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...
Showing posts with label write. Show all posts
Showing posts with label write. Show all posts
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
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...
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...
Friday, June 25, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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...
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...
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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
- 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?"
NOOB VERSION
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...
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
- 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?"
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...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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:
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:
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: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....
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
Persona 3 intro HERE
Confidence HERE
Re Re HERE
USO 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 HEREPersona 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
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.
I hope these th9ings will only improve your writings....
- Andrew T.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Book Creating (Starting)
This is a picture of the main character from my book, Long, who is obsessed with money and getting rich. He is based off my cousin who is around the same age as me, and is the same age as me in the novel. His role in the novel is very important as he helps convey the moral lesson important to the book! - Green Success - Andrew T. I am writing this post because I want to help people who want to do something useful in their lives. I hope that my words help you and don't hurt your writings, but I am also writing this to remind my self of how to write a book, or at least how I wrote my book, because I feel I am losing my creativity as I grow older, so I want to use my own creative ideas of the past to help me someday in the future, and to also help any one who reads this!
When I began writing my book believe it or not I originally intended it to just be a short video for film class. I was listening to music in my room and as usual I closed my eyes and began to imagine crazy and weird things as the music played. Well the idea was to make an action film with guns and shooting, but also a twist at the end. The video I imagined that night was simple, drug dealers have a shoot out with the cops they drug dealers are having a blast, friendship builds from this experience and they are all laughing and shooting cops. The Drug dealers are winning of course, but eventually the viewer notices that the Drug dealers are high and then soon after one of the drug dealers starts to lose his "high" and begins to see what really is happening. Well as you would expect, things aren't going so great, and as he looks around he realizes the people he was just talking to were just hallucinations and at the end the drug dealer dies.So I wanted to make a film as our final project in film class (Freshmen year) but we decided on something else after discussing the "drug" problem. Anyways I liked the idea so I kept it well protected within the depths of my mind. Soon enough I decided that that was going to be the ending of my story. (Spoiler warning for anyone actually intending to read my book when it comes out)
So the main point I want to come across is decide on the ending of your story before you actually write it, that way every even you write in the story can lead to the end and also so you have a good idea your self where you want your story to go. Magically if every event points towards this possible end, (While the reader believes there could be a million ends to the story) then all your events will be related and it will make the story seem much more believably and that the ending wasn't just pulled out of the writers butt at the last second.
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.Now a big problem I came across when writing this book was characters. I wanted realistic characters, I wanted them to be as lively as possible and I also wanted them to be convincing and precious to me. Well one day I decided, if I want realistic characters I should base them off real people, so that's what I did. I based one of the characters off my self, another off my cousin and the antagonist off everyone who hated me. This way when I base my characters off real people, the characters can then be as real and as lively as possible, giving each a different personality! So I'd recommended doing this, especially if it's your first book.
So next was the "hard" part, the part most people struggle with the most, THE MAIN CONCEPT. Before I could come up with a plot summary I needed to know first, what is the moral of my story? Now if your story doesn't have a moral then I suggest you stop right now, because there is no point in writing or reading a book with no moral lesson of any kind. I decided to pick a moral lesson that I felt would really be good, one that I HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH, because I have observed it in our society for a long time now! The moral lesson I chose to convey could be considered two lessons, the first is don't waste your time with temporary pleasures and meaningless things such as spending your days socializing and what not. The second, "side" lesson was that your creativity is a gift and as easily as you obtained it, it can be taken away. With these two lessons in mind I decided it was time to make my plot line! Or at least attempt!
I really didn't have a clear cut idea of how my book's story line was going to go, but I knew where it was going to lead, because I had already decided upon an ending! So I decided I would just start by introducing the characters and settings first, as some of you have read from my previous posts (The first Chapter of my book) You should have noticed how I slowly revealed the setting and characters one at a time. I started by using my own home town as the setting. I know my home town so well so writing about it would be easy. Then I decided to start my book! I wrote about nature, and gave lots of beautiful imagery, then I transitioned to the school setting where I started my story and instantly I jumped the reader into the events without giving them any prior knowledge of what was going on. This is crucial in writing because it not only jumps the reader into the book quickly, but also sparks questions and interest which the reader will only find out by reading the book further! I genius idea is it not?
After that I quickly introduced all the characters at once, not by making special paragraphs to describe them, but by describing them through their actions in the story as they played out the events, nothings worse than a story that moves slowly and has interruptions because the writer need to clarify something or talk about the characters in the middle of an even. I decided I would go more in depth with all the characters later in the next chapter, after all the events of the first chapter were done and I felt I could slow down the pace of the book to talk about these characters.
So That's how I started my book, I will later go in depth of my actual writing of the story, but this section is titled (Starting) so I'll leave it at that! I hope everyone who reads this appreciates my advice and may someday benefit from it!
- Andrew T.
So next was the "hard" part, the part most people struggle with the most, THE MAIN CONCEPT. Before I could come up with a plot summary I needed to know first, what is the moral of my story? Now if your story doesn't have a moral then I suggest you stop right now, because there is no point in writing or reading a book with no moral lesson of any kind. I decided to pick a moral lesson that I felt would really be good, one that I HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH, because I have observed it in our society for a long time now! The moral lesson I chose to convey could be considered two lessons, the first is don't waste your time with temporary pleasures and meaningless things such as spending your days socializing and what not. The second, "side" lesson was that your creativity is a gift and as easily as you obtained it, it can be taken away. With these two lessons in mind I decided it was time to make my plot line! Or at least attempt!I really didn't have a clear cut idea of how my book's story line was going to go, but I knew where it was going to lead, because I had already decided upon an ending! So I decided I would just start by introducing the characters and settings first, as some of you have read from my previous posts (The first Chapter of my book) You should have noticed how I slowly revealed the setting and characters one at a time. I started by using my own home town as the setting. I know my home town so well so writing about it would be easy. Then I decided to start my book! I wrote about nature, and gave lots of beautiful imagery, then I transitioned to the school setting where I started my story and instantly I jumped the reader into the events without giving them any prior knowledge of what was going on. This is crucial in writing because it not only jumps the reader into the book quickly, but also sparks questions and interest which the reader will only find out by reading the book further! I genius idea is it not?After that I quickly introduced all the characters at once, not by making special paragraphs to describe them, but by describing them through their actions in the story as they played out the events, nothings worse than a story that moves slowly and has interruptions because the writer need to clarify something or talk about the characters in the middle of an even. I decided I would go more in depth with all the characters later in the next chapter, after all the events of the first chapter were done and I felt I could slow down the pace of the book to talk about these characters.
So That's how I started my book, I will later go in depth of my actual writing of the story, but this section is titled (Starting) so I'll leave it at that! I hope everyone who reads this appreciates my advice and may someday benefit from it!- Andrew T.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The life of an Artificial Creator (Manga/Anime/Novels)
- by Andrew T.We all want to be someone or something special, and the sad truth is that your chances of ever becoming who you want to be can only be accomplished or destroyed by YOU!
I've always wanted to be a film maker but lately I've realized how competitive and how slim my dream of becoming one really is, and I realized if I want to make films or shows I need to work hard and make good stuff. And another thing I realized, You cant have a good movie without a good story.
So that's why I've decided to become a writer. Now on top of that I also do some video game design using a program called GameMaker and I also do lot's of song composition with computer programs, my video camera and my two piano's. I upload my music to YouTube on a channel called InsomniMusic, but likewise, there's so much competition and so much improvement that needs to be involved that it isn't that popular, but popularity isn't my goal, quality is! Though being popular would be nice, I notice a lot of the "popular" novels and music really aren't that great, and that only shows how horrible the testes of the population is and how easily they are entertained.
So on to my life as a writer. Being a writer takes only a pen and paper. Now what I mean by that it that you don't need to be some super human dictionary to become a write, NO no NO! All you need is the courage, dedication and enthusiasm to be able to create beautiful worlds and writings at the tip of your fingers. When you have the motivation and the idea you need then writing seems like such a simple job, but of course what you write has to be good.... or at least something the publishing company will see as a gimmick to sell out the book... horrible books that sell really well because of their gimmicks would be: Twilight, Harry potter, and all the manga that have cute moe girls in them but don't really have much of a story....
Anyways my life as a writer started at age 15, that's right at fifteen I finally decided to drop the video game controller, turn off the cell phone, hide the T.V. remote and actually do something useful. And the following story will describe in a first person view how my life went after I started writing using Microsoft Word and Google Docs!
THE LIFE OF A NOOB WRITER:
- BEGINNING TO WRITE MY STORY
- BEGINNING TO WRITE MY STORY
The Life of a NOOB Writer: It was late at night, (well usually I don't go to sleep until 1 or 2 am anyways....) rapid Insomnia snuck up on me like a thief. (OfTheSeven Reference)
So I opened up the Google Doc's page where all my 10th Grade Language Arts Honors writings had been posted, (too lazy to get MS Word on my Laptop... it was on the Desktop though) I created a new page, and then I cracked my fingers. Taking a gulp of milk and biting a cookie I prepared to write. I raised my hands up high and grasped the air above me feeling the energy return to my sleep head. I got down, brushed the hair out of my eyes and then I froze. "What am I supposed to write about?" Only a few minutes of Meditation and Praying to Jesus for inspiration I finally realized something very useful.
The Characters! I would name all the characters of my story after someone, a family member, cousin, myself or friend. So I ended up with six main characters. I didn't have a name for the book, but after I started writing FICTIONAL short stories about these characters I got an idea for the name.... The two names I was debating over was "Green Success" and "From selling Weed to Buying Stocks" .... I chose the first one thinking I could always change it later.
The Story: Now the story was composed of two pieces. The first pieces was the actual story and events them selves.... selling "weed" or "green stuff" and getting rich, or at least hoping for success as high school kids. The second piece of the story was the Moral Lesson: How precious your imagination and creative life really is, even if you're not one of those "artsy" kind of people, YUCK, you can still be creative in who you are.... And I'm not talking about going out and expressing your self, seeking attention, growing long hair or any of that stuff....
So after I planned out my two pieces of the story I finally begun to write, the main character, "Long" being modeled after my cousin. The first few days of writing were pretty good, I only stuck to writing late at nights because I came up with my own saying which I ended up using in the book, "Late at night, when I'm supposed to be dreaming, that's the time I should be working, that's the time my creative brain juices are flowing... the time I would normally be dreaming..." I ended up staying up late even if all I did was write a paragraph. Those first couple of nights were terrible, sleepy and in the morning and at school I felt so tired and sleepy, I begun to notice the "Bags" under my eyes turn light purple before turning almost black.
It was pretty difficult to get used to this life style and I was almost tempted to quit writing simply because I needed sleep. "The Lazy Man never prospers"
Proverbs 20:13 - Do not be a lover of sleep,
or you will become poor: keep your eyes open,
and you will have bread enough.
or you will become poor: keep your eyes open,
and you will have bread enough.
I stayed up late and it sure was affecting my health, I begun to notice I wanted to fall asleep when I got home, My eyes would close by them selves at around 5th period, geometry.... well normally they would anyways.... I begun to lose all intentions of doing things like talking for extended periods of time with people in person and I fell deeper into the hole of cyber-community. I felt so awful but I knew somehow I would finish this, because was I really doing anything better in my free time?
I had enough! I decided to quit Language Arts Honors II, That class was so much bull, they always wanted things in their format and I hated it. All the writing assignments were so limited as to what you could do, I was marked down several times for adding in my own ideas and sentences into papers where they were not welcome. reading became a chore... as it always was... but more of a chore.... Although I believe that class got me into writing in the first place, I can't help but realize how uncreative that class was. When we read out stories out loud everyones' honestly sounded like something a baby whipped up. Not that I think they suck it's just that they all followed the guidelines so strictly. So I dropped out.... I now had an extra 30 minutes or even more to my self... more time to dedicate to writing...
So I started getting more into the story. I got many ideas from Anime series and TV shows like Full Metal Alchemest, The Boondocks, South Park, Bleach, Air, Death Note, Elfen Lied, Lucky Star and The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm sure my subcouscious mind got "inspired" or "thief like" from other series, but these Anime series were what I was watching at the time and I really liked them and wanted to have my story as popular as them someday! I think I was so "Inspired" by Death Note, that I actually modeled my first drawing of one of the main characters after "L" from Death Note. I later opened my eyes to see how similar the two were and Instantly modeled the character after my self. That Characters name was Andrew.
Real Experience Inspirations: Along the way I also had many inspirations that I added to my book. Perhaps the biggest inspiration to everything I do would be my Dreams.... when I sleep. But I got the best idea from a girl I met freshman year of high school, (the year before I started writing) She was the closest you could get to a real Anime character, or at least for the time being. Me and her had a lot of good times together, though I wasn't interested in a Boyfriend, Girlfriend relationship I thought it would be better to just be close friends and do things that are actually productive, worry about "love" later.... I found out I would be moving schools for the next year and that she wasn't because of where she lived, and that was terrible! ...for me at least... you see everyone mocks me, hates me for no reason, judges me, turns their backs on me.... it's hard to make new friends, and at the time I only had a few close friends and a lot of people who hated me because I hate "the look" or because they didn't like the stories they've heard about me. I stopped hanging out with the Emo kids and started hanging ot with my REAL friends and that was the last of them.... the next year I found out some of them were moving to the new school with me.... but not that girl... so I ended up adding her as a characters, I didn't want to use her real name, nor a real name at all for thst matter, so in the story she is always refereed with her nickname: Me-Fufu! A cute name for a character that's supposed to be cute.
So one day I had the most awesome dream about fighting, and I really wanted it in the book, so I decided to make one of the characters have a fighting/action dream and I think that was one of my favorite chapters in the whole book!
I think I finished the book strongly, but I needed to go back and re-edit it and "dress it up" a little. The most boring part of all! I think that if re-reading the book I created was so boring, then maybe it would be boring for the new people to read it one time.... but I convinced my self that that was not true.
....I haven't published the book yet because I wanted my friends and family to read it first and tell me if it's even worth publishing.... Self Publish first...
...The moral of this story is everyone has a purpose, they just need to find out what!
..So that's that, I'll add a link if I ever do publish it, thank you for reading. any comments or questions would be awesome!
I had enough! I decided to quit Language Arts Honors II, That class was so much bull, they always wanted things in their format and I hated it. All the writing assignments were so limited as to what you could do, I was marked down several times for adding in my own ideas and sentences into papers where they were not welcome. reading became a chore... as it always was... but more of a chore.... Although I believe that class got me into writing in the first place, I can't help but realize how uncreative that class was. When we read out stories out loud everyones' honestly sounded like something a baby whipped up. Not that I think they suck it's just that they all followed the guidelines so strictly. So I dropped out.... I now had an extra 30 minutes or even more to my self... more time to dedicate to writing...
So I started getting more into the story. I got many ideas from Anime series and TV shows like Full Metal Alchemest, The Boondocks, South Park, Bleach, Air, Death Note, Elfen Lied, Lucky Star and The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm sure my subcouscious mind got "inspired" or "thief like" from other series, but these Anime series were what I was watching at the time and I really liked them and wanted to have my story as popular as them someday! I think I was so "Inspired" by Death Note, that I actually modeled my first drawing of one of the main characters after "L" from Death Note. I later opened my eyes to see how similar the two were and Instantly modeled the character after my self. That Characters name was Andrew.
Real Experience Inspirations: Along the way I also had many inspirations that I added to my book. Perhaps the biggest inspiration to everything I do would be my Dreams.... when I sleep. But I got the best idea from a girl I met freshman year of high school, (the year before I started writing) She was the closest you could get to a real Anime character, or at least for the time being. Me and her had a lot of good times together, though I wasn't interested in a Boyfriend, Girlfriend relationship I thought it would be better to just be close friends and do things that are actually productive, worry about "love" later.... I found out I would be moving schools for the next year and that she wasn't because of where she lived, and that was terrible! ...for me at least... you see everyone mocks me, hates me for no reason, judges me, turns their backs on me.... it's hard to make new friends, and at the time I only had a few close friends and a lot of people who hated me because I hate "the look" or because they didn't like the stories they've heard about me. I stopped hanging out with the Emo kids and started hanging ot with my REAL friends and that was the last of them.... the next year I found out some of them were moving to the new school with me.... but not that girl... so I ended up adding her as a characters, I didn't want to use her real name, nor a real name at all for thst matter, so in the story she is always refereed with her nickname: Me-Fufu! A cute name for a character that's supposed to be cute.
So one day I had the most awesome dream about fighting, and I really wanted it in the book, so I decided to make one of the characters have a fighting/action dream and I think that was one of my favorite chapters in the whole book!
I think I finished the book strongly, but I needed to go back and re-edit it and "dress it up" a little. The most boring part of all! I think that if re-reading the book I created was so boring, then maybe it would be boring for the new people to read it one time.... but I convinced my self that that was not true.
....I haven't published the book yet because I wanted my friends and family to read it first and tell me if it's even worth publishing.... Self Publish first...
...The moral of this story is everyone has a purpose, they just need to find out what!
..So that's that, I'll add a link if I ever do publish it, thank you for reading. any comments or questions would be awesome!
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