Saturday, January 15, 2011
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!
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!
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!
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!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve Ramblings
It's Christmas Eve and I'm thinking I should post something. So I'm going to post some pretty random things.
Here's a bit of dialogue that crept into my head last night. I had just been reading Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, which I'm borrowing from a friend. It's about a meteor that hits the moon and causes gravity to go haywire. In the book there is an evil preacher who tells people that if they don't eat, God will sustain them. And, of course, he will gladly accept what they don't eat. The main character, Miranda, confronts him after her best friend starves to death. He says he'll pray for her. She tells the preacher she doesn't believe in Hell, so she won't say she hopes he ends up there, and informs him she wants no favors from his God. Somehow, something struck me as wrong. The god Reverend Marshall worships is nothing like mine. When I went to bed last night, I had an idea a bit like the one this conversation was based on, only with a very different aim than in the book.
"I don't want favors from your God,"I told him.
"We worship the same God,"he told me. "The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who holds the keys of life and death."
Somehow, I didn't know how to answer him. But there was something wrong his logic.
"No!"I cried. "My God isn't one like yours. I don't know what yours is, but mine is not one who would demand anything like this."
Any comments? I really like that book and highly recommend it for anyone over thirteen. I have yet to read the rest of the series, but it's riveting. I got it from a friend in my choir one evening and was done the next day. I happen to be a speed reader, though, so I get through almost everything quickly. Well, everything except big, thick history books. I can't read them with the same speed I can most other things.
Well, that's all for now!
Merry Christmas!
Here's a bit of dialogue that crept into my head last night. I had just been reading Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, which I'm borrowing from a friend. It's about a meteor that hits the moon and causes gravity to go haywire. In the book there is an evil preacher who tells people that if they don't eat, God will sustain them. And, of course, he will gladly accept what they don't eat. The main character, Miranda, confronts him after her best friend starves to death. He says he'll pray for her. She tells the preacher she doesn't believe in Hell, so she won't say she hopes he ends up there, and informs him she wants no favors from his God. Somehow, something struck me as wrong. The god Reverend Marshall worships is nothing like mine. When I went to bed last night, I had an idea a bit like the one this conversation was based on, only with a very different aim than in the book.
"I don't want favors from your God,"I told him.
"We worship the same God,"he told me. "The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who holds the keys of life and death."
Somehow, I didn't know how to answer him. But there was something wrong his logic.
"No!"I cried. "My God isn't one like yours. I don't know what yours is, but mine is not one who would demand anything like this."
Any comments? I really like that book and highly recommend it for anyone over thirteen. I have yet to read the rest of the series, but it's riveting. I got it from a friend in my choir one evening and was done the next day. I happen to be a speed reader, though, so I get through almost everything quickly. Well, everything except big, thick history books. I can't read them with the same speed I can most other things.
Well, that's all for now!
Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Writing, Writing, and, Uh, Writing
Well, here I am, sitting at the computer knowing I should blog something. Hm... Well, I did just finish a story today. I haven't titled it yet. It's about a girl named Selene who is bored of life at the fort where she lives. She decides to leave with her best friend, partly to avoid being married off to a rich man who happens to be three times her age, partly for adventure, and partly to get revenge for her brother, who was killed when her sister betrayed the fort. She leaves and discovers that her parents were not even related to her. In fact, she's not even human. It needs some serious work, but I think I did a tolerable job.
My writing has come to a standstill recently, however. Writing by hand takes far too long for me, and I can't get on the computer to type very often. I also seriously lack any talent at planning them out first. I like to plunge in, but I tend not to get very far. I would buy a laptop, but I'm sort of saving money write now.(Ha ha!)
I would hope for one as a Christmas present, but the thing is only recently figured out that I wanted one.
Well, that's all for now!!!
My writing has come to a standstill recently, however. Writing by hand takes far too long for me, and I can't get on the computer to type very often. I also seriously lack any talent at planning them out first. I like to plunge in, but I tend not to get very far. I would buy a laptop, but I'm sort of saving money write now.(Ha ha!)
I would hope for one as a Christmas present, but the thing is only recently figured out that I wanted one.
Well, that's all for now!!!
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Worlds of Books
Here are a couple books I would love to live in.
1.The Dawn Palace
One of my favorite books. It would be interesting to get to know Medea, even if everyone thinks she's a witch. I like the fact she fools everyone into thinking that and doesn't reveal the secrets that make her seem magical like Circe. I would probably admire her, too, for the way she burned down the palace when her husband divorced her and how she defied King Aeetes.
2. Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
It would be incredible to live in that world. I admire Rachel for throwing a hairbrush at Kronos. Tyson is sooo funny, and I'd probably like watching him forge stuff. I think Thalia made a good decision joining the Hunters, and Annabeth would probably be fun to get to know.
3. The Royal Diaries
The book about Marie Antoinette in this series was probably one of my favorites. I think it was so unfair of her mother to edit the letter Marie sent the way she did. The letter sounded more like a marriage contact than a personal communication. I'm also shocked that anyone like she could get turn out the way she did. I also like the book about Jaranara. I definitely know how she felt when she found that someone had been reading her journal.
4. A Wrinkle in Time
I definitely like Meg in this series. Being an oddball and being different that the rest of my family is something I understand. I think Charles Wallace is kind of cute, too, though joining IT willingly wasn't the brightest thing he could've done.
5. Alice in Wonderland
This is a weird book. Fortunately, I like weird. The part where the queen tries to chop off the Cheshire cat's head is funny, especially since you can't chop off some thing's head if it doesn't have a neck.
6. Oryus
I would definitely be interested in living there. I like everything about it. I probably wouldn't have gone with him on his mission, but I liked him. Fife was cute, too, and the fact he and Zaig were arguing constantly was kind of funny.
Well, that's all for now. Bye!
1.The Dawn Palace
One of my favorite books. It would be interesting to get to know Medea, even if everyone thinks she's a witch. I like the fact she fools everyone into thinking that and doesn't reveal the secrets that make her seem magical like Circe. I would probably admire her, too, for the way she burned down the palace when her husband divorced her and how she defied King Aeetes.
2. Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
It would be incredible to live in that world. I admire Rachel for throwing a hairbrush at Kronos. Tyson is sooo funny, and I'd probably like watching him forge stuff. I think Thalia made a good decision joining the Hunters, and Annabeth would probably be fun to get to know.
3. The Royal Diaries
The book about Marie Antoinette in this series was probably one of my favorites. I think it was so unfair of her mother to edit the letter Marie sent the way she did. The letter sounded more like a marriage contact than a personal communication. I'm also shocked that anyone like she could get turn out the way she did. I also like the book about Jaranara. I definitely know how she felt when she found that someone had been reading her journal.
4. A Wrinkle in Time
I definitely like Meg in this series. Being an oddball and being different that the rest of my family is something I understand. I think Charles Wallace is kind of cute, too, though joining IT willingly wasn't the brightest thing he could've done.
5. Alice in Wonderland
This is a weird book. Fortunately, I like weird. The part where the queen tries to chop off the Cheshire cat's head is funny, especially since you can't chop off some thing's head if it doesn't have a neck.
6. Oryus
I would definitely be interested in living there. I like everything about it. I probably wouldn't have gone with him on his mission, but I liked him. Fife was cute, too, and the fact he and Zaig were arguing constantly was kind of funny.
Well, that's all for now. Bye!
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