Generally, I don't do poetry, because I don't understand or enjoy it very much. But we had to do the poetry project last year, and I was sort of fond of these, so I thought I'd post them.
The first is about Virth, from my story Hearts of the Innocent, which you should all read. It's about...well, it's kind of complicated. There are these people called the Ageless who are sort of a curse and...it's actually Sleeping Beauty, but there's a lot more going on...jumping into people's hearts and such...
Vivid memories grace his brow
In his land of grey stone and
Rock, where he waits for a
Tomorrow that depends on his
Heart
And the next one is about my other story that I finished a while ago, Golden Sands. It's kind of about the climax and Tahir and Xavia's (supposed) last moments together and such...
In Just-
two minutes
everything might be gone
buried under the long wide
desert but-
righthererightnow it's notit'snotit'snot
In just-
now we're here
under the sapphire ocean-calm sky and the
golden sand upon golden sandupongoldensandupon
And we are here
Together
Though we must part and
everything might fade and I must-
no-
die
For only you
In just-
this moment
And this one...is just random. Make what you will out of it.
It is still raining.
It always rains here, does it not?
Perhaps, but—
No. There was a season—
It was golden.
She was lovely.
He was a—
Foreign stranger
King and sovereign
Beast.
She was dancing
Through the forest
When she came upon a—
Bush of berries
Wondrous palace
Fort.
She dreamed a dream
He wished a wish, but—
Things came between
He didn't know her
Wouldn't listen
Pig-headed, I say.
That was when—
He disappeared
She ran away
The sword was at her throat, when—
Splat!
Drop of water through the roof
Get a bucket, quick!
It is still raining.
It rains here—
All the time.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
P&P&Z
So I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'd give it a two out of five star rating. It was an interesting idea, adding zombies to the classic tale, and I was quite excited to read it. It had several really good lines in it where parts of the actual texts were mixed in with...zombieish things that were rather hilarious, but overall, it just didn't work.
The biggest problem was that the zombies didn't add anything to the story. They were just sort of there as pests that were occasionally dealt with in little side parts that did nothing for the actual book. It made the whole thing seem really choppy. It would roll along with normal Jane Austen stuff, then suddenly Elizabeth goes and kills some zombies, then back to the original plotline. It just didn't mesh. And if you're going to write something like this, it needs to have an AU feel to it...I'm a fanfiction girl, so I'm familiar with this sort of Alternate Universe fic. This is a universe with zombies. So make it matter! The zombies in this did nothing. They were barely involved with the plot. I felt like he just took the book, and then inserted zombie killing and descriptions into random parts.
Also, the characters. They were a lot less likable in this version of the book. The clearest example of this was Elizabeth as a zombie slayer... I really didn't like that. I felt like it could have worked, maybe, if he'd handled it better. As it was, it was just annoying and ridiculous. I realize that the book is supposed to be ridiculous, but really, if she's a trained killer, she's going to keep a cool head about things. Instead, she's always running about wanting to kill anyone who insults her in the slightest. When Darcy first insults at the ball, she wants to cut his throat. It's...really odd. She seems to just have no self control, which she should have a lot of, being trained in the Orient as a warrior. Also, side note: The Orient. I got so sick of hearing about it. She mentions it so many times. It's ridiculous. Whenever anyone says anything about her ability to do such and such, she always replies with how they forget that she trained in the Orient under Master...whatever his name was and blah blah blah. I don't care about the Orient!!! And the other most annoying character changes involved Darcy. He was not really much of a gentleman, in my opinion. He severely beat Georgiana's governess who let her plan to elope with Wickham, and he rendered Wickham lame before making him marry Lydia. That seemed really unnecessary to me. Also, there were some changes in his dialogue, especially towards the beginning with Miss Bingley and such where he wasn't just taciturn, but he was really rude. Most uncharacteristic. Mr. Bennett had some of those moments, too, with his wife, where I really don't think he would have said that.
And finally, the book was just plain boring. As I mentioned, the zombies had no actual effect on the plot, so the majority of it really was just Pride and Prejudice dumbed down, without the hinted sarcasm which was replaced with general rudeness and such. I did not enjoy it very much, which was sad, as it did have potential.
The biggest problem was that the zombies didn't add anything to the story. They were just sort of there as pests that were occasionally dealt with in little side parts that did nothing for the actual book. It made the whole thing seem really choppy. It would roll along with normal Jane Austen stuff, then suddenly Elizabeth goes and kills some zombies, then back to the original plotline. It just didn't mesh. And if you're going to write something like this, it needs to have an AU feel to it...I'm a fanfiction girl, so I'm familiar with this sort of Alternate Universe fic. This is a universe with zombies. So make it matter! The zombies in this did nothing. They were barely involved with the plot. I felt like he just took the book, and then inserted zombie killing and descriptions into random parts.
Also, the characters. They were a lot less likable in this version of the book. The clearest example of this was Elizabeth as a zombie slayer... I really didn't like that. I felt like it could have worked, maybe, if he'd handled it better. As it was, it was just annoying and ridiculous. I realize that the book is supposed to be ridiculous, but really, if she's a trained killer, she's going to keep a cool head about things. Instead, she's always running about wanting to kill anyone who insults her in the slightest. When Darcy first insults at the ball, she wants to cut his throat. It's...really odd. She seems to just have no self control, which she should have a lot of, being trained in the Orient as a warrior. Also, side note: The Orient. I got so sick of hearing about it. She mentions it so many times. It's ridiculous. Whenever anyone says anything about her ability to do such and such, she always replies with how they forget that she trained in the Orient under Master...whatever his name was and blah blah blah. I don't care about the Orient!!! And the other most annoying character changes involved Darcy. He was not really much of a gentleman, in my opinion. He severely beat Georgiana's governess who let her plan to elope with Wickham, and he rendered Wickham lame before making him marry Lydia. That seemed really unnecessary to me. Also, there were some changes in his dialogue, especially towards the beginning with Miss Bingley and such where he wasn't just taciturn, but he was really rude. Most uncharacteristic. Mr. Bennett had some of those moments, too, with his wife, where I really don't think he would have said that.
And finally, the book was just plain boring. As I mentioned, the zombies had no actual effect on the plot, so the majority of it really was just Pride and Prejudice dumbed down, without the hinted sarcasm which was replaced with general rudeness and such. I did not enjoy it very much, which was sad, as it did have potential.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Webcomics and the Campaign for Deeper Thought
So recently, I have become involved with reading webcomics. These are delightful comics posted online with interesting artwork and often very long, intriguing stories. No Rest for the Wicked is a good one, involving several rather fractured fairytales and starring Perrault...as a cat...he's quite the character. But the one I really want to discuss is a webcomic called Hero.
Hero is...stunning, to put it lightly. The artwork is beautiful, a bit off the usual, but gorgeous. And the story...I don't know what to say about the story. It's written in boxes that appear as you move your mouse over the pictures, so it can be a lot longer and have a lot more depth than a lot of comics that just have the words going along with the pictures. And the writing style is beautiful.
It's the story of a boy who lives a fairly normal life, but he has no memory of who he is. Then one day, he goes on a journey and learns about cities and the spaces between them, and people and the spaces between them. I don't want to say too much about it in case any of you read it (which I highly encourage you to do), but it's really intriguing. ...I made an attempt to give more information on things, but I'm kind of bad at summarizing things, so instead I'm just going to include a few quotes and hopefully not get in trouble for it.
"I'm sorry," Valentine says, although the crime he apologizes for is lost in the mists of silence and memory, invisible to me.
"You're not," the Lady says. "Don't change so suddenly, Valentine Liosbri. Saint Valentine the honest; even if it also makes you unspeakably cruel."
"I don't understand," Valentine says. "Would you rather I'd been kind, and false?"
"If you could not have been kind to me," the Lady says, "I wanted to believe that you could not have been kind to anything at all."
Valentine is one of my favorite characters. He's really intriguing.
The closer the ground comes, the more I think of this one possibility: to be invincible, like Valentine and his sister, and never have to worry about what will happen to you, because you will always survive it.
Given the choice, who would not want to be invincible?
"But if you are truly invincible, then you can have nothing," someone once said.
"The more we posess something and the more precious it becomes to us, the more it hurts to lose it. And to be invincible, you cannot be hurt by anything--"
And I remember someone else's reply:
"Being invincible means you can't lose anything."
So basically, I think Hero is amazing, and you should all read it. One thing, though, that you need to keep in mind is that it's a totally different world. I know some people who would protest it because the boy at the beginning lives with a witch, but she's not what you typically think of as a witch and isn't evil, or anything. Also, there's this kind of war between the golems and the demons...but it's not like demons from hell or something, because their god system is way different and strange. What I'm trying to say, more or less, is don't reject it as being evil just because it's different! The demons were humans who are basically invincible, except when they care about things, and they do care about their siblings and friends, and so, it creates some problems, and...it's really interesting.
And so, my rambling there leads into my next point: the Campaign for Deeper Thought! Haha. What I'm getting at here, I guess, is that Hero is really deep, and really made me think and such, hence my talking about it being very confusing and probably not quite understandable. And I want to write deep things too! But I don't think I am...really. And I need to have complex characters. Valentine is super complex. And he sort of reminded me of one of my own characters, Virth, in a way, but lately Virth has been...not very complex. And he's been like doing nothing for a hundred years, so he ought to have some complex thoughts on things or something.
So I've decided to...write deeper. Think harder. Of course, I don't want things to be too much of an ordeal, though, but basically...complex characters! I want to make my characters torn and conflicted and wondering who they are and what they're doing. Which sounds like I just want them to be really confused about life, but that was not really what I meant...I just think that the world, of writing, particularly, could use more Deeper Thought. So...I'm...starting the Campaign? Or I just thought it sounded cool. I'm not totally even sure what I'm trying to say anymore. Maybe just that I was awed by Hero and want to write something cool like that? So that's what I'm trying to do. Without copying it. Just...thinking deeper.
Hero is...stunning, to put it lightly. The artwork is beautiful, a bit off the usual, but gorgeous. And the story...I don't know what to say about the story. It's written in boxes that appear as you move your mouse over the pictures, so it can be a lot longer and have a lot more depth than a lot of comics that just have the words going along with the pictures. And the writing style is beautiful.
It's the story of a boy who lives a fairly normal life, but he has no memory of who he is. Then one day, he goes on a journey and learns about cities and the spaces between them, and people and the spaces between them. I don't want to say too much about it in case any of you read it (which I highly encourage you to do), but it's really intriguing. ...I made an attempt to give more information on things, but I'm kind of bad at summarizing things, so instead I'm just going to include a few quotes and hopefully not get in trouble for it.
"I'm sorry," Valentine says, although the crime he apologizes for is lost in the mists of silence and memory, invisible to me.
"You're not," the Lady says. "Don't change so suddenly, Valentine Liosbri. Saint Valentine the honest; even if it also makes you unspeakably cruel."
"I don't understand," Valentine says. "Would you rather I'd been kind, and false?"
"If you could not have been kind to me," the Lady says, "I wanted to believe that you could not have been kind to anything at all."
Valentine is one of my favorite characters. He's really intriguing.
The closer the ground comes, the more I think of this one possibility: to be invincible, like Valentine and his sister, and never have to worry about what will happen to you, because you will always survive it.
Given the choice, who would not want to be invincible?
"But if you are truly invincible, then you can have nothing," someone once said.
"The more we posess something and the more precious it becomes to us, the more it hurts to lose it. And to be invincible, you cannot be hurt by anything--"
And I remember someone else's reply:
"Being invincible means you can't lose anything."
So basically, I think Hero is amazing, and you should all read it. One thing, though, that you need to keep in mind is that it's a totally different world. I know some people who would protest it because the boy at the beginning lives with a witch, but she's not what you typically think of as a witch and isn't evil, or anything. Also, there's this kind of war between the golems and the demons...but it's not like demons from hell or something, because their god system is way different and strange. What I'm trying to say, more or less, is don't reject it as being evil just because it's different! The demons were humans who are basically invincible, except when they care about things, and they do care about their siblings and friends, and so, it creates some problems, and...it's really interesting.
And so, my rambling there leads into my next point: the Campaign for Deeper Thought! Haha. What I'm getting at here, I guess, is that Hero is really deep, and really made me think and such, hence my talking about it being very confusing and probably not quite understandable. And I want to write deep things too! But I don't think I am...really. And I need to have complex characters. Valentine is super complex. And he sort of reminded me of one of my own characters, Virth, in a way, but lately Virth has been...not very complex. And he's been like doing nothing for a hundred years, so he ought to have some complex thoughts on things or something.
So I've decided to...write deeper. Think harder. Of course, I don't want things to be too much of an ordeal, though, but basically...complex characters! I want to make my characters torn and conflicted and wondering who they are and what they're doing. Which sounds like I just want them to be really confused about life, but that was not really what I meant...I just think that the world, of writing, particularly, could use more Deeper Thought. So...I'm...starting the Campaign? Or I just thought it sounded cool. I'm not totally even sure what I'm trying to say anymore. Maybe just that I was awed by Hero and want to write something cool like that? So that's what I'm trying to do. Without copying it. Just...thinking deeper.
Monday, July 6, 2009
A Catcher Upper
So a lot has happened since my last post, and I feel I should fill you all in. All...three of you who might be reading this? Anyway, last I said, I was...going to my cabin, yes? Alright, to begin there.
I went to my cabin. We put the boats in the lake successfully, except for the little fishing boat, which we just tried to put in today only to find that the motor was not working. What a downer. I also went to town and found that Candyboy is still working, but I'm not totally sure he remembers me. For those of you who don't know, I kind of had a...smiling/waving relationship with this guy who works in a candy store behind a glass wall making peanut brittle. And cashew brittle...anyway, he didn't wave at me. I was sad. I'm not sure what to do to renew our relationship...maybe he just doesn't know if I remember him. Or maybe he wants to terminate our interactions! That would be so sad. He's such a cute boy. I suppose I shall begin smiling at him again. I feel like maybe I should wave, but then if he didn't know who I was...that could be awkward.
Following the cabin, I went to writing camp! It was kind of AMAZING. I met so many cool people. And my teacher...he was awesome. And gorgeous. Haha. He was kind of the most awkward guy ever, but all the (5) girls in my class adored him! And we had the best workshop ever. We had themed workshop days and put our desks into a super close circle (uncomfortably near), which our teacher scooted back from a bit, a smiley face, and an N for his name, Nick. And on the last day we brought juice and candy and cookies.
We also had prom at writing camp, because some of the counselors never attended their high school prom, and they always have a dance party at the end, but this time they decided it would be prom. Our theme was "Boats!" and we played that song...I'm on a boat...and it was pretty epic. We made some nice posters with pictures from the Titanic and Jaws and Peter Pan and various other boat related things. Some guys dressed up like pirates...and one of the guys in my class ended up looking more like Aladdin, but I kind of loved it. I love Aladdin so much, and the guy in my class...was pretty awesome.
I also spent a lot of time considering the symbolism in Sleeping Beauty, discovering the sketchiness of everyone and everything, going on Missions Inscribable, writing poems on the sidewalks with chalk, being proposed to by homeless men, and generally having an awesome time. Oh, and writing too. I'm planning on posting one of my short stories I wrote on here, buut I accidentally deleted part of the file. I have printed copies, but I'll have to retype it, and I don't have those here, (I'm back at the cabin now), but I'll do it eventually.
And in the meantime, I am hanging out on the lakeside. Yesterday I went on an adventure paddling out with a windsurf board with my sister, and we managed to escape our arranged marriages avoid the sea serpents, somehow survive terrifying shark attacks, only to die in the freezing Arctic water in Titanic style and burst into My Heart Will Go On. And then, somehow, we made it back here...haha, yes for kids who never stop playing pretend.
Also, I just read the most horrible book called The Princetta, and I loved it! Well, I was amused by it anyway. Horribly written, with terribly flat characters, but the plot was surprisingly good at points. And I just adore YA fiction whether it's good or not. I prefer good, of course, but if it's bad...that's alright too. YA = love. Now I'm reading a book called Nefertiti which is about a detective in Ancient Egypt trying to find the queen. It's quite intriguing, though a bit heavier reading than The Princetta. Of course, I think anything would be...
Annd, that's about all I have to say for the moment. I know I didn't include any very deep observations or any fiction writing, but I thought I should bring you up to date on my life.
I went to my cabin. We put the boats in the lake successfully, except for the little fishing boat, which we just tried to put in today only to find that the motor was not working. What a downer. I also went to town and found that Candyboy is still working, but I'm not totally sure he remembers me. For those of you who don't know, I kind of had a...smiling/waving relationship with this guy who works in a candy store behind a glass wall making peanut brittle. And cashew brittle...anyway, he didn't wave at me. I was sad. I'm not sure what to do to renew our relationship...maybe he just doesn't know if I remember him. Or maybe he wants to terminate our interactions! That would be so sad. He's such a cute boy. I suppose I shall begin smiling at him again. I feel like maybe I should wave, but then if he didn't know who I was...that could be awkward.
Following the cabin, I went to writing camp! It was kind of AMAZING. I met so many cool people. And my teacher...he was awesome. And gorgeous. Haha. He was kind of the most awkward guy ever, but all the (5) girls in my class adored him! And we had the best workshop ever. We had themed workshop days and put our desks into a super close circle (uncomfortably near), which our teacher scooted back from a bit, a smiley face, and an N for his name, Nick. And on the last day we brought juice and candy and cookies.
We also had prom at writing camp, because some of the counselors never attended their high school prom, and they always have a dance party at the end, but this time they decided it would be prom. Our theme was "Boats!" and we played that song...I'm on a boat...and it was pretty epic. We made some nice posters with pictures from the Titanic and Jaws and Peter Pan and various other boat related things. Some guys dressed up like pirates...and one of the guys in my class ended up looking more like Aladdin, but I kind of loved it. I love Aladdin so much, and the guy in my class...was pretty awesome.
I also spent a lot of time considering the symbolism in Sleeping Beauty, discovering the sketchiness of everyone and everything, going on Missions Inscribable, writing poems on the sidewalks with chalk, being proposed to by homeless men, and generally having an awesome time. Oh, and writing too. I'm planning on posting one of my short stories I wrote on here, buut I accidentally deleted part of the file. I have printed copies, but I'll have to retype it, and I don't have those here, (I'm back at the cabin now), but I'll do it eventually.
And in the meantime, I am hanging out on the lakeside. Yesterday I went on an adventure paddling out with a windsurf board with my sister, and we managed to escape our arranged marriages avoid the sea serpents, somehow survive terrifying shark attacks, only to die in the freezing Arctic water in Titanic style and burst into My Heart Will Go On. And then, somehow, we made it back here...haha, yes for kids who never stop playing pretend.
Also, I just read the most horrible book called The Princetta, and I loved it! Well, I was amused by it anyway. Horribly written, with terribly flat characters, but the plot was surprisingly good at points. And I just adore YA fiction whether it's good or not. I prefer good, of course, but if it's bad...that's alright too. YA = love. Now I'm reading a book called Nefertiti which is about a detective in Ancient Egypt trying to find the queen. It's quite intriguing, though a bit heavier reading than The Princetta. Of course, I think anything would be...
Annd, that's about all I have to say for the moment. I know I didn't include any very deep observations or any fiction writing, but I thought I should bring you up to date on my life.
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