"Bah! What is wrong with this?"
It is a question I ask myself many times. Even more so when a story isn't going my way... I've been working on the "Faux Pas" story, which I was going to be story one for my little compilation, that I've been working on. For some reason it won't work. But I'll make it work. I hope. I don't get why I was able to write "For This Reason of Vice" in a way that I enjoyed, but "Faux Pas" won't go my way. It's annoying.
I think story three is going to be good though. Maybe I'll move onto that for now. Mainly though, I've diverted more of my time to scholastic activities. Like, as I mentioned last post, getting the GED. Once high school is no longer an issue I can easily divert my time to other things. That makes me a happy panda.
Writer's Digest is having another contest in the Spring. It allows a little more elbow room with the word count. I'm defintely sending something in for that. Post-GED, I'll have the time to get a few submissions in.
Dec 1, 2007
GED-"OWNAGE"!
General Equivalency Diploma. Those three words create a certain uncertainity in me. A slight itching on the back of my neck... my toes rapidly get cold (if I'm not wearing socks). And I start to smell 80's cologne as I imagine a room filled with a lot of so-called losers trying to make up for past failures in the realm of high school education. And I don't know if you've ever come across 80's cologne... but it smells much different then the modern stuff. In a bad way. Oh yes... a very bad way...
But then a shining light lifts away it all... the losers, the itching... the cologne... yes, even my toes grow comfortable... and warm. As if I'm snuggled up close to a fire which warms my very soul. This light... it is called... GED-"OWNAGE"!
In the days preceeding Thanksgiving I cracked open a tome titled "GED-2007" or somethign like that. I took the practice test. It's got five parts. There is... Writing, Writing (essay), Social Studies, Science, and Math. I scored 80% on both writing and social studies. Can't grade the essay, cause it is precisely that, an essay. and I got 76% on science. I hit math and a Trig problem brought me to my knees. However... this is good news. Trig is looking the hardest of the math, and armed with the allowed calculater and a feverish study of the subject, I feel much better about it. The wonderful book also has a section on the required knowledge of the math section. So I've got my resources just waiting to be tapped.
But the good thing is, around 55% is passing grade. So i've got everything but math covered. That makes me happy. They say science is the hardest subject, and boy, was I relieved when I checked my answers and got 38 out of 50 questions right. Still, there is plenty of room for improvement. But, there is something so comforting about having a firm grip on my graduation. If nothing but basic trig stands in my way, then victory is near.
So I've been studying and soon I'm going to take the math portion. Wowzers, God is good.
But then a shining light lifts away it all... the losers, the itching... the cologne... yes, even my toes grow comfortable... and warm. As if I'm snuggled up close to a fire which warms my very soul. This light... it is called... GED-"OWNAGE"!
In the days preceeding Thanksgiving I cracked open a tome titled "GED-2007" or somethign like that. I took the practice test. It's got five parts. There is... Writing, Writing (essay), Social Studies, Science, and Math. I scored 80% on both writing and social studies. Can't grade the essay, cause it is precisely that, an essay. and I got 76% on science. I hit math and a Trig problem brought me to my knees. However... this is good news. Trig is looking the hardest of the math, and armed with the allowed calculater and a feverish study of the subject, I feel much better about it. The wonderful book also has a section on the required knowledge of the math section. So I've got my resources just waiting to be tapped.
But the good thing is, around 55% is passing grade. So i've got everything but math covered. That makes me happy. They say science is the hardest subject, and boy, was I relieved when I checked my answers and got 38 out of 50 questions right. Still, there is plenty of room for improvement. But, there is something so comforting about having a firm grip on my graduation. If nothing but basic trig stands in my way, then victory is near.
So I've been studying and soon I'm going to take the math portion. Wowzers, God is good.
Writer's Digest Stole My Soul
Only for a few night though. In which time I was writing for one of fore-mentioned company's contests. The deadline is Dec. 3. And I'm putting finishing touches on my "maybe" submission as I write this. Well... not "right" when I'm writing this, but you know, in general...
The thing is, the contest is a short, short, story contest. 1,500 words or less. That's really small. About three pages or less, small. My would-be submission clocks in at 3,000 unedited. That's really (relatively!) big. I got to cut it in half. I hate it when I have to cut stuff to size. Each sentence you kick out is like a little piece of time being put to the fires of uselessness. Oh well...
The main problem though is that... well, I have to write something good. I am pretty happy with the story as a whole, but not if I have to cut half of it out. And I don't really know how else to do it.
Wish me luck if you would, good reader. I got a few ideas... hopefully I can pull it out by Monday.
On the up side though... I bought some Flyleaf songs last night. And they're pretty cool. I've been meaning to get some of their stuff for a long time, so that's cool. It's a strange thing, in that their vocalist isn't great, and the musicianship is okay... but they possess an energy and... sincerity? That is quite appealing.
Laterz, reader.
The thing is, the contest is a short, short, story contest. 1,500 words or less. That's really small. About three pages or less, small. My would-be submission clocks in at 3,000 unedited. That's really (relatively!) big. I got to cut it in half. I hate it when I have to cut stuff to size. Each sentence you kick out is like a little piece of time being put to the fires of uselessness. Oh well...
The main problem though is that... well, I have to write something good. I am pretty happy with the story as a whole, but not if I have to cut half of it out. And I don't really know how else to do it.
Wish me luck if you would, good reader. I got a few ideas... hopefully I can pull it out by Monday.
On the up side though... I bought some Flyleaf songs last night. And they're pretty cool. I've been meaning to get some of their stuff for a long time, so that's cool. It's a strange thing, in that their vocalist isn't great, and the musicianship is okay... but they possess an energy and... sincerity? That is quite appealing.
Laterz, reader.
Nov 13, 2007
iTunes Plus
"Bum, Bum, Da', Da', Du', Du'!"
Are you ready to listen to some jams? If so, iTunes has it all! From, "Finnish Fiddle Folk Rock", to, "The Ultimate Disney Animated Movies Music Compilation".
Actually, it doesn't, don't believe the lies. iTunes is useful for us peeps who don't wish to *questionably* download our music from Limewire or other sites. But sadly, it doesn't rival the sheer mass of tracks available to those using fore-mentioned client programs. However... quality, if your willing to spend a few bucks, can be the winning factor in one's choice to hassle with clients, or paying cash. Thus comes, iTunes plus! Some music, an odd selection due to licensing issues, is available in 256 kbps quality, but... is it worth the 30 cents extra it costs for the "plussed" music?
Kinda. If it's offered, and you want the music, might as well, because if you ever want to purchase plus material you have to upgrade your entire library, that is "eligble" for "Plus". So yeah, when I wanted to upgrade my Sonata Arctica albums, I had to feel the pain as I DLed enhanced "Celtic Woman" albums. Now, if you have a brother that doesn't listen to Celitc Woman, then I guess your fine, but if you ever purchased an album that you found out you didn't care for, and it is now in iTunes plus, you have to upgrade it too. And it cost 30c for each song for the upgrade. I spent 20$ for about five albums and a handful of single songs. It was pricey indeed, but it sounds better. Still...
"Reckoning Night" the fourth studio effort from Sonata Arctica, was always a bit... muted? Thus it was my least favorite of all their albums. Strange thing too, considering the mixing quality on SonArc albums is usually so good. Well, I updated it with iTunes Plus, and I gotta say, it sounds much better. It all does. So if you got the extra buck, it's pretty cool feature from Apple.
By the way, it seems all songs in iTunes Plus are now the normal one buck at purchase time. You still have to pay the upgrade cost though. Oh well...
Are you ready to listen to some jams? If so, iTunes has it all! From, "Finnish Fiddle Folk Rock", to, "The Ultimate Disney Animated Movies Music Compilation".
Actually, it doesn't, don't believe the lies. iTunes is useful for us peeps who don't wish to *questionably* download our music from Limewire or other sites. But sadly, it doesn't rival the sheer mass of tracks available to those using fore-mentioned client programs. However... quality, if your willing to spend a few bucks, can be the winning factor in one's choice to hassle with clients, or paying cash. Thus comes, iTunes plus! Some music, an odd selection due to licensing issues, is available in 256 kbps quality, but... is it worth the 30 cents extra it costs for the "plussed" music?
Kinda. If it's offered, and you want the music, might as well, because if you ever want to purchase plus material you have to upgrade your entire library, that is "eligble" for "Plus". So yeah, when I wanted to upgrade my Sonata Arctica albums, I had to feel the pain as I DLed enhanced "Celtic Woman" albums. Now, if you have a brother that doesn't listen to Celitc Woman, then I guess your fine, but if you ever purchased an album that you found out you didn't care for, and it is now in iTunes plus, you have to upgrade it too. And it cost 30c for each song for the upgrade. I spent 20$ for about five albums and a handful of single songs. It was pricey indeed, but it sounds better. Still...
"Reckoning Night" the fourth studio effort from Sonata Arctica, was always a bit... muted? Thus it was my least favorite of all their albums. Strange thing too, considering the mixing quality on SonArc albums is usually so good. Well, I updated it with iTunes Plus, and I gotta say, it sounds much better. It all does. So if you got the extra buck, it's pretty cool feature from Apple.
By the way, it seems all songs in iTunes Plus are now the normal one buck at purchase time. You still have to pay the upgrade cost though. Oh well...
Nov 6, 2007
"Pop" Culture
“Pop”, the word… what does it mean? Easy. Popular, we just abbreviate it for kicks. Which means? “In relation to the general public/appealing or appreciated by a wide range of people”.
Pop culture is the waves that beat the shore. Every person just another wave, and slowly, by the waves conforming and beating the same place, they reshape the shore. No one act can truly change what is pop; it’s a wide range of variables that can hardly be tracked.
This pattern has been followed for thousands of years, from the masses in Rome looking up to their emperors and the court of their administrations, to Hollywood and Wall Street. We adapt our dress code, musical taste, habits, styles, and morality from them. People we deem more wise then us, even if it’s not justified admiration.
It’s a soup of variables, just waiting to boil over, and recreate the culture. Except those boiling points are few, and only a few times can we safely say one event reinvented “pop” culture. Even fewer that reinvented the masses at large. In fact, there could possibly be none that accomplished that massive feat.
One of the largest recent events to change culture in America would be that of the Hippie revolution. But it didn’t completely change it. A majority of the population didn’t support it even, and the election of Nixon in its height is strong evidence for this fact. Not to mention the revolution just didn’t happen of course, but was the sum of variables which placed a “radical” community together in a small portion of San Francisco. But it can still be safely said that the soup of culture boiled over at that point.
But the events described definitely show how the culture can change and how it does. But in my personal observations, the changes are much more subtle. The change would be to radical, as it was with the Flower Child Revolution, if each time the culture changed, it did so in a buildup that tore down so many other aspects of the old culture.
Now that I’ve established my thoughts on a working of a culture, I’ll do my best to describe our own.
The cons are pretty evident. It’s evidently confused as a whole. The core of it is a cuddly non-threatening eternal “American Idol” show. It remains respectful of communities that it must and if needed, a jab at those that are free targets, if inclined or profit is gained by the action (or a punch line). The core culture is one crafted by media elite and celebrities. Charity and tolerance are preached as a church of faith, and respect and sacrifice is admired. Sounds pretty good.
But the outer core is a wee bit on the darker side, a more threatening presence that condemns those that don’t strictly fall in the standards of its norm. It’s restrictive. Brutally so. Un-progressively so. A stifling presence on the voices of creativity and genius. Debates are called on by talking heads instead of voices of reason. On who can talk the fastest and throw out the fastest jokes. This is probably something though all cultures suffer from.
Strictly speaking, the core isn’t hardcore and the outer core is mean. And of course, the music is terrible.
Pop music is like the rest of the culture, an aspect ruled and crafted by the same forces. From cheesy 80’s metal to Nirvana induced emotism’, it’s all down hill. Music has evolved into a show. The popular bands probably don’t belong there because many of the lesser-known bands or songs or the ones’ with the better musicianship. It’s a trap. It rewards exposure, not skill. A game of chance. Much like the publishing industry, sadly.
The pros are that the main culture is breaching, and the smaller cultures are getting larger. The pop culture’s tolerance creed thankfully extends itself to all cultures in the best of circumstances and if your tired of Linkin Park, you can listen to Sonata Arctica. So the pros are indeed, that unlike in the 90’s, the world isn’t totally controlled by the million dollar starlets and talk-show hosts. At least, back then it seemed it was…
Being of the pop culture is following the crowd, conformism, and not thinking for yourself. Fooling yourself into thinking that you can’t decide important decisions for yourself. Maybe you can’t. But the talking heads can’t either.
I’m talking about the “hardcore” pop culture, that isn’t hardcore. That is touchy feely, instead of compassionate, and the harbingers of shallowness.
The pop culture is the oxymoron of praising individuality in a thousand Disney movies and destroying it at the same time with the peer pressure mechanic.
Just a little guy's opinion.
Pop culture is the waves that beat the shore. Every person just another wave, and slowly, by the waves conforming and beating the same place, they reshape the shore. No one act can truly change what is pop; it’s a wide range of variables that can hardly be tracked.
This pattern has been followed for thousands of years, from the masses in Rome looking up to their emperors and the court of their administrations, to Hollywood and Wall Street. We adapt our dress code, musical taste, habits, styles, and morality from them. People we deem more wise then us, even if it’s not justified admiration.
It’s a soup of variables, just waiting to boil over, and recreate the culture. Except those boiling points are few, and only a few times can we safely say one event reinvented “pop” culture. Even fewer that reinvented the masses at large. In fact, there could possibly be none that accomplished that massive feat.
One of the largest recent events to change culture in America would be that of the Hippie revolution. But it didn’t completely change it. A majority of the population didn’t support it even, and the election of Nixon in its height is strong evidence for this fact. Not to mention the revolution just didn’t happen of course, but was the sum of variables which placed a “radical” community together in a small portion of San Francisco. But it can still be safely said that the soup of culture boiled over at that point.
But the events described definitely show how the culture can change and how it does. But in my personal observations, the changes are much more subtle. The change would be to radical, as it was with the Flower Child Revolution, if each time the culture changed, it did so in a buildup that tore down so many other aspects of the old culture.
Now that I’ve established my thoughts on a working of a culture, I’ll do my best to describe our own.
The cons are pretty evident. It’s evidently confused as a whole. The core of it is a cuddly non-threatening eternal “American Idol” show. It remains respectful of communities that it must and if needed, a jab at those that are free targets, if inclined or profit is gained by the action (or a punch line). The core culture is one crafted by media elite and celebrities. Charity and tolerance are preached as a church of faith, and respect and sacrifice is admired. Sounds pretty good.
But the outer core is a wee bit on the darker side, a more threatening presence that condemns those that don’t strictly fall in the standards of its norm. It’s restrictive. Brutally so. Un-progressively so. A stifling presence on the voices of creativity and genius. Debates are called on by talking heads instead of voices of reason. On who can talk the fastest and throw out the fastest jokes. This is probably something though all cultures suffer from.
Strictly speaking, the core isn’t hardcore and the outer core is mean. And of course, the music is terrible.
Pop music is like the rest of the culture, an aspect ruled and crafted by the same forces. From cheesy 80’s metal to Nirvana induced emotism’, it’s all down hill. Music has evolved into a show. The popular bands probably don’t belong there because many of the lesser-known bands or songs or the ones’ with the better musicianship. It’s a trap. It rewards exposure, not skill. A game of chance. Much like the publishing industry, sadly.
The pros are that the main culture is breaching, and the smaller cultures are getting larger. The pop culture’s tolerance creed thankfully extends itself to all cultures in the best of circumstances and if your tired of Linkin Park, you can listen to Sonata Arctica. So the pros are indeed, that unlike in the 90’s, the world isn’t totally controlled by the million dollar starlets and talk-show hosts. At least, back then it seemed it was…
Being of the pop culture is following the crowd, conformism, and not thinking for yourself. Fooling yourself into thinking that you can’t decide important decisions for yourself. Maybe you can’t. But the talking heads can’t either.
I’m talking about the “hardcore” pop culture, that isn’t hardcore. That is touchy feely, instead of compassionate, and the harbingers of shallowness.
The pop culture is the oxymoron of praising individuality in a thousand Disney movies and destroying it at the same time with the peer pressure mechanic.
Just a little guy's opinion.
Oct 29, 2007
An Effort to Show Sincerity
Now normally, I post a "I'm back! Whee!," post and have done with it, right? Not so. Actions speak louder then words, and so I'm writing at least three posts post-"I'm Back! Whee!" tonight to really push myself back on the blogging bus. I just hope I don't forget my lunch. Or worse yet, get bullied out of it. Hate when that happens. Good thing I got my dew. I can last days on a pack of dews. A chug, chug here, a chug, chug there... "E" "I" "E" "I" "O"! Everywhere... everywhere... a chug, chug, and I'm good to go. And yes, the dew was wholly responsible for this starting paragraph. I plead the fifth, as I imagine me, the defendant taking the stand in a legal proceeding, and squeaking, "the Dew made me do it!"
I would leap in right, to some hard issues writing, in this post... but... for a more serious post on my perceptions on certain ideas or issues, I want a better title, especially for the next post. So I'll recap my literary and life goals. Yeah, that's always rich.
"I want to be a writer! An author!" I screamed it out on the "Anthony Patton & Gary Forester Show" and I'll say it again here. More on that little episode in the posts ahead. But anyway, time for a super recap of how I got here, which is pretty much the tale of my leap into existence, at least for little old me.
Three or four years ago I believe, I got this weird idea I wanted to be a writer. Or something, who knows, I was a weird kid. And yes, four years senior does allow me to comment from a different perspective on younger days. Eleven to fifteen is a huge maturity gap. And for me, a huge height gap.
Anyway, I'm horrible at spelling, penmanship, and grammar. Or I was. So I believe the first thing I wrote was about three pages of something about rabbits... yeah, I was a weird kid. Of course, it was total trash, so then I wrote some more things, as in a few pages that were at the *most*, utter dribble. I was twelve at the most bout' then, so I don't give myself too much of a hard time though. These little escapades though made me realize how bad my spelling and such was, which is a good thing, and really helped with my understanding of the English language. Made me hate it a lot more. For quite awhile I was pursuing the guitar, and music, as a career choice. Bad choice. I love the guitar though, and practice everyday now... So back then I think I officially swapped out my destiny.
So then I started on a story set in 42 AD. about two Celtic tribes duking it out, with Romans in the mix. Ah... sweet naive days, indeed... that was when I really started getting more interested though in writing, because it was an actual plot, for one. So anyway, first draft was... really bad. Second draft? Bad. I continued that for quite some time, perhaps a year or more, off and on. Good practice even though it was lacking in every single aspect imaginable. All this after I realized, you had to be a pro to make it in the music industry. Plus, I could never pull off power cords. Dang. I can now though. WHEEE!
By that time, my skills were kinda shaping up... barely passable? I wisely sacrificed this "Celtic" story though, after working to about half way through. And I also knew I always wanted to write fantasy. I think back then, I was wonder the impression that stories didn't need plots, or something, because it was pretty light in that area, speaking of the fantasy project I started shortly after the Celtic one.
So right. Here I was, fourteen, August 2006, writing a novella. About some band of youths aiding a village in the defense against the evil dude o' normal-stock villain. I wrote on that August-February. Then I callously abandoned it. Or so it seemed. I've said it in other posts, it's not dead, I just *had* to give it up due to the evolution of my writing abilities. I go back and read some... and cringe, for it's written badly, and the plot is cliche' to the point of drawing tears. I can't let that slip. I have ideas for it though. Like, adding plot. What good ol' "Main Project 1" taught me above all else, is how to *avoid* bad things. Uninteresting characters, pigeon-hole plots, and how to write bad scenes. I owe a lot to it's demise. Current demise. It'll be reborn, in a new form, like a rising Phoenix... rise'n from the ash of status quo and worse. Phoenix's are cool.
I casually call Main Project 1 "Bob". And I must say... Bob will be back, better then ever... oh yes, Bob will... be back... Don't ask what I call Main Project 4 (Yes, I'm up to four, but that's because I'm an idea freak, and not a finisher, and mind you, 4 is nothing more then hordes of collected ideas and a few paragraphs) all the other three though exist in substantial form though... to bad 1 and 2 need so much work.
Zoom to March, 2007. Actually... back a little. January was a good month for me. Back to other things... "Main Project 2"... It spanned from March-July 2007. Sadly it was doomed to failure. A task I couldn't complete due to it's expansive nature. It originally was just like thirty pages I was doing for kicks... but it spiraled into two-hundred p's. Got big. (Point at self, *idea freak*) It was a better plot and it pushed MP1 out of the way, for the better perhaps. MP2 taught me a lot... like how to write. Methods to use, plot hooks, interesting characters, more epic scenes. It's a full draft now. Or 90% draft. But it needs work. Everything does when your learning. You gotta polish things, and I didn't have the patience or something to do it... but that's what I tell myself. The truth is that it was more trouble then it was worth. It wasn't good. It wasn't worth reading. That's a vital part of a story. It will be completed however, and I already, like MP1, have lots of ideas how to improve it. It's a sure fire "one day, done" though because the events need to be told for other projects.
I stopped writing those two projects, because it had to be done. It was the evolution of my own skills, mind, and self. And I can honestly say, what I'm doing now is much more important then them. Books are like kids... you always burn the first batch. Sometimes the second, even.
"Onward! Press forth! To the Future I Go!" My anthem in a time of confusion. I picked up a load of writing books one night, and read em'. Turning point in my little life. The concepts instilled into me and I realized... everything? I sat down that night and typed up a shorty called "Ring" about two assassins. It was okay. I think. I mean the plot was skimpy, and some of the interactions were bad, but the writing... it was semi-good. It was coherent. Turning point.
I've changed so much in the last few months that it startles me. Just the whole plate seems to have been given, not the crumbs and I find myself making far less mistakes then before. To which I fully attribute to God, and my good friends, like you reader, who've given me an example to strive towards. Prideful to say it yes, but I just like myself better now. *Trip* Dang pride... seems though I can tackle whatever needs to be done. Kinda.
So that night, after reading up on writing, I launched a template. Three short stories, a compilation of sorts, that sampled content from the fantasy setting I had been working on for nearly two years, and had drastically changed twice, now coming into it's third change, thanks to this compilation. The original stories were "Ring", "?The Crimson Advantage?", and "The Dimiduim Ordeal". I'm not really sure what story two's name was... I think it was the crimson advantage... dumb name. Ring was done, and I started that night on whatever story two's name was at the time. Opening with the iconic lines, everyone has to love... "The man smiled as he washed the blood from his hands." Yeah, doesn't get any sweeter then that! I finished it. One month later. And my goodness... I liked it. It was a revelation that I could actually enjoy something I wrote. Good deal. I also changed it's name quite quickly from whatever it had been, to "For the Sake of Revenge." But that's taken by a really good Sonata Arctica song (About a relationship gone bad) so I had to change it. With a few tinkering switches, "For This Reason of Vice" was born. Nice ring, eh?
It told an original story, with an interesting main character, and an adulterer that you couldn't help but sympathize with. At least I did... but I'm biased. Because I'm it's author, not because I'm an adulterer mind you. :P Like I said a few posts back, email me for a copy. Tell me what you think. For any that got an early version, I've updated it *meaningfully* twice. Good deal...
So with something I deemed *decent* under my belt, I launched forth. My first strike? Ring. It died. Bitterly... muwahwahuh! I replaced it with another story, "The Beast", guess what it's about? I changed it to, "The Beasts", more recently, and then I actually changed the name again, because I thought it was too... quasi-dramatic. Thus, "Faux Pas", was born. Everyone probably knows this, but Faux Pas denotes a social blunder. Awesome. I'm 3/4 done that know. Busy, busy. The third story, "The Dimiduim Ordeal", didn't turn out well, I was almost done it, but decided to abandon it because of it's weakness. "Severed From My Sunrise Confessed Angel", was born, or SFMSCA. It needed a big ol' name because it's events are substantially more epic in size. Notice the progression, short to long, with the names. Their scope enhances with each story as well. From lone seeker, to public figure, to political engineer. Just gotta make story three *epic* enough so that it isn't undeniably cheesy. Maybe it already is... I have a hard time detecting the "cheese factor" in titles and words, sometimes.
So that's the literary tale of the last few years. I'm very much concentrated on finishing these stories, the compilation actually, by New Years time. Which also happens to be when I'm aiming on graduation of high school via the path of the GED. I've really set myself up to be ready for it by the end of the year, and that's made me quite the happier person. With such feats under my belt, compilation, and GED, my options will be quite open. My main focus is to get a job here in Folsom, which is, yes, legal at my age. I need to start raking in the cash.
Good bye folks, God bless you, and thank you for reading.
I would leap in right, to some hard issues writing, in this post... but... for a more serious post on my perceptions on certain ideas or issues, I want a better title, especially for the next post. So I'll recap my literary and life goals. Yeah, that's always rich.
"I want to be a writer! An author!" I screamed it out on the "Anthony Patton & Gary Forester Show" and I'll say it again here. More on that little episode in the posts ahead. But anyway, time for a super recap of how I got here, which is pretty much the tale of my leap into existence, at least for little old me.
Three or four years ago I believe, I got this weird idea I wanted to be a writer. Or something, who knows, I was a weird kid. And yes, four years senior does allow me to comment from a different perspective on younger days. Eleven to fifteen is a huge maturity gap. And for me, a huge height gap.
Anyway, I'm horrible at spelling, penmanship, and grammar. Or I was. So I believe the first thing I wrote was about three pages of something about rabbits... yeah, I was a weird kid. Of course, it was total trash, so then I wrote some more things, as in a few pages that were at the *most*, utter dribble. I was twelve at the most bout' then, so I don't give myself too much of a hard time though. These little escapades though made me realize how bad my spelling and such was, which is a good thing, and really helped with my understanding of the English language. Made me hate it a lot more. For quite awhile I was pursuing the guitar, and music, as a career choice. Bad choice. I love the guitar though, and practice everyday now... So back then I think I officially swapped out my destiny.
So then I started on a story set in 42 AD. about two Celtic tribes duking it out, with Romans in the mix. Ah... sweet naive days, indeed... that was when I really started getting more interested though in writing, because it was an actual plot, for one. So anyway, first draft was... really bad. Second draft? Bad. I continued that for quite some time, perhaps a year or more, off and on. Good practice even though it was lacking in every single aspect imaginable. All this after I realized, you had to be a pro to make it in the music industry. Plus, I could never pull off power cords. Dang. I can now though. WHEEE!
By that time, my skills were kinda shaping up... barely passable? I wisely sacrificed this "Celtic" story though, after working to about half way through. And I also knew I always wanted to write fantasy. I think back then, I was wonder the impression that stories didn't need plots, or something, because it was pretty light in that area, speaking of the fantasy project I started shortly after the Celtic one.
So right. Here I was, fourteen, August 2006, writing a novella. About some band of youths aiding a village in the defense against the evil dude o' normal-stock villain. I wrote on that August-February. Then I callously abandoned it. Or so it seemed. I've said it in other posts, it's not dead, I just *had* to give it up due to the evolution of my writing abilities. I go back and read some... and cringe, for it's written badly, and the plot is cliche' to the point of drawing tears. I can't let that slip. I have ideas for it though. Like, adding plot. What good ol' "Main Project 1" taught me above all else, is how to *avoid* bad things. Uninteresting characters, pigeon-hole plots, and how to write bad scenes. I owe a lot to it's demise. Current demise. It'll be reborn, in a new form, like a rising Phoenix... rise'n from the ash of status quo and worse. Phoenix's are cool.
I casually call Main Project 1 "Bob". And I must say... Bob will be back, better then ever... oh yes, Bob will... be back... Don't ask what I call Main Project 4 (Yes, I'm up to four, but that's because I'm an idea freak, and not a finisher, and mind you, 4 is nothing more then hordes of collected ideas and a few paragraphs) all the other three though exist in substantial form though... to bad 1 and 2 need so much work.
Zoom to March, 2007. Actually... back a little. January was a good month for me. Back to other things... "Main Project 2"... It spanned from March-July 2007. Sadly it was doomed to failure. A task I couldn't complete due to it's expansive nature. It originally was just like thirty pages I was doing for kicks... but it spiraled into two-hundred p's. Got big. (Point at self, *idea freak*) It was a better plot and it pushed MP1 out of the way, for the better perhaps. MP2 taught me a lot... like how to write. Methods to use, plot hooks, interesting characters, more epic scenes. It's a full draft now. Or 90% draft. But it needs work. Everything does when your learning. You gotta polish things, and I didn't have the patience or something to do it... but that's what I tell myself. The truth is that it was more trouble then it was worth. It wasn't good. It wasn't worth reading. That's a vital part of a story. It will be completed however, and I already, like MP1, have lots of ideas how to improve it. It's a sure fire "one day, done" though because the events need to be told for other projects.
I stopped writing those two projects, because it had to be done. It was the evolution of my own skills, mind, and self. And I can honestly say, what I'm doing now is much more important then them. Books are like kids... you always burn the first batch. Sometimes the second, even.
"Onward! Press forth! To the Future I Go!" My anthem in a time of confusion. I picked up a load of writing books one night, and read em'. Turning point in my little life. The concepts instilled into me and I realized... everything? I sat down that night and typed up a shorty called "Ring" about two assassins. It was okay. I think. I mean the plot was skimpy, and some of the interactions were bad, but the writing... it was semi-good. It was coherent. Turning point.
I've changed so much in the last few months that it startles me. Just the whole plate seems to have been given, not the crumbs and I find myself making far less mistakes then before. To which I fully attribute to God, and my good friends, like you reader, who've given me an example to strive towards. Prideful to say it yes, but I just like myself better now. *Trip* Dang pride... seems though I can tackle whatever needs to be done. Kinda.
So that night, after reading up on writing, I launched a template. Three short stories, a compilation of sorts, that sampled content from the fantasy setting I had been working on for nearly two years, and had drastically changed twice, now coming into it's third change, thanks to this compilation. The original stories were "Ring", "?The Crimson Advantage?", and "The Dimiduim Ordeal". I'm not really sure what story two's name was... I think it was the crimson advantage... dumb name. Ring was done, and I started that night on whatever story two's name was at the time. Opening with the iconic lines, everyone has to love... "The man smiled as he washed the blood from his hands." Yeah, doesn't get any sweeter then that! I finished it. One month later. And my goodness... I liked it. It was a revelation that I could actually enjoy something I wrote. Good deal. I also changed it's name quite quickly from whatever it had been, to "For the Sake of Revenge." But that's taken by a really good Sonata Arctica song (About a relationship gone bad) so I had to change it. With a few tinkering switches, "For This Reason of Vice" was born. Nice ring, eh?
It told an original story, with an interesting main character, and an adulterer that you couldn't help but sympathize with. At least I did... but I'm biased. Because I'm it's author, not because I'm an adulterer mind you. :P Like I said a few posts back, email me for a copy. Tell me what you think. For any that got an early version, I've updated it *meaningfully* twice. Good deal...
So with something I deemed *decent* under my belt, I launched forth. My first strike? Ring. It died. Bitterly... muwahwahuh! I replaced it with another story, "The Beast", guess what it's about? I changed it to, "The Beasts", more recently, and then I actually changed the name again, because I thought it was too... quasi-dramatic. Thus, "Faux Pas", was born. Everyone probably knows this, but Faux Pas denotes a social blunder. Awesome. I'm 3/4 done that know. Busy, busy. The third story, "The Dimiduim Ordeal", didn't turn out well, I was almost done it, but decided to abandon it because of it's weakness. "Severed From My Sunrise Confessed Angel", was born, or SFMSCA. It needed a big ol' name because it's events are substantially more epic in size. Notice the progression, short to long, with the names. Their scope enhances with each story as well. From lone seeker, to public figure, to political engineer. Just gotta make story three *epic* enough so that it isn't undeniably cheesy. Maybe it already is... I have a hard time detecting the "cheese factor" in titles and words, sometimes.
So that's the literary tale of the last few years. I'm very much concentrated on finishing these stories, the compilation actually, by New Years time. Which also happens to be when I'm aiming on graduation of high school via the path of the GED. I've really set myself up to be ready for it by the end of the year, and that's made me quite the happier person. With such feats under my belt, compilation, and GED, my options will be quite open. My main focus is to get a job here in Folsom, which is, yes, legal at my age. I need to start raking in the cash.
Good bye folks, God bless you, and thank you for reading.
Back... Again, and Planning On Staying
I'm back! WHEEE!!! From where you ask? Why, from my busy, busy, life, which is becoming more orderly, and thanks to such, I am able to post again. Plus I beat Halo 3... so that freed me up.
I've been really wanting to post for months now, ideas just popping in and out before I've had time to pen em' down, so another main objective is to not lose any of my perceptions by the destruction of time. So I figure I'll write em' here. Like a normal person.
Yes, I know, only a cold cynic would call me normal. Notice I said *like* normal, i.e one who has some semblance of normalcy. Self-proclaim in the method of saying it, I do consider myself to fit that bill.
On with the posting. Just gotta grab a dew... it's getting pretty late, and I sense my dew stream thinning with the resurgence of blood within my system. Pesky blood cells.
I've been really wanting to post for months now, ideas just popping in and out before I've had time to pen em' down, so another main objective is to not lose any of my perceptions by the destruction of time. So I figure I'll write em' here. Like a normal person.
Yes, I know, only a cold cynic would call me normal. Notice I said *like* normal, i.e one who has some semblance of normalcy. Self-proclaim in the method of saying it, I do consider myself to fit that bill.
On with the posting. Just gotta grab a dew... it's getting pretty late, and I sense my dew stream thinning with the resurgence of blood within my system. Pesky blood cells.
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