowledge. An accountant may not know how to hot-wire a car, but a spy could hot-wire a car and be lousy when it comes time to do their expense reports.

What’s their backstory for the last two months??

I don’t need to know who their first pet was, what their Grandparents did (unless it’s crucial to the story), or the name of the first person they kissed. I do want to know what’s happening NOW in their lives, what type of mindset and mood they’re currently in. It gives me a jumping point in the story for them.

What’s their motivation in the story? Is it to woo the fair maiden? Avenge a great wrong? And why is it important to them?

Once I have these four things, I can flesh out other details as needed, starting with

5 & 6. What’s their name and age?

As I said above, I usually take my time with my main characters. The name of the character sometimes being most important, as it is something you’ll be writing down a lot during the course of your story.

Age becomes important because it also helps set how much knowledge they may know, as well as social attitudes.

If I know their approximate age, I can find the top 25 names for their birth year (assuming you know the current year your story is taking place.) by using Google or another search engine. Last names can be more difficult. But there I have a resource –

http://www.behindthename.com/

This is a great site, as it can give you names from around the globe, as well as for names for fairy, myth, biblical, or fantasy. One of the best features it the random name generator, where with a few clicks will deliver you a name. Don’t like it? Click “generate another”. You can even decide you like a first name, then generate another and take the last name you decide upon. A great writers resource.

Speaking of resources, check out Popcornbytes on Pinterest. I have writing and writing research boards with many articles for your perusal, and of course, there’s the

Popcornbytes Concession Stand on Amazon!

Schilthorn – in the shadow of the Jungfrau

August 16, 2016 / walter3rd / Leave a comment

Or, Bonding in the Swiss alps Piz-Gloria093

Located at nearly ten thousand feet above sea level in the Berner Oberland area of Switzerland’s Alp you can only get to Schilthorn via Cable Car from Mürren, or Stechelberg below.

I have visited Schilthorn a few times, usually in fall or winter – although the berg offers a fantastic ski run (called the ‘Inferno Run’!) and can become quite crowded in the area between Christmas and New Year. I arrived by train from Interlaken Ost, the eastern station that connected the valley via private railway (meaning anyone with a Eurorail pass needs to get a ticket at the station!).

The first couple of times I visited I stayed overnight in the area, arriving at a quaint Swiss railway station, now sadly replaced by a more modern steel construct that shelters the passengers. From the station I walked pretty much across the street and rode a funicular (a rather steep one too!) up to the small village of Mürren, which has no cars whatsoever. Any deliveries that need to be made are down via an electric cart – think golf cart with a small flatbed to hold packages and such. Everything in this small town is within walking distance, and the cable car leading further up the alp is centrally located.

For a sightseer, the views from Schilthorn are magnificent. You have the Eiger, the Jungfrau, and the Mönch alps surrounding you, and the view over the valley is magnificent.

For more information about Schilthorn, you can visit Schilthorn home page and for Mürren itself, try the Mürren and Vicinity information page.

You can also purchase the following items related to Switzerland in general and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” at Amazon –