November 12, 2012

I know, that is a really crappy title, but I'm feeling uncreative today, plus stressed.

I have a test tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to remember anything in microbiology ... it's like the world hates me: the micro world. I can't remember all the agars and what they do to same my life. The worst part is that my future job has no use for agar. WHY AM I LEARNING THIS THEN?!

Sorry. This class really upsets me.

Anyway, writing/reading. I started to do NaNoWriMo. I began on November 2nd and pushed out a good chunk of story. Currently it's day 12 (obviously), and no I'm about 3,500 words behind. I just have been really busy with studying for this micro test that, no matter what, I will get like an 80% on. Which isn't bad, but it's not really going to help my grade.

I really enjoy the NaNoWriMo story I created. One of the characters I created is awesome. Sort of reminds me of ... me. Haha. I've never really put myself into a story before, at least personality-wise, so it's nice to be able to not have to think hard about dialogue because it just flows naturally to me. It's the other main character giving me problems ... I have rarely any life experiences, and thus, I have to rely on instinct to write feelings. It's not the best, but I hope that if I finish this story (really banking on it), I can edit it to the right thing. Besides, this is definitely a first draft. Anyone that says they have an amazing first draft is kidding themselves.

I've been reading Cinda Williams Chima's new book in the Seven Realms Series. It's the last one, and I have about 150 pages more to go until it's done completely. I'm really sad. Sad face. Now I'm going to need a new series/book to keep me occupied. Especially for break. But hopefully I will just be able to write more. However, I've noticed that I seem to write best/more when I'm reading, so I guess for now on I have to simultaneously read and write.

Thanksgiving is coming up. Just thought I'd mention it.

And now I'm done. So, I have to finish some homework, and then I suppose I shall catch you all later. Granted, that's assuming I have readers. Oh, the joys of hoping and wishing.

Au revoir!

Progress

I just thought that I'd update everyone and say that I have made some progress on my new "Atlantis-inpsired story. I have two tests coming up (one today actually, the other tomorrow), and I really need to devote some time to studying for those, but I do hope to knock out a good 500 words today at least. I'm really liking one of the characters I created. At first he was going to be this one character that sort of just drives the plot forward, but then he sort of just became more and more prominent the more I wrote and suddenly everything I envisioned went out the window. I had to retool the whole story, which is okay because I like this new version much better. So ........... I guess that's it?

Listening to Taylor Swift. I know that's random, but I love this new album and everyone needs to buy it. Do it. No disappointment.

Songs of The Month - October 2012

So it's that time of the month where I list songs that influenced me at some point in my writing or that I just enjoyed. The last few times I did this they weren't really influential, more or less something really fun to listen to. But, alas, here I go.

1. "Paradise" - Lana Del Rey. This was supposed to be on her new Paradise Edition of Born to Die but for some reason it was cut. I found it on YouTube one day and loved it. Not really influential, but I love this woman. She's so dark and moody and puts me in a great frame of mind for dark settings. However, this song is ironically happy, so no mood-setting for me.

2. "22" - Taylor Swift. It's so fast and poppy and just .............. omg. I'm buying her album the moment it comes out on Monday. That's all there is to say about it.

3. "Atlantis" - Ellie Goulding. In case you didn't notice, but my last post was written due to this song. So for a more in-depth analysis, check out that posting.

4. "I Almost Do" - Taylor Swift. Yes, she is on this list twice. This song is also amazing. It reminds me of a character I am writing at this moment. The song is about a girl that really wants to call her ex and tell her that she still loves him, but she won't do it. At the same time, she wonders if he thinks about her and wants to still be with her. In other words, this is a song about pride. No one ones to be the one that goes back to an ex saying that they made the mistake. Yet, it is not a super-sad song. It's more ponderous. Still, it's not happy either.

5. "Curiosity" - Carly Rae Jepsen. Just a supper fun dance-y pop song. I like it. It's about someone who is curious to see if they will work out relationship-wise with someone they like. Not super deep, but fun to sing and dance to.

Atlantis

So last week Ellie Goulding released a new CD titled "Halcyon." It is an amazing CD and I think that everyone should give it a listen. It is filled with atmospheric vocals and ethereal sounds. There is definitely something for everyone.

I mention this because a highlight on that album is "Atlantis." You don't know this about me (however you will soon in about 4 seconds), but I have a miniature obsession with Atlantis.

Okay, a huge one.

Ever since I was young I have always imagined Atlantis existing, dreaming up wonderful dreams of a land below the waters where technology prospered and nature thrived in unique and strange ways.

But lately I have forgotten that. My mind delved into strange places that, although were interesting and something I enjoyed, they never seemed to give me the same excitement that I had had with Atlantis. It was as though my youth had been outgrown; by physiology this is certainly true, but to an extent an author never really grows up in the mind.

Upon hearing Ellie Goulding singing in such a high (almost indecipherable) voice, it is both evoking and beautiful.The words don't matter. It is the atmosphere the song creates, the beautiful build-up to the few lines that most everyone can understand: "where'd you go?"

And then it hit me: where did my youth go?

And then I realized it lay with the subject of the song: Atlantis.

It seems as though my creativity had been revived, simply by hearing this song. Sure, there were moments in the past few years where I was very happy with what I had written. There were characters that I loved to hate and hated to love, paragraphs and sentences that put a tear in my eye. But those times were far and few between, not like when I was in grade school when I would come home and immediately hop onto the computer to write everything I had thought about during the day: dragons and crystal caves, darkness and light, swords and shields. My mind was firing on all cylinders, incapable of being stopped unless physically forced from the computer chair.

Those moments are rare today. And it depresses me. I love writing. I love it with all of my heart. It brings me joy in days such as these when I can forget the world and go into my own that I created. But it's harder to find time like I used to. It's harder to imagine a new world when reality and its hassles has too much of a pull.

Atlantis has excited me much like it had when I was young. That doesn't mean that everything I write from now one will be about Atlantis. That would be strange, because I certainly do have other ideas that in no way could work there. But the song (and the following thoughts I had while listening to it) seemed to have re-energize my creativity in a way that I have not experienced in a long time.

So thank you, Ellie Goulding. I owe you the world.

My world.

New Story Excerpt

Hello, everyone! This is the beginning to the new story I have started writing that I incidentally figured out how to write it! So, I hope that you enjoy this small little snippet, and let me know! It's currently untitled. 

"They had been warned the portal was closing every time they entered it. They had been warned, and they chose to ignore it.

Jack and Lila had found it by mistake one evening as they stole out into the night, Jack without worry and Lila without a lamp. The forest was gloomy, intimidating, and Lila, ever since she was a little girl, was frightened of the dark.  Jack was on a foolish, ever-ongoing quest to prove his devotion to manhood. The two were youth personified, the sort of thing you find in stories about attraction and love, where two destined humans intertwine the Fates’ strings and become one strong polymer of adoration.

But everyone knows that the Fates not only made string, they cut them as well."  

So about how bad I am ...

I have no excuse for my absence other than the fact I suck at life.

Well, not really. But yeah. School kind of got in the way of a lot of things, and ... well, that is a good excuse, but still. I promise -- and this time I sincerely mean it! -- to get on more and post more things. 

I was recently inspired by an Ellie Goulding song this week (more precisely, yesterday) and thus, I have been thrust back into the clutches of writing. It's a strange new style for me. It started off as a short story, and somehow I now think it is developing into a novella, which will probably make its way into a full-time book at some point. 

I'm considering starting to map things out now. Like, book-wise. Chapters, characters, etc. It might help me and keep me on track. Sometimes I just ... forget things. And if I seriously take a good 30 minutes or an hour to think about my story, I might resolve plots that I usually push aside and say I'll take care of when I get there. 

As in the case with this new story I'm writing (I sort of actually have two going actively, three if you want to count another one that I started but randomly stopped because I couldn't plan it right), I can't seem to get it JUST right. It's almost good. I can sense it has potential. But I feel like now I need to go back a little bit from where I started, or expand the scene out a little. I don't know. I'm still thinking about it.

As for the other story that I'm seriously considering about tackling next, I have to map out a whole continent and name cities and stuff. Any time I write in a place that is not Earth (which is usually 90% of the time), I do that before I get 2 or 3 chapters in. It helps me understand where I am.

Anyway, I am going to head out writing right now actually, so wish me luck and I will see you soon about my next topic, which will be about the song "Atlantis." I feel like I need to explain it.

Tyler

New Story Excerpt -- The Fall

It happened without warning. 

One moment a woman pushing her baby stroller was smiling at her friend walking beside her, the next they both lay on the cement as a car heading straight for them sped up with no intention of slowing down. A red-headed man talking on his cell phone collapsed, and without another word he lied still. A young girl two paces ahead of me fell face-first into the pavement. A motorcycle zipped through the intersection and crashed through the store-front window.

                

 This all happened mid-sip of my mocha. The coffee scalded my tongue as it sat in my mouth for too long, unable to swallow out of paralysis of the events conspiring around me. It was as though everyone was controlled by a hypnotist and he had snapped his fingers, bringing everyone into a deep sleep.

               

 Everyone but me.

               

 The sound of a plane whistled in the sky above me, and I looked up to see the metallic figure ripping through the air at speeds almost incapable of following. A stream of clouds trailed the bottom, and it was then I realized the plane was emitting something. Smoke? Was it about to crash? The smoke – or whatever it was – fell like snow to the ground.

I looked left. Then right. Again, both ways, then behind and ahead.  Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. 

I tried to deny it at first, but then panic set in.

I dropped my coffee and I ran.

I needed to know if there were others, others like me that were panicking and running. To where, I had no idea, but somewhere, anywhere but here. But each body I passed was proof, another piece to the puzzle to verify that what I had just witnessed was real and not a dream.

I turned down an alley, leaned against a worn brick building and, for the first time in three years since my father died, cried.

I did not hear anyone approach until a hand grabbed my peacoat’s collar and pulled me from the ground. He was older than I, mid-twenties perhaps, short raven hair that matched his plain black t-shirt tucked fittingly into his black cargo pants. So much black, I could have mistaken him for Death. I did not know how accurate that comparison was until later.

 The man brought his wristwatch up to his mouth. He said into it, “Found one. Male. Late teen, early adult.”

The watch responded with a drawl, “Bring him in.”

 That was all that needed to be said. “You’re coming with me.” He grabbed my arm, holding it tightly as though he wished to snap either my radius or ulna in two.

“Hey, let me go!” The pain ran up my arm and into the whole of my body.

“You need to come with us for your own protection.”

“I’ll go! You don’t have to drag me!”

He didn’t respond, nor did he let go.

I heard screams.

As we turned the corner, there were other men like this guy – all dressed in black from head to toe – dragging others like myself past piles of bodies. Some were hysterical, the sudden deaths of those around them causing them to lose it all. I only just realized how almost completely sane I was. A vehicle that looked almost like a tank by design but without the turret and gun sat in the middle of the street, the track it used for movement carelessly crushing corpses. A large door leading into the back of the vehicle slammed down to reveal others in chains. The light blinded them for a moment, and then they madly tried to break the restraints that held them in place.

Protection never looked so frightening.

And if this was protection, then I did not want to be protected.

I heard an odd zipping noise. My arm no longer felt crushed, and the man holding me suddenly slumped to the ground. Red liquid that could only be blood oozed from an unexpected hole in his neck.

               

 “If you want to live, I’d come this way.”

               

 My instinct guided my sight back into the alley, and a man with earth-colored but graying hair motioned for me with his fingers. In one of his hands was a handgun.

               

 If there was one thing I had ever learned from television – state approved television, that is – it is to never say “no” to a man with a gun.