Monday, July 26, 2010

Green $U₵¢£$$ - Chapter 3

For some reason I find this chapter a little boring and the Copyright only allows for "minor" changes... but maybe I find it boring because I've read it a million times...

(c) Copyright 2010 Andrew Taraba All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, montanization or reproduction is punishable by law. Copyright provided via Legal Zoom. Remove this after final publication.



Chapter 3

- Confrontation



"Imagination is so much different from reality, yet it's impact on reality is far greater than we could ever imagine...."


The morning sun shined on the trees. Glowing comets of dew dripped to the dirt. A light air made the leaves shiver in the trees.


An old man woke up and smelled the fresh air, a tear came to his eye. He sat up against what looked like wall made of cardboard. "Not again!” He searched around the area, under the newspaper and behind the dumpster. Footsteps from behind, he turned around, "Sir? Have you seen my house? I'm sure I left it on top of me last night!" The man lifted an eyebrow then continued walking...


"I hate sleeping on the ground!" Long said rubbing his back. "A stuffed animal would make sleeping much more comfortable!"

Mark turned around, his smile turned into a more serious shape, "You gotta help me man! I need to raise enough money to pay the fine or my dad's going to jail!"

"Yet another child must pay for the mistake of a parent..."

"What?"

"Oh nothing--" Long stopped as Luke showed up.

"Uh, Mark there's something I need to tell you." Luke said.

"He found out about Mark's dad?" Long asked himself. "I don't recall telling him about it."

Luke opened his mouth and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Mark. I should have told you earlier..."
Mark looked around, Long held his breath and Andrew shrugged, he looked back at Luke.

"Uh... This guy right here... is Matt!" Luke said as a boy with black hair, ragged shirt and tattered pants walked from behind. "He's the guy that plays guitar!"

Long almost fell out of his seat. Luke pushed Andrew over and Matt sat down.

"So this is Matt huh?" Mark smiled. "Hey Matt, by any chance, did your band play out in the streets last night?"

"Huh? No, why?"

"Well on my way back from the grocery store, I saw this band playing really nice music. When I looked over to see how much money was in the guitar case I jumped at the sheer sight!"

"What! How much money did they get?" Matt leaned closer.

Mark leaned a little closer and whispered, "Nothing!" He started cracking up. Matt looked down. "Welcome to our table!" Mark grinned.

"Hey my name's Long, Nice to meet you!"

"Oh thanks!" Matt said. "Nice table you got here, so that's Mark and uh, who's that guy?" Matt pointed over to Andrew who was eating alone at the edge of the table.

"Don't mind him..." Mark said, "His name's Andrew, he just follows us because he has no friends... I heard he’s a level zero!"

Matt started laughing, “A zero?”

“By the way Long’s a level three!” Luke said, “two more levels and he gets to go to the upper town schools!”

“I’ve been trying my best!” Long replied, “I just wana leave this damn town.”

“And I’m still a level one...” Matt laughed.

“Me too!” Mark said.

“If I ever make it, I’ll be sure to let you guys move in... They have huge houses up there! Could probably fit two or three families...”

“Well you better study more!” Luke spoke.

“I’m not your slave!”

"Oh! Guys I saw something weird on my way over here! Some guy walked behind a tree and another guy was waiting, and he handed the other guy a bag and that guy gave the other guy money!"

"Could you be any more confusing?" Mark laughed, "What was it?"

"I don't know it looked green! I'm going to find out!" Luke said.

"Yeah I saw it too." Matt added. "It looked like maybe forty or fifty bucks!"

"No not that green stuff!" Mark shouted, "The other green stuff!"

"I don't know... but I though you'd at least be a little interested in the fact that some kid has forty or fifty bucks!"

"Maybe that kid was the rich kid!" Mark snapped his finger.

"You really think so?" Luke replied.

"You guys heard about the rich kid too? I guess the rumor's gotten everywhere by now!" Matt laughed.

"We need to get some of that Green Stuff!" Mark shouted.

"We'll find it, sell it and split the money between us!" Luke added.

"Wait, you guys need to give me the money for now..." Mark tilted his head downward.

Luke and Matt started to laugh.

Long jumped in, "No he's serious."

"Selfish huh?" Luke laughed. "Sure you can have all the money!"

"Wait..." Mark made a sad face, "You don't understand."

"Yeah, we'll do all the work for you!" Matt and Luke laughed.

Mark hit his fist on the table, "Yesterday my dad got caught stealing from the market and now we have to pay a huge fine!"

Luke stopped, Long paused and Matt sat still. Long made eye movements with Luke and elbowed him. Luke hesitated, "Don't worry Mark... I'll find out what the Green Stuff is... For your dad..." Lunch ended with a ring and everyone went to their classes. "You didn't tell me that was Mark's dad!" Luke puled his hair.

"Just get to class." Long said, "We'll worry about it later..."

"What! This is serious!"

"Get out of here!" Long kicked Luke far to the door of his next class.


The classroom had trash in it. Long watched the paint peel. "Hey buddy you want to see something funny?" He whispered to the boy sitting next to him.

"What?"

"See if I put my foot right here!" Long said putting his foot at the edge of the boy's desk. "And I give a little push!" He pushed the corner and the entire desk crumpled down.

"No! Why'd you do that!" The boy yelled in a panic, "I need to study! You jerk!"

Everyone in class looked at them, "These darn desks always falling apart!" Long announced, before turning back to the boy and whispering, "Oh crap! You need to study? I'm so sorry!" Long helped the boy as quick as possible. He reset the legs and desktop and everything was back to wobbly position again. "There you go! Good as new!" Long said with a thumbs up. "Now go on and study!"

The boy grumpily got back to studying. Long sighed, "That was a close one!"

The instant the tests were passed out, the boy immediately flooded it with answers. "Hey stop laughing!" He whispered to Long.

"Sorry!" Long said covering his mouth. Crawling up the boy's shoulder was a curious eye, and every word the boy wrote down, so did Long. “Level four? Here I come!”


After school Luke spoke with Long. "Why didn't you tell me!" Luke started jumping around. "What are we going to do?"

"Calm down man!" Long started thinking to him self, "Now listen, all we have to do is find the rich kid, ask him for money and help Mark's dad! Then Mark will still be friends and everything will be okay!"

"Yeah, like we'll ever find the rich kid!" Luke said.

"We got close didn't we? What about your bonus? Give it to Mark!" Long replied.

"What? no way! How about I find out about the Green St--" Luke and Long got quiet... Mark stepped to the front of the school followed by Andrew.

"Don't follow me!" Mark shooed Andrew away.

"I have to go to work now." Luke said as he walked off.

"See ya!" Mark smiled and waved at Luke.

Luke shyly waved back, "I'll try to find out about that Green Stuff!" and he started walking faster.

"We need to find that rich kid!" Mark said.

"What should we do?" Long replied.

"We trap him, mug him and be friends with him!" Mark smiled.

"Good idea!" Long laughed.

"Hey wait up!"

Long and Mark both turned around.

Matt ran up to them, "It was nice meeting you guys today! Interesting lunch table, uh, I'll see you tomorrow... And I hope things get better for you Mark!"

"I hope so too!" Mark replied.

"Well I better get home..." Matt ran the opposite direction.

Long and Mark started walking home again. They passed the mountains and mountains of trash. As they walked an old man stopped them, "Do you think you can help me build a new house?"

"Go back to the slums!" Mark shouted, "Before the gang finds you!"

Long looked at Mark, "Gang?"

A small group of dark clothed boys approached them. “So this is the legendary Mark, the Gold Dragon!” One of the boy’s stepped up, “They say you only lost one fight...” He grinned, “That is... Until the market incident!” They all started laughing.

Mark’s fists began to shake. Long spoke, “Do you know these guys?”

“Not in the good way...” Mark replied.

“The Green Gang is growing, Mark, soon they’ll beat us and then... Just like your mother...”

Mark grinned, “They say you can never get bored in this town!” He clapped his fists together. “Watch an learn, Long! This is how you clean the streets!” He charged at them with fists held high....


Andrew pulled out a long, shining sword. "So no more training swords I see?" A young girl spoke.

"Nope!" Andrew replied, and their swords clashed. The sound of metal and sparks echoed as they fought.

"You fight well!" She replied, "Maybe someday the student will be able to surpass the teacher!"

"That day is today!" And Andrew swung his sword and the clash of metal dinged throughout the air. His sword snapped like a broken pencil, metal glistened in the air.

"Hahaha! You think that puny sword can beat mine?" The other persons sword lifted above Andrew's head and she swung it...


Andrew opened his eyes, he saw his hands gripped around a broken tree branch.

"Oh, I must have been day dreaming again..." He said hitting himself in the head. He dropped the stick and continued climbing up the stairs. At the top of a stair case trees were shaking in the wind. Gaps of light shined through and off the reflections of leaves. A smile crossed his face as he watched a cat stretch its paws across the grass. It layed flat in the sun bleached flower bed and relaxed, "That looks comfy!" He smiled looking down at his raggedy pants and old shoes.

"You stupid shit!" A voice called out.

Andrew's shining smile turned into a frown.

"You left the door unlocked again!" A fat man yelled, "I’ll take this house back if you keep it up!”

Andrew covered the scar on his right hand and walked passed the man.

"In this town everyone will try to steal from us higher ups!"

Andrew turned the golden knob. He ran inside the giant house and slammed the majestic door behind him.

The fat man looked through the door's oval, stained window and saw Andrew running up the stairs. "What a cry baby..." He turned around and stared at the trees, the sun set and the cat. "That kid’s so ungrateful... He doesn't even call me uncle anymore..." Andrew’s uncle marched down the stairs.


The moon shined brightly above the slums. “Thief!” Someone called out. The weak old man closed the lid and smiled, "No one's going to take my house!" He cuddled closely inside a mesh of newspaper, and held up a knife, before slowly drifting to sleep in his torn up cardboard box.


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Green $U₵¢£$$ - Chapter 2

(c) Copyright 2010 Andrew Taraba All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, montanization or reproduction is punishable by law. Copyright provided via Legal Zoom. Remove this after final publication.



Chapter 2

- BS



"why do we sometimes ask questions when we already know the answer?"




The sky was tinted light orange. A loud ring scared the creature off. It took flight from among the trash, leaving a trail of feathers behind. From all directions, people swarmed the school yard, and flooded the streets.


There was a huge commotion in the streets, Long tried to get a closer look. A puddle of blood and two men were fighting in the crowded street.

"You still owe me!" The taller man said. "Give me your ring!"

"It's the last thing I have from my wife!" A foot raised in the air and the tall man kicked the other across the face. They both began punching each other. Before long the a police stormed and the crowd died down. Long resumed his walk home.

He paced through a pillow of trash, instantly he felt his hand almost rip off. "Follow me!" Long was being pulled by the tall, yellow haired, long haired, red jacket wearing, Mark. He glanced back, the police were swarming the streets and talking to people on the sidewalks. "Let's get out of here!" Mark shouted. When they landed at Mark's house they stopped.

"What's happening?" Long sat down on a cardboard box in front of Mark's tiny house.

Mark panted, "That man.... Ever since my dad lost his job... we've been stealing food from the market... I guess they finally caught him..."

"What's going to happen?"

"They'll probably try to fine us, or at least take our valuables..." Mark smiled, "Right now this jacket's the nicest thing I got..."

"I want to help." Long replied.

"Then leave... I don't want you to get caught with me... I've handled things like this before."

"Are you sure?" Long asked.
Mark looked around, the meow of a cat frightened him, "Hurry!"

Long started to run, he peeked back and watched Mark step in his sheet metal and cardboard covered house.

Under the pink clouds lay a neighborhood that looked identical to Mark's, trash strewn about, flat roofed houses covered top to bottom in wood and sheet metal. stepping on the dieing grass, Long trotted over to an old, cracked, wooden door. He stepped inside an even older, broken down house. "What the?" Long stepped over a trail of ants as he walked in his bedroom. He picked the sleeping cat off his chair and pushed him out the hole in the wall. Long sat down at his desk and rested. Starting to fall asleep, Long fell asleep.

The hands on the clock moved drastically, the sound of a slamming door woke Long. The squeaky knob turned and the old hinges screeched as Luke entered the room. He dived in the bed and sunk in the blankets shortly interrupted by Long's voice, "So how was the first day of work?"

Luke closed his eyes, and curled up in a ball. "You know I think I really like it! This one guy came to the story and I caught him stealing food! Well I guess since the store is right next to the slum town anything can happen... The boss gave me a bonus! Isn't that awesome!" Luke smiled waving money in the air.

Long's jaw dropped. He clenched his fists. "Yeah... that's awesome..."

“He gave me five bucks!" And Luke left the room.


"Don't tell your mother what I did, Mark!"

"She's dead dad..." Mark and his dad were sitting in their tiny house. "It's getting hot, dad, do you want me to open the vent?"

"Please..."

Mark pushed a piece of cardboard. Behind, was a hole in the wall and the cool air was sucked in. Mark turned around and so did his dad when from the front door came several knocks. "Mark go to the grocery store, I'll take care of things."

"Got it!" Mark crawled out the hole and his dad prepared to answer the front door.

"Make sure you get some good food! Don't get caught!"

Mark laughed, "Don't worry I'm an expert! Sushi?"

"They have that?"

"I wish!"


Long's head was dripping wet, he turned off the hose and walked back to his over sized box of a house. A fresh, chilled breeze blew and dry leaves whisked across the tiny, weed infested back yard. The full moon shone brightly in the night sky. Everything was peaceful, everything was calm. Long could hear the slight sound of festivities off in the distance. "The moon festival?" He asked him self, he walked inside his room.

The moonlight peeked through the window. Luke was snoring loudly. Long walked beside Luke and whispered, "Don't get too comfortable, Tomorrow I get the bed!" Then Long unfolded a blanket, squished a spider and finally bent down and stretched out on the cold, tough surface of the floor. He closed his eyes, opened them again and stared up at the dark moon lit ceiling. He started daydreaming and his eyes closed. "I wonder what the rich kid's mansion is like..." He started thinking of mansions and beautiful houses and a smile crossed face... And before he knew it, he was fast asleep...

Green $U₵¢£$$ - Chapter 1

Green $U₵¢£$$ - Chapter 1

Why am I posting this? Because I can, because it's copyrighted and because this is probably the most attention and publicity it will ever get... honestly... So enjoy! (The indents are messed up... I tried to fix it but Blogger reverts them to default margins)


(c) Copyright 2010 Andrew Taraba. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, montanization or reproduction is punishable by law. Copyright provided via Legal Zoom. Remove this after final publication.




If one's voice is not heard, has a word ever been spoken?




Chapter 1

- Beginning to an End


The sun filtered through the window. His left hand thumbed at his lip while his right played with the warm, sun bleached carpet. As he stared outside, glistening waters and beautiful scenery appeared. The sand was hot and bright in the mid-day sun and the palm tree cast a deep inviting shadow that cooled the sand to ice. There were people playing and laughing. The boy smiled brightly as he stood up and looked at the shady tree...

He forced open his eyes and the trees faded away, the warmth settled down, and he was now staring at a lonely patio and a filthy, crumbling brick wall... He held tightly to one of the fibers he had pulled from the carpet. Slowly, he loosened his grip and let it slip from his fingers. It splashed into an ocean of carpet and sunk deep between the fibers. An image of a bright, glistening ocean appeared before the carpet but the boy tried to hold back. He looked up and clenched his fists till his fingernails dug in. He spoke quietly him self, "I can't do this any more! It's time to grow up, it's time to live in the real world!" and this young boy's name was Long...



6 years later....



"Look at this place, it's covered in trash!"
"Tell me something I don't know..."
Long was sitting at a lunch table on a school campus that was covered in trash.
"Hey Andrew scoot over will you?"
"Huh? Oh sorry..." a boy with long hair moved over and let a yellow haired guy sit down.
"Uh... Hey Andrew, could you scoot over one more time?" Another smiling boy asked.

Andrew scooted over again, he was now sitting the farthest away.

"Hey Mark, hear about what happened last night?" Long asked the yellow haired boy. "At the slum town a man spent the day stacking boxes until he made a tower. During the moon festival he gathered everyone around for his show, then he climbed to the top. He looked around at all the people watching him and then he dived off. He died and the festival continued without him..."

Mark put his hand against his face, "Do you have any good news?" He sighed.
"Well yesterday my little brother Luke finally got hired!"
"Are you serious! My dad couldn't even get hired!" Mark turned to the second boy who had asked Andrew to scoot over.
"I heard no one cleaned the body yet." Luke said.
Mark sighed, "Where's the good news?"
"I heard there's a shortage of food in the slums." Long said.
"Let's just talk about something else..."

Luke took a deep breath, "Even I was surprised when I first found out the store could actually afford to hire me."

"It's because that store has beer!" Mark started laughing, "The rich and poor people will always have one thing in common, a love for beer!"

"We'll be saving up our money! When get enough we can finally leave this trash ridden toilet, worthless giant piece of annoying shi--"
"Okay we get it!" Mark started laughing, "I feel the same way about this horrible town..."
"Hey! Where's Matt?" Luke asked.
"Who's Matt?" Mark pushed a blade of golden hair back between his eyes.
"You don't remember Matt? The guy who has a guitar?"

"I don't recall..." Mark looked around the table and at Andrew who was isolated from the conversation. "I'm kind of sick of having more guys sitting at this table, does anyone know girls who would sit with us?"

“Hey boys!”

“Whoa! Look at those cute girls!” Luke’s face shines with happiness!

“Wait Luke!” Mark tried to stop him.

“So how about we go for a walk?” Luke’s eyes were bigger than his mouth.

“Uh?” The two girls slowly backed away before they took off running.

“Great your ugly face scared them off!” Mark brushed his long, gold hair in the wind, “Next time let me do the talking!” Mark gazed out upon a crowd of girls talking and laughing. "What do you suppose their talking so happily about? What is there to be happy about?"

"Maybe their talking about the rich kid!" Luke added.

"The rich kid?" Mark replied.

"Yeah, they say he wears ripped up clothes and torn up shoes but his secret is that he lives in the Land Lord Mansions! And best of all he goes here! To this school!"

"I heard about him too!" Long said, "They say he has more money than everyone in this town combined!"
“Well that’s not much...” Mark added.
“As much mountains of cash as we have mountains of trash!” Luke replied.

"Now that’s a lot of money!” Mark jumped, “I'd sure like to meet this kid. Maybe then we could actually afford clothes without holes!" His red jacket glittered with tears and holes.

"Then we can have less cardboard on the walls and more wood!" Luke replied. "Why do you think he keeps it a secret?"
"Because then people would beat him up and ask for money! I would!" Mark laughed.

Long replied, "I was thinking we should---"

The lunch bell rang, the commotion of the crowd grew, and the passing hustle and bustle filled the air. Long turned around, "I..." He stopped as he noticed the only friend left at the table was Mark... "I had an idea...." Long said looking down.
Mark smiled as he got up, "I want to meet this rich kid!" And they both left the table.

The bombastic eyes of Andrew stared, he was still sitting at the table and he started looking around him. For the first time he spoke, "What just happened? Was I day dreaming again?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, the surrounding crowd shrunk until all that remained were mountains and mountains of trash. Andrew sat at the table alone, the entire campus was quiet. "This place... I already know what to do..." The orange sky looked down on him while he walked around school and picked up bits of trash.

"Hey you! Get to class!" A man grabbed Andrew's hand but he jumped out of his clutch. Andrew flew to the ground and grabbed tightly to his right hand. Running from the back of his middle finger down to his wrist was an "S" shape scar. "Uhh..." The man hesitated, "Did I hurt you?" The scar was on both sides of his hand.

Andrew held tightly to his hand with one eye opened, "Don't worry about it." He stood up.

"You need to get back to class... Why were you out here?"

"Oh don't mind me, I'll get back to class." Andrew walked off clutching his right hand. The old man bent down and picked up the piece of trash Andrew had left, he tossed it back into one of the many mountains of trash...

Monday, July 19, 2010

Many Ways....

...it's been a long time, I almost forgot about this website....

What makes a story more interesting that just the plot is where the plot is going... It's the story teller's job to hint to as much possibilities as possible in terms of where the story could be headed, while only sticking to the best...

Simply having a story that leads straight forward from beginning to end is very boring... and having a story where there is no indication to where it could lead is also not a great idea... Good story telling relies on the fact that the reader or viewer is constantly interaction with he story and thinking about it, that is the definition if interest and entertainment....

Pour your heart out into your story, but make sure your heart isn't boring, because sadly, in this world even if you put your deepest emotions on the paper, if it's not interesting or entertaining, the reader won't bother...

Friday, July 9, 2010

Just an Update

Andrew from my novel "Green Success" he is known for his disabled right hand, which is why he never fights back in a fight, but also because he used to be right handed, he is now left handed and ever since, his drawings and writings have never been quite as artistic as they used to be... this is an important factor to the story because every time he get's into a fight he will never fight back, and the past event pertaining to the disablement of his right hand is a key element which will drive the story to the ending... - Andrew T. (c) 2009 Green Success


I've been watching CLANNAD, one of my most favorite anime's of all time... and it really got me doing some major changes to my story...

as I re-read it I realized some important things. The biggest: Everything in my story, every even and every conversation could easily be summarized in a few paragraphs... WHICH IS NOT GOOD!!!

I realized my entire novel was the equivalent to about three anime episodes, just stretched out to about 25 chapters... and that wasn't good, I wanted to maximize the density of my story, have so much things happen that the reader would be forced to re-read it again just to capture everything. I also wanted to generalize my imagery to I'm not hand feeding the reader every bit of detail. I only left the major details like the scar on Andrew's RIGHT hand, and during the emotional scenes, I always make sure to mention that the sky is blazing orange!

Basically if I made a line where the straighter the line the less events and things are going on, my old version of the story would be almost completely straight, while this new version is completely tangled.

I only fixed up the first few chapters though, so I still have a long way, but luckily I am sticking to the original main story line, I"m just adding side stories and events and turning the plot line in many directions but in the end it will lead to the same ending as the original... just in a more fun and exciting way!

I've improved my sentences as well, by using "proper grammar" stuff, I've added many different sentence types and words and things to keep the reader interested, so every adjective isn't just "the" and every time a character talks, it isn't just "He said" , it would be more like, "He yelled, 'Thief!'" or "She yawned, 'why does the moon have to hide tonight?'"

So that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks... and also since it is the beginning of summer I"ve been partying a whole bunch! But now that every thing's finally settled down I can get back to work... which is a bad thing, DON't TAKE HUGE BREAKS FROM YOUR STORIES!!!! I've increased the density of my story so much and I've taken such long breaks that I completely forget where I am or what's happening in the story so I have to re-read and it may take a day or two just to absorb all the info before I"m ready to continue....

Here's just some inspirational links to songs that I listen to when I work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yAritJDKDs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QguA_qEEpkw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1Pl1kmnh4


So good luck to anyone writing a story out there... I"ve completely dropped the idea of ever getting popular.... when I first started writing that was my goal... but now I realize two things:

1, I will most likely never get popular

and 2

My story has to be something I will pour my heart out to, not some cheezy lame American entertainment where all they want is profit... I'm going to write about what my heart truly feels and I will pour out all my emotions and feelings into this one story and if it becomes popular then "YES!" but if it doesn't , then for the few who read it, all I ask is that they are moved, changed and even inspired by it....

I'll be blogging whenevr I feel like it... good day! and God Bless!