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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!

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!!!

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!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Another Fantasy Novel!!!

I am starting yet another fantasy novel. Most of my stories tend to never be finished, but I've got a promising feeling about this one.(Then again, that's the feeling I get about most of my stories. Otherwise, why would I start them?) I will not post it on blogspot because once you post something here it is no longer yours. So never post anything you intend to publish on blogspot!!!!
My story is about a princess named Dianthe who is crowned queen of a matriarchy after the death of her mother. However, her brother Jarl begins to manipulate her and use for his own purposes. Eventually, her brother arranges to have her killed. Unfortunately for him, she escapes and flees to another kingdom, though not before she discovers her brother has killed her younger sisters, leaving the way to the throne clear for himself. She vows vengance for her sisters' lives and begins to plot her brother's downfall. I won't tell the rest because then I'll have let of some of the steam of finishing it. Besides, I want to publish it one day if I ever finish it!!!!!
Well, that's all for now! Adios!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

10. Writer's block is a well-known problem. There are many ways to deal with it. One way is to look at what you are doing and change it. For example, if you're writing by hand, type. If you're typing, write by hand.
9. Be a bully to your character. The worse you act toward them, the more exciting your story will be. One writer said if she could tell something to her series's main character, she would apologize for all the things she did to him. You should also think about what ever is likely to go wrong. Don't make it something ridiculous, like your character being pulled through a time portal to the stone age, unless that's the focus of your story. If they're jumping on the trampoline, being pulled through a time portal is highly unlikely.
8. You don't have to outline everything. You can if that's what you like to do, but some writers would give up writing in disgust if they had to outline things. On the other hand, one writer I know of writes hundred page outlines. If I had to make an outline that long for every story, I'd stop writing permenantly. Still, you should have a vague idea what's going to happen if you want to finish.
7. Don't dwell on pain. If, in your story, there is a fight or injury of any sort, don't dwell on how it feels. Now would be one time to display mercy to your character.
6. Suddenly is like cloves to your story. You don't need or want a lot of either. If you use a lot, it's simply too much. Watch out for a tendancy to use certain words a lot. Otherwise, your story will sound too redundant.
5. What's your veiwpoint? First person uses "I" and "we". Second person uses "you". Third person uses "s/he" and "they". Sometimes, certain stories do better with certain veiwpoints. Remember, what you put in your story is only what the character can see/hear/taste/touch/feel.
4. Remember to give your character a personality. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, preferences and dislikes, and a code of morals. Even the bad guys in your stories are real people.
3. Edit!!!! You may hate editing. So do I. But you won't sound good if Jen has perfect skin on one page and a bad case of acne on the next one, and only five minutes have passed in your story.
2. There's really no write or wrong. Sure, there's some things that are just plain good sense to do. But no one's making you describe things in perfect detail.
1. The best thing you can do to improve is write, write, write, and write some more. Oh, and did I mention write? You'll never learn unless you get your rear in a chair and you start scratching your pen across the paper.