Inspirations

[Images provided and created by who else?]

The most important thing to a story writer is the inspiration....

Whether you're inspired by creation or imaginary things, it's all good!

Take a look at this picture, now what do you see, are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Right now as I gaze at this photo, the first thing that came to mind was how a village of tiny people could be living among the jungle of leaves. (Sound pretty lame right?)

And that's the problem, too many people think of an idea, (it might be great) But often they discourage themselves thinking their ideas are stupid. It might be tough to tackle, but you must be able to defeat your self discouragement, look it straight in the face and slap it!


Now what do you see? Are you imagining how high awesome you can snowboard from tree top to tree top? Or were you thinking about the lake on the other side of the hill? Or were you imagining the moon just inches away from the tree tops as people climb and grab hold of the moon?

Thinking outside the box is another tough on to handle. Just remember,

This is not art, it is an accident! I shook the camera and this is what popped up... Don't expect your accidents to accidentally be good.... because that would be modern abstract art, and what does everybody know about abstract art? (Crapola!)

Don't be afraid to pinch at someone else's plate! They won't notice!






This is Zelda, I like to pick... well pick isn't the word I like to use!

I like to harvest new ideas off the existing ones form Zelda Games. The more I play Zelda, the bigger the tumor of an idea becomes, and soon it becomes big enough to break off. And that's where a new idea comes from...

It's not Stealing, it's "Borrowing"! And consciously or not, everybody does it!

These are my math Notes, and guess what? I actually had fun!

Yes, I had fun during math class, surprised? I was!

Once again, my love for homes, houses, mansions and villages is reflected in my drawings. And that's also where I got the idea for the slums from Green Success:

The Slums is a town where every building is made of cardboard and the residents are dirt poor...

the idea first hatched while I was playing Halo 3 Forge, after stacking random boxes and crates, it started looking like a maze, with tall buildings... and I thought, how cool would this be if it were real... and then the idea was formed! :)


And finally, sometimes you need to sit down and hand draw something that's been on your mind for a while...

The week I drew this picture, I had seen bright lights in the sky near my house, all on the radio they were talking about UFO's and so I was thinking about it for a while, then i decided what it would be like if some girl were taken away by the aliens every night....

but not in the horrific way most would imagine, but in a calm, happy, peaceful way...

So that's where this drawing came about...

but enough about me, I hope this blog, a little different from past blogs, really gives you an idea of what I'm trying to tell you!

Also when you're not driving, look out the window and imagine a skateboarder skating on all the cars and objects as they pass bye.... It's actually quite fun!

- Andrew Taraba

If you liked those pictures, see better ones here:

http://sucky-artist-dude.deviantart.com/

New plans...

Well due to may dis-satisfaction with Green Success, in particular Chapters 3 - 5... I've decided to wipe those completely... My goal is simple, I will re-tell the same story and events, only in a way that saves time...

and also, one thing that makes these specific chapters so boring... THERE'S NO CONFLICT!!!

I loved chapter 2 so much because there was a problem they had to overcome... watching the first episodes of: Soul Eater, Negima, Air, Clannad, Cowboy Bebop, and countless other anime... I've studied them all, and so far, all of them have one thing in common.... a main conflict...

I've reviewed chapters 3 - 5 of Green SUccess, and so far, it's just pure story telling and hinting... with little conflict and really no main conflict...

So that's my goal.. re write these, telling the same story in a more interesting way!

Of course this will probably ruin my copyright as in this is not a minor change...

but who cares, my mom is the one who's in charge of copyright stuff... she's the one who got me the copyright in the first place... saying If I don't publish a novel before I reach 18 or before I graduate college, I'm moving out!

Every logical person knows it's actually better to be a loser living with their parents than a "cool guy" living alone, paying bills and things... most people know it's best to live with your parents as long as possible...

but once I get enough money.. I"m out of there!!!

Is it Appealing?

nostalgic = a feeling of wanting, or being...

When people say they like an anime or a manga, usually it was because it appealed to them... Some people liked Naruto because they think Ninjas are cool...

why do they think Ninjas are cool, many reasons, but the most common is appeal... somewhere in their heart they wished, even for a minute moment, that they could be a ninja, or that the ninjas from Naruto were real...



I'm sure everyone has at least day dreamed or wished for a second that they could spend a day with their favorite anime character or something similar to that... when I was a kid I wished the world was more like a Zelda game, adventure at ever corner, and NO SCHOOL!

... even as we get older we still have those thoughts sometimes, when I watch School Rumble, often I wish real school was like that... School Rumble has appealed to me....

but now as a writer, my writings and stories must appeal to other people too... Which is a pretty hard thing...



so how can I get my writings to appeal to other people?

Well (keep in mind these things are simply my own theories...) the first thing to do is to see who your target is... do you want adults to like your stories or do you want anime fans?

Most popular anime like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, are called "Main Stream" ...

Mainstream is something that appeals to the majority... you wouldn't call a screamo gothic emo anime, main stream, because a happy go lucky girl probably wouldn't want to watch it, it probably wouldn't appeal to her...

however Naruto is considered mainstream because in this time period Ninjas are considered "cool"... lots of people like Ninjas... so it makes sense that this appeals to people...

Twilight is mainstream because vampires are the "big thing" today... that doesn't mean everybody likes it, it just means the majority of people will...

The down side to mainstream is it has to be dumbed down for the majority of people to enjoy, it has to cling on to a gimmick, such as ninjas and vampires, and usually a "mainstream" anime or novel will never be that great, on a critical point of view, mainstream things just aren't that great...



Death Note obviously isn't mainstream, because there a millions of people who hate it... Death isn't appealing to happy happy smile all the time kids... if you look at the Death Note fan base, the majority is made up of emo, goth teenagers... I'm sure the creators would have wanted it to appeal to as many people as possible, but when you write on such "extreme" subjects, you're bound to have haters.... but I personally think Death Note is 10X better than Naruto or Bleach...



Anyways when I was writing Green Success (that title embarrasses me) I definately wanted it to appeal to everyone passable... but now I realize I want to add some edge to it, make it a little more epic and maybe even make it a more serious story... as well, I also wanted it to be considered a "Christian" story, as leading people to Christ is my main goal... so right off the bat, there goes a LOT of appeal... I would be very surprised if my novel ever went mainstream... Well honestly, I'd be surprised if I even sold over 100 copies.... I have to understand who I'm trying to appeal if I want it to appeal...

...When you write a story about blood and vampires, expect it to appeal to vampire fans... expect it to be hated by everyone else...

So I could go on and on about this, but I'll keep this short by using a specific example... Green Success, the story I know the best...

Some of the main "gimmicks" of Green Success I used to try to get some appeal:

Rich People
Huge Mansion
Money
Marijuana
Gangs
Teens who are treated equally to adults
houses made of cardboard
No Parental influence, (parents don't care what the kids do) <--- I like that one!
Characters with high respect by the entire town
Cute Girl who loves you no matter what
Dreams of becoming a Manga artist
Death
Poor Run down Church, but a strong fellowship
Gun violence
Family (Family of people who aren't actually related but still stick together and call themselves a family)

I hope at least one of these things appealed to you... but in order to get someone to fall in love with Green Success, I think it would take more than just one thing to appeal...



So I say, think about your stories, what "gimmicks" have you used and who you want it to appeal to...

I say Gimmick, because in all honesty I purposely chose those things because I knew they would be interesting and appealing things for people to read about...

I guess I could have added Vampires to Green Success. but I wouldn't stoop that low... :P

So think about your stories when you write, if it doesn't even appeal to you, then it probably won't appeal to others...

Just remember these are just my personal theories and ideas... I may be wrong...

..I put little fireballs in my posts because I want it to appeal to lots of people... because most people cant stand looking at a huge blob of words... They like pictures! So do I!

RPG - ing your story, part 2

I actually get less time to think when I'm on vacation like right now... sorry if this is poorly written...

I am a Zelda fanatic, I've been constantly playing their games since I knew about them... Majoras MAsk is my biggest influence for Green Success....

Anyway, I want to talk about a common problem that many writers make, I've been able to observe these problems since I recently joined Wattpad...

The problem? Random Major Events....

Although it sounds silly, this is a big problem that affects the interest level of the book and the direction the reader will be thinking about as they explore the world you have created/written for them...

Usually the first time you write a story, you just write the first thing that comes to mind, which is good, it allows creativity to be at it's peak... but i wouldn't recoment keeping it that way...

Part of enjoying a story is trying to figure out what's going to happen next, often during brain boggling movies and anime, you spend most of your time comprehending and predicting things, subconsciously or consciously... even when playing RPG's like Zelda it's always fun to guess what the boss will be, and usually in most Zelda games the final boss is a bigger version of any minor enemies you meet in the cave...

In Ocorina of Time, the first boss is a giant spider, and throughout the cave you see many massive spider webs... your first thought might not be "The final boss is a giant spider" but it will at least peak the players interest, and in story telling INTEREST is the most important factor... even if you have the greatest ending in the world, if the reader isn't interested they may never get to the end...

Although Random Major events may be interesting sometimes it's usually not good all the time...

HINTING AT EVENTS

RPG: In Zelda games usually you will come across a door with a silver lock on it, instantly you know you need a Small Key... I will call this Specific Hinting... Because the player knows exactly what they need to do/obtain...

In story telling you can specifically hint, even by using the same example, the character is stuck at a locked door, you are hinting he either needs a key or something to break down the door...

If you want a character to die, better to hint towards his death than to have it pop up randomly... In Death Note we know Light Yagami's Father's Death was suprising but when you observe the stpry closely, you realize it was being hinted at... The biggest hint being how Light Yagami's dad halves his life span even though he's already old... And how he hesitates to write Mello's name down and how both the viewer and the characters see the bomb switch in Mello's hand... It was hinted at, it builds drama, and best of all it doesn't seem like the writer pulled Yagami's Death out of the blue...

NON-Specific Hinting... While seeing a high wall in Zelda, I though I was going to get some sort of flying item... that high wall was always there, it's not like I am just exposed to that wall right before I get the item, but I saw it as I went along, which built my interest... Eventually all I needed was my horse to jump over the wall, I was wrong, but I was interested... It wasn't specifically hinted but it was still INTERESTING!

In my story Green Success, the first thing you read is Long having a Day Dream... it has nothing to do with the rest of the chapter, but it is hinting at something, it will be significant later in the story...

In Chapter 3 when Long says "Another Child must Suffer for the Mistake of a Parent" ... it has a significance in the conversation, but his statement isn't explained right there... It will eventually be explained, but along the way I will keep hinting at Long and his Parents until I finally reveal the event... the Even will seem much more dramatic and significant if it is being hinted at...

Hinting is part of twining the parts of the story together, and it will make the story much more thought out and intricate... A true Masterpiece.... Hint, hint, hint... and the next time you watch an anime, watch out for the hints, because there will be a lot!

CLANNAD: in Clannad, the final scene where Nagisa almost gives up on stage, it is hinted at, since we know she is very shy... She gives up because she feels she is a burden on her parents... the story of her burden was mentioned several times before the characters actually go to the flash back of the story... The Drama club had been in CLANNAD since the first episode, so one thinking hard enough could conclude that the Drama club has some importance in the story... In the end we know for sure, the ending was hinted at so many times, yet it still seemed surprising, and those Tear Jerking moments are made more sad since they were being hinted at...

Remember hinting is not the same as revealing... and if you don't hint to the interesting parts of your story, your story will not be interesting at all... a hint can be as simple as a name mentioned...

In Chapter 4 of Green Success, Long and Andrew's past are hinted at many times, and the goal is not to spoil their past, but to prepare the reader and interest the reader for when I do reveal their past... Throughout Green Success I hint at Mark's past with gang members, but I have not revealed anything major yet... Yet...

But I'm sure I didn't do a good job making this Blog very interesting!

Twisting the Strings of the Plot....

Let's face it the best plot, the best ending and the best story mechanics are the ones where things all seem related, things are obvious but not straight forward, where things make a little more sense once you find out some piece of info... The best ending is one that doesn't just pop out of the blue...

A story that's connected, well thought out and most of all, isn't just a straight forward system of events, is an amazing story...

When I play an RPG I am always stunned at how well thought out it is... Particularly the Zelda Franchise... Some things are only open to you if you have the right items, yet you are exposed to these things even if you don't have the item or aren't as far in the game yet...

In story logic, the reader/viewer is exposed to things they may not fully understand, such as in Gears of War the Locust and their origin aren't explained right off the bat, yet you are still throuwn right into the action and the fact you don't know everything about it, make the story interesting because you will have so many questions about it like "What are krill?" "Who's the Locust Queen?" Of course once you find out, it's just like getting the item in an RPG, it makes more sense, but it isn't necessary to know...

Every watch a movie a second time and realize it's not as entertaining as it was the first time? Most people think it's because it's their first time seeing it, they don't know what's going to happen, and so on... but I believe that's only part of the reason... If you watched a movie you already know everything about then it's obviously not as entertaining, however if you expose the reader to information about the movie or story, you explain things too much then it feels like a repeat, it stops feeling fresh and new and things start to get old...

In an RPG you are always going back and fourth, even though you have returned to the dungeon or area again you never do the same thing again, usually you have a new item such as the Hoock SHot, which allows you to reach places and areas you weren't able to do the last time you were there, maybe you got some Fire Arrows that allow you to melt the ice that you couldn't have done before... you might have seen the ice cube and wondered what it's for, and once you get the arrows if you still have remembered, you realize you can melt the ice... ...

In a story you can mention a setting briefly or a character briefly without going into complete detail... for example you can mention John is a gun dealer but that doesn't particularly have anything to do with the story... but come time the characters actually need the guns, the smart viewers will remember John was a gun dealer, while the dummer viewers/readers will watch as the characters look for the guns before they remember John was the gun dealer...

Now for some genius story twisting, the previous example was very general while my next example is a story that twists and twines back and fourth well... as you read, just ask yourself...


"Because this is happening, what will be the result? And why is the result important?"

--------------------------------------------

There was a small village, the huts were closely packed together... People were laying on the ground, their eyes half opened... Some of them turned on their backs while others stared at the sky...
"The town hasn't had food for days." A muscular man said behind a rock, "But my love for her will never starve!" He continued to carve on the rock with his drawing stone.

"Guys! We need to leave now! There's a giant monster headed this way!"
"What do we do?" Everyone in town looked up.
"We need to evacuate right now!"
"I"m starving, we'll do it after lunch..."
"There is no lunch you idiot!"
The people started to panic. They made a crowd in the middle of the tiny town...

"Huh? What's all the commotion about?" The guy behind the rocks looked to see everyone in a crowd. His cheeks grew pink, "The girls must be talking about me!" He walked over...
"Hey what's Mike doing here? I though we banned him after eating our last food supply!" The crowd turned around.

"Everyone please listen! Our weapons are no use! Our arrows and spears are too weak! Our only choice is to evacuate!"
"Hey what's that?" Someone pointed to Mikes Carving stone.
"What this?" Mike replied holding the stone, "I just found this weird carving stone in the mountains, why?"
The town rushed over and there was a huge commotion...

..."Finally! with these new spears and arrows we're sure to beat the monster!"
"Good, because I like my house where it is!"
[I don't feel like describing the fight scene, too late at night, point is they won]

Night time...
"mmm! Delicious! That monster sure made a good meal!"
"You're telling me!"
Mike sat alone behind the rocks... "Eat up my love, I don't care if I'm exiled from this town, as long as you're happy I will be too!"
"Hey?"
"Ahh!" Mike jumped.
A lovely lady stood next to him.
"Uhh, what do you want?" His cheeks were pink.
"You looked lonely back here and if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have gotten a meal, so here!" She offered him the meal and they ate together...

------------------------------------------------------

I lazily wrote that, but, hopefully you saw how things twined together there in the story...

The town is hungry, the monster was a menace, the solver the monster problem and at the same time resolved the food problem...

It was apparent throughout the story what weapons they should use...

Mike used the carving stone because he had been exiled to the mountain...

He didn't get food because he had been exiled, but he got food from his love...

It is very simple, yes, but imagine something like this on a full scale book, and you got yourself an amazing story... something that will blow peoples minds...


Basically a plot that intertwines and is less straight forward is awesome... and I"m sorry for the lame example, but it's late and I'm sleepy!

I didn't cover everything I wanted to talk about, on how to make an awesome plot... but my last words for this "lesson" ... When creating a story, the best reference for plots, are plots.... just make sure their good ones! you don't want to be a copy cat, but creativity by definition is taking an already existing idea and adding to it, changing it and or personalizing it you way...

Good luck making epic plots and God bless...

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...

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...

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!

Making Histroy!

Most stories and anime only take place during a small portion of the characters life. It would be boring to watch a 1000 episode series about some baby that grows to be an old man... Write about the most interesting part of your characters life, or at least make it the most interesting part.

Even though an anime like Death Note only took place for a month then skipped a few years and took place for a few more weeks, it, at least for me, it felt like Death Note took place over years of time.. like L has been doing detective work longer than I have been a live....

isn't that what you want your story to be like? Feels like years... Not boring years.... exciting and awesome years?

add some history to your story, your character not only needs to go through the events but at some point their past needs to be referred to... keeps the reader interested... it could be as simple as, "I think we've met before!" or as complex as, "That man was the same man that killed my father" adding some history to your story really helps make it seem like a bigger story.... even if it only revolves around a few characters in a tiny setting, it can still feel like a big experience....

In full metal alchemist Edward's history, his father and his house burning aren't the first thing that happens in the story, it may be where the story starts, but that's not where it actually starts, the story seems to start while they are in the middle, though it seems like it started at the beginning..... then refers to the pas as it goes on... a genius method if you ask me....

...add some history if you want...

Writing Interestingly!

Yes everybody thinks their story is interesting, but believe me, just because you like it.... well of course you like it you writer it. Unless your one of those people who hate everything they do.... my self included.

WRITING INTERESTINGLY>>>

Here's the deal, someone just picked up your book, the first chapter of your book explains everything and sets the reader up for the rest of the story! you know what I think of that? BORING!!!

The first chapter or first few chapters IS NOT supposed to set up the story, in fact usually in most anim/manga/stories/books the reader is thrown right in the middle of something without being informed of any thing about it, they must keep watching/reading to find out what the heck is going on, so in a sense the first chapter shouldn't set up the entire story in a nice little box, rather the entire book should slowly put pieces around the frame until you have a complete story....

because honestly, once the reader knows the complete setting, everything about the characters and their lives, the characters future doesn't seem so interesting any more.... and that's what most NOOB writers think, That "The reader's going to keep reading to find out what happens next..." No in fact usually they don't, that is a minor thing that keeps the readers interest, what really keeps their interest though is some bot of information that is left out, but the story seems to keep going even though that thing was never explained.

For EXAMPLE: it's much more interesting to describe how the character ran home, slammed the door, nailed the windows shut and hid under the bed, than to just say "He was so scared"

instead of saying "She became happy" try "She jumped up and down with the biggest goofy smile and shouted 'yippe!' and everybody stared at her until she sat down and class resumed." But in some rare cases it would be more effective to say "She became Happy."

DON'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING!!! NEVER EXPLAIN YOUR WRITING!! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR EXPLANATION IT'S BORING!

The reader doesn't want to hear your explanation or justification! Don't say, "he ran away from home because he hated his dad!" In fact this goes back to the interest level, you just ruined the interest level by doing so because now the reader knows why the character ran away from home rather than the reader being forced to keep reading to find out you have just explained it for them so now the book becomes boring.

Instead only write about things that would happen in a movie or anime, you never see in an anime or movie "Because he hated his parents!" unless someone is speaking, the movie doesn't explain it's self either, no magic voice pops in saying, "let's explain what just happened" Nope! you have to keep watching to understand....

The only time explaining or pre-setting up is acceptable is something like this blog title! the title instantly gives away what this blog is about... but blogs are usually boring anyways so I'm not trying to keep your interest, I"m just trying to hand feed you information...

Which brings me to my next rant, Dont hand feed the reader every little detail, it's boring! don't waste a whole sentence saying he put down the paper, unless that paper was a super important death note or something don't say pointless things, don't describe every action, every detail every anything, the reader wants to personalize the story so let them!

Don't kill your story like that!

Actually when I wrote my story I actually did explain everything, but when I went back I removed it all or took some parts out and put them in later parts of the story so it becomes a slow revelation. I mainly explained so I myself could understand the story but I removed it because the reader doesn't want to know now, they will find out later.... this is called interaction.... the reader is actively interacting and thinking about the story "Why did the character do that?" "What was this thing the character referred to" Then their only choice is to keep reading!

One last thing make sure the story it's self isn't BORING! "Oooo I"m a writer, now I'm going to write about things anyone can go out and do!"

lame, readers read books because it takes them to a world where these things usually don't or never happen, who wants to read about everyday things? unless it's a comedy don't do it!

It's not about how you do it, it's about what you do!

I bet you've heard that saying before! "It's not about how good you draw, it's about what you draw!"

"It's not about how you write, it's about what you write!"

Well I'll tell you what, that's all wrong! Those are just the stupid encouraging words they tell people to feel good about themselves!

You watch an action movie, say Lord of the Rings, you think the fighting scenes will be good if they just showed it at the same camera angle the whole time? No of course not! Movies have lot's of different camera angles to keep interest up. Now sentences are the writers camera!

If your sentences all began with "the" it sure would be a boring book, and yes even if you write the same story as me, if my sentences are more interesting guess what, my book would be better than yours!

Here's an example of a good paragraph!

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.

Now when I first mentioned the creature the reader doesn't know what I'm talking about since I speak of it without introducing it first, therefore the reader must keep reading to find out what the heck I"m talking about, then I start talking about a school yard after that, so then the reader must continue reading to get the whole picture, do you think that was a good paragraph?

REMEMBER SHORTER SENTENCES ARE BETTER! How many times have you placed your own house as a setting for a book you've read? We all have, you story is no excepting, just because you are writing about your house doesn't mean the reader has to envision your house too, that's why books are so compelling because they are personal!

Here's a bad paragraph!


The sky was bright and blue, and the clouds cuttled close together because it often gets cold way up there in the sky. They looked down upon the earth from above, and as they sway lazily with the breeze, they go with the flow, they notice the tree, who does nothing, nothing but sit and be lazy, just like the clouds, but if it weren't for the tree's oxygen the clouds wouldn't be there, and if it wasn't for the clouds tears, the tree's wouldn't be here either.

Now I call this one of my bad sentences why? Because I read it one time and it's cool, I read it again and it gets boring I read it a third time and I skip words, I don't even want to try a fourth time. However the paragraph before was less straight forward, I could read it several times and envision different things each time, I could read it maybe five or six times before getting bored.

But I say the second paragraph speaks of a more interesting topic, the first one just talks about normal things. So I hope you remember a bad drawing of pikachu is crap compared the the same drawing only it is done well...

stupid abstract and modern art sucks because usually the art is pointless and the drawings suck. Classical Renaissance art is good because it displays true skill and talent and has an emotional scene sometimes. Remember it's not about what you draw alone, it's also about how you draw it!

Be Creative!

They say Creativity is a one time use gift, after you use it again it's no longer creative... but building off the same stump will create an even bigger tree with more and more branches!

I guess that's what Nintendo does with their games, they still have Mario rescuing Peach, Link saving the world, but no matter what their games will always feel like completely new games... and you know why? Because they are... their more than just having Master chief dress up in a modern outfit and changing the name of the game to Modern Warefare, it's more like having hamburgers one night and steak the next... same cow different part!

So where am I going with this? Well it's sad to say but most of the writings I've read whether it be from the school writing club or even an actual novel, I have to be honest and say I've seen so many pieces of crap books and story lines out there, scratch that, I've seen so many crappy concepts out there, scratch that I've seen so many crappy ways of telling the story....

Every Mario Adventure game revolves around the same basic concept yet they are able to change up the methods add new game mechanics and settings and boom you get a new game! well I guess it's not as easy as that...

Say you want to write about vampires, are you going to write ABOUT vampires or are you going to actually create a STORY? You could take any old story and replace all the main characters with vampires, and thus you have a story ABOUT vampires.... No! where am I getting with this?

Is that the common root, the thing your story should truly revolve around, the main motif the whatever... is the STORY! Just because your story has a Death Note in it doesn't make it a Death Note story! Just because your story has love in it doesn't make it romantic. Why am I saying this? Maybe because I feel like it... Maybe because I don't want to grow up in a world dominated by horrible stories to tell to my grand children....

STORY STORY STORY.... if your going to write, make a story.. now you say what about the vampires? Well of course if your going to write about vampires don't just throw them in there... No, you story should revolve not only around the events but the setting, the characters, the items and symbols, the motifs and the time period. Your story (if you want a good story) should rely so much on these things that if these things were any different you would have a totally different story!

You can't have super Mario Galaxy without the Galaxy, you know what's funny? If Nintendo took the worst game in the world and slapped Mario on it I bet it would sell like hot cakes! You know why because Mario isn't just a costume, Mario is a character!

mmmm.... time to relax....

they say your most creative when you are relaxed... when your heart and your lungs and your brain are on the same beat.... Take some deep breaths while imagining something, some sort of thing that goes along with the tempo of your breaths... if you can successfully do this then you get Cardiac Coherence... Your brain and your lungs and your blood pressure will be at the perfect level for creativity!


....mmm relaxed? I am....

I guess I've been writing about how to write your story what about what your story should be? Well believe it or not no story is the same, there's no formula if you know what I mean... X + Y = Z but when story writing you can't just plug in anything and have a story if you know what I mean? Some people's storied will be X + X + Y = Q.... if all stories followed the same pattern they would be oh I don't know... UNCREATIVE.... but if all stories had the same roots like how Mario games all have saving the princess, then we can go from there...

Well I can't be specific but if you create your own formula for the story you want to write then I say good! en example of a really general formula that anyone could use....

Happy beginning - Interesting Middle - Happy almost ending - Sad and Tragic Ending and final resolution

That is an example of a general story formula.. it has to be general because if I put specifics like Character finds Death Note - Character Kills People - Character Dies, well then guess what, it wouldn't be your story it would be someone elses, your just plugging in different characters...

What would Death Note be with "L" replaced with Mario? or Light replaced with Kirby? it would probably be a comedy not the epic serious show the original Death Note was...

So let's get creative!


One more thing I'd like to add.... When writing a story don't write about things that could happen in any story, or at least you shouldn't... feel free to do whatever you want though.... Write about things that the reader or viewer would want to do, but knows that kind of thing could only happen in a story...

What's a YouTube popular video if it's just a video of some guy waling? Anyone can do that! But what if it was some guy walking down the rail road tracks while two trains are about to collide in the middle of a thunder story holding a giant pikachu over his head?

Dressing up!

Right now I am finished with the story of my novel, I know exactly what happens, I know what I want to happen and how it ends and everything like that!

The only problem is that the story isn't developed well enough! Basically the whole time I was writing the story I did it in noob style... (previous posts) which basically means I over explained it.. which is bad because the reader is supposed to figure things out on their own so they can experience it for themselves! Instead of explaining why the character did the thing he did just have him do it and leave the explanation for later, instead of saying the character was scared say the the character was shivering or that he/she hid under the bed.

So that's what I've been doing, I've been "dressing" my story up! And I have changed so much while still keeping the same basic plot. The story has changed so much not even I recognize it anymore! I am very proud of it, so I will give a short preview/summary.

The story of five high school kids who live in a dump, the worst, most poor place one could ever live, a trash ridden city where a cardboard box could literally be one's house. These boys are so poor and angry, why is everyone around them so happy and cheerful? The set out on a quest, one to make money and two to leave this worthless dump of a town. They end up falling down the wrong path when they start to sell marijuana. They become super rich off of it and it is a constant struggle to keep hush about it and to keep quiet about it at all times, while one of the boys decided it's enough and leaves, all he wants is to be creative and make money off being creative, not off of selling crap. Here in lies the story of violence and romance, weird parts, funny parts that actually made me laugh out loud when I wrote them, happy and romantic parts that made me actually want to be one of the characters and perhaps one of the saddest stories I have ever written... The Green Success will be published sometime soon!

Effectiveness...

this is a short but sweet post...

Remember it's always more effective to say "He crunched his fists together" than to just say "He grew angry!"

better to say "He pee'd his pants" than to say "He was scared!"

better to say "She screamed and clutched her hand" than to say "She got hurt in the hand"

better to say "Ge smiled brightly as she walked away" than to say "he was happy after seeing her"

Show me things I would normally see on a TV screen or in an anime, not something that can only be read...

Introducing Characters!

Just some more character art from my Novel... unfortunately I wont be able to put these pictures in my novel... publishing price would be too much... I do all my digital art in Paint.Net...


So I will go more in depth on the "technical" way of introducing characters, but for right now I'm going to be discussing the two ways of introducing characters, the NOOB way and the PRO way....

I have posted below two versions of the first chapter of my novel, the first is in PRO form and the other is in NOOB form...

What is PRO form?

Pro form is the method many NOOB writers fail to do, (I'm a NOOB writer too!) PRO Character introductions are more thought out... The writer needs to know his characters personalities and traits first. Now in Pro Character Development the Author will meticulously place little bits if information all over the chapter, and not just in one spot... usually these tid bits of info will be placed in the chapter naturally and while an event is being taken place.... Usually not too much is revealed about the characters in one chapter but throughout the book in it's entirety.... "We don't see "L's" Snack craving until the third or fourth episode of Death Note... and even then it is only minimal..." This method is useful because the only way the reader will be able to fully understand and learn about the characters is by reading more of the book...

What NOOB style?

NOOB style is basically when the writer creates special paragraphs and has separate little sections purely meant to speak about the character. This method is bad because it then stops the story or sequence of events to talk about a character the reader might not even care for... the reader usually doesn't care about the characters at the beginning of a book rather the reader is first interested in what is going on in the book... Often "NOOBS" will reveal too much information in the beginning of the book and the reader will then be able to know a lot about the characters before the events even play out, which then means the reader doesn't have to pay attention much to the characters but more to the events and the events in most books revolver around the characters and their relationships with each other... it is also important not to mention much about how well the characters friendships are, but rather let the reader inquire that.... Basically anything you wouldn't be able to see in a movie or anime don't put in your writing... it would be hard to explain everything about the character in a movie without the character doing something that expresses that... don't say the character is sad, rather describe how he or she is sad...

Okay so here's both versions of my chapter 1, the first is in PRO style, the second is in NOOB style... and yes I made up these terms...

The first part of the chapter (right before the six years later) is the same in both versions...

...Please tell me which version you like better.... or which one you think is more effective...

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

Chapter 1
- Beginning to an End

There was a boy who preferred to spend his time alone... He sat on the carpet, isolated in his room....There was a window right in front of him and the sun shined brightly upon his hear which was looking down. His left hand thumbed at his lip and his right played and pulled on bright, woolly fibers which made up the warm, sun bleached carpet..... the sun rays shone through the large window and the radiant warmth enfolded him like a comfy, warm blanket. He stared outside and imagined a beach, glistening waters and beautiful scenery. The sand was hot and bright in the mid-day sun and the palm trees cast a deep, inviting shadow that seemed to cool the sand to ice within an instant. There were people playing and laughing and having fun... and it seemed everywhere you looked there was only comfort and delight. It was a wonderful moment that only he could experience and enjoy, and no one else, and he enjoyed it for quite a while...
He forced open his eyes and the trees faded away, the warmth settled down, and he was now staring at a lonely back patio and a filthy, crumbling old brick wall... He slowly stood up, missing the beach already. He held tightly on to one of the fibers he had pulled from the carpet. Then he slowly loosened his grip, and let it slip from his fingers. On to the floor it fell, it splashed onto an ocean of carpet and it blended with everything else around it as it sunk in between the fibers. An image of a bright, glistening ocean appeared before the carpet, but the boy tried to hold back. At that instant he stopped him self from thinking about beaches and oceans and he cleared his mind. He looked up and he felt both determined and sad at the same time... this would be the last time he spent in his imagination world. It was time to grow up, it was time to move on..... and this young boy's name, was Long...

6 years later....
"why does it always seem like the memories of old... were the best we've ever had?"

The leaves scudded across the dry dirt and a crisp breeze whispered by. A single file line of ants marched across the ground carrying leaves thirty times their size, their tiny, black, shielded bodies shimmered in the bright sun, their armor was like a shining knight. A loud ring suddenly flooded the area... the fluttering of birds in the distance signaled the disappearance of the natural way of life, and within seconds, emerged hundreds of people. They hustled about... some stopping to talk... some headed straight for their next destination, some carrying books, and some wearing storage bags across their backs... they were high school students. One such student, was quite the eye catcher, his tall stature only paralleled his slender body and unique clothing style. All the girls would take some time to feed their eyes upon his good looks as he passed by, and this young boy's name, was Long.
He paced steadily on a sidewalk carpeted with leaves, towards an isolated, unbalanced lunch table. Many girls blushed and giggled as he passed by... of course he knew, he had gotten used to all the attention, and to tell the truth, even though Long had never been in a serious relationship... well... never mind, he was a loser when it came to girls. He dodged through a crowd of people and stepped towards a shady lunch table, which seemed isolated from most of the lunch area. He placed his bag on the concrete floor and sat down, parallel to two friends, Matthew and Andrew.
Long noisily crunched his lunch bag out of his backpack, which only added the mumble of the surrounding school crowd. His lunch consisted of an insipid bologna sandwich complemented by a bag of chips and a juice pouch... BORING!!!! Matthew had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, topped with extra peanut butter, and a lightly toasted bread, crisp and brown. Andrew, had just managed to somehow pull out a rather large, delicate chocolate cake... one could only imagine how it managed to stay in its fragile container all day without spilling its molten delight all over the innards of his back pack... it still remains a mystery.
"I have good news!" Long declared, just as another friend, Mark, showed up. "Today's the day! Luke finally got hired, and that means we can make some money!" Luke was Long's little brother, Long's annoyance, Long's follower. Luke had gotten hired at a convenience store, which he could easily handle. Everyone except Andrew, who was wolfing down the delightfully, glistening cake, and Matt, who was practically drooling on it, were listening intently.
"We've been saving up our money! When the new Mario game came out, we resisted buying it, when the year book went on 'sale' we thankfully avoided that worthless piece of sh---."
there was a soft conversation among the table, but Long impatiently continued,
"and so far, me and Luke had accumulated over $400, started from $0, in the past year... and now that Luke got the job...."
The conversation grew louder, now Matt and Andrew were BOTH eating cake, Andrew didn't have an extra plate, so he simply sliced a piece onto Matthew's palm, who was happily gorging in it... obviously not hearing a word Long had said... Mark sat there with his hand against his face, looking bored and Luke had just squeezed his chunky, unhealthy body onto a seat next to Mark... Long flashed his eyes at them,
"Listen up!!! Your acting like kids! Do you want to end up like Mark's dad? Answering phones for a living???!?!?!" (Jerk!)
There was a slight symphony of chuckles, Mark wasn't at all offended. Long spoke again,
"Then we need to work, I know if we work hard, by the end of the year---" The guys seemed to drift off into conversation again, Long's face turned red with embarrassment and impatience, "Listen---!" But there was another interruption, this time by a much louder noise... the lunch bell had rung, and it was back to class time. The commotion of the crowd grew again, and the passing hustle and bustle discouraged any more of Long's announcements. Long turned and looked around as he saw his "friends" passing by, his mouth hung slightly open as he still had much, much more to say...

...Were these the people Long had so desperately been looking for? The bombastic eyes of Andrew stared as Long march off, a feeling of empathy enshrouded him as he perched on the table seat and watched Long walk off into the soft horizon..... discouraged...

NOOB VERSION

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

Chapter 1
- Beginning to an End

There was a boy who preferred to spend his time alone... his older siblings always gaining the attention and concern of his parents, and his younger, now getting it more than ever since the older ones have moved out of the house. This boy sat on the floor, isolated in his room.... he sat hunched over with his back being the highest point of his body. His left hand thumbed at his lip and his right played and pulled on bright, woolly fibers which made up the warm, sun bleached carpet..... the sun rays shone through the large window and the radiant warmth enfolded him like a comfy, warm blanket. He stared outside and imagined a beach, glistening waters and beautiful scenery. The sand was hot and bright in the mid-day sun and the palm trees cast a deep, inviting shadow that seemed to cool the sand to ice within an instant. There were people playing and laughing and having fun... and it seemed everywhere you looked there was only comfort and delight. It was a wonderful moment that only he could experience and enjoy, and no one else, and he enjoyed it for quite a while...
He forced open his eyes and the trees faded away, the warmth settled down, and he was now staring at a lonely back patio and a dirty, crumbling old brick wall... He slowly stood up, missing the beach already. He held tightly on to one of the fibers he had pulled from the carpet. Then he slowly loosened his grip, and let it slip from his fingers. On to the floor it fell, it splashed onto an ocean of carpet and it blended with everything else around it as it sunk in between the fibers. An image of a bright, glistening ocean appeared before the carpet, but the boy tried to hold back. At that instant he stopped him self from thinking about beaches and oceans and he cleared his mind. He looked up and he felt both determined and sad at the same time... this would be the last time he spent in his imagination world. It was time to grow up, it was time to move on..... and this young boy's name, was Long...

6 years later....
"why does it always seem like the memories of old... were the best we've ever had?"

The leaves scudded across the dry dirt and a crisp breeze whispered by. A single file line of ants marched across the ground carrying leaves thirty times their size, their tiny, black, shielded bodies shimmered in the bright sun, their armor was like a shining knight. A loud ring suddenly flooded the area... the fluttering of birds in the distance signaled the disappearance of the natural way of life, and within seconds, emerged hundreds of people. They hustled about... some stopping to talk... some headed straight for their next destination, some carrying books, and some wearing storage bags across their backs... they were high school students. One such student, was quite the eye catcher, his tall stature only paralleled his slender body and unique clothing style. All the girls would take some time to feed their eyes upon his good looks as he passed by, and this young boy's name, was Long.

Long wasn't your average student, he wasn't one of those who excelled all their work towards associating with others and building seemingly lasting friendships, he was different... He looked past these trivial things, and his line of sight was straight towards the future. Not only did he profoundly hate school with a passion, he wanted to leave school as soon as possible... and never go to college... he believed he could become successful by following his dreams. He wanted to become wealthy enough, he could "ENJOY" life after school. No Work. No stress. No Problem. His goal was make so much money (before he finished high-school), so he wouldn't need to go to college. And he was determined to do so.
Now in order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he needed the help of others, those who shared the same beliefs as him. For some time it had been until he stumbled upon a group of people sharing similar beliefs, and this group of people would be what most called... ... "friends". And for some time they had been jokingly talking about this type of thing... much like most teenagers do about their trashed, unplanned future... eventually they had taken these "jokes" into serious consideration, and Long believed his dream could be accomplished with hard work and perseverance.

He paced steadily on a sidewalk carpeted with leaves, towards an isolated, unbalanced lunch table. Many girls blushed and giggled as he passed by... of course he knew, he had gotten used to all the attention, and to tell the truth, even though Long had never been in a serious relationship... well... never mind, he was a loser when it came to girls. He dodged through a crowd of people and stepped towards a shady lunch table, which seemed isolated from most of the lunch area. He placed his bag on the concrete floor and sat down, parallel to two friends, Matthew and Andrew.

Matthew was a nice fellow who you'd easily become friends with, he was medium stature, had black hair and today he was wearing a red shirt (don't know, just had to mention the red shirt...). Andrew was Long's farthest friend, he had long brown hair that slipped past his eyes, and Andrew was only slightly taller than Long. Andrew sure was a quiet one, if you never said a word to him, he'd never say a word to you. Andrew always wore dark colored clothing, and sat oddly in his chair, and did odd things, and said odd things, and it was very hard for Long to come to like him. Long never knew if Andrew thought of him as a friend or not... Enough said.... (for now)

Long noisily crunched his lunch bag out of his backpack, which only added the mumble of the surrounding school crowd. His lunch consisted of an insipid bologna sandwich complemented by a bag of chips and a juice pouch... BORING!!!! Matthew had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, topped with extra peanut butter, and a lightly toasted bread, crisp and brown. Andrew, had just managed to somehow pull out a rather large, delicate chocolate cake... one could only imagine how it managed to stay in its fragile container all day without spilling its molten delight all over the innards of his back pack... it still remains a mystery.
"I have good news!" Long declared, just as another friend, Mark, showed up. "Today's the day! Luke finally got hired, and that means we can make some money!" Luke was Long's little brother, Long's annoyance, Long's follower. Luke had gotten hired at a convenience store, which he could easily handle. Everyone except Andrew, who was wolfing down the delightfully, glistening cake, and Matt, who was practically drooling on it, were listening intently.
"We've been saving up our money! When the new Mario game came out, we resisted buying it, when the year book went on 'sale' we thankfully avoided that worthless piece of sh---."
there was a soft conversation among the table, but Long impatiently continued,
"and so far, me and Luke had accumulated over $400, started from $0, in the past year... and now that Luke got the job...."
The conversation grew louder, now Matt and Andrew were BOTH eating cake, Andrew didn't have an extra plate, so he simply sliced a piece onto Matthew's palm, who was happily gorging in it... obviously not hearing a word Long had said... Mark sat there with his hand against his face, looking bored and Luke had just squeezed his chunky, unhealthy body onto a seat next to Mark... Long flashed his eyes at them,
"Listen up!!! Your acting like kids! Do you want to end up like Mark's dad? Answering phones for a living???!?!?!" (Jerk!)
There was a slight symphony of chuckles, Mark wasn't at all offended. Long spoke again,
"Then we need to work, I know if we work hard, by the end of the year---" The guys seemed to drift off into conversation again, Long's face turned red with embarrassment and impatience, "Listen---!" But there was another interruption, this time by a much louder noise... the lunch bell had rung, and it was back to class time. The commotion of the crowd grew again, and the passing hustle and bustle discouraged any more of Long's announcements. Long turned and looked around as he saw his "friends" passing by, his mouth hung slightly open as he still had much, much more to say...

...Were these the people Long had so desperately been looking for? The bombastic eyes of Andrew stared as Long march off, a feeling of empathy enshrouded him as he perched on the table seat and watched Long walk off into the soft horizon..... discouraged...

I will go more into the "technical" methods for character development in the next post...

Where is Inspiration?

Inspiration is the key element that makes us all jiggle with excitement and motivation to go out and be creative, but sometimes we don't know where to get it from, and sometimes we still need more inspiration even after we've started out work.... so where do you get yours?

Well I'm seriously asking anyone who reads this to tell me, but since this is a blog website I have to share a little about where I get mine....

I got a lot of inspiration before, during and after writing my novel and where did I get the necessary inspiration and motivation to continue working from?

After I started writing my novel I became bored and stopped for almost a month, and it wasn't till after I watched this video that I decided to keep going again: HERE , What is it? It's a story someone drew by her self, and it made me realize how lazy and how little I contribute to society. So I decided to get off my lazy.... chair... and start writing again....

Well what do you know, come time around again and I start to get lazy and lose interest in this book, even though lot's of people told me it was good, I still somehow lost inspiration and motivation... HERE , basically it's an anime series with almost no plot, but it has a lot of character development and as I watched I began to study the characters develop and I compared it to my story and I realized the methods of character development weren't so different and I decided to keep writing!

Well I needed some music while I write or else I get bored so here are a few tracks I listened to while writing. Now I should tell you that if you appreciate any of these awesome songs, you should support the composers by buying it... because how would you feel if people kept reading your book for free on the internet without your permission?... these song's will always be here until YouTube removes them for Copyright reasons or until the record label decides to put advertisements next to the video....

Keep in mind my song selection is very Anime/Nintendo Influenced....

For the SAD and SERIOUS parts:

God Knows (Instrumental Version) HERE

Elfen Lied Theme - Lilium HERE
Clannad Ending Theme (Violin) HERE
Mosiak Kakera HERE

Awkward Song (OfTheSeven) HERE
Kaiko HERE
Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask - Song Of Healing HERE

This is an Inspirational Poem I read about the Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask...

Day to night, dark to light,
Fall the sands of time.
Let the years like the gears
Of a clock unwind
In your mind walk through time
Back to better days.
Memories, like a dream,
Wash your tears away.
Like a star in the sky darkness can't reach you.
Light the night, joy is light 'til the new dawn.
Cast away your old face
Full of gloom and spite.
With this mask I will ask
To borrow your light.
Day to night, dark to light,
Fall the sands of time.

This poem influenced the final chapters of my sad story....

For the Happy and Comical parts:

Hare Hare Yukai HERE and HERE
楽譜で少女綺想曲 (Piano Version) HERE
SSB Yoshi's Island HERE
ABUNAI SISTERS HERE
Scarlet Flandre Rough Time HERE
Hurricane Mixers HERE

For the Epic and Cool moments:

07 Ghost Ending Theme HERE
Persona 3 intro HERE
Confidence HERE
Re Re HERE
USO HERE

And just some songs for over all:

Super Mario Galaxy 2 End Credits HERE
Wii Wether Channel Music (Night Time) HERE
Legend of Zelda Wind Waker - Outset Island HERE
Super Smash Bros Brawl Flower Field HERE
Kaze no Kioku HERE

Now nothing can compare to what I believe to be the greatest inspiration of all, nature.... going outside and just enjoying creation is such an awesome thing if you know how..... I think the reason Japan known as such a creative country is because it is tradition to set aside 30 minutes of their day just looking at nature and being silent, I believe that the sky, trees, ocean, and stars are the biggest inspirations for me.... I especially enjoy thinking of tropical islands such as in Wink Waker, or what it would be like if Mario Galaxy were real....

I hope these th9ings will only improve your writings....


- Andrew T.