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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Well, I don't have time to make this a long post, but here goes...

Last night was my choir practice. I know, so what. But it got ended early, because the people who were taking me home have a dog named Sammi which was having puppies! I got to go and see them being born. 4 girls, 1 boy, and I while I was there three were born. It was cool to watch. They come out in a little sack and the mom bites it off, which is actually pretty gross, all things considered. There's blood and stuff everywhere. But wow! It's just amazing. I won't go into the details when when they come out, but it was amazing to think about.

I have a laptop at last! Okay, it's not mine. It's everyone's. But it's set up in my room, and it feels good to be able to type without being told somebody needs the computer. I have a fantasy I'm working on about dragons on there. Plus, I've made an official upgrade! No more writing in notebooks and binders! I'll have to type it out anyway, so what's the point? Of course, I'll still use my desk. It's not like the laptop has internet or anything. But it's thrilling to spend long periods of time working in my room with a Diana Waring CD playing. (Diana Waring does history CDs like What in the World's Going on Here. I highly reccomend it for history lovers.)

Well, I had better cut this short. Adios!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Villains

Villains are usually portrayed as all evil. No redeeming qualities. However, C.S. Lewis said that evil by itself with nothing good is weak. Therefore, you should make your villain evil, but also good in some ways. Honestly, nobody is truly, 100% evil. If there is, I will stab myself in the stomach with a banana.

You need to remember that villains are human. They have reasons for what they do. They need to justify things to themselves or they'd go insane with guilt (I think.)
The best villain I've ever designed was Oriana Jansen. She's the aunt of the heroine, pretty, smart, kind, and everything you could want in anyone, but after dark, she becomes another person that rarely shows her face. She is no longer the person she is during the day. She is helping evil things from another world top build a bridge into hers. I haven't quite figures out how she justifies her actions to herself, as I'm not very far into the story. But her story might explain part of it to me.

My villain is a member of a group that can see things that travel between our world and theirs. As a young girl, her parents feared that she and her twin sister would endanger them and their other daughter, who is not like them. Out of fear for he life, Oriana ran away when she was old enough. her twin sister didn't and was killed. Oriana came across a school that trained her and people like her, almost most didn't live to be adults. They are identified by their large eyes. Oriana spent the school year at school and her summer sleeping in alleys, trying to survive attacks from evil creatures and find food. When she grew up, Oriana took over the school and revealed herself to her parents, though she never could quite forgive them.

Don't you feel a little sympathetic? That's no excuse for what she does, but you might understand why she started doing what she does. She still isn't too hugely bad, though, I don't think. She protects her niece even thogh they're on opposite sides and the way she does it angers her niece. She still cares.

Well, that's all for now! Hope it helps someone!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Welcome, 2011!!!!!!!

Well, it's New Year's Day. I've decided to reflect my writing.
I've started more stories this year than any other year. I didn't really finish too many of them. But I do think my writing has improved quiet a bit. The stories I was working on that were pure drivel, I've learned to recognize. I've learned to plot more. My general writing has improved, I think. At the beginning of the year, I was working on quite a few stories that just weren't working, but I didn't realize that. Now I do. I've learned that plotting might not be a bad thing. I've learned more about genre. I've started to keep a notebook. I've also started to type stories instead of write them freehand, then type. Saves a lot of time, actually. I've learned a bit about characters, how I can't just make them do and say anything I want them to. I've started giving them personalities. Mind you, one of my characters, Tempest, doesn't care what I tell her she should act like. She goes off and does exactly the opposite of what I wanted her to do. I think her actions suit her better than what I wanted her to do anyway. I've started to keep a writing notebook, and to read and write a lot more fantasy.(Some people say I shouldn't read or write it so much, but that's just what I write.) I've learned a little about publishing and query letters. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good year of writing. Now, here are some writing quotes to start off the new year!

F Scott Fitzgerald- You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
J.K. Rowling (when asked what she'd say to her protaganist, Harry Potter, if she could meet him)- I'd tell him I'm sorry for all the things I've put him through.
Walter Bagehot- The reason so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.
C.S. Lewis- Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
Rod Serling- Every writer is a frusterated actor who recites his lines inside the hidden auditorium of his skull.
John Irving- Half my life is an act of revision.

If you've never heard of some of those writers, I'm with you.
Happy New Year!